Developing the Perfect Web Marketing Strategy

Introduction

Once we have the Planned, Designed and developed the Perfect Website, we are ready to begin developing the Perfect Web Marketing Strategy. The aim of the Web Marketing Strategy is to increase the total number of sales leads for your business. To do this, the web strategy will:

1. Maximise the number of website visitors
2. Maximise the number of customer conversions.

To do this you will want a web strategy that will promote your site around the web in the most efficient manner possible; by building on the foundations of the website that you have already created.

By running a web strategy, you are engaging with your potential customers through a variety of digital means. With each new digital platform that you embrace, you will re-enforce and multiply the overall strength of your messages and further increase your overall ROI.

Why have a Web Marketing Strategy?

With a better web strategy, you can help your business increase sales leads every day.

What are the key steps?

Much of the work has already been completed in the earlier parts of this guide.

1. Plan; identify and define the overall purpose of your web strategy. Write down what you want to say, who you want to say it to and how you want them to react.
2. Design; Create the website that will convert as many visitors into customers as is possible. Create the step-by-step web strategy that will get your messages to as many of your potential customers as possible.
3. Execute; Follow your web strategy through, adjust it, improve it and keep on doing it.

Plan the web strategy

Decide which of the numerous digital marketing channels you want to use as part of your web strategy, in what order, when and how often you want to use them?

Digital marketing of today has many channels including:

Focussed on increasing the number of new visitors to your site with:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation),
• SEM (Search Engine Marketing),
• RSS feed selection and integration (for automatic news/special interest feeds),
• Internal Blog Integration and Updating,
• External Blog Integration and Updating,
• Social Networking Integration,
• External Link-Building,
• Internal Forum Development and Promotion,
• External Forum Development and Promotion.

Focussed on increasing the number of visitors that are converted into customers by your site:

• Targeted site design updates (to reflect marketing campaign/season etc.),
• Email campaigns,
• Flash banner production and integration,
• Production of bespoke animation and Integration with your site,
• Production of bespoke HDTV video and Integration with your site,
• Integration of video and animation with third party sites (including YouTube),
• Development of the user experience of your site,
• Development of your online corporate identity.

The level of importance you allocate to any individual channel is driven by the usage statistics of that channel with respect to the particular demographic groups that you identified as your target user groups during the “Planning the Perfect Website” phase, i.e. Choose the channels that are “most used” (*) by your particular target user groups.

Design the web strategy

The actual design process behind any of the individual digital marketing channels mirrors the process that you followed in the “Design the Perfect Website” phase.

Your Web Strategy is an extension of your website, and should be designed with the same purposes and messages that you have already defined for your website in “Planning the Perfect Website” firmly in mind. If you keep your messages consistent, your target user actions will be more readily achieved. The Web Marketing channels will act as hooks, drawing in your users into your website which is optimised for turning targeted visitors into real world customers.

Of course web marketing can be used to deliver specific messages and breaking news. The point is that the tone, delivery and underlying message should ideally shoot from the same set of roots as those which exist in the foundations of your website.

Execute the web strategy

Write down a 12-month web strategy plan, what do you want to say? Which channel will you use? When do you want to say it? What alterations (if any) need to be made to your website in order to support the message at any given time (include all necessary associated actions)?

Then follow your web strategy through. Create monthly reports, tracking the user statistics in a standardised manner. Extrapolate and draw conclusions from the data. If necessary, adjust your plan accordingly. Keep on improving it, keep on doing it and win more sales leads every day.

(*) A good web agency will be able to use statistical data to answer these questions.

This article is based on the “MintTwist-ology” for creating the “Perfect Website”.