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Why invest in promoting my Web site?
It’s a busy marketplace - The reasons for investing time, effort and money to maximise your
business presence on the Internet are not new and have as much to do with good business practice as they do with technology requirements. Take a more traditional
example: For many years there was an unspoken rule between competing whisky and liquor companies not to advertise on television. Many consumers assumed there was some
law against it, but this was not the case. The reason for avoiding this medium was simply the cost; as long as no one company did it, they could all maintain their
positions in terms of consumer awareness. If one company chose to break the unwritten rule, and UDV eventually did with an advert for Gordon’s Gin, then they would all
have to consider TV as part of their marketing strategy. Soon Bacardi, Famous Grouse, Smirnoff Vodka and others were all spending millions on comparable TV advertising
to ensure consumer awareness levels were maintained: “speak up or no one will hear you over the noise”. This theory is true of the newest medium to be added to the
list of opportunities to promote your business – the Internet.
Clearly,
how a business promotes itself on TV will differ from how this is best achieved on the Internet, but the business reasons for doing it remain broadly the same. The
Internet offers more opportunity to target carefully and create a profile of your user groups. Therefore what can be achieved from the Internet differs from other
means of communication.
Nowadays it's not enough to build a Web
site and then expect users to flood to the business’s new online presence. The Internet is growing exponentially, which means that other companies (including your
direct competitors) are also vying for pole position in their respective markets. You can be certain that they will be doing their utmost to advertise and promote
their sites to the Internet's global audience.
However, promoting and advertising your Web site need not necessarily be an insurmountable task,
achievable only with infinite sums of money, skills and resources. There are many simple tasks, and several automated tools that can be used to at least give your Web
site a head start. Note that these procedures should form part of a wider marketing strategy and business plan that targets your key markets and audience, and does so
with a frequency and depth best suited to your own corporate strategies.
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