A website, but no promotion strategy |
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| Technology | |
| Written by Roberta Murray | |
| Wednesday, 23 June 2010 | |
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Two-thirds of SMEs build a website without any promotional strategy in place. Forward3D, the UK’s fastest growing digital agency, found that 64% of SMEs build a company website but fail to promote its existence to potential customers. As many as 38% of SMEs also admitted to failing to include prominent contact details for their customers, such as enquiry forms and contact numbers.The results of the survey, conducted through a series of face to face interviews with over 500 owner/founders of SMEs, show that despite the growing popularity of ecommerce, SMEs are failing to implement basic search marketing techniques that would raise the profile of their website, drive traffic and increase online sales. Forward3D General Manager, Martin McNulty, said, “There is a misconception among SMEs that search marketing is too expensive and complicated for them to make use of. In fact, in the right hands, the reverse is true – their flexibility provides them with the opportunity to experiment and develop the strategy with the highest ROI and as search is paid for on a cost-per-click model, there is very little wastage.” Search marketing channels such as SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, help companies appear higher on the search listings when customers type keywords related to their company’s product or service. Dr Sean Cummings, CEO of Freedom Health has worked with Forward3D to improve his website’s visibility, “At first I tried to run my own PPC campaign but it returned poor results and was very expensive. Rather than giving up, I decided to give the experts a go and since working with Forward3D Lite I have been able to reduce my PPC costs by 50% per month, experienced an increase in sales as my conversion rates have risen by six times the starting rate - all as a result of the refined targeting and choice of keywords that are now used to promote Freedom Health over the search engines.” McNulty continued, “95% of the SMEs we spoke with, believed it would be impossible for them to appear on the first page of search listings so they just overlooked using either SEO or PPC practices, believing it would be a waste of money as they would be unable to compete with their national rivals. However, simply setting up a website and hoping customers will somehow stumble across it, is no longer a viable business plan. You wouldn’t set up a shop without letting customers know its address and you shouldn’t set up a website without making it easy for people to find. PPC campaigns can be a cost effective way for companies to raise their profile in the early stages while working on developing the prominence of the website’s natural listing over time.” Forward3D recently launched its specialist SME offering, Forward3D Lite which offers companies with limited marketing budgets access to expert analysts who are able to devise paid search marketing campaigns that can create an immediate increase in both sales and traffic levels. Paid search campaigns can be set up within three days and Forward3D Lite clients are offered financial flexibility as there is no minimum advertising spend or minimum contract length. Forward3D Lite’s agile approach to working means that changes can be made to campaign structures on a regular basis to ensure optimal ROI. By isolating factors which may be impacting conversion rates, such as clicks, bounce rates, time on site and form completion, the agency can advise the client on changes that could be made to their website to ensure it is delivering the best results possible. For clients with region specific product or service offerings, the agency can customise geographically targeted campaigns to maximise the ROI.
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