Four Online Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Feb 2nd, 2010 by admin
Online marketing is the process of driving Web traffic to a Web site. It includes paid-for and organic means, with one goal: creating and nurturing Web traffic which is likely to convert by taking a desired action such as buying/clicking on an ad. Getting your online marketing right takes time, knowledge and trial and error so when possible avoid common mistakes. Here are several typical online marketing mistakes to avoid:
- Not measuring - Each online marketing channel from paid ads to social media marketing has to be measured in terms of return on investment. It’s crucial to get a level of transparency so you know when to invest more in a particular channel, tweak or quit another channel altogether. So to avoid the first mistake look to deploy the free Google Analytics software across your Web site and for those selling online, deploy the e-commerce module as well.
- Little or no marketing experiments - There are many online marketing channels which could drive qualified Web traffic your way. To determine which will work for your brand and which will not, you’ll simply have to take a calculated risk. Reduce your financial risk by experimenting with new channels which are capped and, of course, measured.
- Limited multi-channel approach - Through the Web you can drive traffic using various means from organic search results to classified ads and, of course, social media. Using a combination of channels is seen as a type of multi-channel approach. The key to successfully running a multi-channel approach is to use all the channels at your disposal and not to limit yourself to one or two channels. Here are examples: a) paid ads; b) organic search results; c) affiliate marketing; d) 3rd party platforms such as eBay, Amazon.com and Etsy; e) Google Local/Maps; f) Google Product such as Google Base; g) social media; etc.
- Paying too much for success - Once you have the means to measure success/failure it’s very easy to determine how much you are paying for each successful goal, be it a sale, lead generation or subscription. Also known as Cost-Per-Action or CPA this pricing model can be used to evaluate the profitability of a channel. For example (very basic), if you are running paid ads and your conversion rate is 10% it means 1 out of 10 visitors will convert. Now calculate how much 10 clicks have cost you and you’ve got your CPA. If the CPA is higher than your profit margin, you’re losing money.
I hope you found my tips useful. Good luck with your online marketing.
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Guest article by Michelle Strassburg Co-Founder at Wood and Beyond, sellers of wood flooring and oak worktops. Michelle has over 10 years experience managing online marketing and is an active blogger.
Thanks for posting this, I think I might just bookmark this.
I think the biggest possible mistake is just to not put effort into your marketing. As an author of a book I recently read commented: most people are lazy. While the ideas (he said himself) in his book were nothing new (and he proves they work), most people that read about them will go right back to watching TV, reading blogs and then wondering why some people are successful and they are not.
Most people won’t admit they’re lazy, but I suspect that’s the real cause of a lot of failure.
You are right about the online market, it plays a vital role in gaining the exposure on the search engine. You have mentioned about the affiliates marketing which is another important area of marketing. But marketing your service and product is not as easy as lot people think, some people don’t put any effort because they might feel bored.
Great post.
This is really good article and reminds me of the saying - what you measure you can manage and this applies to website monitoring, as it does for any part of your business