Search Engine Marketing Now More Important Than Ever (Part 1)

Published on: August 5th, 2008 12:01am by: creativebeing

Will high gas prices and the looming economic recession encourage more people to use the Internet rather than drive their cars? A leading Internet marketing expert thinks so and he says businesses should take action now to improve their online marketing.

(OPENPRESS) August 5, 2008 — There is one obvious (or perhaps not so obvious to some) fact regarding high gas prices and our current economic condition: folks just ain’t getting out like they used to. The combination of a looming recession and the cost of gas means people are opting for staying close to home rather than jumping in their vehicles and going out. This has seriously impacted many industries whose fortunes depend upon customers driving to their place of business. As a result, retail stores, shopping malls, theaters and restaurants are all seeing a big decline in business for the simple reason that people can’t afford to go out as much as they used to.

So if people aren’t getting out as much, what are they turning to in order to make up for their lack of cash in order to go out and about?

“They’re flocking to the Internet,” says Internet Marketing guru Thomas H Faulkner. Faulkner, owner of Global Marketing Media (www.GlobalMarketingMedia.com) has excellent instincts when it comes to trends on the Net. “It isn’t like the Internet isn’t already enormously popular,” he says, “but this particular set of economic circumstances is essentially forcing the public to use the web in order to do their shopping and become more efficient in their spending habits.”

Nowadays, instead of just hopping in the car and heading down to the local mall or driving all the way across town, many people are now checking things out on the Internet first just to make sure they aren’t wasting money in some way. If they want to comparison shop, many people are realizing that a visit to Google or a site like Buy.com might be their first best option to find out who is selling what at what price.

Problem is, many companies have not invested enough resources in getting found on the Internet and online marketing.

“Unfortunately, when it comes to websites, it is definitely not a case of “build it and they will come” much to the frustration of many website owners,” says Faulkner. “”I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve heard the statement”I’ve spent all this money on my website and I can’t understand why there isn’t any traffic.” I understand the frustration, but building a website is only the first part of the online marketing battle.”

Faulkner places part of the “blame” on web designers and web developers who are put on the spot to produce a website that is going to generate traffic and profits. The truth of the matter is that many website creators do not know everything that it takes to create a site that is completely search engine optimized. Of course, no one is going to admit that if the question comes up, but the millions of beautiful websites that have no search engine ranking, no web presence, and no traffic are testimony to this fact.

If the web designers and web developers really did know SEO (search engine optimization) and search engine marketing then the website would be highly ranked on search engines like Google and have lots of web traffic.

“Website design and website development are highly specialized fields and in all honesty, you want to have the best website developer you can get your hands on in order to have the best search engine marketing,” Faulkner says. “But the smart website owner will have his website designed with the consultation of a search engine marketing specialist. That way, all elements of the design from the copy, to the links, to the graphics and meta tags are all in alignment. That’s the basis for a great website that gets a ton of web traffic.”

Faulkner is a great believer in creating the most aesthetic and beautiful website possible. But he points out that the layout of the website has a lot more to do with converting visits into sales as opposed to driving traffic to the site. Driving traffic to the site is a big accomplishment unto itself. Once they’re there, the big challenge is to convert that website visitor into a sale (or sign-up or whatever it is one wants to accomplish with the website). In fact, his mantra in website development is “Don’t make me think”.

“The more users become comfortable and experienced with the Internet, the less tolerant they are of what they consider “inferior”” websites,” explains Faulkner. “Users want to move at light speed, and as a result, it doesn’t take a new web surfer to have virtually no tolerance if he or she can’t find what they want in a fraction of a second.”

Put another way, the savvy Internet user who can’t immediately find some piece of information, a product, a link, or how to buy something with ease and intuition will at that point leave the site. Those who don’t have great sites that are extremely user friendly suffer the consequences: a lot of visits, but no sales or conversions.

But great conversions or not, it is meaningless unless there is adequate traffic to the website. This is what Faulkner has to say about creating traffic and getting Internet users to the website (to be continued).

For more information about Internet Marketing contact Thomas H. Faulkner at 818.588.2136 or visit his website at www.globalmarketingmedia.com.

Written by C.J Sears