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The Number One Rule For A Professional Business On The Internet: Be Found Online
By: Jim Warholic

Many B2B and B2C companies lose track of the number one rule when a website is first launched online. Much effort goes into the Wow factor, with trying to make the site a flash advertisement or spending ten or twenty thousand dollars or more with a graphic design artist that knows very little about marketing from a SEO, Search Engine Optimization standpoint. In fact many of these graphic designed sites provide very little substance when it pertains to SEO. Most of these websites can not be found online.

The majority of companies in the world are the small business types. They do not have the brand recognition of a Sears, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Dell. Because of the brand recognition from large companies, it is very easy to find these sites online. On the other hand, small business sites may be known by their company branding in a particular market segment but not by new customers searching for what products or services are provided.

Web branding is particularly a problem in the consumer services fields such as: Realtors, Attorneys, Insurance Agents, Doctors, and Dentists. Many of these consumer services fields have taken a cookie cutter approach to building a website. In many instances the websites are built using a frame approach. This makes it very easy to put the website together for new individuals but the content is not original and can not be properly cataloged by the search engines to be included in the results for the business keywords and key phrases. Take for example a Realtor with a website from a company that produces thousands with a template driven frame system. The only difference between Realtor number one and number two is the picture and maybe the graphics on the pages. All the content within the pages are the same for all Realtors using this approach. With the large increase of Realtors in California alone, how much sense does it make, that a new site with the same content is going to show up in the SERP, search engine results pages?

To be fair, while this frame approach does have certain drawbacks from a search standpoint there are some good qualities to consider. Many of the sites have built in CRM, Customer Relation Management software that makes it very easy to maintain contact with leads and customers on an ongoing basis.

Customized Websites Internet Marketing Solutions

No need to re-invent the wheel. Customized Real Estate Websites and others can be designed and built around the frames of the cookie cutter style. This has the advantage of being able to include the CRM software and other marketing and advertising features. This certainly takes more work but the payoff in the long run will be worth it. Search Engines will begin to catalog the information and include it in their search results pages. People searching for the product or service will find the website, particularly if it is targeting a local market segment. See: Local Search Marketing And Advertising

Balancing Internet Marketing And Advertising With Eye Candy

Website functionality and visually appealing features must be balanced by the first rule: being found online. If a website is nothing but eye candy the search engines will not find and catalog it, versus having an all text site will get pretty drab and boring, with very little in the way of conversions (Having a visitor go to the next step i.e. make contact, purchase a product, sign up for a technology and online advertising newsletter, or obtain more information.)

Content Management for Increased Sales

Internet marketing and online advertising is very fluid in the dynamics of search today. Maintaining fresh content is a key to increasing the online sales that can be generated through a website. Updating a site regularly has at least two significant advantages over others. 1: Content will be fresh for regular visitors and will likely result in return trips. 2: Search engine algorithms view updated content as a positive when it comes to ranking in the SERP.

No One Said Search Engine Marketing Was Going To Be Easy
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There are well over one hundred factors that play into obtaining good rankings in the SERPs. The time and money costs can be significant for business today. The solution is to leverage the talents and expertise of someone with experience that have put in thousands of hours of testing, analysis, and proven ethical concepts to improve the bottom line for your B2B or B2C business. Contact Professional Web Services, Internet Marketing Services, Online Advertising Strategies, and Web Branding Solutions.

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Labels: B2B, B2C, Best Buy, Business, CMS, Dell, Internet, Internet Marketing, Online, Online Advertising, Sears, Wal-Mart, Website, Website Marketing

  

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Is your business website information out of date? If so, you may be guilty of false advertising especially when it applies to the consumer market place.

Many B2C websites have appeared in recent years with products, services, price lists, and pictures representing the actual consumer goods that a business sells. Many websites are put together as a means of having an Internet presence without understanding the full implications of not maintaining the site. Little or no thought has gone in to the general upkeep of the site. Overlooking the general upkeep can get you in a world of hurt.

The FTC has Facts For Businesses, a set of general guidelines that are quite helpful.
Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road

Advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers.
In addition, claims must be substantiated.

GENERAL OFFERS AND CLAIMS
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to act in the interest of all consumers to prevent deceptive and unfair acts or practices. In interpreting Section 5 of the Act, the Commission has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to:

* mislead consumers and
* affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service.

In addition, an act or practice is unfair if the injury it causes, or is likely to cause, is:

* substantial
* not outweighed by other benefits and
* not reasonably avoidable.

Under these legal guidelines there certainly are a lot of areas where having a misleading ad can bring about a lawsuit.

"But, I am not advertising on the Internet. I don't use PPC (pay-per-click), newspaper ads, magazine advertisements, or any type of advertising. So, you see, there is no way I could be doing any type of false advertising."

Think again

You have a website online with prices that are out of date, pictures that do not fully explain the details, and other descriptions that are flat out wrong. By just having an Internet presence you are in fact marketing your business online. Maybe it is not the best of marketing, but never the less, by having a business online the website gets picked up by search engines. Other websites and directories may also be linking to yours. If a new customer comes upon your site through any media form, even an E-mail signature block, and the information is not accurate or misleading, you may very well be guilty of false advertising.

Webmasters and Website Designers

Not only can a business be held liable for false advertising, but so can the webmaster or the designer of the website. See the FTC quote:

Sellers are responsible for claims they make about their products and services. Third parties - such as advertising agencies or website designers and catalog marketers - also may be liable for making or disseminating deceptive representations if they participate in the preparation or distribution of the advertising, or know about the deceptive claims.

* Advertising agencies or website designers are responsible for reviewing the information used to substantiate ad claims. They may not simply rely on an advertiser's assurance that the claims are substantiated. In determining whether an ad agency should be held liable, the FTC looks at the extent of the agency's participation in the preparation of the challenged ad, and whether the agency knew or should have known that the ad included false or deceptive claims.

Look at that closely again. Website designers and catalog marketers may be opening themselves up to legal action. By disseminating deceptive representations of products or services and they participate in the preparation or distribution of the advertising, OR simply know about the deceptive claims, they can be held liable.

Catalog Marketers

Catalog marketers have a responsibility to check out the claims. Products that sound too good to be true can come back to bite the catalog marketer.

To protect themselves, catalog marketers should ask for material to back up claims rather than repeat what the manufacturer says about the product. If the manufacturer doesn't come forward with proof or turns over proof that looks questionable, the catalog marketer should see a yellow "caution light" and proceed appropriately, especially when it comes to extravagant performance claims, health or weight loss promises, or earnings guarantees. In writing ad copy, catalogers should stick to claims that can be supported. Most important, catalog marketers should trust their instincts when a product sounds too good to be true.

For the complete Internet marketing and online advertising information from the FTC click here for the Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road in PDF format.

Note: Ignorance of the Law is no excuse.

Internet Marketing and Online Advertising Procurement

It is your desire to increase online traffic, Web business, and improve sales. Sometimes to do this requires stepping back for a moment and analyze the false honesty your website might portray. Taking a critical marketing approach, looking at the site from a consumer standpoint, and asking yourself the tough advertising questions may reveal a foundation that needs to be fixed. Fixing the foundation will be key for your future e-Business success.

For a Free, No Obligation, Website Analysis, contact Professional Web Services, SEO Internet marketing, Online advertising, and Web branding specialists.

Labels: B2C, eBusiness, Ethics, FTC, Online Advertising, Pay-per-click Ads, PPC, Webmasters, Website

  

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