Web marketing very simply defined

Okay, by now I’m sure most everyone out there has heard the term “web marketing”.  For that matter, I’m sure many of you have heard the acronyms SEO, PPC and online PR.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know; the last one was only half an acronym. Acronym or not, I’m here to help you understand what these terms mean and how they can contribute to providing your business with a successful online presence. Keep in mind this is a blog entry, so for now we’ll simply skim the surface of web marketing in general. I will elaborate further in blog posts to come. 

Web marketing.  What is it? Web marketing is the umbrella that covers all the different types of ways of increasing traffic, exposure and conversions on your web site. It’s a general term that could be used to reference a variety of different methods to increasing and improving your online exposure. Basically it says “Hey, I’m taking steps towards improving my web site, generating traffic to it, and increasing my chances of a user making a conversion. I’m active in web marketing”. To avoid confusion; when I use the term “Conversion” I’m speaking of the action you want your users to make. For example; if your business sells products, a conversion for you would be when someone buys your product. If you are a company that does not sell on the web, a conversion for you may be someone filling out your “Contact Us” form and requesting information. A conversion can be different from company to company and industry to industry. One thing remains true, positive conversions are ultimately what we are all after.

If you have a brick and mortar store or shop, you need to market that business / location to drive people to it and let people know you’re around, right? Once they are in your store, you’re going to have what we call “calls to action” that will help persuade the potential buyer into doing what you want, right? The web world is no different. We want to drive people to our site and once they are there, we want to provide them with a great experience and make it easy for them to do what you want them to do (buy a product, submit an inquiry, call you, etc.). That’s web marketing.

Again, we have simply skimmed the surface of all that is web marketing and I will be following up to explain in greater detail some of the activities that fall under the web marketing umbrella. Activities such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC). online PR, link building, social media outlets, etc.

Well, that’s it for now. Of course I’m open for questions, so feel free to drop me an email at josh@tkg.com.

Our friends at Worldwide Media Group and I look forward to helping you further understand “web marketing”. Take care.

    — Josh Best, The Karcher Group

Josh Best is a Sales Rep / Account Executive for The Karcher Group, a web development, marketing and hosting firm located in North Canton, Ohio.