Online Marketing Pitfalls

Online marketing has enormous potential to drive traffic to your website, improve brand awareness and increase sales if used correctly. Unfortunately, many users fail to make the most of the opportunity and succumb to a number of possible pitfalls. Simple things like not providing contact details and up-to-date content can have a huge negative impact on your site, as can the blunders listed below:

Ignoring valuable information

Some companies spend millions on cross-media advertising to drive traffic to their sites but make the mistake of doing nothing with the information the site captures once users get there. Registering users' details gives you valuable information about your best customers, who they are and what their habits are in order for you to market to them more successfully.

Failing to analyze site logs

One of the major pitfalls of online marketing is ignoring your site log. The valuable information it contains can tell you how visitors got to your site, and how they move through it. Your site log can tell you what information, products and services are most popular and can help you improve your site structure and your future marketing campaigns. Failing to make the most of these marketing opportunities can see you miss out on numerous sales.

Pushing sales too hard

Businesses often forget who they're talking to once they start an email marketing campaign. Treat your virtual customers with the same respect as a customer standing by your cash register. Don't jump in immediately with a hard sell or you'll alienate people before you ever make a sale. Establish a relationship first, and send useful information to pique their interest in your company and service before making any sales pitch.

Forgetting the basics

Don't get overwhelmed by the power of online marketing and forget all you've ever learned about winning customers. Use online techniques in combination with traditional direct marketing for the best response. You won't establish a lucrative new relationship by email alone, and the best way to handle a sticky sales situation is in person: a well-timed phone call can do much more than a badly worded email.

Becoming a victim of click fraud

Pay per click advertising has revolutionized online marketing but click fraud has tarnished its fresh image already. As yet search engines have failed to devise a foolproof method of safeguarding their advertisers from click fraud. Constant monitoring by the search engines and by the advertisers is still required or marketers may continue to be forced to pay for high-volume fraudulent clicks. It's essential to track your click through rate and conversion rate to flag up any potential problems early, and imperative that you watch the dollars you spend on advertising and the return on your investment.