Web Advertising - Say It Loud, Say It Bold

"Six Questions That Produce Successful Web Advertising" was an article written by Jerry Bader that caught my eye this morning. I'm always looking for ways to improve my marketing services.

Reading the article, I found a couple remarks that struck a chord with me and my philosophy on web marketing. Here's the first one:

You would think that everyone in business would be able to tell you what they do and why you should be doing business with them; unfortunately the sad truth is many business executives can't. In fact one of the biggest problems in designing websites has always been getting appropriate raw material that can be turned into meaningful presentations: a handful of badly written brochures and a few out-of-date photographs are not going to make much of an impression.

Jerry lives in MY world! I sometimes don't get much from my clients in way of material, so I create very visual web sites to help disguise that fact. While I believe it helps the marketing message, I think it can only go so far. You need to use professional copy and product images.

The other issue the article addressed that is so relevant:

There are many methods that can be employed to drive appropriate traffic to your site: search engine optimization is only one. Have you written and published articles and advice on what you do, have you created a blog or a MySpace page to create a community of interest, or have you issued press releases on new developments and product releases? If you're relying solely on search engine optimization as a substitute for marketing, you are not doing everything you can to attract new business.

Search engines do supply some good traffic, but you must prove yourself worthy of their rankings. Getting "communities" on the Internet to endorse your site and send traffic to it, traffic which, by the way, is pre-qualified for your marketing message, is a great way to increase your search engine exposure too. One method without the other, seems to be putting all your eggs in one basket.