A website is an important marketing tool.
The Internet has grown to such an extent since its inception that, for many businesses, it has supplanted other traditional channels of marketing communication as the primary means to reach certain kinds of consumers. According to PC World magazine, the Internet's growth threatens to end the dominance of some traditional marketing communication channels such as printed newspapers and magazines. As more and more marketing dollars move from traditional media and onto the Internet, having a marketing website a business necessity.
Reach Today's Consumer
Use of the Internet by all U.S. demographic groups is very high. According to eMarketer, a digital marketing research company, 221 million people in the U.S. are forecasted to be online in 2010, about 71 percent of the total population. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that 76 percent of Americans were online in 2009. Any business who sells directly to consumers cannot afford not to put their message in front of those online consumers.
Product Awareness
With so many eyes looking at computer screens daily, creating awareness of a company or product through establishment of a website does not automatically guarantee site traffic and awareness building. According to MoneyOnline.net, to attract visitors to a website the ongoing discipline of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be practiced. SEO attempts to boost website rankings through the use of keywords, link building and updated content. Higher rankings mean more awareness and more marketing traffic to a website. A good adjunct to SEO is creating awareness by advertising on the Internet. Internet advertising is comparatively inexpensive, making it an ideal choice for smaller businesses to create awareness of their business and drive traffic to their website for marketing purposes.
Detailed Product Message
A website allows marketers the chance to wax poetically about their product or service in a way unaffordable in any other marketing channel. A large business website can have thousands of pages. According to Boutell.com, the average number of pages created by websites is 273. With that number of pages, marketers are able to explain their business or product in great detail: the how, why, where, and what, using words and images. There is no limit.
Establish Credibility/Authority
A website can be a quick route to establishing credibility and conferring authority status. A website allows the marketer to position its products and company. By writing and publishing articles and submitting those articles to the thousands of directories and search engines online, anyone can become an authority in his field. Authorities are turned to as trusted sources for business interaction.
Transactional Marketing
Far from their humble roots as digital brochures, websites have become sophisticated portals for ecommerce and transactional marketing. Product manufacturers, designers, even small mom and pop producers, can establish a merchant account to accept credit cards and do real cash business online.
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