Hi - I am a relative newbie to IM and want to gather some opinions on this. What are the most common Internet Marketing mistakes you have encountered?

Opinions appreciated

Tom

Thanks Gordon for taking the time to respond and thanks for the free info which is fantastic. I think my original question was misleading what I should of asked is 'in your experience, what are the most common mistakes companies make when they decide to do business on the web?'

Thanks Again

Tom

On 09:55:54 20 May 2006 GordonGoodfellow wrote:

Hi,
A lot of people starting out in IM think that there are all sorts of mysteries and even "secrets" about how to do things properly without having terrible things happen to them like being deleted from the search engine listings (and even worse).

But like everything else there are no real secrets, and common sense usually prevails. However, a little knowledge is never a dangerous thing, especially for people keen to make a good start.

Applied Web Marketing is specially for beginners, and is writen in plain English. There are lots of free things here which you should discover before you decide to put your hand in your pocket. There's also a free downloadable ebook which covers everything from domain names to merchant accounts and their online alternatives.

Best wishes,

Gordon

On 21:12:27 19 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Hi - I am a relative newbie to IM and want to gather some opinions on this. What are the most common Internet Marketing mistakes you have encountered?

Opinions appreciated

Tom

Yet again I am grateful for your response Gordon. You have raised a very good point and one I think is prevalent. When businesses latch on to the idea of using the web for their business the website is all too often designed by the MDs nephew! or for larger companies Internet Marketing becomes the responsibility of the engineers in the IT department.

Tom

On 10:13:50 21 May 2006 GordonGoodfellow wrote:

Hi Tom,

Glad the site was of use. Probably the most common mistake that businesses make when they decide to set up a web presence is that they (still) think that having a website is going to produce the golden eggs without having to do much work.

This was never the case, and is far more so now, with a greater number of competing websites in any particular market. A website part of a business is never less "real" than the business itself. So for that reason as much effort needs to be made - especially with things like customer retention which can directly relate to how easy a customer finds it to navigate the site.

Businesses should realise that if they have a web presence then they need to be able to put in the effort and resources to maintain it properly. If they cannot, or if they choose not to, then it's probably best that they don't have a web presence at all. Because if they find themselves asking questions like that then it probably means they are doing quite well without a website.

Businesses should treat their virtual space as if it were bricks and mortar.

On 21:21:52 20 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Thanks Gordon for taking the time to respond and thanks for the free info which is fantastic. I think my original question was misleading what I should of asked is 'in your experience, what are the most common mistakes companies make when they decide to do business on the web?'

Thanks Again

Tom

On 09:55:54 20 May 2006 GordonGoodfellow wrote:

Hi,
A lot of people starting out in IM think that there are all sorts of mysteries and even "secrets" about how to do things properly without having terrible things happen to them like being deleted from the search engine listings (and even worse).

But like everything else there are no real secrets, and common sense usually prevails. However, a little knowledge is never a dangerous thing, especially for people keen to make a good start.

Applied Web Marketing is specially for beginners, and is writen in plain English. There are lots of free things here which you should discover before you decide to put your hand in your pocket. There's also a free downloadable ebook which covers everything from domain names to merchant accounts and their online alternatives.

Best wishes,

Gordon

On 21:12:27 19 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Hi - I am a relative newbie to IM and want to gather some opinions on this. What are the most common Internet Marketing mistakes you have encountered?

Opinions appreciated

Tom

Thanks Andrew for your input - much appreciated. 

Tom

On 07:07:04 22 May 2006 scaifea wrote:

There are so many! But for me, these are the key ones that I see a lot of:

AdWords:
People starting AdWord campaigns without understanding a) what are the most cost effective and profitable keywords to bid for, b) what words (for the ad) will actually turn on and keep a visitor, c) not keeping an eye on ROI and spending a businesses money like it’s water!

Propositions:
Not understanding what drives a potential customer online, what will persuade them to investigate further and to buy.

Metrics:
Not understanding the full suite of metrics that makes any marketing successful, from pure ROI, to market share, profitability, customer life value etc

All the Best
Andrew

On 21:12:27 19 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Hi - I am a relative newbie to IM and want to gather some opinions on this. What are the most common Internet Marketing mistakes you have encountered?

Opinions appreciated

Tom

Thanks for your input Shelly

Tom

On 19:03:52 23 May 2006 ShellyChapman wrote:

Hello Tom,

You created a very interesting thread here, which I had pleasure to read!

Your last sentence reminded me in fact of a PhD thesis about assessing the level of awareness amongst marketers of marketing technology. There are indeed rather a lot of organisations that employ IT professionals to develop a corporate website. In my opinion, it should be left to the Online Marketing Manager working in co-operation with the IT/web design team to implement the e-Marketing Plans drafted by a professional marketer.

As to common marketing mistakes. Yes, there are too many... one of which is rushing to submit a site to the main search engines before it is ready. i.e. before the Meta Tags are properly drafted etc.

Hope it helps.

Shelly.

On 20:25:18 21 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Yet again I am grateful for your response Gordon. You have raised a very good point and one I think is prevalent. When businesses latch on to the idea of using the web for their business the website is all too often designed by the MDs nephew! or for larger companies Internet Marketing becomes the responsibility of the engineers in the IT department.

Tom

On 10:13:50 21 May 2006 GordonGoodfellow wrote:

Hi Tom,

Glad the site was of use. Probably the most common mistake that businesses make when they decide to set up a web presence is that they (still) think that having a website is going to produce the golden eggs without having to do much work.

This was never the case, and is far more so now, with a greater number of competing websites in any particular market. A website part of a business is never less "real" than the business itself. So for that reason as much effort needs to be made - especially with things like customer retention which can directly relate to how easy a customer finds it to navigate the site.

Businesses should realise that if they have a web presence then they need to be able to put in the effort and resources to maintain it properly. If they cannot, or if they choose not to, then it's probably best that they don't have a web presence at all. Because if they find themselves asking questions like that then it probably means they are doing quite well without a website.

Businesses should treat their virtual space as if it were bricks and mortar.

On 21:21:52 20 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Thanks Gordon for taking the time to respond and thanks for the free info which is fantastic. I think my original question was misleading what I should of asked is 'in your experience, what are the most common mistakes companies make when they decide to do business on the web?'

Thanks Again

Tom

On 09:55:54 20 May 2006 GordonGoodfellow wrote:

Hi,
A lot of people starting out in IM think that there are all sorts of mysteries and even "secrets" about how to do things properly without having terrible things happen to them like being deleted from the search engine listings (and even worse).

But like everything else there are no real secrets, and common sense usually prevails. However, a little knowledge is never a dangerous thing, especially for people keen to make a good start.

Applied Web Marketing is specially for beginners, and is writen in plain English. There are lots of free things here which you should discover before you decide to put your hand in your pocket. There's also a free downloadable ebook which covers everything from domain names to merchant accounts and their online alternatives.

Best wishes,

Gordon

On 21:12:27 19 May 2006 TomMorgan wrote:

Hi - I am a relative newbie to IM and want to gather some opinions on this. What are the most common Internet Marketing mistakes you have encountered?

Opinions appreciated

Tom