The Starting Point

I set up Web 4 Marketing in August 2001. The aim was to use web marketing to sell web marketing consultancy and allied services.  My financial policy was to minimise the risk by minimising the investment. I achieved this by doing as much as possible by myself rather than relying on established experts. This took more time but I learned the details through personal experience.

I had previously run websites where I had the benefit of others doing the detail work.  This time around I thought it better to do it myself in order to ensure I learned the detail. This website is not just a brochure. It is also a test bed where I can try out new ideas before recommending them to clients.

The Objective

1. Create the preferred source of information for Directors of SME companies wishing to improve the efficiency of their marketing
2. Establish Web 4 Marketing as a source of trustworthy advice and potential consultant
3. Build a network of qualified sponsors and partners 
4. Adapt products and services to the needs of my web visitors

The Investment in the website

Total costs of designing and running the website in the first two years were as follows:

Costs have subsequently stayed at the same level.

Results as at November 2008

1. This year web development has concentrated on 'Social Media'.  But this is a trend I have not followed.  For most small businesses the time required to network successfully on line does not justify the cost.  Small business owners always have a problem in managing all the demands on their time; so only those selling online services or who have a personal love of blogging etc. can  expect immediate ROI.
2. The recession has further underlined the advantages of online business as against the traditional high-overhead route.
3. Businesses who continue to invest in their websites will emerge much stronger as a result of the recession, even compared to other online competition.

Results as at November 2007

1. This year I tried to automate my service and encourage new web entrepreneurs to build their first site properly targeted to achieve results.
2. The fundamental problem was that no one searches for 'test marketing' or similar.  Normally they assume that their website is going to work so long as it looks right to them.  It seems that they only learn as a result of a first failure so my new site at TestYourMarket.co.uk has also been a failure in not attracting interested visitors.
3. To use the web to educate a market requires significant investment.  I shall probably opt to follow customer demand rather than attempting change.

Results as at June 2006

1. I am refining the site to focus even tighter than I dared to do last year.  I have also reduced and simplified the wording because I believe that the web is becoming the 'fast food' of information.  People want to browse fast and still get a clear idea of the data they want.  If more detail is required that is better provided in a downloadable white paper, an e-zine.
2. I have particularly reduced the general information about web marketing techniques because my potential clients will want personal discussion and there are plenty of other sources for that information.
3. I also want to show clients that web marketing is a process of continual refinement rather than a series of upgrades.

Results as at June 2005

1. My attention is no longer on attracting visitors and enquiries.  Referrals are now a significant part of my business and I have enough clients to keep me busy.
2. However I think I need to ensure the quality is still right to show that I am myself keeping up with developments. 
3. I have launched a new site for Online Backup at www.web4backup.co.uk because I felt a gap in the market to explain the options to other non-techies like myself - and also because resulting enquiries will be handled by my partner specialists.
4. To my surprise, I spend more time with my clients on the marketing strategy issues and the measurement of results achieved than on the detail of SEO.  The technicalities take second place to the underlying strategy.

Early Lessons for the Webmaster

• Be a big fish in a small pond!

Visibility is the key. People go to look for whales, but  only notice the fish when the pool is small. 

If you concentrate on the UK market, there is no point in optimising for global search engines. The UK has less than 10% of all internet sites, so by concentrating on UK search engines you cut the competition by 90%, and potential sales hardly at all.

• No website is finished

Websites can always be improved in content and repeat visitors will be encouraged by new features. So plan your site with ease of change in mind before you even publish the first version.

• Words are better than pictures

If your priority is to attract new customers, the site must appeal first to the search engines so that people can find you. Search engines use text as the basis for categorising a site and ignore pictures.

Pictures/design only come into play once the visitor has arrived.

• Expect the Unexpected

The joy of the internet is that you don't know in advance quite what connections you are going to make.  Look out for the new opportunities and use the web site to develop and test new markets.

• Others like a mention

If you can write an article, or conduct a survey, that mentions other sites, they are likely to link to you and so help promote your own site.

• Don't destroy your own work

When you have worked hard to achieve good rankings in search engines and built up links from other sites, don't go and change your site structure and page names without careful thought. You could break all the established links.

• Always check the results

Monitor your web statistics and track the orders and enquiries from your site.  You can measure the results of your web promotion very accurately.  The main reason for disappointment at the results of a website is simply that no effort has been put into the promotion.

Our Future

You are my judge!  I hope you can readily see what I am doing and why. And if you want to grow your business at low cost, ask for my help