Updated November 25, 2021

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Online Marketing Crown Jewel

Effective online marketing requires juggling many components these days. How much is too much? Is it all really necessary? Well, the answer is “it depends.” It depends upon your business and where you customers and prospects hang out.  We think of websites as a crown jewel, and everything else is complementary. Here are four reasons why a website should be at the center of all online marketing activity:

1. Organized Information

Tweets and Facebook posts can be interesting. But they have a limited shelf life. Yes, they are recorded forever but the amount of time they show up in someone’s stream is short. According to SEOmoz, a tweet’s prime is less than 20 minutes. In the B2B purchasing cycle, prospective buyers usually conduct research. What’s your expertise? Who have you helped? What problems do you solve? Hunting around in a Twitter feed or Facebook page may provide a piece of the story, but a website organizes the information in a clean (and hopefully intuitive) format.

2. More Information

By linking those tweets or posts to a website, you can expand on those ideas. 140 characters just doesn’t provide enough room to flesh out complex ideas. Your website provides a medium that can give more information for fact finders who need data as part of their decision-making process. decisions. Product descriptions, testimonials, case studies, bios. These are examples where more help the sales process. That’s why we emphasize content as part of online marketing efforts.

3. A Place for Conversion

While social media provides a space for conversation (aka engagement), not all mediums provide a vehicle for conversion. What is conversion? It’s the transition from visitor to consumer of information, then to prospect and finally to client. This is where your online marketing strategy comes into play. Blog posts provides timely information, demonstrates expertise, and gives insight on your business’ brand. A white paper provides more in-depth information in exchange for an email address. Now you’ve got a lead to nurture through email marketing campaign.

4. Measure, Measure, Measure

When set up properly a website can measure a great deal about visitor traffic, consumption of information, and engagement. While social media tools are getting better, website analytics provide more robust data collection, trending tools, and reports for strategic insight. Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools are free. They provide keen insight as to what’s happening in the website ecosystem. Social media is a fabulous way to gain exposure and drive traffic. That’s why tracking Social Analytics in GA can provide important insight as to where you should spend time and money promoting your business.

So now that you know why a website is the hub of your online marketing, what changes will you make as you prepare for 2013?