Website Optimisation, Internet Marketers & Your Website’s Role

This website is not optimised. No website is but this one really isn’t optimised. There are all sorts of changes I should be making. And it nags at me. But my sub-optimal site doesn’t stop me getting clients…

Your website is not the panacea for all marketing woes some would have you believe it is.

E-business - A Crowded Playing Field: Level Maybe But Muddy With Many Players Embedded in the Mud

My challenge with this website is that I am a new player on a crowded online marketing playing field. The valued positions have been taken. Taken by people who are, understandably, reluctant to relinquish those positions.

Search engines take notice of what results get clicked on and, again understandably, top results get more clicks. So — even factoring in customisation of search results pages, which means that different people will see different results — it will be difficult to achieve natural search visibility for the more popular search terms.

And larger players have much deeper pockets with respect to paying for clicks associated with those same terms.

Don’t think I’m fishing for, “you poor marketing David amongst those search visibility hogging Goliaths”, sympathy. I’m not.

Website Optimisation Isn’t Enough To Win Website Optimisers Clients

The issue here is that, although I am committed to maintaining this site as a useful resource and introduction to my services, I don’t have huge expectations with respect to lead generation from it. At least, short term I don’t. Experience tells me building a site’s traffic is a long term project. And it takes time to build up content that demonstrates one’s expertise.

The website is an important part of my marketing strategy. But it is not the sole element. I have been involved in marketing web marketing services for long enough to know that other lead generation techniques often play a bigger part in the process. Referrals are key. And getting out and meeting prospects is essential.

I’m not the world’s most accomplished networker/smoozer. Indeed, I’d be happier if promoting my business was down to offering a best practice web site. It’s not though.

Happily, the Web does provide for those of us who are comfortable with off-line networking. Forums, online social networks and blogs provide opportunities to engage with your target market without having to cross a crowed room with a shaking hand extended.

“Why Are so Many Internet Marketing Consultant’s Websites Terrible?”

Larry Chase, founder and publisher of Web Digest for Marketers, recently asked “Why Are so Many Internet Marketing Consultant’s Websites Terrible?” He wondered how people presenting themselves as experts on everything from email marketing to search engine optimisation and internet marketing could fail to follow even basics of best practice for their specialty.

Good question. “Walk the talk,” and all that. I know I have been embarassed on more than one occassion when a client has wondered why the site of my organisation doesn’t do what I am suggesting they do. I have used the “do as I say not as I do” line in this blog more than once…

Even Website Optimisers and Internet Marketers Can’t Rely on a Website Alone

In an ideal world an online marketer’s site would be a bastion of best practice. Trouble is other priorities — crucially, billable hours helping clients achieve best practive — often get in the way. And then there is all the networking, traditional marketing, etc.

Focusing on providing an optimised website is a part of my marketing strategy. But one that could eat up all my marketing time if I let it. I know there is more to be done… There always will be but I can’t fixate on that at the expense of other parts of my strategy.

As a useful reply to Chase’s question suggested internet marketers’ site might be terrible because they are not where their work comes from. Alternatively, commenter Michael Lineham pointed out, professionals with neglected websites may have so much work that they have let their site slip.

Not a good look. And not advisable… Letting your marketing slide because you are too busy leads to plenty of time for marketing when the busy period ends. If an internet marketer or website optimiser’s site is truly terrible then I would start to question the value of their services.

But a little neglect isn’t necessarily an indication of ignorance.

So is this post an attempt to assuage my guilt/embarrassment about my own site’s failings? Honestly? Partly.

There is a message I’m leading up to though.

Bottom line:
Even for internet marketing professionals, a website can’t do all the marketing work. In some cases it is a small element in their marketing mix. And I worry that some internet marketers, so busy keeping up and promoting the wonders of internet marketing opportunities, can’t stand back enough to see whether the latest tactic or strategy is actually an opportunity for clients’ businesses.

I make a point of building a detailed understanding of clients’ businesses whenever I start working them. For me its the only way to be sure that you are recommending the right strategies.

If I ever came across a prospect or client who shouldn’t be allocating too much budget to optimizing their website, I’d tell them so.