Frequently Asked Questions on Internet marketing
Q. All my customers are local and come into my store to purchase. Why should I hassle with a website?
Q. Describe some of the benefits to my business by having a website.
Q. Most Frum families don’t have internet in their homes. Why would having a website increase business if my customers won’t use it?
Q. Aren’t websites very expensive? Can my business afford such a great expense?
Q. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Q. Why should I bother investing in optimization on my website?
Q. Doesn’t my web designer do SEO already? Why does it cost extra?
Q. Is there any need in having SEO performed specifically for the Frum marketplace?
Q. What will it cost to have my website optimized?
Q. Once my site is optimized, do I need to do anything else in order to start making money with my website?
Q. How do I get started advertising on the sides of search engines?
Q. How is advertising online different than traditional means of advertising?
Q. Why can’t I manage my own Pay-Per-Click advertising, without spending the extra money on hiring someone to manage it for me?
Q. How will I know if the money I spend for online marketing is working?
Q. All my customers are local and come into my store to purchase. Why should I hassle with a website?
A. While your business/store may set up to do business on a local level, you certainly would not turn down business that comes in over the phone. A website allows anyone searching for what you sell to find your business. Why not spend a little extra money to dramatically increase your business exposure, and with it, the opportunity of growing your sales and profits.
Q. Describe some of the benefits to my business by having a website.
A. Here is a short summary of the great advantages to having your own online site:
- Grow your customer base by expanding beyond your local area
- Stay connected with current customers through the use of email newsletters, announcements of specials, loyalty programs, new products
- Allows people to research the product online before coming to the store to purchase in person (online to offline sales)
- Strengthens your reputation and increases brand awareness
- Having the answers to your customers’ most frequent questions, saving you and your employees time and effort (ex. “When do you close?” “How much does this cost?” “Do you carry…?” etc.)
Q. Most Frum families don’t have internet in their homes. Why would having a website increase business if my customers won’t use it?
A. Recent statistics put Internet usage at 73% of all US homes. Estimates of Internet usage in Frum households is at nearly 50%. One would have a difficult time finding any workplace, Frum or not, that does not have Internet access. Many Frum people are already used to conducting business online whether with the DMV, an Ebay auction or Amazon.com. With the increasing use of handheld devices such as the BlackBerry and Treo, which are widely used amongst all segments of the Frum community, this provides even more access to the online marketplace.
Q. Aren’t websites very expensive? Can my business afford such a great expense?
A. A website can range from a small 1-3 page simply designed site all the way to a 10,000+ page state-of-the-art/world class e-commerce site. It may not be wise initially to place all of your products online, but you can start with a few of the most popular items. The cost of building a basic website that presents your business to the web can be lower than a typical magazine advertisement. As your online business increases, you can invest in expanding your site accordingly, at a pace that your business can handle.
Q. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
A. SEO means constructing a site so that it should have the highest chance of being found by a typical user searching for the products or services that you sell. (Example: If you sell sterling silver items, your site should be listed in the first 10 results for “silver menorah”).
Q. Why should I bother investing in optimization on my website?
A. 75% of all online purchases are first made by a user accessing a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or MSN. Not doing SEO for your site is akin to opening a store, hanging up a sign, but making your phone number unlisted. Without an optimized website your site will not be found by those looking for it, unless they are typing the address directly into the box.
Q. Doesn’t my web designer do SEO already? Why does it cost extra?
A. Web designers are generally not skilled in the intricacies of optimization. What they tend to do, is outsource SEO to freelancers in foreign countries (e.g. India) that are not familiar with the English language. It is very important to have the SEO performed by one who is very familiar with your market and the language of your customers.
Q. Is there any need in having SEO performed specifically for the Frum marketplace?
A. SEO is even more important when dealing with a focused market such as the Frum world. A key component of SEO is a keyword strategy which includes many different spellings that may be used in a search, and this is even more prevalent when searching common Frum terms. This is another reason why your SEO should not be done by someone from a foreign country who is totally unfamiliar with our culture and habits.
Q. What will it cost to have my website optimized?
A. The cost to have SEO performed for a site is evaluated primarily on the following two factors: How many pages the site has, and how competitive is that particular market. As SEO must be done differently for each page of the site, a larger site requires more SEO. If your market is small, high rankings are relatively easy to achieve. On the other hand, in a very competitive market, it will require many hours of work and months of ongoing maintenance in order to rank well in the search engine results.
Q. Once my site is optimized, do I need to do anything else in order to start making money with my website?
A. SEO alone does not guarantee online business, but it does put you in a position to receive web traffic. Think about if you would set up a store, put a sign out front, and get a free listing in the local yellow pages. Your store will be found, but there is still plenty more of advertising that can be done to achieve maximum results.
Q. How do I get started advertising on the sides of search engines?
A. These ads are called PPC ads, or Pay-Per-Click ads. Each major search engine has them. You enter the keywords that should trigger the ad to be shown, enter a bid that you are willing to pay for each click, and your ads will display in the “sponsored listings” for the search terms that you bid on.
Q. How is advertising online different than traditional means of advertising?
A. There are significant advantages to online advertising. For one, online advertising can be focused specifically to your target audience who are searching for your product, whereas in the offline world is difficult to do so. Additionally, online advertising gives you the unique capability of being able to track your marketing results with analytics software, something that is very difficult to do with traditional forms of marketing.
Q. Why can’t I manage my own Pay-Per-Click advertising, without spending the extra money on hiring someone to manage it for me?
A. Online marketing is an area of expertise that requires full attention by the marketer and learning a whole new advertising technology. When a business owner advertises online in a haphazard way they will find themselves spending more money than necessary to acquire customers. More importantly, a professional has the time and resources to be focused solely on the many online advertising duties. In most cases, the additional profit your business will realize from using an advertising professional will easily cover the costs associated with it.
Q. How will I know if the money I spend for online marketing is working?
A. The online world gives a business many different ways to track how it is doing. By installing and monitoring easy to read reporting tools on a site, such as Hitslink or Google Analytics, a site owner and advertising expert can detect where improvements can be made in order to maximize profits from the site. In addition, these tools provide an easy way to tell in a short amount of time which advertising campaigns are working, and which aren’t. This information can be invaluable to your business. By cutting advertising spending where it is least effective, you are greatly increasing your profits.