Online marketing appears to be easy: build a website, purchase some keywords on Google or Yahoo, and then sit back and watch people flock to your website to buy your products or services. In reality, it rarely works that easily.
Just about every mistake made on the web derives from the belief that designing a website, marketing your website, and measuring the results are separate activities.

In fact, the opposite holds true: you must attack internet marketing with an approach that recognizes the interrelatedness of, for example, the structure of a website and its ability to rank
highly in search engine results.

Ideally, your search engine optimization consultants, graphic designers, technology architects and coders, and media buyers should work together as a single unit, even if they are not from the same company. Failing to take such an approach can result one or more of the following Big Mistakes…

Big Mistake #1: Believing That Keyword Advertising Is Everything
Everyday thousands of people are pouring money into pay-per-click search engine advertising. These advertisers only care about being number one in ad words, when they should be more concerned with end results. The Google bidding model, in which advertisers compete against each other, ensures the highest cost per click for Google, but it doesn’t ensure advertisers will earn a healthy ROI.

People forget that a Top-Ten organic search result is just as powerful as an ad that costs $5.50. Plus, there’s actually a lot of people who are more inclined to click an organic search result because they think it has more credibility than a paid advertisement.
Instead of focusing all your efforts on keyword advertising, you have to strike a balance with organic search, eNewsletters, email, blogs, and all the other marketing vehicles available on the internet. In the long run you don’t want to be at the hands of Google Policy.

Big Mistake #2: Thinking Cool Design Equals Good Marketing
You want visitors to understand your message, buy your products and/or services, support your cause, etc. and the best way to achieve that is to build a website that appeals to them. That means using the right design. Not the “cool” one.

Most websites are clearly built to appeal to the tastes of the CEO, the marketer, or the VP of sales. These sites don’t address the needs of the customer. A 50-second Flash animation may tickle someone’s ego, but it makes your site invisible to search engines and may completely turn-off potential customers who just want to buy a product and get out as quickly as possible.
Your customers want have a conversation with you, where you exchange information, discover their needs, and offer solutions. If a Flash animation helps accomplish that goal, fine. Otherwise, focus on solving your customer’s problem, and leave out the nifty graphics.

Check back next week for Part 2 of “The Five Big Online Marketing Mistakes”