MARKETING/BUSINESS EXPERTISE and Websites

by Monty Loree

by Monty Loree MARKETING / BUSINESS EXPERTISE and WebsitesLately we have been consulting websites with how to market their websites. Businesses come to us with many types of perceptions of how their website should work, and how they should market them.We get comments like, "we would like to have a FREE site, but we would like to make some money". Or customers say, "we would like the best looking site on the net, with the best graphics." Some tell us that they don't want to spend much time writing about their products. They would rather just show people with graphics. After all, a picture says a thousand words.Some websites are brand new, and some are a few years old. Some webmasters are aggressive at marketing and some are brand new. Some webmasters have been in business and understand business fundamentals. Some webmasters are brand new to business AND advertising.I scratch my head in frustration and wondermentSometimes I look at a website and wonder to myself how much thought and planning went into the site. The client is in the initial excitement of building their website. They're expecting to make money from their website but don't really understand what they're selling. They don't understand what they're getting into and how much time and money is required to make their site profitable.All I can do is give them my best advice and hope they have alot of patience.Getting to know what you expect from your websiteAt this point it's important for us to get the know the webmaster as far as their level of understanding of business and marketing. Businesses are there to make money. Marketing is there to get the business noticed and attract sales. Sales have to finance marketing efforts. The business plan has to ultimately be strong to pay for you and you marketing efforts.Another major question that a webmaster must answer is, what part does my website play in my business. Do you drive 100 of your sales from the website? Or on the opposite side, does your website just give you a vehicle to give your prospects/customers more information about your business?How much money do you want to make with your website/business? Is this a part time business, or is it your full time income? Do you want to make $25,000 per year or $1,000,000? How much money would you have to make from your website operation to make it worthwhile. How much sales would you have to make, and how much expense would you have to incur to make the site profitable?Do you eventually want to have employees working for you?Save yourself some heartache. Hire a professional to advise you.If you're serious about making money from your website, or need to make money from your website you need to take the subject seriously. Website marketing does work, but you've got to make sure that it's right for you.Get out a pad of paper and start to write down some of these questions. If you don't know the answer to some of the questions above, you might want to hire a business consultant or find someone who has tried and/or succeeded with a website business. This is important to do before you spend a great deal of time and money only to find that all you've got for your effort is a whole bunch of expensive experience and an empty pocket book.This will help you on your way to MARKETING / BUSINESS EXPERTISE and Websites

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