The online marketing process is often overlooked by the majority of companies looking to get on the web. However to take full advantage of this medium, you need to devote as much attention to marketing as you do to the design. Unfortunately, there are very few companies in the UK with the skills or experience to do this.

However, Digital Media Solutions Limited are unique. Our aim is to develop an effective Internet marketing solution through an integrated approach of both design and marketing to harness the full potential of the web for your company.

Below is a summary of the components that make up our online marketing package. However, every client is unique. We research the target market of each client and create a personalised marketing plan that will achieve the best results for their particular requirements.

Guaranteed Top Search Engine Positioning:

We will optimise your web site to achieve a top 10 or top 20 ranking in the 7 major search engines that account for 95% of all Internet traffic. This is completely different from the search engine promotion offered by most agencies. This usually involves no more than submitting your site to hundreds of search engines using automated software. However this is of no real benefit for the following reasons:

1. The 7 major Engines account for 95% of traffic, therefore submission to hundreds of engines
   is a waste of time.
   
   
2. Using submission software actually results in a lower ranking in the search engines.
   
   
3. There is no point submitting your site if it has not been optimised to achieve a top ranking. There
   are millions of sites on the web. If yours isn’t optimised then it will be lost amongst the crowd.
   

We will create a special entry page for each search engine. As each engine uses a different algorithm to rank your site, that means we need to create a separate page for each key phrase and search engine. As the search engines constantly change the ranking algorithm, we will monitor it for 3 months after it first appears and ensure it stays on top. This is a very complex job and there are very few companies with the skills to do this in the UK.

We will also research and submit your optimised pages to targeted industry specific directories. Although these are small, they are very focused and can bring in good results.


Reciprocal Links:

We will research your target market and identify, the type of sites are appropriate for building inbound links from. Using groups, lists, keywords, we then build a master list of sites to contact.

We then visit these sites one by one to find the e-mail address of the site maintainer to contact and to gather information about the relevance of the site in question.

We then contact the site maintainer by e-mail with our proposal, which we write and in relevant cases also personalise/customise. We correspond with them and answer all and any questions they may have.

For sites where an inbound link is actually generated, we send the suggested HTML, help on setting it up, then change the HTML to create a like link where needed on your site, confirm and check to see that the inbound link is up, Esc etc.

Web Rings:

This is a variation of reciprocal links. A web ring is a group of sites with a common interest that have linked together to form a ring. Each member site has a link at the bottom that will take them to the next site in the ring or to an index page where they can select the site they want to visit. There are thousands of web rings covering every possible subject. We will research suitable web rings and setup your company on the ring.

Banner Advertising:

We design an interactive animated banner advert, using a variety of techniques proven to significantly increase click through rates. We will then set up the banner on a carefully researched selection of banner exchange programs. We use the largest of all programs - The Link Exchange which reaches for over 60% of Internet users, plus more specialised programs targeted to particular regions or industries.

We can also offer guaranteed banner programs where you pay only for visitors who click through to your site - typically 30 pence each. This is a similar situation to arranging links but with a banner instead.
Or entry level banner campaigns through major search engines such as Yahoo which charge around 65.00 for 100 impressions. Or for companies with large advertising budgets, major campaigns on the search engines start at around £5000 per month.

Newsgroups

There are thousands special discussion groups called newsgroups on the Internet. These are highly targeted groups that cover every possible interest. We will research these lists and select the most appropriate ones for your target market. We can then send a specially prepared informative article to the chosen groups with a link back to your site.

Ezines:

These are online newsletters. There are literally thousands of these newsletters covering every possible subject imaginable. To receive these Ezines, people CHOOSE to subscribe. They therefore are highly qualified leads. By submitting articles with a link to your site, you can generate a lot of traffic.

Opt-In Email

This is the part of online marketing that brings everything together. All the methods previously described have been methods to get people to visit your site. However this isn’t enough. Once a visitor comes to your site you need to hook them so they will return. Opt-in email is the most effective method for doing this bar none. Opt-in means the visitor chooses to be put on your e-mail list. The bait for getting them to do this is the offer of free information in the form of an online newsletter or ezine which is mentioned above. This will allow you to build a growing list of prospective customers who are interested in the kind of products and services you offer. You will then be able you turn casual visitors to your Web site into successful long term business relationships built on friendship and trust.
Copywriting:

The design of your site is the first impression a visitor will get of your site. However the most overlooked part of the site is copywriting. This is the text that will hook the casual visitor and turn them into a valued long term customer. Most design agencies were set up by either programmers or graphic designers - neither of which has a clue about marketing. We will turn your text into professional direct marketing copy that will entice visitors to take action.

Market Analysis

Once we have set up your online marketing program, then we need to analyse the results. This is essential so you can see the ROI (return on investment) and also to see where the marketing is most effective.

Additional Online Marketing


Press releases:

This is only suitable for a site that is particularly newsworthy or offers and unusual services. In these circumstances we will send details of your site to our database of thousands of online journalists.

Affiliate programs:

If you have a product that can be ordered over the Internet, then you should consider setting up an affiliate program. This allows thousands of other sites to sell your product on a commission basis. This method has been exploited to the full by Amazon.com the worlds largest Internet bookstore.