Many a theories are banded around the internet each day from the far corners of the digital media world into the living rooms and offices of many.  Attempting to decipher the marketing messages, slogans, strap lines and folly of some of these so called marketing gurus can be a tough pill to swallow. So what does and doesn’t work? If you are contemplating on plunging into the web marketing world with a restricted budget…where should you actively spend it and what areas should you indulge in for your marketing strategy.

This is a tall order to answer for all businesses. All companies are different, have varying goals and objectives, competitors with each niche  a different audience and flavour. If you only have an on-line presence, its important to either master the art of search engine optimisation or know a company that does. DIY marketing is a brave move, but sought the expertise of someone who has been through the mill, and learn from their knowledge.  Meet up with like minded people at local business meetings and share experiences – you’ll be amazed what you can learn from them, how they planned their companies marketing budget, what worked and what doesn’t.

If you are starting out and have a conservative marketing budget, I would recommend carrying out a competitor analysis and finding out what areas your competitors are active in. Focus on low risk marketing at first, test other areas with small budgets and stick to it. Don’t dive straight into banner advertising with a n unkown media agency – this wont work. what you need is targeted traffic. Do your keyword research, look at a handful of target phrases and opt into a pay on performance SEO deal with a proven SEO services company.  Obtain testimonials before you commit and barter on price. be wary if the price is too low – some things are too good to be true!

If you already have the website design phase completed, or if you are about to embark on a web project, make sure that the web design company are SEO friendly – in other words they need to possess the right skills to create websites that comply to certain rules. Do some background research on what right questions you should be asking.