In 2014, the number of websites on the internet crossed 1 billion. It was a milestone in internet history. It had barely been around 20 years and it hit its first billion. Today, which is 8/26/17, websites are popping up at a rate of 100 per 17 seconds.
I haven a little trouble understanding numbers, so let’s get visual with it:
The difference between $1M and $1B is the difference between sitting down for dinner and sitting down for a fresh juice in the world’s tallest tower–more than 1000 chairs up.
All of which is to say: there is a lot of damn noise on the internet. A lot of places for people to visit. A lot of competition to face. It’s like shouting on the side of a freeway yelling into traffic. You’re drowned out by the traffic and the sheer speed of the cars.
How to Get Noticed In a Loud, Fast, Crowded World
Strategy. That’s how you do it. You’re going to market differently in a nightclub than on a freeway than on a YouTube video. But, what will those differences look like? How can you be sure you’re being effective?
HIRE OUT. I know I’m saying that as a marketing agency, but seriously. We live and breathe internet marketing. We know about getting eyes on your site and traffic to your pages. We know about growing social media audiences and engagement. We know how to design your site so that people want to hang out on it (man, there are few things worse than ugly, clunky websites), and can use it to buy your products.
Marketing Builds Your Brand’s Awareness, Loyalty, and Competitive Edge
Social media. Being a channel that people love to follow and share takes lots of work. Not only do you (we) make unique content, but it has to be fresh, engaging, and frequent. It goes further when there’s a human there to cultivate relationships. Influencer marketing is said to explode this year. You have to know how the influencers are, then they have to want to work with you. There is so much more to say about the significance of social media to your company’s security and growth, but we’ll just leave you with this piece of advice: leave it to the professionals.
Search engines. In 2015, The Atlantic reported that people visit 96 websites a month. When you account for the email, social media and shopping websites we typically visits, plus a few random google searches here and there–there aren’t that many opportunities for discovering your site. A marketing agency builds your site with search engine optimization in mind so that it’s ready to rank the second it goes live. It’s beautifully, carefully designed with the ideal customer–based on in-depth market research–in mind.
It’s virtually impossible for people to stumble onto your website. It has to be plugged into the information superhighway, and positioning it at the right stop on the way (so to speak) takes skill, planning, and flawless execution.
User design, user experience, advertising, email lists, landing pages and so on and so forth. Marketing is big in terms of all that it encompasses and in terms of its importance to your success. In this day and age, brand is everything. That’s how you build your customer base and get referrals and, ultimately, succeed.
Everyday, new websites are born and die (yes, new websites die). Marketing your website and your company is complex, long-term, and energy intensive–and crucial to your success. Market it right. Your customers will come.
