Online Marketing

Q:Could I please have peoples opinion on Online Marketing. For example, do you think that it is a highly valuable resource?

A:Some? Correct to say 'some are surfing, some are buying'. Many are not surfing. What's the latest US figure? 12% of households online. Sure is a nice US target market,if seeking the whole or even part. Yet, let's not forget that the figure is not universal. The original poster (from her address, above) is from Australia. I don't know what the figure is there, but 12% of households there is not going to equal the ± 12 million of the USA. And other countries have smaller figures. Point is, if one's not targeting his/her market globally, one still needs to look at all the numbers. And you still need to run the numbers if going global. For a small company, online marketing is definitely the place to start and not offline marketing, you say? So, *Buttcrack Plumbing* of Lincoln, Nebraska (I love Lincoln, NE) should pay you $2000 to design their www site for online marketing rather than invest the $2000 in offline marketing? If you say 'yes', you're full of poopoo If you say 'no' and that it certainly isn't for every business, then, we're back to what I said. And when I say, 'it depends on, if and size of potential target market online', it goes without saying that it depends on the product/service. N'cest pas? Take *Buttcrack Plumbing* Should he invest $2000 for a www site and will it increase his business? No, of course not. Should he invest $20-40 per month, not just to have an online presence for his business but also for his hobbies, education, etc? He sure should. He could even afford $50 bucks a year for his own domain (www.buttcrack-plumbing.com) He might even have a talent (or nephew) for writing copy, graphics, etc. He might even enjoy designing his own site with the many software programs out. I don't know about you, but I've seen plenty of sites designed by individuals rather than www designers. Now, I'm not saying what you do (web design) has no value. There are plenty of individuals that do their own marketing, and do it *very* well, but I'm not out there preaching that *every* business needs me to do their marketing. The same way you would for starting a business; plans. Noone I know of has a "crystal ball" for business or marketing. Instead, business plan and marketing plan, with research and analysis can be of great assistance and possibly MINIMIZE losses. Projections based on focused identifying is all that can be done when there is no history.