The Marketing Mix has changed. Again, the Marketing Mix has changed. The power structure has swung into the hands of the buyers. They do not care how big or small an organization is. They do not care that an organization has the newest technology or machinery. They care about one thing: Solving their problem. This may not be a new concept, but the power of the end users to carry out this task as freely as they do today, is new. Web Managers must know their customers in order for their customers to find them on the Web and make a business contact.

Web managers must manage the research into the markets of their potential customers. Surveys need to be sent out, Web analytics need to be examined and Internet research must be completed in order to find out both the hot buttons of the customers and the tactics of the competition. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a very important tool to the Web manager. Once the manager knows who the main referring domains are, he/she will know where to focus their attention as far as optimizing their site for that particular source. For example, if Google is the largest referring domain, then the Website should be primarily optimized for Google. If it is ABC Craft Company, then efforts should be made to find out how to get more hits from ABC Craft Company – as long as the hits they are sending turn into legitimate, qualified leads. So, in other words, Web managers should take the path of least resistance and tweak their site towards the referrer that is sending the most potential business their way.

Other important Website diagnostics facts are keyword popularity reports, entry page reports and e-mail form origination reports. Obviously, if one knows what keywords are being typed into the search engines, then one will have a good starting point when optimizing their site for those keywords. Also, if one knows what pages of the site are entered first, then one can work to create “sticky” features on those pages to get the user to either contact the company, or keep them moving deeper into the site towards more relevant information. The point here is to make sure that the pages visited first and most often by the users get the most attention when it comes to detail. Web managers live and die by keeping those visitors on the site past the first page and ultimately long enough to gather some identifying information.

Now, one of the best reports is the email form origination reports. These reports show, through Web tracking analytics, where all the people who contacted the company via email originated from. It also shows what they typed in to get to that contact point. This is as good as it gets in terms of Web analytical information. One has a list of people who actually contacted the company and from that list one can see: where they came from, what they typed in to get to the site and where they went on the site before they filled out the e-mail form. This information helps Web managers figure out what is working best in order to advertise online as well as change their site in order to mimic the results from these reports.  After all, the contact is the reward for all of the Web manager’s hard work.

Obviously, the marketing mix is much more and involves the culmination of all media into one centralized message, or many unique messages to many people.  However, we must master the basics of e-business before we can reach the optimal goal of gaining a 360 degree view of the customer through a centralized knowledge base routed in decentralized decision making.  Too deep?  Ok, in our next post we will discuss some SEO basics and then move on to the really hard stuff.

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