Website marketing entails use of internet as the medium for marketing products and services. The use of internet as the marketing medium has various advantages that range from lower cost of disseminating information to its ability to reach the global audience. Website marketing also involves digital client data management and electronic client relationships handling.
Nowadays there is widespread adaption of website marketing due to the prevailing enhanced growth and propagation of the Information Technology globally. These days most of established and incoming firms are opting in adapting web marketing as their most preferred means of marketing and advertisement.
This has helped these companies to increase potential customers who visit their homepage and learn about their products or services. The benefits that are associated with website marketing outweigh its shortcomings and thus, it is a very effective medium for marketing (Arnold, 2011).
The World Wide Web is generally available to a large number of individuals. This makes it very easy for many businesses to reach millions of customers by just a few clicks of the mouse. The ability of internet marketing and in particular website marketing to reach a broad range of consumers has made it become a very common marketing medium in many current businesses.
The use of website in marketing makes businesses’ products or services being accessed by potential buyers anywhere in the world. In relation to other forms of advertisement, website marketing has been noted as being more effective in reaching greater number of customers than any other means. There is no comparison that can exist between the use of website marketing with the use of radio and television ads.
In addition, it is not even comparable with the Billboards which are only effective in reaching only those people who just happen to pay them attention while passing where they are placed. Moreover, it is common that consumers will hang up on or put off speaking with a telemarketer. Similarly, the time you use to talk to one consumer can be used to reach thousands of customers through website marketing (Charlesworth, 2009).
In addition to its fastness, website marketing is also noted to be very inexpensive compared to other forms of marketing. The only costs that are associated with website marketing are the initial costs that are required for designing and hosting the website plus the costs that are associated with its maintenance and updates which are mostly negligible.
Website marketing can often become very expensive depending on the kind of ads adapted. For instance a banner ad or a link to a very famous website can cost a firm a considerable amount of money (Sweeney &Yang, 2001).
Website marketing can also greatly assist businesses to be able to reach their target audience consumers. This is possible when website marketing is used in collaboration with email marketing that enables businesses to reach thousands of potential customers at once. This occurs when companies sign up with companies that sell to them thousands of email addresses of potential clients.
Then the company uses these emails to reach to these potential customers by sending emails to them about their products or services with a link to their company business website. After reading the emails sent, these customers access the company’s website from where they learn more about the services or products that are offered by the company.
Similarly, the business website assists in reaching the business target audience. This is possible with the help of search engines where interested clients are able to locate the business website and learn more about the services or products it offers (Smith, 2005).
On the other hand, website marketing is also noted with a number of weaknesses. One of its major shortcomings is the likelihood to link one to an illegal business or unethical promotion unknowing. That is why it is important for individuals to make sure that they access only those websites that they are familiar with.
Another weakness of website marketing is its limitation to only those areas that are served with internet facilities. Moreover, internet marketing lacks the ability to provide face-to-face communication which is very effective particularly for those products that require demonstrations.
Therefore marketing of these products through website marketing may not be very effective (Jaakko, 2007).
Despite the few shortcomings that are associated with website marketing, it is generally accepted that it is a very effective strategy for products and services, marketing.
List of References
Arnold, J, 2011. E-Mail Marketing For Dummies. London: Oxford University Press.
Charlesworth, A., 2009. Internet marketing: a practical approach. Butterworth- Heinemann.
Jaakko S., 2007. Mobile customer relationship management: underlying issues and challenges. Business Process Management Journal 13 (6): 772.
Smith, C., 2005. Internet Marketing – Advantages and Disadvantages. Web.
Sweeney, S. &Yang, J., 2001. Marketing on the Internet: Your Seven-Step Plan for Succeeding in e-Business. New York: Prentice Hall.