Looking for Great Internet Marketing Examples? So was I, and you won’t believe what I found.

I have the philosophy of ‘Never Stop Learning’. And to that end, I often research my own industry on the internet, in bookstores and wherever else I can find relevant information.

Recently, I wanted to learn more about what others were doing, so I looked to my peers. Looking at one of the industry networking sites, I did a search on ‘E Marketing’ or ‘Internet Marketing’, I forget which and it really doesn’t matter.

At any rate, I came up with 178 listings. The first one I looked at was very impressive. It was an all Flash site with beautiful, high quality graphics, clear message and well done layout. You couldn’t miss the call to action. The client list was also impressive. From a marketing standpoint, it was great.

However, when I tried to find the site with an outside search, I was not able to find it at all. I expected that this would be the case because it is difficult to get good rankings for Flash sites. The reason is simple: They are only one page in the SE’s eye. That makes it difficult to build up a list of quality links. Limitations on keywords and content relevance and all that. But I liked the site and thought it did a good job of marketing itself. From all appearances, they are very successful.

The next site I looked at was junk. So were the next 8 or 10. I gave up and left. But the more I thought about what I had seen, the more pissed off I became. I also got curious about just what else was there. Surely, it couldn’t all be that bad. As it turns out, it was.

So if you are looking for some kind words and praise, forget it. I have never seen so much crap in all my life. In total, I found two sites that were worthy of the ‘Marketing’ label. Two out of 178. Yuck!

Want to know what I found? Too bad, I’m going to tell you anyway.

OK, so here goes:

Violating the First Rule of Websites:

If it ain’t finished, don’t put it up! Sorry, but ‘Under Construction’ is not a marketing strategy. Get out of the business now before you start wasting other people’s time and your money. If you don’t know any better than that, you shouldn’t be allowed on the internet, much less anywhere near marketing.

An E Marketer listing without a website.

Huh? That one is too stupid to waste any more words on.

Website made of cheap, probably free, templates.

I found more than one of these, believe it or not. Static pages, stock photos and the text that went with them was even worse. Lame phrases without direction or purpose. Certainly no skill shown, outstanding or otherwise. Looked like someone had subscribed to some “You Can Make a Million Dollars from Your Kitchen Table” program. Good marketing is about differentiating yourself from the competition. These people certainly managed to differentiate themselves! Unfortunately, that doesn’t go in the plus column.

The Fancy Website

They have gotten caught up in making it beautiful and forgotten to address the needs of the visitor. Remember the old adage: Words sell, pictures don’t. Pictures and graphics are there to relieve eye strain, relax the mind and support, not replace, your message. Never forget why you’re on the web in the first place. Customers need help or information, give it to them.

Dim and/or Small Fonts

I know it is all the rage to use gray fonts to cut down on eye strain, but these sites gave me a headache trying to find the text on the page. Some of it was so small it must have been in 6 point type. Put the two together and you have given your visitors a great reason to hit the easy-to-find Back button. I certainly didn’t waste any time.

“We Specialize In”

Followed by a list of no less than thirty things they specialize in. You must be joking! You call that specializing? First rule of online marketing: Don’t try to be all things to all people. Pick the one or two things (max three) you do well and/or are the most lucrative and specialize in those. If you try to be an expert in everything, you are an expert in nothing. Get off the web.

Oh, Yes. Many services and no specialties

Same as above but in the opposite direction. Usually the presentation is all over the place and it is impossible to tell just what they do do. That is probably an apt description, come to think of it.

Insider Jargon

Especially on links. Who are you writing your copy for, yourself? There are such things as clients, you know. Or maybe you don’t. My clients haven’t the faintest idea what some of our jargon means, and I don’t use it around them. They aren’t in the business. They have better things to do. That’s why they need us.

Social Media Experts

With no sign of any social media to be found. Great. Very impressive. No links to social networking sites, no videos, nothing but old static pages. Whoopee.

Call to Action

Weak, hard to find or none at all. On some sites I hunted for several minutes and still could not find anything about how to contact them, sign up for their newsletter, download a report or anything else. Yet it was obvious this was a sales page, not just informational. Love to see the ROI on these sites.

Big Claims

Big claims, but not using their so-called expertise on their own site. I checked some of the keywords they were targeting and many were for things few or no one was searching for. There were cases where the keywords listed in the meta tag were not even used on the page, much less in headlines or links.

They also didn’t rank. Again, when I searched their keywords, they didn’t even place anywhere near the top three or four pages. And you expect me to buy your marketing expertise? How long do you suppose I have to think that one over?

Unrelated Subject Matter

On more than one site, I landed on pages that had nothing to do with internet marketing even though that was what the link was supposed to be about. Didn’t take long to exit those pages either.

And the Winner Is…

My all time personal favorite:

An entire landing page written in long copy form on why you changed your name? Who cares? So you chose a crappy name to start with and now you are changing it to another crappy name? Nobody searches your name, dummy. Not even your mother. I don’t care if you changed your name. I phoned my mother. She didn’t care either. I guess nobody cares. What does that tell you?

OK, now that I’ve had a bit of fun at your expense, let’s take a look at what to do about it. First, back up and take a hard look at your website and your marketing message. You are supposed to be in the marketing business. You are supposed to be an expert. Do you see any of those things I saw on your site? Was I talking about you? If you see any of those things I pointed out here, you would be better off to just scrap it and start over. Or go sell hamburgers.

I don’t know about you, but here’s what I do: When I engage a new client, or even start a new web page, I start with just one question. No matter if I already know the answer, I ask it anyway: “In three words or less, tell me what business you are in.” I guess that’s a question. Anyway, if they can’t answer in three words, work with them until they can. This is important. It has to do with focus. You don’t want them to name ten things they do. If they do many things, get the most important. Save the others for other websites or pages.

Next, use that core business as the seed for keyword research. Make a short list of keywords that meet the four critical rules of keywords:

1.    Relevant to the business

2.    Good Traffic – Notice that I didn’t say searches. That’s different

3.    Low Competition – Not too many competing documents

4.    High Monetization – They are profitable to pursue

Don’t guess at keywords. Don’t choose keywords you think people search for and certainly don’t use keywords you would search for. That will ensure your business fails before it even starts. That’s why we do research, to eliminate guessing. We want proven, hard numbers behind our decisions.

For each target keyword, go on the internet and search people and competition who are discussing this subject. Look for hot buttons, weak spots, likes and dislikes. Is there a lot of chatter? Good, that means there is a market for the product or service. And while you are doing this, look for other keywords you and the search engines might have missed. Use the terms people on the internet are using.

Now, build a marketing plan for each of the keywords. Use the information gathered from above. Address issues, offer solutions, define goals and benchmarks. Do not include selling.

Starting with the best keyword, (The one that best meets the four criteria) write content around the subject. Do not sell. Make your content informative, educational, and/or helpful. Address issues and offer solutions as defined above. Continue with other keywords, working your way down the list.

Decide on a theme and select colors and graphics to support the theme.

Now and only now are we ready to start building a site or a new page. Start with your most important subject/keyword and build a basic page. Name it WhateverTheKeywordIs.htm or whatever. But use the keyword as the page name. Be sure the keyword appears in the title, meta tags, headlines and copy body. But refrain from keyword stuffing. You won’t have to. If your subject is well written and written for people, it will achieve top rank as it is.

All this is just a simplified framework, but you get the idea. The web page is just there to carry your message. So deliver your message in as clear and exciting way you can. And don’t forget to have fun.