Website Marketing Plan ROI

The big question when it comes to your website marketing plan is of course, “What will I get in return for my money?” After all, the purpose of marketing online is not to make activity, it’s to make action (sales, leads, donations, volunteers, etc). For every dollar you spend on an email campaign, you should be hoping to make more than a dollar in sales. For every hour you spend updating your blog, you should be hoping to make more than an hour’s pay in revenue.

So, with these hopes in mind, the next question becomes, “What is going to give me a good return on my investment?” And there are hundreds of web marketing investments vying for your time and money–social media, website redesign, blogs, email campaigns, banner ads, pay-per-clicks, link building, search engine optimization, shopping carts, website analytics, etc. So, how do you pick the right ones to create a winning website marketing plan?

Website Marketing Plan Questions

Here are some good questions to ask to get on the right track to having the right web marketing plan.
First, think about what you’re offering.

• Where is it used?
• When is it used?
• How much does it cost?
• How much do make on each one you sell?

Next, think about the folks who can use what you’re offering.

• Who uses it?
• How do they use it?
• Why do they use it?
• Where do they hang out?
• What websites do they use?
• How can you reach these folks when they’re in need of your product or service?

Now, put each website marketing plan activity you think of through a quick qualifying test. If the activity you’re checking fails at any one of these, put it on your “money to burn” list.

• Will the activity get in front of the right person?
• Will it cover the important reasons your customers use your product service?
• Will it come from/be on a source they trust or use?
• Will it cost less per piece/click/page than you make on each one you sell?

If what you’re thinking of passes those four questions, add it to your list of possibles.

Next time…what Red Rocket has seen get the biggest returns for your web marketing investment.