The news would have us believe that the Internet is the new marketplace, Online Marketing organisations and sellers of Search Engine Placement services market on the basis that with no a web presence that is optimised and situated on page one of all search engine first pages there is no point in being in business. There is of course a different thought, and one that is based on sitting website marketing into an overall strategy and using a competent Website Optimization Company to add to established sales methods.

I can imagine at this point the Online Marketing providers would ask, what is the point in being on the Internet if no-one knows you’re there? True enough, but then my argument is that there are traditional sales techniques that will increase your company’s visibility on the Internet and feed Internet trade whilst making sure that the invoice from your chosen Website Optimization Company is at the minimum.

Indicative trading data for the UK this Christmas period (2009) show that less than Ten percent of all retail sales were made via the internet. What makes this figure even more unanticipated is that there were a number of issues that should have made the net a much more attractive option. The UK was in the midst of the worst big freeze for 30 years and also still in the depths of a recession. Additionally, there has never been more quality internet businesses available and uncertainty caused by the postal strikes had been overcome by the majority of web based traders.

So why are the Internet trading numbers not a much more considerable percentage of the retails sales figures just published?

There are some products that sell well on the net and there are those that do not. Entertainment and digital items (DVD’s, music etc) plus hardware and gadgets sell with ease. The vast majority of goods do not – food, clothing etc. I would even go so far as to say that no matter what you spend in Search Engine Placement the vast bulk of services ( as opposed to products) do not sell well.

Why is it so? With website design processes which offer interactivity and visual experiences improving all the time one would expect any item to sell. Not the case. It comes down to habits and human nature. The practice of browsing in the real world and buying in the virtual is as common as ever ( although interestingly not as well publicised as it used to be), buyer behaviour hasn’t changed for ages and the vast majority of retail sales are made by women (genetically programmed to browse, touch and feel before making a purchase). The Internet shopping experience simply isn’t satisfying enough for us.

Is the answer therefore, for those products and services (which are in the majority), a high street marketplace presence? With established brand development through advertising and a website that supports the high street. As the brand develops then organic searching requirements will become minimal (I suspect very few people search for “trains to London on the West Coast” now that Virgin Rail is so well known).

Get a spot on the high street I say.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 4:45 am and is filed under On site SEO Products and Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.