You probably know that in 2009, more than ever the Internet is the place to be for cost-effective marketing – but do you know how to maximize your online marketing investment? We’ve singled out five facts and five key tactics for e-marketing success to jump-start your online marketing program this year:

FACT: Canadians are among the most frequent Internet users in the world.
The average Canadian is online approximately 17 hours per week, and 78% of households have access to the Internet. With such an active community, the Internet offers highly visibility and effective advertising and marketing opportunities on and beyond traditional websites.

Extend your marketing reach as far as possible with banner advertising on a topical blog, shared content, user-generated content and forums, as well as websites related to your business.

FACT: Internet users are on the hunt for information – your goal is to provide it.
With over 108 million distinct websites as of February 2007 (according to the Netcraft Web Server Survey), you need to work to capture audience attention. That’s where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) programs come in. read more »

From a marketer’s point of view, nothing beats e-marketing for tracking
results and refining programs to continually beat a “personal best”. Measuring
the success of your search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is simple, thanks
to the myriad of website tracking and measuring programs available. They provide
the data you need to analyze results and re-work e-campaigns to continually
increase response rates.

These analytics programs provide data you can use
to track site visitors: where they come from, where they go when they visit your
site, most popular pages, the page they view the longest and the one from which
they typically exit. That lets you know the effectiveness of web page content as
well as that of banner ads and mini-sites designed to drive site traffic.

These elements of visitor tracking are key to understanding online
marketing performance:

• Activity Tracking – You should be able to track site
  visitors’ actions when visiting your website. Did they complete a form?
  Subscribe to your e-newsletter? Respond to a survey? Complete an e-commerce
  transaction? By tracking these and tying them back to specific campaigns and
  keywords you can determine which ads, links, terms, and campaigns are bringing
  you the best visitors.
• Campaign Tracking – By applying specific URLs to ads, links
  or e-mails and tracking the results you can measure campaign success or failure
  immediately after the campaign is launched. Measure again in subsequent days or
  weeks to determine whether the campaign had longevity.
• Page Popularity – Knowing which pages attract the most
  visitors is vital, as well as which pages hold their attention the longest. At
  the same time, knowing which pages cause people to abandon your site is an
  opportunity to address content needs.
• Referral Tracking – Where do most of your visitors come
  from? Understanding which search engines generate the most traffic to your
  website, and learning which key words and phrases visitors used to find your
  site will allow you to continually refine and improve your choice and use of
  keywords for specific targets. Knowing which URLs and domains are generating the
  most traffic is a clear measure of the effectiveness of mini-sites and
  links.
• Who’s Coming Back? – What percentage of your visitors
  return to your site? Tracking this statistic will tell you how engaging and
  interesting your site is, and whether or not it is a value-added destination.
• Route Tracking – What route do visitors take once they
  enter your website? This analysis can help you determine better ways of
  organizing information to help visitors more easily find what they are looking
  for.

Web statistics make it easy to determine the keywords, referral sources and
visitors that are most valuable to your business so you can tailor your online
marketing program and continually improve results.