Web Design Companies That Endure Will Be Inbound Marketing Agencies
I’ve been saying for a few years now that the age of the local web design company is coming to an end. They will be forced into one of two categories – development or inbound marketing. This “fork in the road” is presenting itself to the thousands of local web design companies out there today. Clients are tired of being handed a website that looks cool and does cool things, but doesn’t increase business or visibility. As more business owners and CEO’s learn about the power of inbound marketing, less and less people will seek out their local web design company for a brochure website.
Internet Marketing ≠ Inbound Marketing
Those web design companies that are weak on the development side will have no choice but to enter the inbound marketing arena. Many of them are currently offering “Internet marketing” services, but the problem is Internet marketing is not the same as inbound marketing. The ones I’ve seen that offer Internet marketing services don’t subscribe to content marketing principles. Why is this important? Content marketing is important because it is a fundamental necessity for successful inbound marketing.
Content Marketing
People go to websites to solve problems. If a website offers compelling advanced content for download it will capture many more leads than if it just had a contact form. Relying on contact forms to generate leads is no different than someone crossing their fingers and hoping a prospect found their brochure they call a website interesting enough to give them a call.
Social Media & SEO
One tell-tale sign that a web design company offers less than desirable “Internet marketing” services is their blog. If a web design company is not blogging at least three times per week on their own blog how can they truly offer Internet marketing services like social media management and SEO? According to Kyle Lacy, author of “Twitter Marketing for Dummies,” sharing your own content via social media is a full 1/3rd of the proper content mix for successful social media marketing. Besides, blogging is one of the most proven SEO techniques that exist. It is well documented that blogging can provide a website a constant stream of traffic and backlinks.
Web design companies have a decision to make – embrace inbound marketing or become a programming-centric development shop. Failure to choose one of these paths will lead to extinction. The ones that choose the inbound marketing path will fail if they don’t embrace content marketing and start offering real valuable content that helps solve people's problems on a regular basis.
Photo Credit: LibraryMan
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Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 1PM EST, 10AM PST
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