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Reasons Why Getting New Business From The Internet Won’t Work

November 11, 2009 on 1:06 pm | In Google Adwords, Internet Marketing | 18 Comments

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One of the questions I get asked almost every week is “will online marketing work in MY industry?”

Usually the question is followed up quickly by reasons why it WON’T.

Reason Why Internet Marketing Won’t Work #1:

“Our get all our new customers by referral. People just don’t look for our service on the Internet”

This statement came from the owner of an (admittedly successful) business in the technology space that has grown strongly via strategic alliances and, yes, referrals.

Meanwhile, we happened to have a client in the same city and the same industry, who was keeping 4 full-time salespeople busy with high-quality sales leads generated via the Internet.

Google is the new Yellow Pages. You might be surprised how many people use the Internet as a primary source of research. Not only consumers but purchasing managers and C-level executives who have needs that need filling and money to spend.

Reason Why Internet Marketing Won’t Work #2:

“You recommend Google AdWords as a principle traffic generation strategy, but I never click on the ads… I always click on the left side of Google.”

This is another one I hear surprisingly often.

My response is always the same: Google‘s ad revenue in Australia is in the billions, and my company Marketing Results directly manages over $1.5 million in AdWords clicks every year – so somebody must be clicking on the ads.

With the right strategy and execution, I believe AdWords can be made to work in almost any lead generation scenario.

If you think Internet lead generation won’t work for you, is that really true or have you just not found the right formula yet?

Something to think about…

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18 Comments »

18 Comments »

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I agree with you on point#2. I myself generate a lot of traffic via adwords

Comment by Article Directory — December 2, 2009 #
I’ve actually obtained much of my internet business through Google Adwords. I know that organic results yield better, and longer lasting traffic, but for those is increasingly competitive niches, sometimes Adwords is necessary..and people (customers in particular) DO click on those ads…sometimes..

Comment by Photo Retoucher — December 4, 2009 #
I agree with number two, specially in an over crowded niche, organic searches take a lot of time and effort to yield good results, by including adwords in your campaign certainly won’t hurt you.

Yeah, $1.5 M, certainly somebodies been clicking on those ads..

Comment by Mal Johnson — December 12, 2009 #
Will,
This made me laugh! I have heard these exact comments repeatedly – exactly by the people you described. You are so on point here.
In both cases it’s an owner (or decision maker) that is projecting their own behavior on millions of potential prospects. Convincing them to think outside of that bubble can be challenging!

Comment by Duncan — December 14, 2009 #
I noticed that the Google ads work better if it features a trusted/established/easily recognizable company. In my experience anyway.

Comment by Philippine Call Center Services — December 14, 2009 #
The Mid Rectangle adsize is the most effective adsence ad format (for both PPC and CPM advertising)

Comment by Bars and Night Clubs — December 26, 2009 #
I think we forget that we have more knowledge of Google and adwords than do the public. I have talked with people who I thought were pretty Internet savvy and most of the time, they had no idea those top shaded results were paid ads at all. Even with them being labeled as such. I agree as to the Internet replacing the Yellow Pages. They started to become irrelevant when they stopped putting the free listings in them. Once the book doesn’t have everybody in it, it is useless.

Comment by Computer Repair — December 29, 2009 #
I hear “Our customers aren’t online” a lot too. I then ask “Are you saying they don’t have email? That they don’t visit websites at all?” Then when they say “Sure. They have email. They probably visit hobby sites.” I tell them it’s their job to figure out where their customers are hanging out online and be there. That’s how you get in front of customers who aren’t looking for you.

Comment by eMarketing Strategy — January 12, 2010 #
Have to agree with above if you can afford to grab a spot above the search results you will see increases traffic but a placing for can prve costly so your linked page needs to be very good to insure you get the sale

Comment by Locksmith Nottingham — February 7, 2010 #
It is always refreshing to hear someone speak from experience. It is much more believable. And I totally agree with you very much on these posts too. Internet marketing and google adwords are effective and they are not useless.

Comment by Andrew@BloggingGuide — February 11, 2010 #
That´s funny! I know many people (including myself) who work full time on the internet.I make a living from Adsense ads and referring people to good products.So, it does work but it does take a lot of time and effort.

Comment by Tom - marketing tips — February 17, 2010 #
As was just mentioned marketers think like marketers and the average Joe thinks very differently. Most have no clue that the ads on the right column or shaded on top are PAID ADS. I’ve had people ask me what “sponsored” means? That should tell you how lacking in savvy the average internet user is.
Regarding the shrinking Yellow Pages, they are toast. Its just a matter of how soon they disappear.

Comment by Bruce — February 21, 2010 #
Hi Bruce – you’re not wrong. I think as marketers, we sometimes have “Marketer” goggles on an forget how prospects and customers use the web – to get something done. Often, they don’t know if they came to a site via Google or Yahoo or Ask – let alone whether it was organic or sponsored search. Our job as marketers is to make everything as transparent as possible so the visitor achieves the goal of their search.

Comment by Will Swayne — March 1, 2010 #
Whoever says Adwords doesn’t work fails to realize that if that were true then Adwords would have been shut down long, long ago.

Comment by Blue Microwave — March 3, 2010 #
hi. i have been doing a lot of offline sales and i do find that established businesses tend to fall back onto their old methods – which do work as they are making money.
Being from south africa where the internet is only starting to take off now ( because of the world cup) people are so cynical – i want to scream.
i spoke to a webdesigner today who had not heard of article directories. can you believe that?
and he is building websites for a lot of people.
scary!
rob

Comment by Rob Anderson — March 5, 2010 #
We have helped a lot of companies in a wide range of industries make thousands in extra revenue every month thanks to Internet marketing, so this might be a little unbiased but I will say that Internet marketing DOES work. Business owners should be reminded that they are most likely not their target market, and that you could expect around 10% to click on your Adwords ads which could mean a few new clients every month.

Comment by Physical Therapy Marketing — March 28, 2010 #
Internet marketing also works but you need to use it as supporting for your offline campaigns.

What I like is that you can direct the online campaigns to certain users, hopefully with the internet evolution we will have better internet marketing tools.

Comment by hotel en manzanillo — April 4, 2010 #
Excellent Post Will,
But it is a bit easy to make money online if you know how to get lots and lots of visitors on your website and if you have very good content on your website. you can also use use adsense, adbrite or infolinks.

Comment by Affiliate Recruiting — June 7, 2010 #