TROY – The most effective Internet marketing methods in use today focus on attracting the Narrowcast Visitor to your website – the person who uses the Internet to proactively seek out providers of a specific product or service to satisfy their particular needs. Essentially these visitors represent people who are raising their hands and saying, I want to buy what you have.

Narrowcast Visitors are considered the holy grail of marketing because the likelihood of a revenue-generating action is an order of magnitude higher than a visitor that is that is not actively in pursuit of your product or service someone who has been redirected to your website through an email blast, banner ad, sweepstakes, the lot.

Examples of web-based narrowcast marketing methods used to attract Narrowcast Visitors include:

Search engine optimization

Search engine advertising (sponsored placement / CPC)

Affiliates

Link partners

Auctions

More importantly, if your website has not been developed from the start to really consider the needs of a Narrowcast Visitor, no matter how many visitors reach your site, you will never realize any real revenue generating opportunities. Even more interesting is the fact that many of the best designed websites with their fancy graphics, streaming Flash videos, and cool look will never be successful in achieving high search engine rankings to attract Narrowcast Visitors or getting these visitors to take action that generates revenues for your organization because of their ineffective architecture, complex user interaction, and incomplete content.

There are generally three steps that need to happen to capture a Narrowcast Visitor:

Search the number of people who are seeking out your product or service using the Internet as their research medium.

Find the ability for the Narrowcast Visitor to be directed to your website via one of the many narrowcast Internet marketing methods.

Convert the execution of a desired call-to-action by the Narrowcast Visitor once they have reached your website.

Note that you will only be able to influence two of the three steps: Find and Convert. You cannot control the number of users looking for your product or service, as this is a dynamic of the marketplace that you have chosen to participate in. Even though you can invest in significantly influencing the Find step, such as generating dramatic increases in visitor traffic to your website, the visitors to your website will not convert unless the website has been designed for the Convert step.

Peak Placement LLC, a Troy-based Internet marketing strategist, specializes in helping companies create highly successful Find and Convert steps for their existing and new web sites, recommends an approach centered on these logical steps to maximize your success with the Narrowcast Visitors:

Start with your business model and customer profile

Create your website user experience that answers every visitors question about your products / services and maximizes the probability of a call-to-action executed. As it turns out, this will also result in long-term search engine ranking success if done properly.

Generate dramatic traffic volume (the easy part).

Benefit from real revenue increase results.

Following this approach will make your website a true revenue-generating business asset not an online sales brochure liability.

Jonathan Smith is the Founder of Peak Placement, LLC. Based in Troy, Peak Placement is considered to be one of the nation’s most respected Internet marketing strategists. Since 2002, Peak Placement has successfully worked with over 60 companies to enhance their online businesses. Jonathan can be contacted at [email protected]

Peak Placement also is a member of Automation Alley, Southeast Michigans global technology cluster, connecting government and education with business to attract and retain world-class talent. Conceived in 1999, the Automation Alley consortium provides a toolbox of resources designed to meet the unique needs of its member companies, which include educational institutions, government entities, municipalities and businesses from a variety of sectors.

Specifically, Automation Alley member advantages range from global expansion assistance, recruitment programs, marketing opportunities, numerous educational and informational seminars as well as small business support. As a value added, Automation Alley members also have the option to write a guest column for Mitechnews.Com.