by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: March 16, 2010

The high failure rates in online marketing businesses are down to a number of factors, by no means the least of which is a lack of knowledge and technical understanding on the part of so many who embark upon such a career. Online marketing is in many ways an entirely different concept from its long established, offline equivalent and extensive knowledge of and considerable success in the latter does not preclude that similar will be realised in the former.

The high failure rates in online marketing businesses have to be made to take account of the unique fashion in which online marketing works. SEO is an entirely alien concept to the offline world as the idea of linking to the sites of and perhaps even on the face of it promoting competitors or at least players in the same field as oneself would simply not be something which would form a part of conventional marketing techniques. In the peculiar world of online marketing, however, this factor is but one upon which success is entirely dependant.

Linking to similar sites as those which one produces oneself is essential to the success of any website or other online resource. It is links such as these which are created in an outbound fashion and consequently obtained inbound from elsewhere on the Web that are the principal fuel of the websites which know great success in the search engine rankings and thereafter the precise and defined levels of success to which they aspire. This means that online marketing is very much about linking to other sites around the Web which afford further, quality information upon one’s subject and therefore easy access to same for one’s site visitors. This almost alien concept to offline marketers is a big factor in the high failure rate of online marketing businesses and would be online marketers.

The high failure rate in online marketing businesses is of course also about the sheer numbers of similar businesses which have sprung in to being in recent years. The unprecedented success known by the few has led to the many dabbling in what are so often for them uncharted waters and soon finding themselves floundering in what are relatively calm seas. Promises are made to customers - perhaps even those same customers which were so successfully marketed offline - which many thereafter find themselves entirely unable to keep. This leads to online marketing businesses not only losing their existing customers but the all important word of mouth that yet remains such a formidable factor in advertising and marketing ensuring that they are denied perhaps many potential customers in the future.

High failure rates in online marketing businesses are accounted for by a great many other reasons, including the lack of a wider understanding of SEO and its principles. Until the mad rush to succeed in what is still perceived as a business offering a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow settles and dies down in its own good time, however, these failure statistics are likely to continue to make grim reading for some considerable time to come.

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