For some strange reason the Internet seems to be viewed differently by many people in business. They see it as an immediate solution to their problem of ‘no customers’ which can be switched on in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, although this is no doubt true, it is also an expensive way of doing it.

Even though you can make sure your website appears top of Google tomorrow, you have to do this using sponsored listings and come Christmas, you’ll be paying an awful lot of money. You’ll also be competing with a lot of people and so the costs will keep spiraling.

The answers, as always, is to plan and with a well researched and worked-out internet marketing plan, you can be well on your way to competing with the big boys of retail if you start soon. Like now.

You see, organic search engine optimisation or ‘natural search’ as it is sometimes known takes a long time to bed in and take effect. You need to gradually build up your rankings over time and there is no ‘quick fix’ to get you to the top in a matter of days. Indeed, you can see your site being penalised if you try too hard to ‘over-optimise’ your pages. I have seen sites actually disappear from Google rankings when people have taken to performing some of the more suspect methods of SEO on their pages.

So, you need to plan, ideally twelve months ahead but at least five to ensure you can capture some of the traffic that will be coming the way of the web this Christmas. But why bother?

Well, the use of Internet shopping sites has kept rising even through the current recession. Even in these days of fewer jobs and companies going bust, people still need to buy things and ever more their preferred route is through the Internet. It is more convenient, easier and quicker in most cases than going to the mall. But for a retailer it is just another outlet – one that should be exploited.

Therefore, if you intend to be a part of the Christmas rush, you need to start planning now.

Andy Calloway is the online marketing director at Calloway Green Ltd, a website design and optimisation company based in Wolverhampton in the UK. Calloway Green take fantastic website design and turn it into a marketable and usable product that will actually make you money. They specialise in Wolverhampton Web Design for West Midlands based organisations that are looking to sell their products to a wide audience.

We also have a full SEO training arm that can help you get the best out of social media, the Internet and all aspect of your online marketing campaign.

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