Marketing a Web site should be an integral part of the whole production process. It needs a plan. It needs a budget. Without good marketing, Web sites become a folly, a tick in a box – “Yep, done the Web site.”

e-Marketing 2.0 – set aside the hype, this is a rapidly changing landscape. Not only is it necessary to actively drive traffic to a Web site with an essential range of design measures and online initiatives, but there are a whole host of new digital environments emerging. It’s a new world of opportunity and a great marketing challenge.

There are many great ways of reaching out to people and communicating with them using the Internet. So what’s on the Internet marketing checklist?

  1. Web site content - give people a reason to visit. Sounds obvious, but this is often neglected. Make it good, make it engaging, add to it regularly. Also consider adding content or pages specifically to give search engines something to pick up on – this must be relevant content and not just search engine bait.
  2. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – a broad range of essential measures to ensure search engines can find a Web site, digest its content, and rank it highly in relevant user searches.
  3. Make it easy to link to your site – deep linking is essential, not only for successful SEO, but for generally stimulating inbound links from a variety of sources. Avoid driving the site from one container page – frames and single object Flash should be avoided. If you prevent deep-linking, you are killing your traffic generating potential.
  4. Usability, accessibility, mobile access – design Web sites for people, exclude nobody. Test for problems and never assume a design works just because the project team and client like it.
  5. Email marketing – get it right and it pays dividends, get it wrong and you might lose customers.
  6. ‘net savvy PR – hook into online PR networks, write press releases in a modern Web style, provide links to relevant Web pages.
  7. User participation – encourage people to participate, interact, vote, rate, recommend, refer, etc.
  8. Blogging - generate a regularly updated stream of more personal content.
  9. Paid Search – PPC (Pay Per Click), CPM (Impressions); highly targeted, fully measurable, this is the biggest revolution in advertising since Television. Probably not justified for non-transactional Web sites, otherwise it’s a potential goldmine.
  10. Analytics - monitor activity and measure results. Spot trends, exploit strengths, attend to weaknesses. Try things out, see what works and what doesn’t. Split testing is a well used technique in traditional advertising; you can take this to another level online.
  11. Social networks – Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Orkut, Multiply, even Second Life. Become active on, or hook into, existing SocNets. Explore some amazing opportunities for engaging with users in these revolutionary new environments.
  12. RSS news feeds – easy to implement, great for pulling in repeat visits, but still a techies tool. Some people rely on their news feeds and rarely visit individual Web sites to seek out new content. Get on board with news feeds as more people wake up to this.
  13. Mapping and mashups – present geographical data via interactive maps. Google Maps, for example, can generate traffic from mapped content which is connected to or embedded in a Web site.

Of course, not all of these methods are appropriate for all Web sites, but implement as many as possible in order to maximise your chances of success. Consider most of the top 10 from this list as must-do measures.

Marketers, agencies and their clients should be up to speed, not only with essential online marketing practices, but also with the challenging new opportunities which are now emerging.

Clearly, the task of creating a Web site is only part of the job. Budgets may need to be revised or re-allocated, this is no longer an afterthought.