What is Web Branding? - Introduction (Part 1 of 5)

This is the question many marketers ask us. As people have started agreeing to the power of internet and online branding in business success, they are getting more interested in knowing things to make informed decisions - good for them and better for quality service providers.

So here is a five parts series on Web Branding. We are trying to make it as exhaustive/intensive/interesting as possible. If you have any idea to make it better, please share with us on feedback@wrofit.com. Your inputs always help us making this blog more helpful to everyone.

What is Web Branding (E-branding)?
Web Branding is a holistic approach towards building Brand Equity on internet - which includes all computers, cell phones and other web compatible gadgets connected to the web.

Web Branding is a process necessarily comprising of four phases:

All the four phases are inevitable and create a loop which defines continuous activity for brand building on the web. Thus, by definition itself, Web Branding is an ongoing process like its offline counterpart.

Web design and development - website creation
Creating a website or web application which is professional, attractive, usable and engaging is at the heart of online success. Here all the italic adjectives are equally important - one without the others means website is only partially able.  Honestly, there is no magic wand to infuse these super genetics in a website. It can only be achieved through use of appropriate tools and technologies, design/development process and more importantly sea-deep insight into visitor psyche and online behavior.

This phase includes content development (text, images, audio, video and animation etc), layout creation, front-end coding, server side programming, testing and finally deployment on the web server.

Website promotion
To make your website popular on the web. This is the most significant phase of Web Branding because if visitors cannot reach your website, it is as good as your website doesn't exists. Website promotion is a major strategic decision for any business and calls for careful planning and adroit execution. Promotional strategy mainly depends on type of business, product, geographies to cover, target audience, time frame available, budget and other resources etc.

This phase includes search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, search marketing, banner ads, e-mail and newsletters, viral marketing etc. As a matter of fact, online promotion sphere is spinning so fast that it throws new opportunities and challenges everyday.

We can surely say that well crafted promotional strategy can do wonder to a brand.

Web performance measurement - web analytics
How your existing website is performing against the set parameter (KPIs) and how visitors are behaving on your website. Web performance measurement throws very useful insight into what part of our website is working as expected and where it needs improvement.

A software known as web analytics application collects visitors and related data on our website and present them in a format easy to make some conclusions with. Google Analytics is very sophisticated and popular free analytics applications available today. Adobe Omniture is a fees based enterprise analytics application.

Web Branding exercise is a complete waste of time, money and energy without effective web analytics process in place.

Website optimization
Website optimization is all about continuous enhancement in the website for better visitors’ experience and higher conversion. It is a technology assisted process to test different versions of a web page and their impact on visitors’ psyche. In addition, optimization also takes care of the website's technical efficiency like loading time, bandwidth usage, load on server etc.

While website analytics throws insight into what needs to be corrected on the website, website optimization helps you test different combination of web elements to decide which of them work the best.

Let us know what you are thinking of the article. You feedback is important for us. Moreover, we will  continuously update contents in this five parts series based on the inputs we receive from the readers - so keep visiting for new things (which will be marked appropriately to save your valuable time). 

What are the different types of cost for having a professional quality business website?

Many people keep asking us about an exhaustive list of different types of cost that are associated with having and running a business website successfully. Here is the answer in tabular format which would be equally helpful to everyone - new as well as veteran. Speaking technically, we are discussing cost implications of Web Branding exercise. (I am preparing an exhaustive blog on Web Branding which I am planning to publish in a week of so. Stay tuned.)

Here is a graph showing approximate proportion of different types of cost. This is what is true for a typical web branding exercise and can vary significantly in special cases. For example, % breakup for an established brand/business will be quite different than a new concept based business.

Task	Description	Approximate range	Important considerations
Domain name	The address a visitor types in his browser to reach your website e.g. www.yourcompany.com	Rs 300-Rs 500 per annum	Cost depends on domain registrar and type of domain booked. For example .com cost around Rs. 500 p.a. while .co may cost Rs. 1500 p.a.
Hosting and mail IDs	To store files of your website on a web server and to have mail IDs like you@yourcompany.com	Highly subjective as cost depends on many parameters	Server reliability and security, storage space, monthly data transfer, server side scripting and database supported, number of email accounts, mail storage space, integration of email with mobile phones etc
Design and development	Website design and web apps development as per your requirements	Highly subjective though around Rs. 15000-20000 for a 10-15 pages professional quality website can be considered reasonable	Quality of the website, process of design and development, features, tools and technologies used are the key factors
Promotion	Making the website popular on Internet and to attract more qualified visitors	Costly exercise which depends on many parameters	Type of product, media selection (free or paid), budget allocation, strategic or tactical approach, innovation infused etc
Website performance measurement	How your website is performing against the set goals	Cost is subjective though Rs. 3000-4000 per month for a 25 pages website can be considered reasonable	The most important factor is whether the website is created with clear goal oriented link structure at the first place
Website optimization	Updating the website from technical and psychological point goal view for maximize goal attainment	Cost is subjective though Rs. 4000-6000 per month for a 25 pages website can be considered reasonable	Again, goal oriented link structure and flexible design are a must

If you have any specific queries regarding the cost of Web Branding exercise and how to minimize them, feel free to write to me on biz@wrofit.com.

Honestly, market for web related development and online marketing in Gujarat (or for that matter India) is very different from rest of the world where people have started making smarter choices for online media. Gujarat is still conservative about promoting businesses online though we are sure, when provided with correct information and transparent cost-benefit analysis, things will change for better.

Do post how you find this information. Your comments help us work extra hour daily evening to bring you some valuable information via blogs. Thanks.

Our experience with Google AdWords Rs. 1500 free ad credit promotional offer

For sometimes now Google is offering free ad credit worth Rs. 1500 to each new AdWords customer in India. The move is obviously to pick up otherwise slump AdWords sales in India.

Here are some observations about the execution of the offer and where it failed to work as expected.

Google has outsourced the execution of the promotional offer to a company called VCustomer. Google could have better put a line on the offer page (http://goo.gl/pE6f ) declaring this alliance to make customers comfortable and confident while answering a call from a stranger - VCustomer executive (which you can identify only when you request a mail from his official ID. Otherwise he identifies himself as an executive on behalf of Google).

Executive from VCustomer offers you help to setup the AdWords account which you easily agree to. Once created and logged in, the executive asks your Customer-ID to generate necessary permission messages to share your account with him. Once you give the permission, he can manage your account. Obviously the motive of the sharing was to assist a customer who is new to AdWords. But what if you already know AdWords inside out and does not need assistance of any kind. Then you CANNOT have Rs. 1500 free ad credit (this is what VCustomer executive told me). Surprising, isn't it? 

(being a veteran in AdWords and other Google products and technologies, I denied such sharing. More than ten days have passed and I am still waiting for some action from Google or VCustomer. I have written to Google about the same via a link provided inside AdWords and waiting for the reply)

Someone who worked with AdWords may argue what is the problem with sharing. You can always delete the sharing with other people/accounts from the control panel. Agree, but nowhere it is written that the sharing with VCustomer is like other normal sharing that can be deleted whenever I wish. Moreover Google is instructing that we have to make an agreement with VCusomer on this. Now what this agreement is all about?

As I see it, the only parameter which is important for Google is to ensure that the business claiming the free credit is a new AdWords customer and not an existing one. This can be verified very easily just by checking the domain with which the free credit is proposed to be used. That's all. Why this tiring long phone calls, following up of instructions and above all compulsion of sharing the account for Rs. 1500 free ad credit.

Promotion is promotion and it should come without any strings attached especially when it is coming from Google - at least I expect it in that way!! May be because I have always been a great admirer of Google for being specific and clear about everything they write or instruct - whether it T&C or technology tutorials. No question need be asked. 

But this time it is different. And in my opinion, this difference is creating a lot of confusion for otherwise an excellent promotional scheme. After all people have been ready to give a shot to AdWords and allocate some of their marketing budget to the powerful tool called search marketing. If the confusion continues, everyone involved will be in a lose-lose situation - service providers like us, Google and the customers.

Please share your views. It motivates us writing more useful stuff.