How Big Should An Internet Marketing Budget Be?

Jan 22
10:23

2009

Alex Cleanthous

Alex Cleanthous

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If you were expecting a strict sum of money in answer to that question, you will be disappointed. But we will try and work out whether there are any guidelines that you can stick to here, as we attempt to answer that difficult question. It’s pretty obvious that no two companies or businesses will have the same internet marketing budget. For one thing every one of them will have a different level of income, so while one may be able to afford thousands of dollars a month, the other might only be able to allocate a few hundred – perhaps even less.

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If you were expecting a strict sum of money in answer to that question,How Big Should An Internet Marketing Budget Be? Articles you will be disappointed. But we will try and work out whether there are any guidelines that you can stick to here, as we attempt to answer that difficult question.It’s pretty obvious that no two companies or businesses will have the same internet marketing budget. For one thing every one of them will have a different level of income, so while one may be able to afford thousands of dollars a month, the other might only be able to allocate a few hundred – perhaps even less.But it isn’t just the size of the business that matters. You also need to think about your end goal. What kinds of web marketing do you want to do? Are you thinking about a few ads here and there to promote your business in general? Are you thinking about launching a brand new product and spreading the word as far and wide as you can? Or have you never been online before and you want to dip your toe in the water with a basic website and some search engine marketing to go with it?It’s plain to see that there is no simple answer to this question unless you know what you want your outcome to be. This is quite often the best way to approach the situation. Ask yourself what you want to achieve, and then work out how much it would cost you to achieve it.For example, let’s say you currently have five hundred unique visitors a day to your website and you want to increase that to five thousand. Now that would take a dedicated campaign, and if you are thinking of getting all that traffic from the search engines you’d need to focus on pay per click campaigns and featuring more highly in the organic search results.To do that, you’d probably have to hire someone who knows that side of the internet inside out. A professional will be more than worth the money you pay them, and you would be safe in knowing they were doing their job while you got on with doing yours.Of course it might be that your end goal is unaffordable for you at the moment. If your business hasn’t yet reached the level where you can afford to put aside that kind of money into a marketing budget, you will need to lower your sights a little and figure out a way of making the money you need to aim for your ideal goal.This is where some businesses trip up. They make their advertising budget bigger than they can afford to manage. It might be okay to allocate more funds to promotion occasionally, but doing it all the time can lead you into dangerous territory. And at any rate, you should always review your budget to see whether it needs any changes.You’ll achieve your goals eventually – and making sure your budget stays on track will help you get there.