Q and A with W.T. “Chip” Boykin Jr. of The CB Group, Internet marketing consultants
Q: What is an Internet marketing consultant?
A: Think of us as the new breed of business advisers. Like your lawyer, your accountant, your stockbroker — each a trusted business partner whose expertise you rely on to succeed. Our role is to ensure your business realizes the full profit potential offered by Internet marketing technologies and techniques.
It is important not to confuse us with “Web designers” and “Web developers,” as we do not simply design websites. Their endpoint is to build you a website, while for us, that is just the starting point.
Q: Why would I need or even want one?
A: The Internet and Web development is probably one of the most rapidly changing environments today. It is not remaining stagnant. Since most businesses do not have the expertise in-house to stay on top of such a rapidly changing environment, it is really in their best interests to seek out experienced and knowledgeable companies.
Just having a visually pleasing website will not create a platform for you to promote your product or service, let alone create a return on your investment.
Q: What do you see as the future of Internet-based businesses, and how does one ensure they stand out from the inevitable pileup of startups?
A: Brick-and-mortar businesses who have an Internet presence will have to begin integrating their Web presence with their non-Web presence. Their Web presence cannot be an afterthought once they have finished up the traditional marketing, sales and PR promotion.
Internet-based businesses (and) the idea of “you build it and they will come” has fallen on hard times with the brick-and-mortar businesses as it will with Internet-based businesses. As time goes on and the Web becomes more crowded, the major Internet search engines — Google, Yahoo and MSN — will be even more selective in terms of what websites end up on the first page of searches.
Remember, their goal when a search is conducted is to give back high-quality relevant material. If you don’t have a website that meets their standards, you will be relegated to the back pages of the search, where no one looks.
Edited for length and clarity by David Migoya.
