Having been involved in the web industry and developing websites professionally for over fifteen years it has been very interesting for me to watch the evolution of my main passion – web development.

Back in the late 1990’s when I first set out developing websites for local businesses in the Dundee area – a website was a “nice to have”. Many of the projects which I was awarded were for very successful businesses, both because those were the ones I targeted but also as they had extra profits to invest into a professionally designed website. The brief in those days was to create something “flashy” which would showcase the business and help sell their services.

Since then, a massive amount has changed and a corporate website for a business is no longer a nice to have, but I believe an essential part of every businesses marketing strategy. I would go so far as to say that if businesses are not already underway with some form of online marketing strategy, or do not see it as part of their future then they must be very careful not to lose market share to their competition, both locally, nationally and potentially even internationally.

One client I have worked with for not far off ten years is a good example. This client has a very successful business, independently owned, turning over several million pounds per year. We first engaged with them in around 2005, and at that time they had a very basic website developed by mtc. I was constantly pushing this client to be doing more with their website, to be investing more to help them grow their business through online channels. The client met me with the all too familiar response that his customers were not the kind of people who would make a buying decision to use his company “online”. I disagreed, and provided lots of data from Google to try and make my case – needless to say this was in vain and the client continued with their basic website with mtc for the next few years.

It was only in 2012, when this client was reading an article about a business similar to his own, that was now turning over more than he was – purely through online channels that he realised that this was something he had not only wrongly discarded, but had potentially damaged his business by allowing this new competitor to take some of his business away from right under his nose. At this point, we were engaged and put together a full online marketing strategy for the client, which is now a seven figure part of their overall business per year in its own right. A small anonymous quote from the client is provided below:

“I am not too big to admit that we should have taken the web seriously earlier. If we had done so and invested into this earlier, we would have undoubtedly been in a stronger position today. Thankfully having worked closely with mtc we now have a very successful web presence accounting for a sizable percentage of overall company turnover and have our eyes firmly set on growth through online channels in difficult market conditions where we are finding growth hard to find elsewhere”.

To me this highlights two things, one that the earlier you are in the better, and second that it is never too late – with the right online marketing strategy you can deliver results.

At mtc we pride ourselves on providing clients the best possible chance of Return On Investment (ROI). We understand that your website is another sales person for the business, working for you 24/7 and can reach a much wider audience than any other medium. It is our job to harness this for our clients and show them the online marketing techniques that can be used to deliver growth and success.

Many of our clients are continually pulling budgets out of more traditional marketing methods, such as Yellow Pages, or Radio and pushing this into the “digital” marketing arena.