This is a guest post by Alex Cleanthous

Alex Cleanthous is an Australian freelance writer and journalist. He writes extensively in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US. He’s published more than 500 articles about various topics, including Search Engine Optimization

Successful online branding is no minor achievement. It requires excellent management of product positioning, good copy content, good SEO values and an effective online brand presence, all of which require a lot of work. The mechanics of effective online branding, the really viral type that produce good sales, need to be properly understood.

Online branding basics

The online market may be the biggest in the world, but it’s also the toughest. Getting audience attention to the extent of actually buying a product really isn’t that easy. It is quite possible to waste a lot of time and money achieving precisely nothing in this market.

Online marketing includes quite a few of the principles of traditional marketing, and it’s important to know how to apply those principles into an Internet consumer base.

These are the central issues, based on the “Four Ps” of traditional marketing:

• Product: The product must have a clear target audience online. The old market adage “Who needs it?” is of the utmost importance online. Core users are the essential demographic for online marketing.

• Position: Because Internet audiences will simply ignore irrelevant information, and that includes any products related to irrelevant information, marketing information must be positioned correctly in terms of the target demographic.

• Price: Online, pricing must be considered to be market-sensitive. In a market where everybody can instantly go and check and make comparisons with other products, pricing must be competitive and realistic.

• Promotion: Online promotions can be brilliant, incredibly successful or stunningly ineffectual and totally wasteful in terms of time and effort.

Brand establishment

This is the second level of marketing. At this point, the sales functions start. This is a critical stage in brand development. A brand, by definition, is a living product operating within the market. That means it has users which give it its market identity. It’s the realities of the market which create a brand image, and sales are central to the development of this image. If you’ve ever seen a so-so product, panned by reviewers and consumers alike, where sales are marginal and interest levels comatose, that’s exactly where you don’t want to be.

Sales are part of the promotional process, and a lot of product credibility rides on sales and customer service experience. If you do much business online, you’ll know that most online merchants make a point of providing good service, which gives them a lot of repeat business. Your brand, therefore, needs to have traction in the market place with both consumers and merchants.

Defining a good online brand

The best online brands have a few things in common:

• Top quality promotional materials

• Excellent Search Engine Optimization and placement to the correct consumer base

• Good reputations and ongoing high interest levels from consumers

• High standard distribution and sales methodologies

It’s no coincidence that some online brands do brilliantly, while others simply vanish into oblivion. The best online brands market themselves flawlessly and back up their marketing good service and strong information content.

The moral of the story is this: Consider your product, consider your market, and consider best practice in the toughest market on Earth.