Your website should have goals. The proper use of website marketing tools and processes helps you achieve those goals. The goals of your website need to be expressed in measurable terms. Most websites have a couple of goals that involve making money one way or another, but even these sites have goals that are not expressed in terms of revenue. There could be websites which have no goals in terms in terms of money, for example the websites of courts, where all information is accessible for free.
Website marketing is not something that happens as an afterthought. It is not something that starts once you have your website up and running. There are companies offering just such services, which have mostly to do with promoting your website rank in search engine results for certain keywords. However that is spending good money after bad, and is at best a short term goal. Website marketing, done correctly, will allow you calculate return on investment. For sites that never collect money, return on investment can still be calculated in terms of cost savings due to increased efficiency, faster response times, wider dissipation of information and so on. For sites that do collect money, return on investments are a pretty straight forward calculation.
Website marketing has to be the focus of website development from the get go. The website designed with website marketing in mind will not incur the need for frivolous SEO/SEM services. The money you save then is better added to the budget of the website itself.
Consider the point of hosting of the website. There are companies who will offer you a five page website for INR 500 (~USD 10). You do get a website, but you will be spending a lot of money later for the SEO/SEM thing and other hidden things. Those costs just add up to a point where you realize that you have spent INR 50,000 for your website in the first year. The worst part is that you will be spending the same amount or more every year. If only you had admitted to a budget of INR 50,000 to begin with, you would not have to spend anything in the second year. Going deeper, even after you do the SEO/SEM thing, the only change is that you see increased traffic to your website. More people come to your website now. But what are your conversion rates? How many of them actually end up doing something that you want them to do? How do you increase that percentage? Significantly, the trip up in most cases is the fallacy of relative numbers. By spending INR 500.00, you get business of INR 50,000.00, you have made 100x return, which is phenomenal. Suppose, by spending INR 50,000.00 you get business of INR 5,00,000.00, you have only made 10x return. But consider the fact that you made much more money.
When you try to get a bargain by getting things done in small increments, you typically end up paying much more and end up not achieving most or any of your goals. When you admit to the full requirements, or at least come to people like us, who know what they are doing, you may find yourself spending more upfront, but you get a lot more, and for much longer.
I will talk a lot more about website marketing and blog about customer experience over time, but for now let me leave you with one important piece of advice on how to choose from so many people who are seemingly offering the same thing, from a strictly non-technical perspective. Look for on-going dependencies and lock-ins. Take the case of SEO/SEM charges. Are they giving you a one time solution or are they asking for renewals? If they are asking for renewals, you should give up on them, even if they are cheaper. If they are giving you a one time solution, that should be your choice, even if they are expensive up-front. Understand, however, that this is different from annual contracts in general which are more for outsourcing of activities. Those things can always be moved in-house or to some other provider without impact.