Sixty percent of businesses named their websites the most critical tool in their web marketing campaigns.

Sixty percent of businesses included in a recent Infogroup survey named their website a “very important” or “somewhat important” tool in their web marketing strategies. Infogroup polled a sample of companies with 100 or fewer employees in its research, and 57 percent will likely keep marketing budgets at their current levels but may adjust the areas of focus, with web marketing taking precedence.

Many of these companies believe they can improve growth moving forward and view the web as the avenue most likely to help them achieve this.

While web marketing campaigns are largely diverse and integrate many different channels, the website provides a hub for businesses to direct prospects back to. Fifty percent of businesses listed email marketing as “very important” or “somewhat important.” Typically, emails contain relevant content and links back to the company website. Even the most effective email content will struggle to convert prospects if the website it links to does not contain equally compelling information.

Moreover, 20 percent of businesses using social media marketing named Facebook as the most important channel and another 24 percent pointed to it as at least “somewhat important.” Again, strong social media content can convince prospects to click through to an enterprise website, but the site must be dynamic and fresh to maintain buyers’ interest once they arrive.

To get the most from website marketing, Brafton has reported that a number of companies are boosting investment in online content this year. Budgets dedicated to this form of marketing exceed $12 billion this year

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.