To mark next month's Technology for Marketing 2007 event in London, US firm Optimost spoke to IT Week about some of the issues that firms face as they attempt to increase their presence on the internet.

Optimost offers multivariate tests whereby firms try out millions of different combinations of site elements so that they can ensure users will find what they are looking for, and do not desert shopping carts for usability reasons. Seth Rosenblatt, vice-president of business development at Optimost, said that most firms had a good understanding of what they wanted from their sites, but were neglecting to test them in ways that could truly gauge user reaction.

He said that many firms are spending a lot of money on emerging technologies and trends such as search terms marketing and keyword bidding – where you pay to have online adverts served depending on keywords – but are still neglecting to improve their site’s functionality.

He added, “We have seen a lot of growth in search marketing. For example, now firms are spending a lot of money on search engine optimisation. But, when they get customers to their web sites, the site itself becomes the bottleneck.”

Optimost believes that although these tools are useful for driving traffic, they should only form part of a unified approach to boosting sales. “Through the use of such tools, and services from web site usage analysis firms like WebSideStory, firms have a better handle on their data – but these things do not tell you how to fix problems,” Rosenblatt said.

He added that the popularity of key word bidding had gone some way to making that approach less useful. “A jump in pricing has meant that firms are looking for a return on investment, and a change of approach. We are seeing a lot of firms test email campaigns, which if you like is a bit Web 1.0, but can be very successful.”

Optimost will be presenting at Technology for Marketing, but offers no hard line on how to improve a business web site. “We are not an agency. We never say ‘this is the right thing to do’ we just make recommendations”, Rosenblatt explained.