Website Marketing

So now you have a web site.

There are techniques to marketing on the Internet just as there are methods for maximizing the return from the more traditional forms of advertising and promotion.

When you choose to place an ad in a newspaper it is necessary to consider which newspaper, the placement within the paper, the frequency and days to print the ad and many other factors.

The same situation exists on the Internet. The Net is too young as a commercial enterprise to have well established marketing strategies. However, there are some guidelines that must be considered to gain a significant exposure for a web site.

Marketing Programs

One comment before we discuss marketing. It is imperative that your site be well designed and rich in content if you wish to have success in marketing your website on the Net. Check out our page on Web Design for specifics.

We list our offering in two divisions to match what is most typical for clients.

Division I provides items that can be selected from and fits the usual small company in its first foray onto the Net.

Division II is designed as a more sophisticated approach for the larger company or group or for an existing site that wishes to get serious about promoting themselves on the Net or an ecommerce site that requires a specific return on investment.

Competitive Research

We recommend starting the process by researching the competition to determine strategies, keyword phrases etc. Meta tags are developed. If the site is developed and Meta tags are in place then a simple search for directories and portals that are in the target market may be accomplished.

A list of target directories and portals is created. The client may then choose to submit to the sites they wish.

Site submission to Search Engines and directories

Getting listed in search engines and directories is the online equivalent of getting your business in the yellow pages. This is the necessary first step for all web sites. Your site needs to be listed in the most popular general interest directories and search engines.

This first step needs to be repeated regularly due to constant changes and growth on the Net.

Click here for a complete description of our search engine and directory solutions.

Targeted or Specialized Directories

In addition to the most popular general interest directories and search engines on the Internet, there are rapidly growing groups of subject specific and regionally specific directories. Medical directories, investment directories, and real estate directories to name a few.

Getting your web site added to the appropriate directories can allow you to reach your target market where they visit most. Locating and submitting to these directories is extremely time consuming, but well worth it.

News Groups or Discussion Forums

Newsgroups are a sort of electronic bulletin board where people communicate with others sharing similar interests. Millions of people use the Usenet, as newsgroups are collectively known, every day. At this time there are over 20,000 newsgroups each specializing in a different topic. Discreet postings on appropriate newsgroups can reach your target market quickly and directly. Newsgroups are another powerful method to promote your web site.

Links to Other Sites

Links are becoming a uniquely formal or informal method of getting people to a site. Sites may swap links at no cost to each other or a site may pay for links to another site that compliments the business endeavor in some way. There are even lists of mutual links on the Net that are arranged by topic.

Classifieds

Major Service's sites such as AOL, are excellent locations for this type of promotion. Further, there are many other paid classified sites, some by topic, such as Internet malls etc., that make excellent places to place an ad.

There are well over 1000 Free Classified Sites on the Internet. As in paid classifieds these sites may be specific or general. They vary but most commonly an ad may be placed for three months at a time.

Banner Advertising

An advertising banner on a high traffic web or host site is by far the most popular method of building traffic to your web site quickly. When your banner is viewed, the Net user is a simple mouse click away from your web site. A banner is also greatly predictable. If you know that 30,000 people will view your banner, and that between 2 and 5% of the viewers will click on it, you can predict your traffic result before you spend even one penny!

Offline Press Releases

The value of a press release is understood by every advertising executive in the world. That is why all of the fortune 500 companies use press releases on a regular basis to increase exposure for their company and their products. They know that just one small article in the right magazine or newspaper can be worth millions! Sent over the Business Wire, your press release immediately reaches:

• over 2500 newspapers, magazines and wire services.
• over 100 online services and databases.
• over 100 business/finance trade publications.
• over 400 high tech and internet trade publications.

Online Press Releases

An online press release is designed to notify publications and news agencies of information regarding your company and web site. There is certainly no guarantee that any of these publications or news agencies will run your story. But if just one does, it could send your web site traffic soaring! This service can be used for the initial announcement of your web site, and for any newsworthy occasions and additions.

Paid Advertising

There are various forms of paid advertising arising on the Internet in addition to Banner Advertising listed above. Due to the informational nature of the Internet an excellent place to advertise is in the numerous online magazines or newsletters called Ezines. In this way you are able to reach a large targeted audience.

Targeted Email

Many bulk email companies exist who offer various targeted email programs. These systems are also very cost effective. It is important to deal with companies that use opt-in programs to develop their lists to avoid adding to the spam problem. We have recommendations!

Electronic messages are an outstanding way for online marketers to interact with consumers. It is an incredible and easy to use tool to communicate with existing customers, develop new customers and communicate with employees and suppliers.

One of the unique properties in online marketing is the ability to develop one on one relationships. Email is the first contact step in this process. People may respond to you by sending you an email. Should there develop a significant number of emails addressing a given question or topic the answering process may be automated.

Sponsored mailing lists

One of the most targeted type of online advertising is to place a short ad on a moderated mailing list. If your company provides ecommerce software a great place to submit an ad is on a mailing list that is on the subject of ecommerce.

Newsletter

An excellent method of establishing community around your Web site is to develop a newsletter. This letter can be emailed at regular intervals and could cover topics revealing knowledge of your industry, new products or services, info re employees and customers.

We can help a client develop an online newsletter and/or email campaign. Help develop an email list. We offer a program whereby we manage the whole process from list building to email campaigns, etc.

Guerilla Marketing

Another option available. You can have your own dedicated Internet marketing consultant that will accomplish such things as:

• Search engine submission in the top search engines and Yahoo, plus more.
• Develop a Meta tag strategy and a site description for submission to various specialty directories etc.
• Develop a strategy for gaining recognition and awareness within your marketplace. Evaluate banner, newsletter, use group and off-web promotion opportunities.
• Develop a strategy for placing messages in newsgroups and forums on the Net.
• Identify banner and other advertising opportunities, such as list sponsorships, and paid distributed announcements.

We call this guerrilla marketing and it is customized to your requirements. Guerrilla marketing is intended to be an ongoing process that a business or profession invests in on a regular basis. The marketing consultant remains "tuned" to your business needs throughout the month constantly researching and locating opportunities for you.

You will receive a report each month of the specific opportunities and activities pursued by your marketing consultant. Our consultant may do a few hours of each of the items he specifies in his proposal to you - and then in future programs he may alter his focus on these tasks to best suit your evolving needs.

You get the chance to review the results of all campaigns and of course your commitment is month to month so you can adjust your campaigns to suit your needs.

Our marketing consultants are the best available - results oriented and skilled at tracking down and evaluating solid marketing opportunities. Contact us for costs and ideas.

Visibility Analyses

We recommend that approximately 6 weeks after search engine submission that we do a visibility analysis of 4 keyword phrases to determine their presence in the search engines. The results may be used to decide a number of issues.

Local directories

We submit to local directories and community websites. Some of them charge a fee for a "higher level" listing. Upon reviewing our report the client may then request the higher-level fee based submission.

Many feel that the future of the Internet is local. You need to get your website "localized" if not you will miss out.

Ever receive an email from one of the big boys such as Office Depot or Wal-Mart trying to drive traffic to their local store? They know that it is predicted that the local market will grow to $50 billion by 2006.

They also know that people spend 80% of their income within 20 miles of home. and that consumers are turning to the Internet to research products and services before they buy.

Visit our Local Marketing page for the inside stuff!!

Competitive Analysis Plus

Competitive Analysis of clients target market and creation of doorway pages for top positioning for search terms of their choice plus manual submission to the top Search Engines and Directories.

Let us explain. Some market segments are too competitive to simply achieve top search engine positions based solely on search term optimization of existing pages. Doorway pages offer additional entrances to a site based on additional terms visitors to client site may use to find the product or service. These pages are designed to rank well for searches on related or complimentary terms and optimized for the latest specific search engine algorithms.

Comprehensive Marketing Package

This program is designed for top positioning of a site plus hosting of additional traffic driving keyword domains. We have partnered with a network of themed portal sites to offer targeted linked traffic

Our comprehensive service offers the optimization of a site for top positioning. We develop a marketing strategy through distribution of electronic press releases to major media or trade publications in your industry. We launch a linking campaign to increase your traffic through joint venture partnerships and reciprocal barter arrangements with complementary online businesses. We recommend and then implement targeted customer acquisition techniques.

Custom

We will put together a custom program based on client needs, budget, etc. A recent retail client approached us with the simple request that "...he wishes more orders from his website". We are developing a proposal which could involve making some changes to his site as well as working on the more typical marketing techniques.