 Get Your Web
Site Noticed!
By
Michael
Rock © 2005
The three
responses:
#1: If I put a web site out there it will be one of millions! So it's useless
for me to have a website!
Usually when I get this response I reply that like everything else your web
site has to be marketed. Would you start a business and never advertise?
It's like signing a death warrant. Even though a web site is used as
advertisement for your business in some cases it (the web site) still has
to be marketed as well. I usually don't spend to much time with these people
and let them get on with their lives.
#2: If I put up a web site I can sell out all of my inventory that's taking
up space!
I just came across this one today, and had to let the customer know that
just putting up a web site is not going to magically help him get rid of
all of his excess inventory. He had to know the finer points of how to get
a web site noticed. One thing about these type of customers I noticed is
that they don't realize it takes money to make money. Below I will give numerous
examples that are very cost effective for getting your web site noticed.
But to do the job fully and correctly, you'll have to expect to spend some
money. In the end it is always worth it. (Except if you are trying to sell
ice cubes in Antarctica. Then I would highly suggest hiring an excellent
salesperson.)
#3: Great! I can have a web site up to display my items 24/7! Can you point
me in the right direction on how to market a web site?
These are the kind of responses I like! Someone with good business sense
and knows a little bit on how to succeed in business. These kinds of customers
I can speak freely to and give them the different kind of options that they
can take. And this article will touch base on some of the details on what
to do. It would pay to do research on marketing from the internet, marketing
books, advisors, etc. There are many sources out there if you look.
Not all web traffic is equal!
One thing that you have to remember is that not all web traffic is equal!
I added many pages detailing how to set up a SSL certificate on different
control panels. Plus a FAQ page on SSL certificates and the details of the
options you have for picking a SSL certificate. (SSL certificates are the
things that give you a padlocked secure site for shopping carts and what
not.) As a result of this I get MUCH traffic from people using the search
engines looking for information on SSL certificates. At least a few hundred
per month. This type of traffic generally already have a web site and are
looking for instructions on how to install a SSL certificate they already
have. I generally only sell SSL certificates to people that I designed their
web pages for. It just makes it simpler for me. Although anyone is welcome
to visit my site and purchase one for a web site somewhere else.
So you can see how this type of traffic is not very beneficial for making
me money, but I am glad that I can help the public out in some way. I also
get a fair amount of traffic from software that can be downloaded from my
site. And again this does not generate much business. But one thing to remember
is that this type of traffic does make your site more known and remembered,
and someone may remember your site when someone talks to them about needing
this or that.
How do you get web traffic that counts?
To get web traffic that counts and to make your web site known to the public
you have to market your site to let people know that it is there. After people
know that your web site is there you will have a portal to your business
where people can visit 24/7. It's like having a salesperson at your beck
and call 24 hours a day, and having someone to sell your merchandise online
24 hours a day. In the long run with the right marketing plan this can really
pay off, and here are some tips on how to do it.
PPC Advertising!
You can set up a pay per click advertising campaign to however much you want
to spend per month. A great deal of keyword research should be done on this
and there are some courses on the web that will help you learn how to get
the most benefit from this. Pay per click campaigns are the results of the
sponsored listings in the search engines. The search engines have to make
money some how to stay up and running! Don't they? This is why you see meta
search engines slowly dying out. Here is Wikipedia's definition of PPC:
Pay per click, or PPC, is an advertising technique used on websites, especially
search engines. Pay per click advertisements are usually text ads placed
near search results; when a site visitor clicks on the advertisement, the
advertiser is charged a small amount. Variants include pay for placement
and pay for ranking. Pay per click is also sometimes known as Cost Per Click
or CPC.
The most popular pay-per-click search engines are Google AdWords and Yahoo!
Overture, followed by Findwhat, Shopping.com, NexTag, Bizrate and Pricegrabber.
Depending on the search engine, minimum prices per click start at US$0.01
(up to US$0.50). Very popular search terms can cost much more on popular
engines. Abuse of the pay per click model can result in click fraud.
PPC engines can be categorized in "Keyword" engines and "Product" engines.
SEO or Organic Listings!
SEO (search engine optimization) is more costly at first, but pays off in
the long run. Organic searches are used 80% of the time, while the sponsored
searches are used 20% of the time. As an example of what SEO can do for your
site. If you typed in 'web development contractor' into MSN or Google you'll
see my site, www.theinternetpresence.com, at the #1 position. And it is currently
#18 in Yahoo! These stats were taken on 6/9/05. Some of the things that I
am going to list below will both help get your site noticed and help your
web site rankings in the search engine. Be looking for
www.highwebrankings.com
coming soon to help you achieve these results.
SEO is achieved by careful research of your keywords (which you may already
have if you did this for your PPC campaign), careful placement of keywords
in your content, proper web design structure, submitting your site to search
engines and directories, and building a good linking strategy.
Get Valuable Links Pointing to your Site!
This method can both be free and cost you money. There are numerous directories
and search engines that you can submit to that do not cost a dime. THE most
important directory to submit to still doesn't cost a dime! It is DMOZ found
at www.dmoz.org. Although
it is free it is slow in getting listed there. It can take months to get
listed there. The 2nd most popular (and most valuable) directory to submit
to is Yahoo! It's cost is currently $299 per year. These two directories
help your search engine rankings the best and are also helpful to getting
your web site known. Do a search on the internet for more directories to
submit to. Especially directories that are specific to your web site theme.
For example if you sell shoes you could type in 'shoe directory' into the
search engine.
You can also write articles like this one and put your web site address on
the bottom, do reciprocal linking (but there are dangers with this if you
do it with the wrong people), and many other ways to get links pointing to
your site. For more information on how to do this visit
http://www.theinternetpresence.com/business-article-30.htm.
It has an article there entitled, "How and Why to Build a Linking
Strategy."
Offline Promotion!
Have your web site address printed on your invoices, receipts, business cards,
flyers, newspaper ads, radio ads, and television ads. The possibilities are
endless. Let all of your customers know that you have a web site now. Set
up a press release pointing out the conveniences for your customers if they
use your web site. Word of mouth goes a long way. Another idea is to have
your web site address plastered on bill boards or on the side of company
vehicles. Giving away promotional items such as pens that have your web site
address on it can help too. Just be sure that the pens work well or else
they can end up giving you a bad name. I've thrown away quite a few crappy
pens in my day and thought that the businesses had the same quality.
On Site Promotion!
While people are at your site you can set up a 'Refer a Friend' link, 'Email
this Page to a Friend' link, or a 'Print This Page' link to help gain popularity.
Also you could offer discount coupons that are only available from your web
site. This will help you track where your customers are coming from.
If you do a little hunting and searching you'll find many ways to promote
your web site, and soon your web site will become so popular that it will
be promoting your business very well. If you would like more informational
articles on how to promote your business and web site read our archive of
articles at
www.theinternetpresence.com
and coming soon
www.highwebrankings.com.
Until the next article, have a great day!
Copyright © Michael Rock
About the Author:
| Michael Rock
(www.theinternetpresence.com)
has over twenty years experience with DOS, windows business applications,
numerous programming languages, artistic development, and web design. Internet
Presence was founded in 2003 from a desire to become independent. Less than
1 year later Internet Presence has had accounts in three different states
ranging from a locally owned auto collision repair shop to a glass packaging
industry that sells its product worldwide. |
|
|
Web
Development
