Website Marketing - Effective Web Site Promotion

Marketing and Promoting a Website

"Marketing is not the dubious art of separating the unwary consumer from his loose change. While it encompasses the arts of selling, merchandising, promotion, and advertising, marketing is these things and much more besides. Marketing is concerned with all the exhilarating big things and all the troublesome little things that must be done in every nook and cranny of the entire organization to achieve the corporate purpose of attracting and holding customers. This means that marketing is not just a business function. It is a consolidated view of the entire business process."

From; "The Marketing Mode" by Theodore Levitt, published 1969

Nestled in the wisdom expressed in this quote is an admonishment for anyone that approaches marketing from a "let's take a shortcut" mode, including spammers and "Black Hat" SEOs (Search Engine Optimizers). Note that this book was published decades before the US Government breathed life into the Internet, yet it retains timely value, even in the introductory paragraph.

One more thought before continuing on. Prior to this introductory paragraph, a short quote by Robert Graves is inserted on a stand-alone page:

"Experts ranked in serried rows
Filled the enormous plaza full,
But only one is there who knows
And he's the one who fights the bull."

With these thoughts in mind let's review helpful methods and suggestions to help market and promote a website in today's market.

There are really no safe shortcuts that will bring targeted traffic to your website these days. The Internet has matured through the more advanced algorithms that the leading Search Engines have provided. Success in this more mature marketing media requires continued effort to achieve and maintain a valuable Internet presence.

The rest of this page is dedicated to helping Site owners market and promote their own Website. Again, there is no safe magic that is going to promote your Site over the competition's Site, and every Site owner can play an active role. Here's a great resource for anyone not familiar with marketing terms.

The Importance of IBL's (Inbound Links or Incoming Links)

Both quantity and quality of incoming links count strongly. The Search Engines value Sites that have many quality IBLs because they are deemed to be value indicators. These "votes" are testaments as to the value of your Site by other Sites as digital evidence that a Site presents value for the Internet Community. The higher ranked Sites also present more value with their links to your Site. Page Ranking transfers to some degree. "Filthy Linking Rich and Getting Richer" by Mike Grehan, is a great article in which describes how the "linking game" is played and it's importance.

The downside is that a "linking campaign" is time consuming and can be costly. The more serious Site owners engage their webmasters in a maintenance contract that includes maintenance and promotion or contract an Internet promotion company for projects like "linking programs". Many Web Development companies offer standardized maintenance with different features at different rates. You can review our standard maintenance plans on our Website Maintenance Page.

Building and Hosting a Website Does Not Guarantee Visitors

Planning, Designing and Launching a Website does not guarantee you a valuable "Web Presence", any more than stacking printed glossy brochures in a closet promotes "Branding", Name Recognition or Sales. A good rule of thumb is to budget equally between Design and Marketing. There are many ways to promote your business on the Internet.

Small Business Owners and Employees Should Help Promote the Company Website

Below you will find a suggested check list to help your company promote your Web Presence. The list addresses many types of Websites. Ignore suggestions that do not apply to your Business or Site:

• Use your Website while engaged in phone conversations. Show a potential customer, client or investor what you have to offer in "real-time". Not much impresses a customer more than immediate access to the information they are requesting. After the discussion, suggest that they bookmark or save your Site as a favorite so that they can find it easily next time.
• Access your own site, select and copy the page specific URL in the "address" line of your browser, and email it to a potential customer when specific issues, products or services are at play.
• Put your Web address on everything possible:

• Front door of each facility
• Everyone's Business cards
• Answering machine, voice mail and company cell phones
• Letterhead and envelopes
• Receipts, Invoices and packing slips
• Coffee mugs, pens and other promotional items
• Brochures, flyers, catalogs
• Power Point Presentations
• Advertisements of any kind
• Vehicles
• All documents
• Clothing, (caps, shirts and uniforms)
• Portfolios
• Signs
• E-mail signature files - always put a link to your Site in your e-mail Signature file at the very bottom after name and contact information so that it stands out and is easy to find.
• Include your "Outlook" contact or v-Card in your e-mail Signature allowing your contact info and web address to be imported in a contact's Microsoft Outlook Address Book when saved. Note: Some versions of Microsoft Outlook come with a very informative v-card tutorial. It can be located by opening Microsoft Outlook and and searching for "v-card" in the help search box. We recommend that every small business employee including management review the tutorial.

The V-Card is a Valuable Electronic Business Card The Microsoft Outlook v-card (contact card) is an electronic business card that can be sent with an e-mail or can be attached to every e-mail as a signature component. The v-card is an underutilized powerful promotional tool. V-cards are not like other files in so much that they cannot be saved and attached as a document. There are 2 ways to successfully send a v-card in an e-mail. The first is to include it as an attachment in a Signature File and the second is to forward it as a v-Card. Here are the instructions for both methods:

To Include a v-Card with your "Outlook" auto-signature: Create a "Contact" for yourself and save in your Outlook Address Book. If you don't have one for yourself yet, open your "Contacts" folder in the Microsoft Outlook directory. Select "New" from the toolbar, fill in the data fields and save. Otherwise, select "To" in the recipient header for a new e-mail to gain access to the "Contacts" folder. On the Tools menu, click Options. On the Mail Format tab, click the "Signatures" button. If you haven't created an e-mail signature yet, select "new". Populate your auto-signature as desired. Under v-Card Options, select a v-Card from the list or click New v-Card from Contact.

Forward any V-Card with your "Outlook" e-mail Open "Contacts" in "Microsoft Outlook" directory Select desired "Contact" Under "Actions", Choose "Forward" or "Forward as v-Card" Populate and send e-mail to recipient as normal.

• Include Name, Logo and URL (website address) on product packaging
• Consider registering your domain name as a new business if you haven't. Select a business relevant domain name if possible.
• Participate in related forums, give advice and include your website link in the signature.
• Publish an on-line newsletter. Newsletters are be especially valuable when they promotes sales.
• Send targeted press releases using a press release service.
• Do not spam (send unsolicited e-mail). Only send e-mail to people who give you permission. When mass e-mailing, even if it is to an opt-in list, always provide an opt-out or un-subscribe option. Review Spamming Laws - Keep yourself out of trouble.
• When announcing a new or revised site, product or service, send an e-mail to an extensive "friendly" list, include, family, friends, prior and current clients, customers and associates. More times than not, an acquaintance or business associate enjoys seeing what you are up to now. Don't wear out the welcome!
• There are many ways to submit to Search Engines. However newer technologies have made it almost an unnecessary exercise. It is still important to run a linking campaign to every high ranking relevant Directory and Index Site possible. Directories take longer to include your manual submission. Two of the most important are DMOZ (Open Directory Project) and the Yahoo Directory. Note the "Yahoo Directory" is not the same as the Yahoo Search Engine. Many Google and Yahoo affiliate Search Engines feed from these sources for their listings.
  • Have, or work with your Web Development company to develop a marketing plan that fits your budget. Before doing so, make sure they have had prior success with Search Engine Ratings.
  • Manual Submission to the top 10, or specifically targeted Search Engines.
  • Paid, Priority submission to top search engines such as Yahoo, (Business Express) around $299/year - We have had good success with this program. If you are Internet, Search Engine and meta-tag savvy you can attempt it yourself, otherwise pay your Development Company or a Submission professional to handle it for you.
  • Pay per Click Programs
  • List with Search Engines specifically designed for your Site Type and Relevance, such as "Froogle", by Google designed just for Shopping Sites.
  • DO NOT SPAM THE SEARCH ENGINES. Don't send multiple pages from the same Site, different URLs with the same information, or submit too frequently. Make sure you have observed design rules regarding search engines, such as never use text the same color as a background. These practices will get you De-Rated or De-Listed! We recommend against using automatic submission software and automatic submission services.
  • There are many rules to observe from design, to content, to listing methods and frequency that must be observed for optimal listings. Visit our Search Engines Page or our Webmaster Resources Page for more information.
• Use the top search engines to search for potential customers and affiliates, contact them directly.
• On-line specials or coupons, with URL.
• Market via an affiliate program if appropriate. There are plenty of good Affiliate Program Software systems available. If you run an affiliate program find qualified affiliates personally rather than relying on random sign ups.
• Send all contact information (include your website address) with every communication. Do you have contact info on every Webpage and/or a Contacts Page in your Site?
• Advertise in targeted e-zines and opt-in mailing lists.
• Sponsor, partner or exchange links with related Sites.
• Consider purchasing keywords and phrases on search engines. The Thomas Registry sells priority keyword listings for their on-line edition.
• For the most part, don't bother with the "E-Mail 10 million addresses" type promoters. Generally, they are a closed mailing list of "spammers spamming spammers". They will bog you down with hundreds of e-mails per day of useless MLM and illegal ponzi and pyramid scheme offers.
• Participate in banner or link exchange programs, but never with a "linkfarm".
• Pay to have your banner displayed on portal Sites for your industry. Many organizations have Portal Sites and offer advertising at different rates. One of our Clients opted to have us design a banner for a Geological Society's Page. That banner continues to bring in many visitors.
• Write letters to the editors or webmasters of major search engines requesting a Site review and addition to their preferred listings. Frequently domain administrators set up "contact@", webmaster@ and "admin@" e-mail addresses.
• Offer special "limited time offers" to your opt-in lists, only. Make the recipients on that list feel that the list is worth being listed on. Make sure and feed useful, timely and relevant information.
• If running a business to consumer or a shopping site, time your special offers to coincide with common pay periods.
• Learn from Marketing Sites. One of the best and most informative we have found is Jay Abraham's Site . It contains great free content and a marketing oriented opt-in mailing list.
• As with any advertising, test your marketing copy, newsletters and ads constantly. Use what works and change what doesn't. Invest smaller amounts of money on small tests before committing to more expensive advertisements. Consider spreading your advertising budget over multiple campaigns rather than one quick and expensive program. Your server stats provide almost "Real Time" data on just about any kind of marketing or sales campaign.

Website Marketing starts before Design (In the Preparation Stage) with a logical presentation structure, targeted keyphrases, competitive analysis and good copywriting. Promotion usually starts after a site is completed, and can be extremely time consuming and costly. Again, simply creating a site will not automatically list you in the Search Engines and generate lots of traffic. If your Web Developer has not advised you up front on these facts, then you probably need to plan on selecting another company to handle your Technical Marketing and Promotional campaign.

We hope the information provided on this page, our Search Engines Page and our Webmaster Resources Pages are useful in helping you save time and money, make your company more profitable and keep you from some of the pitfalls that are out there.

Don't hesitate in contacting Mountain Eagle Marketing for your Marketing and Promotional needs.