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Marketing Your Web Site
A MAP TO SUCCESS ON THE INTERNET
By Bill Walters - President of ABA Creative Web Services.
 Now that you have a Web site, those dollars will just start flowing in, right? Not so fast. If you haven’t done your homework, no one will be able to find your site.
There are a variety of things you can do to make your new (or old) Web site visible to the Internet world. You want to lay out bread crumbs like Hansel and Gretel, so that your prospects can find their way to your Web site, no matter where they start in the forest.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most discussed techniques, it is also one of the most difficult and time consuming. _e process makes it more likely that search engines will rank your site near the top of the list. Search engines like Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. don’t reveal their ranking formulas, and the formulas change over time, so it requires an ongoing effort to keep your site at the top.
Page optimization includes determining your preferred key words and using them to optimize the pages, submitting the pages to key search engines, biweekly reporting of the results and re-evaluating key phrases.
Keywords are words that are commonly used during searches. Keywords can be part of the page text or buried in the HTML code (known as meta tags). In the past, Web programmers would try and game the system by using a technique known as “keyword stuffing”—repeating keywords over and over either in the text or the meta tags. Search engines quickly caught on to the trick and now penalize Web sites that use this technique.
Because there is so much competition on the Internet, choosing keywords that are less popular gives you a better chance of rising to the top in your niche. SEO professionals start by identifying a list of keywords and phrases that may increase the ranking of your Web site. Next, they use a software program that determines the number of times a particular key- word was searched for within the last month, and the number of search results according to Google. _e lower the number of search results, the better chance the keyword will be successful for setting your side apart. It’s the same with your competition; the fewer search results on Google, the fewer competitors you have for the keyword and the better chance you have of gaining market share. You can search keywords on sites like http://adwords.google.com/ and www.wordtracker.com.
Each page undergoing SEO is then optimized using the top three keywords. _e focus should be on the page’s meta tags, title tag, image alt tags and content. Once the optimization of the page is complete, the page is submitted to major search engines.
It takes from four to eight weeks for a search engine to rank a submitted page, so reporting should be done biweekly to track the changes in the results. Each report provides comments, suggestions and overall findings. After eight weeks, the final results are reported. Generally how successful the project was and to make decisions about what steps are next. Many times, individual page optimization is continued to increase the number of key phrases the search engines recognize for the site.
TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING AND NEWS RELEASES
One of the most common errors companies make when using print media is neglecting to include their Web site domain name in their ads. Surveys show that more than 60 percent of Internet users research a product or service online before buying. If you show them the way through an ad or a news release, you greatly increase your chances of closing the sale.
PAID INTERNET LISTINGS
Yellow page services, guaranteed click banner ads, paid inclusion and premium listings all can help drive traffic to your site. Paid listings are one of the easiest and most effective ways to make your Web site visible to the Internet world. _ese listings range from simple submissions to managed campaigns. A few places to start are:
PAY-PER-CLICK ADVERTISING
Pay-per-click allows you to set the amount you are willing to pay for a click (based on your budget) and monitor the actual clicks you receive. _e ideal use for pay-per-click is to gather user information for “push” marketing efforts. If you are offering a newsletter, an opt-in mailing list for specials or interesting information and updates, pay-per-click can get you the leads you want. Many search engines and directories now offer pay-per-click services including Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft’s Ad.
PUSH-PULL MARKETING
Push-pull marketing refers to materials that are sent from your business to prospective clients. _e “push” and the “pull” are what the potential client chooses to view. Examples of push are emailed newsletters and special announcements. Pull is accomplished through many forms of advertising that entice the potential client to visit your site. Push and pull are used in conjunction because successful push can produce great opportunities for opt-in pull.
DIRECTORY SUBMISSIONS
There are more than 2,500 niche directories that allow direct submission for listings. Although each directory may account for a small portion of the traffic, in aggregate, submissions to directories can be a valuable resource.
AWARD SUBMISSIONS
There are more than 100,000 sites that offer awards for a well-designed and useful site. Most award sites will link to your site if your site qualifies for awards. Although the amount of traffic and interest in a product or service may be limited, it always pays to explore this avenue, and the link to your site can be quite beneficial (see Reciprocal Linking).
RECIPROCAL LINKING
Recently, there has been a boom in reciprocal linking due to the new Page Rank algorithm implemented by Google (Page Rank refers to Larry Page, one of the founders of Google). Page Rank looks at a site and determines how many other sites on the Internet link to it. _is information is used to help deter-mine placement for Google search results. _e basis of reciprocal links is the trading of links (you link to me and I’ll link to you). _e more popular the site is that links to your site, the more their link weighs on your site’s rank—and links from sites that have content that relates to yours have higher value.
AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
Affiliate programs increase traffic to your site and provide the possibility for an additional stream of income. As an affiliate of another site, you are paid when someone clicks to the main site from yours. If you start an affiliate program, you can pay other sites for clicks to your site. _ere are many options available to become an affiliate and to run an affiliate program of your own.
You can do a lot for yourself in terms of promoting your site to achieve optimum results, and there are qualified professionals that can help you. However, be wary of the special deals that are low cost and promise to give you preferred placements because they “know the secrets of the search engines.” Google is the most used search engine on the Internet today, and it became that way because it provided users with relevant and valuable content for their searches. If it were easy to get to the top of their search engine list (and, of course that would not guarantee getting to the top of other important search engines) everyone would be at the top and ranking would have no value. It is highly unlikely that the secrets for success will be available for only a few bucks.
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