Titbits
and Helpful
Hints!
Internet
and Web Page Guide.
Marketing
(See
also Meta tags)
Marketing
your site is extremely important. There is a multitude of
ways in which you can do this, of course for us, this has
to be free or cheap but legal. One of the best ways but
not always the easiest is to give away freebies that cost
you nothing. It can either be stuff you've made and legally
own, or it can be stuff acquired from other company's you've
been given written permission to use. May be in exchange
for a link and a mention of their products.
Ebooks
are ideal. Get permision first and then brand them. If you've
written them with quality information, so much the better.
People
will always be attracted to freebies and return if there's
a chance for more, so increasing your traffic.
Remember too, when offering freebies to potential customers,
always ask for their e-mail address so you can remind them
of updates or new products. But make sure you give them
the option to refuse, such as a check box in the order page.
Advertising
tricks
Link
to other relevant sites, not only will this attract traffic
but it will help engines such a Google which use the amount
of links pointing to your page as a factor in determine
the relevancy of the search results. Whilst a good domain
name will raise the profile of your site online, it is important
to use it to effect off-line.
Your
URL should appear in everything related (or not) to your
business, and placed on any literature or correspondence
you produce, such as: letter heads, business cards, your
own products of course, your car, your house, t-shirts,
badges and anything else you can legally stamp it on. Put
your URL in your e-mail signature with a tiny explanation
of what you are about.
And
if you want more, go to http://www.ideasiteforbusiness.com
they have lots of useful marketing ideas.
See
also Web traffic maximiser http://www.maximizer.com
to help increase your visitors.
If
you really want to make serious money, then you'll really
have to spend serious money on marketing and promotion.
There is a cheaper way, but remember, the more you put in
the more you get out.
Do
deals with complementary sites, allowing them to put links
on your page in return for putting a link on theirs.
Big sites charge big money for adverts, but there are a
lot of big desperate sites out there doing cheap deals.
Email
web masters, join link exchanges, and advertise free on Banner
Networks. Try companies like www.amazon.com, companies you can affiliate
too. They will pay a commission if anyone buys anything
after being referred from your site.
See
if there are any news groups that deal in the same things
as you. Visit http://www.bigmailbox.com
and join a hotmail style free email service for visitors
to your site. Not only do you get lots of visits but also
your site signature is attached to every out-going email.
If appropriate, set up an IRC channel to discuss related
topics. You might create a loyal following. Hold them once
a week or monthly.
Give
away a free gift, software with a logo and URL, money off
voucher or cuddly toy. Put the site up for awards,
http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com
or http://www.botw.org
or http://www.web100.com
etc, etc.
Talk
to your customers. Keep them updated about your site with
special offers, new products and new services. Contact magazines
and newspapers, email them with press releases or phone
calls (Relevant stuff only).
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