Our web site marketing requires an on-going campaign to be successful. Just as you would for a product or service. We've outlined the steps below that we believe are necessary for internet marketing success. Not all steps will apply to every website, and the emphasis on each step may vary according to your needs.
The objective here is to get your web site listed in the Internet's equivalent of the yellow pages. This is probably the most cost effective way of reaching prospects who otherwise may not be aware of your company. Once listed, prospects who search though site like Google, Yahoo, and Bing can find your site. In other words this is better known as optimizing for the search engines.
As your web site changes and grows you may want to announce additional web pages to the search engines. For example, if you create a new section of your site for a new product, you may want to announce the main page of that section.
A press release allows you to reach prospects through publications that cover your topic of interest. A release needs to be coordinated with the launch of your site (or it's not news) and may be distributed by e-mail, news wire, fax or mail. The keys to a successful press release are: having news-worthy content and targeting interested editors.
Getting a link requires finding sites that have a reason for pointing to you, then asking for the link. If a site acts as a resource for information that resides on your site, the owners of the site will probably want to point to you. If you can't get them to point to your main page, then ask for a link to your page that contains the specific information.
Seek out partners for trading links including vendors, suppliers and providers of complimentary products.
Purchase ad banners on other web sites. As more links appear on any given page, advertising increasingly becomes a way to stand out from your competition. You can find appropriate sites to advertise with or have Pixels & Dots find them for you.
Running events on your site is an excellent way to encourage repeat traffic. You'll want to begin running events once traffic from your site launch begins to fade. Examples include contests, games, on-line interviews, chat sessions and audio broadcasts.
Issue an e-newsletter or and e-marketing campaign. You can ask site visitors to sign up for a newsletter, then distribute it by e-mail. An e-newsletter allows you to keep visitors up-to-date on site changes and new offerings. It also serves as a channel for delivering valuable information related to your products that can help convert prospects into customer.
Start by including your web site address on your flyers, letterheads and brochures. If there are advantages to delivering services, programs or information through your web site, then provide an incentive in your traditional materials to get customers to go to your site.
To measure the effectiveness of your web site, first determine where your traffic originates. Then measure what individuals do once they get to your site to determine if traffic generated from one source is more valuable than others. With data in hand, you can begin the process of fine-tuning your web site marketing programs.
