Internet Promotional Strategies

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Internet Promotional Strategies

• An Overview Alternatives

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1. The Law of the Dead End Street

• Setting up a web site is like building a
  storefront on a dead-end street. If you want any
  shoppers, you must give them a reason to come.

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2. The Law of Giving and Selling

• Attract visitors to your site by giving away
  something free, and then try to sell something
  additional to those who visit.

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3. The Law of Trust

• Trust is the essential lubricant of Web business
  without trust, business grinds to a halt.

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4. The Law of Pull Push

• Pull people to your site by your attractive
  content, then push quality information to them
  regularly via opt-in e-mail.

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5. The Law of the Niche

• Small businesses often succeed by finding niches
  that are either unfilled or only partially
  filled, and they fill them with excellence.

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Ten Major Types of Online Promotion

• E-Mail marketing
• Search engine marketing
• Linking strategies
• Viral strategies
• Public relations
• Traditional media
• Networking
• Weblogs (Blogs)
• Paid advertising

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Improving Link Popularity

• Link popularity, which refers to the number of
  links pointing to and from related sites, is
  considered by many search engine experts as the
  most important element of a site's relevance in
  search engines.
• Do not confuse link popularity with site
  popularity, which refers to click through
  popularity, and how long visitors remain at the
  site when they get there.
• There are three types of links that will increase
  the link popularity of your site
• Internal
• Incoming
• Outgoing links

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Types of Links Internal Links

• Internal link popularity refers to the number of
  links to and from pages within a site.
• Make sure you cross link your important related
  pages back and forth. This will help build up
  your site's theme (used by search engines to
  categorize the theme of a site). By doing so, you
  are telling search engine spiders that those are
  the most important pages of your site.
• Cross linking your pages also helps the search
  engine spiders find and index your most important
  pages quicker, especially if some pages are
  buried deep within your site.

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Types of Links Incoming Links

• Incoming link popularity refers to links pointing
  to a site from other related sites. In addition,
  there are two types of incoming links
• Links From Sites You ControlYou can control your
  site's theme by setting up several small related
  sites. Then cross link them all together,
  including links back to the main site.Select
  keywords that describe the theme of the main site
  and use those same keywords to link to the main
  site from the other sites. The reason for doing
  this is because some of the major search engines,
  such as Google, place a great importance on the
  text used within links.
• Links From Sites You Do Not ControlThere are two
  ways of finding sites to link to yours. The best
  way to get other sites to link to yours is to ask
  them politely. And the best way to find likely
  candidates is to ask those sites that link to
  your competition!

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Tools for Measuring Link Popularity

• LinkPopularity.com - http//www.linkpopularity.com
  /
• MarketLeap Link Popularity Check -
  http//www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
• Link Popularity Check - http//www.submitexpress.c
  om/linkpop/
• Link Popularity Checker
• http//www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/link-populari
  ty/

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Finding Sites That Link To Your Competition

• Did you know that search engines can tell you
  which sites link to your competition? To find
  out, visit your favorite search engine and enter,
  "link" followed by the competitors domain name
  (with and without "www").
• For example, "linktheirdomain.com" and
  "linkwww.theirdomain.com." (Quotation marks not
  required)
• To check the link popularity of your own sites,
  simply replace "theirdomain.com" with your own
  domain names.

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Finding Link Partners in Directories

• Do not forget that all the sites listed in the
  same category as yours in the major Web site
  directories, such as the Open Directory Project
  and the Yahoo Directory, are ideal link
  candidates too.
• Once you have compiled a list of related sites,
  add a link to them in your site. Then send an
  e-mail to each site owner informing them that you
  have linked to their site.
• You may decide to politely ask them for a link
  back to your site. Don't forget to tell them
  about the benefits of exchanging links in this
  manner.

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Finding Sites That Accept Site Submissions

• Another way of finding sites to link to yours is
  to find sites that accept site submissions. To
  find such sites, visit a search engine, such as
  Google, and search for "add url" "your keywords
• Replace "your keywords" with those related to
  your site. Include the quotation marks to ensure
  the search engine only return pages with the
  exact search phrases you enter.
• Also try replacing, "add url" with one of the
  following sets ofsearch phrases
• add site, add link, add a url, add a site, add a
  link, submit url, submit site, submit link,
  submit a url, submit a site, submit a link.

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Types of Links Outgoing Links

• Outgoing links refers to links pointing to other
  related sites from your site.
• Search engine spiders will crawl your
  site'soutgoing links and determine that the
  content of the sites you link to are related to
  the content of your own site. This will improve
  the theme rating of your site.
• Some search engines now place a huge importance
  on a site's theme in determining its relevancy.

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Link Keywords

• It is important to name your internal and
  outgoing links carefully. Since keywords are
  important in determining the relevancy of a page,
  it is essential that they are used throughout a
  page.
• Suggest that you always name a page using the
  keywords relevant to the page. In turn, the
  visible link text used on other pages to link to
  the page should use the same keyword phrase as
  the page name.
• For example, if the title of a page is "Link
  Popularity." Then the page name should be
  "link-popularity.html," or "link_popularity.html."
  
• Make sure you include a hypen or underscore
  between each word. This will ensure that search
  engines index each word as a separate keyword.
• Do not pack all the words together. For example,
  "linkpopularity.html."
• You should also make sure that all links to that
  page use the link text, "Link Popularity." You
  notice how everything fits together?

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Link Quality

• The quality of the links is just as important, if
  not more, than the number of links to your site.
• The types of sites you should concentrate on
  getting links from include major search engines
  (Google), popular search portals (MSN), Web site
  directories (Yahoo and Open Directory Project),
  high trafficked sites (eBay and Amazon), news
  sites (CNN), weblogs, and sites related to your
  site's theme.
• Search engines consider links from major search
  engines and portals as a big thumbs up for your
  site.

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Reciprocal Linking

• Find complementary sites, link to their site from
  your site, and then ask them to link to you.
• Some sources
• http//www.linkexchanged.com/
• http//www.linkstrategy.com/
• http//value-exchange.sitesell.com/
• http//www.gotop.com/
• http//www.links-creator.com/
• http//www.linkautomate.com/

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How to Set Up Reciprocal Links

• Find GOOD QUALITY, complementary sites.
• Place a link to them on your site.
• Only AFTER you've placed a link to them, email
  the owner of the site a short, friendly note.
  Address him or her by name. (If the name isn't on
  the site, you may be able to find it at
  www.whois.sc)
• Genuinely praise something on the site. If you
  can't find something worth praising, delete the
  site from your list.
• Tell the web site owner you've linked to their
  site, giving them the URL of the page where
  you've place your link.
• Ask for a link back to your site, suggesting a
  page where the link would be appropriate.
• Three weeks later, if there's been no reply, send
  a brief, polite reminder. It's easy for emails to
  be lost or overlooked.
• Use the phone and/or snail mail. A link from a
  good site is a very valuable thing. If you can't
  get noticed by email, consider trying a phone
  call or posting a letter. They're more expensive
  but also more likely to attract the answer you
  want.
• Keep an alphabetical record of sites you've
  linked to and requested links from. You need to
  know who you've contacted and who you haven't.

Source http//www.associateprograms.com/articles/
48/1/How-to-get-reciprocal-links
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Viral Strategies

• Encourage others to carry your marketing message
  via e-mail, using their own network of
  relationships.
• www.hotmail.com
• Encourage site visitors to recommend your site to
  their friends
• recommend-it.com
• The key is to ASK!!!

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Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

• Gives away products or services free stuff
• Provides for effortless transfer to others
• Scales easily from small to very large
• Exploits common motivations and behaviors
• Utilizes existing communication networks
• Takes advantage of others resources
• Source http//www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-princ
  iples-clean.htm

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Public Relations

• There are free PR services and paid resources
  available
• http//www.prweb.com/
• http//www.webwire.com/
• http//www.pressreleasenetwork.com/index.html
• http//www.bizwire.com/
• http//www.prnewswire.com/
• http//www.XPressPress.com/
• http//www.online-pr.com/markpr.htm
• http//www.online-pr.com/
• http//www.prnewswire.com/
• Develop an online media kit
• Begin with the basics (the five Ws)
• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• Dont hide

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Online PR

• The six tools of a strategic online
  communications strategy are
• A Corporate Web Site. This is the first point of
  contact for all external audiences. The brand and
  the message should be consistent with all other
  offline marketing and PR material.
• A Media Room. All information that anyone would
  ever want about the company, updated on a
  constant basis. Linked directly to the corporate
  web site and controlled by the PR professionals.
  Brand, message, design and navigation match
  corporate web site.
• A Blog. This can in many cases actually replace a
  web site for a small company or individual
  content writer. In larger cases, a blog should be
  used to supplement or enhance the web site. Savvy
  PR professionals should not only be posting
  content to weblogs but should also be monitoring
  relevant weblogs for their clients.
• A Crisis Site. Dark until needed for an eventual
  crisis, this is the online component of a
  company's overall crisis communications plan. An
  insurance policy, this site is controlled by the
  PR professionals. The message is prepared in
  times of quiet and published to the site in
  advance. When the crisis occurs, the site is made
  live and is used as a one-stop resource site for
  both internal and external audiences.
• A Corporate Intranet. This is a vital tool for
  internal communications, both in times of
  normalcy and in times of chaos. Employees must
  share the vision, the brand and the message and
  be able to communicate it consistently to the
  outside world. Also allows for dynamic learning,
  training and presentations.
• A Client Extranet. The company gives access to a
  secure area for its clients and customers. It is
  separate from the corporate website and password
  protected. It can be used for collaboration among
  account team members, for managing client
  billings and for commerce if so required.

Source http//www.aboutpublicrelations.net/ucramb
eau.htm
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Traditional Media

• Most people still get the majority of their
  messages through traditional marketing channels
• Put your web site address everywhere and give
  reasons to visit your web site

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Networking

• Search out bulletin boards, newsgroups, and
  discussion lists in your industry and take an
  active part.
• http//groups.google.com/
• Be very careful that you DONT directly advertise
  in these forums.
• Reasons to Network
• Your customers and prospects may see it, and be
  impressed.
• Journalists may see it and contact you for a
  story.
• The search engines rank you or your site higher
  because you have been mentioned online.
• When someone searches for you or your company,
  all of these comments are pulled up, too.
• Use signature files wisely.
• Read www.easytraining.com/signature.htm

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Weblogs - What is a BLOG?

• Blogs are alternatively called web logs or
  weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to
  cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a
  server's log files.
• A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a
  Web site, usually maintained by an individual
  with regular entries of commentary, descriptions
  of events, or other material such as graphics or
  video. Entries are commonly displayed in
  reverse-chronological order.
• A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in
  a person's life and what is happening on the Web,
  a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there
  are as many unique types of blogs as there are
  people.
• A frequently updated website of personal ideas,
  thoughts, musings, news, information, or
  discussions of what one has eaten for breakfast.
• A web log is like a journal you write in at home,
  except its hosted on the Internet, and everyone
  can read it. Journalists from national
  publications have blogs at their websites. It
  gives them the chance to rant and rave, comment,
  voice their opinions, and write about stuff they
  cant publish in their regular publications.
  Blogs are more casually written than magazines or
  newspapers.

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Blog Growth
The blogosphere (as of August 2008) 133 million
blog records have been indexed since 2002 7.4
million blogs posted in last 120 days 1.5
million blog posts in last 7 days 900,000 blog
posts in 24 hours
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The Blogoshpere

• Bloggers are
• A heterogeneous group personal, professional
  and corporate bloggers all have different goals
• Savvy sophisticated - On average, bloggers use
  five different techniques to drive traffic to
  their blog. Theyre using an average of seven
  publishing tools on their blog and four distinct
  metrics for measuring success
• More affluent and educated than the general
  population
• Blogs are profitable
• Majority of bloggers have advertising on their
  blogs
• Mean annual revenue is 6,000 annual investment
  is 1,800
• Annual revenue of blogs with 100,000 or more
  unique visitors per month is in excess of 75,000

Source http//technorati.com/blogging/state-of-th
e-blogosphere/
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Global Snapshot of Bloggers
See http//technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-b
logosphere/
Blogging Topics
Impact of Blogging on Professional Life
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What is a blog post?

• A weblog post has three basic attributes title,
  link and description.
• Templates make it easy to start a blog site.
  Editing, posting and generation of the (weblog)
  website is largely automated.
• The simple addition of a calendar (whether text
  or graphical) joined to the now-familiar
  hyperlink offers 'more than the sum' of those two
  simple parts for helping readers orient
  themselves.
• Examples
• http//technorati.com/weblog/
• http//www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Resources/
  CorporateBlogsList
• http//fastlane.gmblogs.com/
• http//www.marketingpower.blogs.com/
• http//www.quintcareers.com/career_blog/
• http//www.scenicnursery.com/
• http//busymom.net/
• http//blogs.msdn.com/ie/default.aspx
• http//www.blogcatalog.com/
• http//dir.blogflux.com/
• Top 100 Blogs - http//technorati.com/pop/blogs/

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5 Ways Blogging Can Help Your Business

• Expose a new or little-known product or idea
• Improve your search engine rankings
• Position yourself as an expert in an industry or
  field
• Influence public opinion
• Engage in a forum openly with your customers
• Source http//www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/res
  ources/marketing/online_marketing/5_ways_blogging_
  can_help_your_business.mspx

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Sites to Help Set Up Blogs

• http//www.blogger.com/start
• http//www.livejournal.com
• http//www.typepad.com/
• http//www.xanga.com
• http//blogdrive.com
• http//www.greatestjournal.com
• http//www.diaryland.com
• http//www.ebloggy.com/
• http//weblogawards.org/
• http//2009.bloggies.com/

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Paid Advertising - Pay-per-sale Advertising
(Affiliates Programs or Associates Programs)
http//www.cj.com/ Commission Junction
http//www.barnesandnoble.com/affiliate/index.asp?
PID18787cds2Pid18788 http//www.affiliateprime
r.com/affiliate-primer-contents.html