What is it about pictures that customers frequently don't get? I've already talked about this a few months ago, but it rears its head every so often.
Last week a customer emailed me a sheet of their latest offers to update their website with. It contained offers, menus and various other information to be cut and pasted into various points on the website.
It was a massive file, but sent as a PDF so the resolution wasn't actually that great. By the time I'd removed the images at their full size, they were a little small and fuzzy. Not sure why when this was what was going to print - maybe they'd sent me a proof.
Of course, this morning the email arrives saying the pictures are too small and fuzzy. Make them bigger and clearer. Of course, I can do one of these quite easily from the original, but not both. If I make the images bigger, they lose quality. If I make them clearer, they lose size.
If you are emailing pictures for use on a website, send them at least as big as you want to see them on the page, but not too big...
Monday, 30 June 2008
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Don't Just Affiliate - Add Value
Too many people think that it's easy to set up a website using an affiliate feed, get it listed on the search engines and sit back and wait for the cash to roll in.
I even had people come to me and ask me to build the sites for them. They look blankly back at me when I ask them how they will promote the website, expecting me to produce a website for £300 that will do all of this for them.
Well, if I could spend a couple of days to produce a website that would earn thousands of pounds per year, would I be charging a few hundred for it? Or would I be producing those websites for myself...
What I try to offer is the opportunity for them to add something themselves to the website. Product reviews is usually a good one and let them choose which products they try to sell and add just these to the website.
If you are a travel affiliate then instead of just listing the same old huge list hotels or villas, make sure that you are including resort guides researched and written by yourself just for the site. Maybe even start a travel blog and include the accommodation details in that rather than just listing the 10,000 hotels available.
Whatever you are trying to sell, make sure that you add something to the information available. This means that there is less risk of falling to the search engines duplicate content filters and more chance of visitors stumbling across your new website. Just remember that if you are expecting to make a couple of thousand per year from the affiliate scheme then you are probably going to need to invest the appropriate amount of time to that site.
Feel free to post ideas in the comments!
I even had people come to me and ask me to build the sites for them. They look blankly back at me when I ask them how they will promote the website, expecting me to produce a website for £300 that will do all of this for them.
Well, if I could spend a couple of days to produce a website that would earn thousands of pounds per year, would I be charging a few hundred for it? Or would I be producing those websites for myself...
What I try to offer is the opportunity for them to add something themselves to the website. Product reviews is usually a good one and let them choose which products they try to sell and add just these to the website.
If you are a travel affiliate then instead of just listing the same old huge list hotels or villas, make sure that you are including resort guides researched and written by yourself just for the site. Maybe even start a travel blog and include the accommodation details in that rather than just listing the 10,000 hotels available.
Whatever you are trying to sell, make sure that you add something to the information available. This means that there is less risk of falling to the search engines duplicate content filters and more chance of visitors stumbling across your new website. Just remember that if you are expecting to make a couple of thousand per year from the affiliate scheme then you are probably going to need to invest the appropriate amount of time to that site.
Feel free to post ideas in the comments!
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Adwords Content Network
I've already touched on whether I think that Google's Adwords is a good idea, but then I was referring to the search network (e.g. Google itself & other partner search engines).
So what about the Content Network - the millions of small and large websites that display Adsense adverts?
I think if you are careful then this network can be great. It's possible to hit your potential customers right where you want them - whilst they are browsing relevant websites. These websites can have (in total) huge volumes of displays of your adverts so there is a lot of brand exposure for you.
It is said that the site owners can click on their own adverts to make more commissions. Yes, some people try this. But Google have loads of ways to detect this activity and anything that looks suspicious is not charged for. Too much suspicious activity will result in the account being closed. It's not in Google's interest to have any fraud at all.
It can also be a lot cheaper and if you are getting low click through rates it doesn't affect the charges for the search network.
Yes, there can be problems. I've found in my own experience there is a lot more evidence of more general browsing than people hungry to shop. But it's still getting people onto your site and your name known. As long as your product is right, they might come back next time.
So what about the Content Network - the millions of small and large websites that display Adsense adverts?
I think if you are careful then this network can be great. It's possible to hit your potential customers right where you want them - whilst they are browsing relevant websites. These websites can have (in total) huge volumes of displays of your adverts so there is a lot of brand exposure for you.
It is said that the site owners can click on their own adverts to make more commissions. Yes, some people try this. But Google have loads of ways to detect this activity and anything that looks suspicious is not charged for. Too much suspicious activity will result in the account being closed. It's not in Google's interest to have any fraud at all.
It can also be a lot cheaper and if you are getting low click through rates it doesn't affect the charges for the search network.
Yes, there can be problems. I've found in my own experience there is a lot more evidence of more general browsing than people hungry to shop. But it's still getting people onto your site and your name known. As long as your product is right, they might come back next time.
Friday, 27 June 2008
Adsense - Friend or Foe?
There's a lot of debate around about whether Google's adsense should be included on websites or not. One side of the argument states it's a good way to earn money. The other says that often little is earned and it can detract from the content of the website.
Which is right? Well, I think both (not really sitting on the fence!!!).
Simple. For a corporate website selling their own product then it's unlikely that adsense will bring in any significant revenue and the adverts will distract from the content.
But if you are running a blog, ezine, review or information site, then why not? If your main income from the site (or the site doesn't have an income stream) is affiliate selling, then I think it can be very worth while adding another source of income.
Some people will shout me down saying that it's rare to earn much from adsense. Yes, plenty of people earn very little, I'm sure. But in my experience the adverts can be well worth while. If your site has original content, plenty of traffic and especially if it's targeting keywords that are likely to be move expensive, then it's well worth the short amount of time it takes to sign up and add the code to your site.
Which is right? Well, I think both (not really sitting on the fence!!!).
Simple. For a corporate website selling their own product then it's unlikely that adsense will bring in any significant revenue and the adverts will distract from the content.
But if you are running a blog, ezine, review or information site, then why not? If your main income from the site (or the site doesn't have an income stream) is affiliate selling, then I think it can be very worth while adding another source of income.
Some people will shout me down saying that it's rare to earn much from adsense. Yes, plenty of people earn very little, I'm sure. But in my experience the adverts can be well worth while. If your site has original content, plenty of traffic and especially if it's targeting keywords that are likely to be move expensive, then it's well worth the short amount of time it takes to sign up and add the code to your site.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
What advantage PDFs?
What search engine advantage is there in displaying your thoughts in PDF format, rather than in plain old HTML? I'm sure I mentioned this only a few weeks ago, but I've seen another example of this on a website today.
On the site today, the home page is PR1 and the internal pages that or lower. Except for the information stored as a PDF document - that's the only PR2 page on the site.
It's not a site built, intended or used for search engine traffic. There's no link building scheme to help the search engine rating - the page rank is just what it's got from the few sites it's linked through, including my portfolio.
I noticed on my own site a few weeks ago that a couple of PDF documents that are only linked to from 1 page have a higher PR than the page linking to them. This goes against convetional wisdom as to how page rank is inherited - it's supposed to diminish as it is inherited, not increase.
So why is this and why could it be happening? Well, the first and easiest answer would be that Google hasn't fully updated and that the higher level pages have dropped, but not the PDFs. I know with my own site this hasn't happened. Maybe there's an increase coming, but it's only showing on the PDFs. But that would be too hopeful that both sites are going to increase in page rank...
So what else? Well, I can only assume that page rank works on multiple levels. You get the main level of a page rank, which is what inheritance is based on. Then you get marked down (and maybe up???) depending on other page factors.
What could these be and why? Well, with a PDF it's not full of links to other sites - or even your own. It's an end product that someone can pickup, print out and read. It's not full of Google Adsense or affiliate adverts and they aren't created just to drive traffic to your site - because people arriving there may never actually visit your site.
Or maybe it's just as simple as you lose some of your page rank by linking out to other pages. Now, how many people does that make sweat!
Whatever the reason, and it will be easy to monitor the situation through a couple of page rank updates, it does seem that there is a page rank advantage to putting your materials into PDF format. But, what advantage does this actually give you? It's difficult to then put links into your site - people would have to cut & paste or even retype the required URLs and maybe find the page they are after on the site.
I suppose that's why there is a page rank difference - if you are supplying the information it is just to give that information to your visitors. There would be no great advantage for me to fill Compare Mortgage Rates with information in PDFs, because there's no guarantee that anyone reading the information is then going to visit my site to click on adverts etc.
I suppose in some markets it can work. I'm working with pure strike on their website. With them, golfers might be reading up about golf putters and if they read about the pure strike putter and saw the URL they probably would be interested.
So maybe reviews etc would be useful in PDF format, but not for affiliates. As an affiliate I could write up how brilliant a driver is, but then the reader is just going to go off to find the cheapest about, they aren't going to come to my site to by it.
There must be a few good ways of using this quirk. How, I haven't quite worked out. And that's probably the answer - move up the search listing results that are there for results, not because people can manipulate the traffic that arrives.
On the site today, the home page is PR1 and the internal pages that or lower. Except for the information stored as a PDF document - that's the only PR2 page on the site.
It's not a site built, intended or used for search engine traffic. There's no link building scheme to help the search engine rating - the page rank is just what it's got from the few sites it's linked through, including my portfolio.
I noticed on my own site a few weeks ago that a couple of PDF documents that are only linked to from 1 page have a higher PR than the page linking to them. This goes against convetional wisdom as to how page rank is inherited - it's supposed to diminish as it is inherited, not increase.
So why is this and why could it be happening? Well, the first and easiest answer would be that Google hasn't fully updated and that the higher level pages have dropped, but not the PDFs. I know with my own site this hasn't happened. Maybe there's an increase coming, but it's only showing on the PDFs. But that would be too hopeful that both sites are going to increase in page rank...
So what else? Well, I can only assume that page rank works on multiple levels. You get the main level of a page rank, which is what inheritance is based on. Then you get marked down (and maybe up???) depending on other page factors.
What could these be and why? Well, with a PDF it's not full of links to other sites - or even your own. It's an end product that someone can pickup, print out and read. It's not full of Google Adsense or affiliate adverts and they aren't created just to drive traffic to your site - because people arriving there may never actually visit your site.
Or maybe it's just as simple as you lose some of your page rank by linking out to other pages. Now, how many people does that make sweat!
Whatever the reason, and it will be easy to monitor the situation through a couple of page rank updates, it does seem that there is a page rank advantage to putting your materials into PDF format. But, what advantage does this actually give you? It's difficult to then put links into your site - people would have to cut & paste or even retype the required URLs and maybe find the page they are after on the site.
I suppose that's why there is a page rank difference - if you are supplying the information it is just to give that information to your visitors. There would be no great advantage for me to fill Compare Mortgage Rates with information in PDFs, because there's no guarantee that anyone reading the information is then going to visit my site to click on adverts etc.
I suppose in some markets it can work. I'm working with pure strike on their website. With them, golfers might be reading up about golf putters and if they read about the pure strike putter and saw the URL they probably would be interested.
So maybe reviews etc would be useful in PDF format, but not for affiliates. As an affiliate I could write up how brilliant a driver is, but then the reader is just going to go off to find the cheapest about, they aren't going to come to my site to by it.
There must be a few good ways of using this quirk. How, I haven't quite worked out. And that's probably the answer - move up the search listing results that are there for results, not because people can manipulate the traffic that arrives.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Rebuilding another site
I run several of my own site - compare mortgage rates and holiday cottages to name just 2 of many! These are all promoting various affiliate schemes and including Google Adsense.
The top 3 sites of my own all include a good element of my own input, but there's a golf site that when it first went live got loads of traffic and plenty of commissions - in fact the affiliate provider quickly moveed me up the reward levels. But for ages now it's not had a single commission.
Most of the site is built along the same lines as my divingg website, which currently does much better for traffic, adsense and commissions. What's the difference? Well the diving website started off and gets most of it's traffic not through the product information, but from reviews and information about diving in different locations and the dive centres there. It's got plenty of unique content.
But the golf site has none. It's just the products put together in different ways. A bit like the cottages site before that was rebuilt. So, although I've not actually finished rebuilding the cottages site - there's still a lot more information to add to the pages, I've decided that my next target is to be the golf website.
At the moment it's just a list of products for sale. I'll keep this, maybe even the same directory structure. But it's getting a new look along with new sections to review UK golf courses and whatever else I can think of linking to. Yes, most of it will be driven by what affiliate schemes I can find, but I'm learning the lesson that these sites don't work unless you put plenty of time and effort into creating something else - something that the public want to read.
The top 3 sites of my own all include a good element of my own input, but there's a golf site that when it first went live got loads of traffic and plenty of commissions - in fact the affiliate provider quickly moveed me up the reward levels. But for ages now it's not had a single commission.
Most of the site is built along the same lines as my divingg website, which currently does much better for traffic, adsense and commissions. What's the difference? Well the diving website started off and gets most of it's traffic not through the product information, but from reviews and information about diving in different locations and the dive centres there. It's got plenty of unique content.
But the golf site has none. It's just the products put together in different ways. A bit like the cottages site before that was rebuilt. So, although I've not actually finished rebuilding the cottages site - there's still a lot more information to add to the pages, I've decided that my next target is to be the golf website.
At the moment it's just a list of products for sale. I'll keep this, maybe even the same directory structure. But it's getting a new look along with new sections to review UK golf courses and whatever else I can think of linking to. Yes, most of it will be driven by what affiliate schemes I can find, but I'm learning the lesson that these sites don't work unless you put plenty of time and effort into creating something else - something that the public want to read.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Top 7 Low cost Website Marketing Ideas
Need to get more traffic to your website but working on a budget? Not all ideas need to cost an arm and a leg - here's my top 7 ideas of getting new customers to your site, whilst not spending too much, some are even free...
PopUnders - this is where when a website on a similar theme is visited by a customer, your website is opened in a window behind the main one. This is low cost and can really provide tons of traffic. It's good because you know what theme of site the person is looking at and therefore a bit about what they are interested in.
Link Building - if you want to maintain a good search engine position then swapping links with other sites is a must. Not only can this actually allow people to find your site through these links, but search engines also see these links and assume that you are becoming more popular - and list you higher in their search results.
Fresh Content - by keeping your website updated with fresh content is a must. Whether it is freshly added information, the latest news or just maintaining your product database, make sure that changes are there. Not only does this make the search engines see that the site is maintained, which means they are more likely to list them highly, if the updates are interesting enough visitors will bookmark your site and want to return to see the lastest changes.
Articles - writing articles that your potential customers want to read about and that other people can distribute for you can interest new people and tempt them into visiting your site. Don't try to over-sell your services, write about what they want to read about and at the end tell them how you can help them. Go to a few article distribution sites and keep an eye on the increasing traffic.
Advertise name in shop / on literature - this is one that is often missed by customers, but such an easy way to promote a site. Just make sure that your customers and visitors to your outlet know about your website. They might be wanting to shop out of hours or compare your prices to someone else during their lunch break. So put your URL on your shop sign, on your price tags, on all of your stationary and everything else that your customers might be picking up from you.
Run a newsletter - sign up to a free newsletter provider, put a signup form on your website and encourage visitors to sign up for the newsletter. Maybe even encourage them to sign up by offering special discounts via the newsletter. These people have then shwon an interest in your product and are more likely to want to buy from you - if they are reminded about you enough. Just don't over do the newsletters and annoy them.
Free Directories - depending on your website content, free directories can generate loads of traffic. I personally consider these more relevant to websites where the theme is one where people are taking more time to search for new websites. For example, I've used these to great effect on dating sites and sports site, sites about hobbies, interests and recreations can all have plenty of people digging around for more websites to visit.
PopUnders - this is where when a website on a similar theme is visited by a customer, your website is opened in a window behind the main one. This is low cost and can really provide tons of traffic. It's good because you know what theme of site the person is looking at and therefore a bit about what they are interested in.
Link Building - if you want to maintain a good search engine position then swapping links with other sites is a must. Not only can this actually allow people to find your site through these links, but search engines also see these links and assume that you are becoming more popular - and list you higher in their search results.
Fresh Content - by keeping your website updated with fresh content is a must. Whether it is freshly added information, the latest news or just maintaining your product database, make sure that changes are there. Not only does this make the search engines see that the site is maintained, which means they are more likely to list them highly, if the updates are interesting enough visitors will bookmark your site and want to return to see the lastest changes.
Articles - writing articles that your potential customers want to read about and that other people can distribute for you can interest new people and tempt them into visiting your site. Don't try to over-sell your services, write about what they want to read about and at the end tell them how you can help them. Go to a few article distribution sites and keep an eye on the increasing traffic.
Advertise name in shop / on literature - this is one that is often missed by customers, but such an easy way to promote a site. Just make sure that your customers and visitors to your outlet know about your website. They might be wanting to shop out of hours or compare your prices to someone else during their lunch break. So put your URL on your shop sign, on your price tags, on all of your stationary and everything else that your customers might be picking up from you.
Run a newsletter - sign up to a free newsletter provider, put a signup form on your website and encourage visitors to sign up for the newsletter. Maybe even encourage them to sign up by offering special discounts via the newsletter. These people have then shwon an interest in your product and are more likely to want to buy from you - if they are reminded about you enough. Just don't over do the newsletters and annoy them.
Free Directories - depending on your website content, free directories can generate loads of traffic. I personally consider these more relevant to websites where the theme is one where people are taking more time to search for new websites. For example, I've used these to great effect on dating sites and sports site, sites about hobbies, interests and recreations can all have plenty of people digging around for more websites to visit.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Top 7 Online Website Marketing Ideas
Now you have a website, how can you get plenty of traffic onto the website? There are 7 top ideas for marketing a website online that every website could be using to generate more incoming traffic.
Pay Per Click - do you want a quick feed of traffic? Well in my opinion, pay per click systems offer just this! Sign up for a Google account, or MSN, Overture or whoever you choose, select a few appropriate keywords, write a concise advert and in minutes your website can be receiving targeted customers. There is an element of quality advert writing required and careful selection of keywords, but as long as you set limits for the advert and monitor the advert's progress, pay per click can be quite useful.
PopUnders - this is another way of generating fast traffic and this one is quite cheap. I've got a customer who relies on this to generate website traffic to support his business. How quick and well it works does depend on the provider you are buying from, but basically your website is displayed in a new window when a person visits another website of a chosen theme? Sounds complicated? It's not! For example, you choose a Golf category and then for 5,000 visitors the traffic provider gets to their golf websites, they also open a new window to display your website. Simple and can be very well targeted.
Fresh Content - if you aren't providing new content to your website then you are virtually killing it's content. It doesn't have to be weekly or even monthly. It depends on your website theme and competition. Whether you are adding new information, news or even just maintaining the freshness of yoour products, keep updating your website and traffic will be a lot better.
Forums & Blogs - by keeping your eye on other people's suitable blogs and forums there are time when you can genuinely post or leave comments that are usful and informative that can link to your website. Don't do it needlessly - you want the people reading the comment to see that you are making a valid point and want to visit your website - no spamming please!
Google Maps - on certain search results for businesses, Google displays a map and a list of businesses it is aware of. It is well worth signing up for free to this service to make sure that your website is listed and will appear in search results.
Articles - writing informative atricles that people find useful and getting them published in other people's newsletters, blogs and websites is an excellent way of being seen as a useful expert in the field and a way of generating more traffic. Like commenting in blogs and posting to forums, if the reader finds what you write interesting they are likely to want to visit your site.
Run a Newsletter - people visiting your website can be encouraged to sign up to your newsletter. If they do, then they are probably interested in your offer so likely to be happy to visit you when you have special offers. Sign up for a newsletter service and get it running now. Even if you only have a handful of subscribers, it can be fun.
Pay Per Click - do you want a quick feed of traffic? Well in my opinion, pay per click systems offer just this! Sign up for a Google account, or MSN, Overture or whoever you choose, select a few appropriate keywords, write a concise advert and in minutes your website can be receiving targeted customers. There is an element of quality advert writing required and careful selection of keywords, but as long as you set limits for the advert and monitor the advert's progress, pay per click can be quite useful.
PopUnders - this is another way of generating fast traffic and this one is quite cheap. I've got a customer who relies on this to generate website traffic to support his business. How quick and well it works does depend on the provider you are buying from, but basically your website is displayed in a new window when a person visits another website of a chosen theme? Sounds complicated? It's not! For example, you choose a Golf category and then for 5,000 visitors the traffic provider gets to their golf websites, they also open a new window to display your website. Simple and can be very well targeted.
Fresh Content - if you aren't providing new content to your website then you are virtually killing it's content. It doesn't have to be weekly or even monthly. It depends on your website theme and competition. Whether you are adding new information, news or even just maintaining the freshness of yoour products, keep updating your website and traffic will be a lot better.
Forums & Blogs - by keeping your eye on other people's suitable blogs and forums there are time when you can genuinely post or leave comments that are usful and informative that can link to your website. Don't do it needlessly - you want the people reading the comment to see that you are making a valid point and want to visit your website - no spamming please!
Google Maps - on certain search results for businesses, Google displays a map and a list of businesses it is aware of. It is well worth signing up for free to this service to make sure that your website is listed and will appear in search results.
Articles - writing informative atricles that people find useful and getting them published in other people's newsletters, blogs and websites is an excellent way of being seen as a useful expert in the field and a way of generating more traffic. Like commenting in blogs and posting to forums, if the reader finds what you write interesting they are likely to want to visit your site.
Run a Newsletter - people visiting your website can be encouraged to sign up to your newsletter. If they do, then they are probably interested in your offer so likely to be happy to visit you when you have special offers. Sign up for a newsletter service and get it running now. Even if you only have a handful of subscribers, it can be fun.
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Top 7 Free Website Marketing Ideas
It's always nice getting something for free - and publicity for your website is certainly on that list! Promoting a website can be expensive, but with a few DIY ideas under your hat you can help build your website traffic for free. So here's by top 7 free website marketing ideas.
Link Building - this is really a must for anyone wanting more traffic! By building links with other sites you can exchange traffic with them. Even if you aren't exchanging links on content pages, just links pages, that can help the popularity of your site and increase your search engine traffic. Getting listed in popular "Top Sites" lists may not help your page rank teriffically, but if it's a popular list it might have plenty of traffic and send some of it to you. This is particularly true when the topic involved is a hobby, when people are tending to browse deeper than just a quick flick through sites.
Fresh Content - by constantly updating and maintaining your content you are giving search engines a reason to come back to your site and a reason to send you visitors. If this new content forms new pages then you can quickly build up a large cataglogue of useful pages. Try adding one new page each week of content that you have written yourself. Don't worry too much about keywords - just write what comes easiest. Make sure the pages are easy to find - linked to from the search engines, and let time take it's course. If you aren't a content site, e.g. a shop, then make sure that your catalogue is updated on a regular basis. Search engines will pick up on special offers coming and going. Likewise, using a forum on your site can help as this is constantly producing new content on a site.
Forums & Blogs - by actively participating in other people's forums and leaving comments on blogs that track back to your own blog or website their readers can see what you have had to say and if it is interesting maybe they will also visit your blog or website. I've had people asking for advice on forums to which I've posted replies leading to commissions.
Video Clips - using amusing video clips and posting them on social networking websites where others might show them to their friends can be a useful idea. Done subtly is best - give the viewer something to enjoy and they will tell other people. Maybe demonstrate a product in use in an unusual way and drop in the name of your website as providing the product. I've seen this well done, with just the comments on the top of the page saying where the products could be bought from if any viewers wanted to try it for themselves.
Google Maps - the Google maps service shows on the map the location of businesses for variouse searches. If Google decides a search is relevant to a business and a location, then the map is shown at the top of the search results, along with a list of the displayed businesses. It's free to get listed - go to maps.google.com, search for your business and location and assuming you aren't listed, use the link at the bottom of the page to list your business.
Articles - promoting your website through frely distributed articles is an effective way of helping traffic. If you write an interesting and informative article, publishers should pick up on the article and reprint it. If it makes interesting reading then the readers will want to read more and visit your website. Also, so of the articles will be reproduced on websites, with pne way links into your website.
Run a newsletter - if you can collect email addresses of people that are visiting your site then you can later email them when you want to generate a bit of interest. Maybe you have special offers to promote, or have too much stock that needs clearing quickly. Well, if these people have enjoyed your site and offered you their email addresses then it's likely that they will be open to your offers - make use of this!
Link Building - this is really a must for anyone wanting more traffic! By building links with other sites you can exchange traffic with them. Even if you aren't exchanging links on content pages, just links pages, that can help the popularity of your site and increase your search engine traffic. Getting listed in popular "Top Sites" lists may not help your page rank teriffically, but if it's a popular list it might have plenty of traffic and send some of it to you. This is particularly true when the topic involved is a hobby, when people are tending to browse deeper than just a quick flick through sites.
Fresh Content - by constantly updating and maintaining your content you are giving search engines a reason to come back to your site and a reason to send you visitors. If this new content forms new pages then you can quickly build up a large cataglogue of useful pages. Try adding one new page each week of content that you have written yourself. Don't worry too much about keywords - just write what comes easiest. Make sure the pages are easy to find - linked to from the search engines, and let time take it's course. If you aren't a content site, e.g. a shop, then make sure that your catalogue is updated on a regular basis. Search engines will pick up on special offers coming and going. Likewise, using a forum on your site can help as this is constantly producing new content on a site.
Forums & Blogs - by actively participating in other people's forums and leaving comments on blogs that track back to your own blog or website their readers can see what you have had to say and if it is interesting maybe they will also visit your blog or website. I've had people asking for advice on forums to which I've posted replies leading to commissions.
Video Clips - using amusing video clips and posting them on social networking websites where others might show them to their friends can be a useful idea. Done subtly is best - give the viewer something to enjoy and they will tell other people. Maybe demonstrate a product in use in an unusual way and drop in the name of your website as providing the product. I've seen this well done, with just the comments on the top of the page saying where the products could be bought from if any viewers wanted to try it for themselves.
Google Maps - the Google maps service shows on the map the location of businesses for variouse searches. If Google decides a search is relevant to a business and a location, then the map is shown at the top of the search results, along with a list of the displayed businesses. It's free to get listed - go to maps.google.com, search for your business and location and assuming you aren't listed, use the link at the bottom of the page to list your business.
Articles - promoting your website through frely distributed articles is an effective way of helping traffic. If you write an interesting and informative article, publishers should pick up on the article and reprint it. If it makes interesting reading then the readers will want to read more and visit your website. Also, so of the articles will be reproduced on websites, with pne way links into your website.
Run a newsletter - if you can collect email addresses of people that are visiting your site then you can later email them when you want to generate a bit of interest. Maybe you have special offers to promote, or have too much stock that needs clearing quickly. Well, if these people have enjoyed your site and offered you their email addresses then it's likely that they will be open to your offers - make use of this!
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Top 5 Off Line Website Marketing Ideas
There's more to advertising your website than search engine optimisation and pay per click marketing. There's plenty of advertising that you can use that doesn't even involve the website. Offline marketing can bring plenty of good results for your business and a lot of it can bring long term customers without too much expense.
Here's my favourite 5 ways of marketing your website - without using the internet!
Advertise in your shop - if you are a shop owner, or at least have a premises that your customers might visit or pass, then advertising there is a definite must. Get your shop sign altered to include the website name. Have your price tags printed up with the shop name and on posters around the shop include your website address. Remember that people might be passing your place of business and see you and want to get in touch. A website address is far easier to remember than most phone numbers. It could be that you are a solicitor and they are about to move and drive past you every day to and from work. Whatever, make sure that passing trade sees your website address.
Advertise on literature - basically, put your website address on everything you print. Every receipt, invoice, statement, business card, letterhead etc should show your website address. This one, unless you are throwing away old literature to make way for newly printed stock, is a free one! But it's reminding current customers at a later date how to contact you.
Fliers - getting a batch of fliers designed and printed isn't going to break the bank. Then get them out as quickly as reasonable possible - they aren't doing any good in your drawer. Stick them on cars; give them out to potential customers you are meeting; post them through letter boxes; even just drop one into each carrier bag. You could be reminding existing customers about you or drawing in new customers depending how you distribute them.
Give aways / promotional items - similar to fliers, here you get some pens, stress toys, keyrings or whatever printed and distribute them as you wish. Maybe you give them out on the street or to customers. Or give them to customers who spend a certain amount (to encourage further spending) or have a set printed and give out a different one each week, saving the last one for online orders only. Whichever way you use them, having your URL printed on them means that your recipients are seeing your message and website name and can visit your site.
Magazine Adverts - this one is saved to last as it's probably by far the most expensive of all of the off-line ideas. By being listed in a magazine with a good circulation its readers are finding out about your site and associating you with the magazine. By using a specialist magazine you can really target your audience well and several of my customers use this, with some having sites just to give the readers a point of contact. But, depending on the quality and circulation of the magazine, this can be an expensive exercise. Done well, the returns can be even greater.
Here's my favourite 5 ways of marketing your website - without using the internet!
Advertise in your shop - if you are a shop owner, or at least have a premises that your customers might visit or pass, then advertising there is a definite must. Get your shop sign altered to include the website name. Have your price tags printed up with the shop name and on posters around the shop include your website address. Remember that people might be passing your place of business and see you and want to get in touch. A website address is far easier to remember than most phone numbers. It could be that you are a solicitor and they are about to move and drive past you every day to and from work. Whatever, make sure that passing trade sees your website address.
Advertise on literature - basically, put your website address on everything you print. Every receipt, invoice, statement, business card, letterhead etc should show your website address. This one, unless you are throwing away old literature to make way for newly printed stock, is a free one! But it's reminding current customers at a later date how to contact you.
Fliers - getting a batch of fliers designed and printed isn't going to break the bank. Then get them out as quickly as reasonable possible - they aren't doing any good in your drawer. Stick them on cars; give them out to potential customers you are meeting; post them through letter boxes; even just drop one into each carrier bag. You could be reminding existing customers about you or drawing in new customers depending how you distribute them.
Give aways / promotional items - similar to fliers, here you get some pens, stress toys, keyrings or whatever printed and distribute them as you wish. Maybe you give them out on the street or to customers. Or give them to customers who spend a certain amount (to encourage further spending) or have a set printed and give out a different one each week, saving the last one for online orders only. Whichever way you use them, having your URL printed on them means that your recipients are seeing your message and website name and can visit your site.
Magazine Adverts - this one is saved to last as it's probably by far the most expensive of all of the off-line ideas. By being listed in a magazine with a good circulation its readers are finding out about your site and associating you with the magazine. By using a specialist magazine you can really target your audience well and several of my customers use this, with some having sites just to give the readers a point of contact. But, depending on the quality and circulation of the magazine, this can be an expensive exercise. Done well, the returns can be even greater.
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