June 2002   

Create to Promote

Focus on the promotion of your site when you're working out the structure and content of your Web pages. Think search engines -- especially those with directories managed by humans -- and understand how they will react to what they find on your site. Many indexers now focus on the first paragraph of content, and they endeavor to categorize the page based on that content. So keep your intro specific, focusing on your subject and its intended audience.

Think carefully, too, when selecting a title for a Web page. Try to include the purpose of the page within that title. Unless your title tells prospective visitors exactly what they can find at your site, it's not doing the job it should.

You should also make use of the META descriptions and META keywords on each of your site pages. These are what your potential visitor is going to read before clicking on your site's listing. According to Steve Gibbs, CEO of Internet marketing site CashCreators.com, it's a good idea to do some detective work by finding out what makes the top ten sites in your category of interest rank so high. Read the body copy of these sites and count how many times their keywords appear. "If the top 10 pages have one keyword for every 25 words," advises Gibbs, "I'd recommend you use the same keyword-to-body copy when building your doorway page."

The Promotional Toolbox

As with any other building project, having the right tools at your fingertips will make the job of building site traffic a lot easier, not to mention far more time efficient. So, now that you've honed your Web site to take maximum advantage of your promotional opportunities, it's time to start piecing together your promotional toolbox. Here are some of the tools that should be in yours:

• An index of every page on your site -- The list should contain the page title along with a short page description that is loaded with your keywords.
• Descriptions of your site in various word counts -- Having descriptions to fit 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 word counts will save you a lot of time during the submission process.
• A site keyword list
• A description of your site's intended audience
• A file that allows you to keep track of promotional activities for your site

Search Engines: Your Best Friends

Now to the business of actually promoting your site. What's the most effective way to attract ongoing, prequalified prospects to your site? According to Ernest Seger, CEO of Internet Business Marketing, the answer is simple. He refers to search engines as the "bargain of the millennium," offering hot prospects at the "lowest possible price." But there's a catch. If you don't rank near the top of the list, you won't get much benefit. "How many times have you chosen the 112th link on a search engine?" Seger asks. So, what can you do to ensure that you secure one of those coveted spots on the first or second page of a search engine ranking? Seger offers three tips to get you climbing the rankings ladder:

Choose your keywords carefully. "If you choose a single keyword that 5,000 other sites are using," says Seger, "you will get lost." Rather, try to narrow down your choice of keywords to terms that are specific and targeted.

Always opt for the longest possible form of a keyword. If someone puts the word "visionary" into a search engine and your keyword is "vision," your site will not be found. However, if you use "visionary" as your keyword, the person who types in "vision" will still be able to find you. When your keyword is a noun, use the plural form whenever possible.

Submit your site personally (that is, deliberately) to the twelve most popular search engines. This will allow you to personalize your submission to each engine. Utilize search engine software to submit to the multitude of smaller search engines. The Search Engine Watch site is an excellent resource where you can find listings of the top search engines, reviews, and numerous tips.

Keep in mind that search engines can't make you active straight away. Once you've submitted, it takes some time for their spiders to crawl through your site and add it to their listing. During that time, concentrate on other areas of your marketing strategy.

Phase Two: Linking

Rather than operating in isolation, try working in unison with others whose goal is Web site promotion, to provide mutual benefits. The easiest way to do this is by linking to complementary sites. Simply look for sites that would be of interest to your target market and offer to link to them from your site. In return, invite the Webmasters of those sites to check out your site and consider offering reciprocal linkage.

Remember that most sites that you'll link to will already have a list of linked sites. Check these out to find even more linking opportunities. If you continue clicking on those links, you will uncover an almost inexhaustible array of cross-promotional opportunities.

Linking can also make your site more attractive to search engines. Higher relevancy is given to sites that appear more popular, and popularity is often gauged by the number of links that exist to your site.

Niche Marketing

Rather than trying to compete with the giants of cyberspace, the smart, small-to-medium-sized marketer will look for ways to promote a business as a niche market. "If you're already in a competitive business area, look for alternatives or unusual slants that haven't been tried as often," advises Web developer Blue Tapp. If you can come up with an angle that makes you uniquely able to fill a specific demand, you will corner a segment of the market that the major players are unable to cater to. It is this sort of specialization that enables many small independent bookstores to thrive online despite the domination of megasites like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Promotion Services

There are a vast number of promotional services available to the online marketer that offer everything from link submission to a guaranteed top ten ranking in the major search engines. Should you use their services? "Not if you don't have to," is the advice of Jim Wilson, whose JimWorld.com receives in excess of half a million hits per month. "You will do a better job yourself because you have more knowledge about your audience and you have the passion."

"A basic flaw to the service they provide," cautions Wilson, "is that they submit the same data to each and every place they submit your information. It gives you no chance to look around a site and try to find a message that will best motivate their audience to want to come visit you."

Of course, these businesses offer a valid service for those who don't have the time to devote to their online marketing campaign. For the rest of us, however, it pays to keep our hands well and truly on the steering wheel.

Building an online presence is a challenging proposition. "Build it, and they will come" does not go far enough. Your marketing efforts must have depth as well as breadth and your whole Web presence needs to be geared toward promotional enhancement. Accomplish these goals, then watch your click counter spin.