Website Marketing Made Simple
Keywords: website marketing, internet marketing
Internet marketing can be arduous. Small business sites do not have the capital necessary to partake in mainstream advertising. However, there are ways to effectively launch a new site without spending millions of dollars. We will review each of the marketing options available to you so that you can create a simple, inexpensive plan that works for you.
Commercials and print advertising are expensive. This is undoubtedly the best way to market your online business, but the costs are prohibitive. A full page ad in a prominent magazine or other publication can run as high as $50,000 per ad. TV commercials can run just as high; if the commercial runs during a popular television show or sporting event, the amount you will have to pay can well exceed the costs of print advertising.
So, if you do not have enough money in the coffers for traditional advertising, you need to resort to online marketing. This is not a bad thing. Offline advertising (i.e. radio, TV, print ads) is sometimes not effective. Marketing on the internet is cheaper, and if done correctly, can give you much more bang for your buck.
The first thing you need to understand is that your search engine ranking will not improve overnight. Be wary of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultants. They will charge you an arm and a leg for their services, sometimes as much as $2,000 per month or more. They often make dubious claims that they can get you ranked on the first page of the search engines within a few months, and if not, they will kindly refund your money.
However, there is a catch. Once you pay the initial deposit and the SEO company begins working on your website, they will often optimize your website in such a manner so that you will be able to quickly rise to the top of the rankings for a keyword that is either not significant or will not attract any real traffic to your website.
For example, if your website provides auto insurance quotes, any SEO consultant knows that it will be impossible to expediently get your website ranked on the first page of Google for a highly competitive phrase such as AUTO INSURANCE QUOTES. So, instead, they will pick a variation of that phrase, such as AUTO INSURANCE QUOTES FAST, for which there is no competition, and you will quickly rise to the top. The only problem is no one will ever actually use that precise phrase when searching for auto insurance quotes, so even though the SEO company delivered on its promise to improve your ranking, you will still not get any visitors to your website because you will be ranked high for a keyword that no one will ever use when searching for auto insurance quotes.
More important than SEO is link popularity. Simply put, the link popularity for a given website is defined as the number of websites that currently link to that site. Some websites have thousands or even millions of sites linking to them, while others might have only 100 or less. The search engines use this as the most important criteria in their search algorithms for determining where a site should be ranked. The more high quality inbound links a site has, the higher its ranking.
The sheer number of links to a site is not the only factor used to determine link popularity. The search engines also examine the relevance and significance of the links. For example, if a website that sells wheelchairs has 2,000 inbound links, but most of the links are coming from insignificant sites that have nothing to do with wheelchairs, then the search engines might assess a low score for the link popularity of that particular site.
It is possible for a website with a relatively small number of quality, relevant links to be ranked higher than a site with a bunch of nonsensical links. If I have a website that provides mortgage quotes, and I have 800 inbound links, and most of the sites linking to me are quality websites that are related to mortgages or personal finance, then I might receive a much higher search engine ranking than another mortgage site that has 3,000 links that are mostly from link farms or Free For All (FFA) pages.
If you try to acquire inbound links to your website by submitting your site to link farms or FFA pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get banned from the search listings altogether. Links farms are sites where you can instantly exchange links with all the sites listed in that directory. FFA pages are pointless link directories. The search engines usually discount any links to your site originating from these FFA pages or link farms.
The way to improve your link popularity is simply by advertising your website. If your site provides a meaningful service or sells popular products, people will link to you after you start advertising and your site becomes more popular. You should also submit articles or press releases to article submission directories. You are allowed to include a link to your website at the bottom of the article. So, as your articles are put into circulation, you will receive a lot of links.
You might want to join a link exchange so that you can trade links with other sites, but the links you will receive are usually worthless. Instead, you should focus on advertising and submitting articles to get your site known so that you can get those high quality links you need to climb to the top of the search engines.
If you are not patient enough to wait for your search engine ranking to improve, you can attract visitors to your web site instantly by using pay-per-click advertising (PPC). With PPC, you pay a certain cost per click to have an ad for your web page run at or near the top of the search engine listings for certain keywords. This can be extremely costly and ineffective. It is not uncommon for webmasters to blow thousands of dollars on PPC advertising and make only a few sales.
The best way to promote your site, if you are actually selling something, is through an affiliate program. You need to provide an affiliate code to other online merchants so that they will place your banner on their site; every time you make a sale that resulted from an affiliate referral, the affiliate gets a commission. Some internet companies have thousands of affiliates, and get all the business they would ever need or want this way; and it costs you nothing. To recruit affiliates, you should submit your affiliate program to as many directories as possible (there are directories where you can list your affiliate program for free). The best way to find affiliates is by listing your program on forums or message boards visited by webmasters who are looking to generate additional revenue for their online business. You will have to consult with an experienced programmer who can set up the program so that the affiliate codes can be tracked properly.
If you are persistent and use all of these methods, you are likely to succeed with internet marketing. You will have to perform each of the tasks outlined in this article on a daily basis for several years to get where you want to be. Just stick with it and your efforts will be rewarded in the long run.
Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make free HTML forms.
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Internet Marketing Made Simple (1)
Stick to providers who will optimize your site for a reasonable fee. More important than SEO is link popularity. Link popularity is the number of web sites that currently link to your site.
A Guide To Internet Marketing (2)
So, if you do not have enough money in the coffers for traditional advertising, you need to resort to online marketing. This is not a bad thing. Offline advertising (i.e. radio, TV, print ads) is sometimes not effective.
Can Anyone Really Make Money Online? (3)
The only way to make money on the internet is by starting your own legitimate business. Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make email forms.
The Importance Of Link Popularity (4)
For the purposes of this discussion, we are going to talk about what link popularity is, why it is so important, and how to implement a strategy to increase the number of quality inbound links to your website.
Issues With Formmail (5)
This file processes the HTML form and sends the results to you via email. However, there are a number of things you need to be aware of when creating and installing it on your website.
Choosing A Web Designer (6)
Always work with a professional if your project requires a certain level of expertise and skill, and make sure they show you some samples of work they have produced in the past.
What Is DHTML? (7)
Also, it is platform and language independent. This cross-platform compatibility is extremely significant because most wireless devices are now equipped with access to the internet and email. These wireless gadgets have installed on them web browsers and platforms that are not compatible with many elements of the basic HTML.
A Brief Introduction To E4X (8)
Nowadays, I find myself working up to 10 hours per day designing web sites. I have to use so many different programming languages and specifications when creating a site that it makes me dizzy.
What Is DTD? (9)
XML was probably the most important of all of them, because it allowed a programmer to define data without telling the browser how to display it. The problem with HTML is that it defines data and also tells the browser how to display it.
What Is RSS? (10)
Also, some search engines will rank sites that have organized RSS feeds higher than sites that do not make use of them. A feed is extremely simple to create.
How To Hire The Right Web Designer (11)
The only time you should use a freelancer or other inexperienced designer is if you can meet with that individual in person, explain exactly what you want, and if the project itself is very simple and the design work necessary for the job is not too extravagant.
What Is AJAX Programming? (12)
The second part is XHTML, which is a more versatile version of HTML that is compatible with XML files. AJAX also uses the Document Object Model (DOM), which is a standard set of objects that can be used to modify web documents.
What Is XML Schema? (13)
These new systems are not fully compatible with many elements of the HTML programming language. As a result, websites created exclusively with HTML are often invisible or inaccessible to the wireless user.
Introduction To HTML DOM (14)
The cross-platform compatibility is extremely significant because most wireless devices are now equipped with access to the internet and email. These wireless gadgets have installed on them web browsers and platforms that are not compatible with many elements of the HTML programming language.
An Introduction To VBScript (15)
You can begin to learn VBScript fairly easily through online tutorials, but it might be a good idea to enroll in some courses at a local college or computer programming institute, or perhaps buy a VBScript textbook from a local bookstore.
Introduction To SQL (16)
SQL works with almost all database programs, such as MS Access, DB2, Informix, MS SQL Server, Oracle, and Sybase. Databases generally consist of tables. Tables consist of records.
What Is XML DOM? (17)
The XML Parser is also used to check the syntax of the XML as needed. If you want to load your XML document into XML DOM to create your tree and to start using the XML Parser, there are two ways you can do it.
What Is WSDL? (18)
WSDL is an extremely important specification. For those of you who design web sites for a living, especially if you create interactive sites that are connected to web services, you need to understand how to implement these types of files.
What Are XForms? (19)
So, if you are a web designer or programmer, be wary of the fact that some people will not be accessing your forms from an ordinary PC. So, you should learn how to create XForms to accommodate your end user, so that the form will work properly regardless of what sort of device they might be using to surf the net.
What Is XSL? (20)
So, again you ask, what is XSL and why is it important? XSL stands for Extensible Stylesheet Language. You have probably heard of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). CSS is a style sheet language that evolved to make it easier for web designers to create a style for an HTML web page.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
An Introduction To Internet Marketing (1)
You need to provide an affiliate code to other online merchants so that they will place your banner on their site; every time you make a sale that resulted from an affiliate referral, the affiliate gets a commission.
Introduction To Pay Per Click Marketing (2)
Once their daily budget has been exhausted, the site is removed from the sponsored results until the beginning of the next 24-hour period. Google is not the only search engine that has a PPC service available.
Do You Need An HTML Form? (3)
If you do not have the patience to create a form yourself, there are more than a few form creation tutorials on the internet that provide a simple way for you to create a form without doing any programming.
Improve Your Search Engine Ranking (4)
They often make dubious claims that they can get you ranked on the first page of the search engines within a few months, and if not, they will kindly refund your money.
My Internet Marketing Secrets Revealed (5)
Such services are scams, and they will submit your web page to FFA pages and bogus link pages that can actually get you banned from the search engines. You should only do business with submission services that submit to the major search engines and directories.
Getting Ranked Higher On Search Engines (6)
You can write articles and submit them to article submission directories. At the bottom of each article you write, you are allowed to include a link to your website.
Creating Your First HTML Form (7)
If you just posted a new website, but you do not have a HTML email form uploaded and you need to quickly provide a way for your visitors to contact you, then you should simply post your email address on your Contact page.
HTML Might Become Obsolete (8)
The Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is a family of current and future document types and modules that reproduce, subset, and extend HTML, reformulated in XML. XHTML family document types are all XML-based, and ultimately are designed to work in conjunction with XML-based user agents.
Finding A Good Web Designer (9)
The only issue in this case would be cost. A freelancer will charge a lot less than a professional, but a freelancer might not do a thoroughly competent job.
Your First Online Form (10)
Instead, they process it for you on their own servers. If you are comfortable with programming, you might want to try to create your web form yourself with the help of some online tutorials.
Learn How To Use Formmail (11)
Because it is possible to send spam through a form if the Formmail file is not created properly and does not authorize only one email address as the recipient, a few web hosting companies do not allow their customers to run forms on their sites.
How To Make Your Traffic Explode (12)
First of all, TV commercials, radio ads, and print advertising are very expensive. This is undoubtedly the best way to launch a business, but the costs are prohibitive. A full page ad in a prominent magazine or other publication can run as high as $50,000 per ad.
Your First HTML Email Form (13)
However, if you want to create a sophisticated online form to collect information from your visitors and respond to their questions, you need to know something about HTML and another programming language called PHP.
Learn To Create An Online Form (14)
Formmail is written in a programming language called PHP, which is more advanced than HTML. There are many websites where you can download the Formmail file for free. Formmail has been used to process and email the results of web forms since 1997.
How Traffic To My Site Skyrocketed (15)
First of all, TV commercials, radio ads, and print advertising are very expensive. This is undoubtedly the best way to launch a business, but the costs are prohibitive. A full page ad in a prominent magazine or other publication can run as high as $50,000 per ad.
Your First Web Form (16)
Installing the online form on your website is the easy part. If you are not familiar with how to create the code for a form, there are many different online tutorials that can teach you how to create the code.
Internet Marketing For Beginners (17)
If you are not patient enough to wait for your search engine ranking to improve, you can attract visitors to your web site right away by using pay-per-click (PPC). With PPC, you pay a certain cost per click to have an ad for your web page run at or near the top of the search engines.
How My Website Became Popular (18)
The best way to promote your site, if you are actually selling something, is through an affiliate program. You need to provide an affiliate code to other online merchants so that they will place your banner on their site; every time you make a sale that resulted from an affiliate referral, the affiliate gets a commission.
How To Make Your First Web Form (19)
If you just posted a new website, but you do not have a web form uploaded and you need to quickly provide a way for your visitors to contact you, then you should simply post your email address on your Contact page.
How To Start A Digital Information Business On The Internet (20)
I have shown you how to easily set up one with Clickbank. There certainly are other things you can do such as selling digital reports, video product, audio products, membership programs, software, and more.