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Your
Marketing Strategy
By
Shelley Lowery
Developing
and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an essential
part of your Internet success.
Your plan
must include both short-term and long-term strategies in order
to succeed.
Short-term
marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary
boost in traffic. Although these techniques are
very important to your overall plan, they are only a temporary
traffic source and must not be solely relied on.
Short-term
marketing strategies include:
·
Purchasing advertising
· Bulletin Boards
· Search Engines
Long-term
marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream
of targeted traffic over time. These
strategies will continue to produce results even years down
the road.
Long-term
marketing strategies include:
·
Opt-in Lists
· Freebies
· Content
By creating
and implementing a balanced marketing strategy,using both
short-term and long-term strategies, you willdrive a steady
stream of targeted traffic to your website.
Creating
a successful Internet presence involves much more than designing
a great website or having the "perfect"
product. Listing your website with the Search Engines is your
first step, however, you must not solely rely on the
Search Engines to bring you traffic. You must develop a complete
promotional strategy and work it every day.
->
Search Engines:
A significant
amount of website traffic originates from the major Search
Engines. Most Internet users will go to a
Search Engine, type in a keyword phrase and look through the
top 10 - 20 results. Most of the time, they'll find what
they're looking for in the first 10 results. The percentage
of click throughs is even smaller. Listing near the top and
grabbing the attention of your target audience is the top
priority.
Your first
step will be to optimize your web pages to the best of your
ability. Visit http://www.searchenginewatch.com
for a complete overview of the Search Engines and optimization.
->
Opt-in List
As soon
as your website is up and running, you should immediately
begin building an opt-in list. An opt-in list is
a list or database containing email addresses of individuals
who have chosen to receive your email messages. Your
messages may be web site updates, product updates or an ezine.
They provide you with a direct line of communication with
potential customers and enable you to promote your products
or services. For further information, visit the following
web address: http://www.web-source.net/ezine_basics.htm
->
Organizing Your Strategies
A good
way to organize your promotions is to set up a web page, for
your personal use, which will contain your
complete strategy. This page should be stored on your hard
drive and not uploaded to your server. Your page should contain
four sections:
·
Daily Promotions
· Weekly Promotions
· Monthly Promotions
· Miscellaneous Promotions
Each of
these four sections should contain the appropriate information
for each of your promotional resources such as website name,
user ID, password (if applicable) and hyperlinked web addresses
for each website you plan to use
for your promotions. This will enable you to open your web
page each day and visit the sites you have listed.
->
Daily Promotions
Link Exchanges:
Exchange
links with websites similar to yours, but not incompetition.
Discussion
Boards:
Visit
some popular discussion boards and share your expertise. Although
you may not advertise on discussion
boards, you can include your signature file with your post.
Visit
the following web address for a complete listing of some of
the top discussion boards:
http://www.web-source.net/web/Discussion_Forums/
->
Weekly Promotions
Your weekly
promotions should consist of placing a paid ezine advertisement
and/or arranging ad swaps with fellow
publishers.
Visit
the following web address for a complete listing of hundreds
of publishers and contact information for
advertising. http://www.directoryofezines.com
To organize
your ad placements and swaps, place the publication names,
publisher names, ad dates and hyperlinked web addresses within
your weekly promotion list.
->
Monthly Promotions
Your monthly
promotions should include writing an article in the area of
your expertise and promotional exchanges.
To organize
your monthly promotions, place the names and hyperlinked web
addresses for each of your promotional
resources within your monthly promotions section.
Writing
Articles:
Writing
articles that may be freely published with your bylines is
one of the best promotional methods online. Your
article may be published in hundreds of ezines, on websites
or even in magazines.
Visit
the following web address for further information:
http://www.web-source.net/write.htm
Promotional
Exchanges:
Cross
promoting is a powerful technique used by many Internet marketers
to increase the exposure of their
products, services or publications. You simply decide what
type of promotional exchange you would be interested in and
contact fellow marketers to discuss an exchange.
The most
effective technique used in cross promotions is recommendations.
By providing each other with a personal recommendation you
can increase your response rates tremendously.
Here are
some popular cross promoting techniques you can use to boost
your business:
·
Ezine Ad Swaps
· Subscription Exchanges
· Ezine Column Swaps
· Byline Exchanges
· Signature Exchanges
· Ebook Exchanges
· Private Web Rings
· Ride Alongs
· Upsells
· Free Bonuses
· Forum and List Moderation
->
Miscellaneous Promotions
Promoting
your website offline is an often overlooked way to increase
your traffic. Your web address should appear on all of the
following:
·
Business cards
· Letterhead
· Envelopes
· Receipts
· Invoices
· Sales letters
· Brochures
· Flyers
· Post cards
· Fax documents
· T-shirts
· Pens
· Pencils
· Mouse Pads
· Phone book listing
· Voice mail message
· Newspaper/magazine ads
· Vehicle
Below,
are several resources to assist you:
IDit Plates
- Put your web address on your vehicle.
http://www.iditplates.net/new/2711/index.html
Magnetic
Signs - Full size magnetic signs for your vehicle.
http://www.magneticsigns.com
Visit
iPrint for all of your printing needs.
http://www.iprint.com
Place
ads in newspapers, magazines, on the radio, or on TV. Visit
the following websites for a complete list of resources to
assist you:
Gebbie
Press
http://www.gebbieinc.com/
NewsDirectory
Newspapers
http://www.newsdirectory.com
Newspapers
Online
http://www.newspapers.com/
For even
more promotional products, PromoCity can add your logo to
any one of over 500,000 items.
http://www.promocity.com
Press
Releases:
CanadaOne
provides a free interactive press release builder.
http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html
Gebbie
Press provides over 10,000 links to print and electronic media
on the Internet.
http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html
Dr. Kevin
Nunley will write your press release and send it to 5,000
media contacts.
http://www.drnunley.com
Automated
Press Releases will enable you to send your press release
to over 10,000 media. You write your press release or they'll
write it for you.
http://www.automatedpr.com
Once you've
created your promotional web page, open it within your browser
and add it to your favorite places or
bookmark it for easy daily access. Set up a specific day for
your weekly and monthly promotions and perform your miscellaneous
promotions as needed.
Although
these promotional strategies are far from complete, they provide
you with a basic overview to get you started.
Once you've
implemented your promotional strategy and continuously work
it each day, you'll be amazed with the
results of your efforts. Consistency will be the key to driving
massive traffic to your site.
Copyright
© Shelley Lowery 2002.
About
the Author:
Shelley
Lowery is the author of Web Design Mastery - An in-depth guide
to professional web design. And, Ebook Starter - A complete
ebook design kit. Subscribe to Etips and receive a free copy
of the highly acclaimed ebook, "Killer InternetMarketing
Strategies."
mailto:etips-subscribe@ebookstarter.com?subject=subscribe
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