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[Acknowledgements] [Introduction] [A - Business Planning] [B - Site Development] [C - Site Registration] [D - Site Promotion] [Resources]
The information herein is based on the direct experience of entrepreneurs like ourselves doing business on the Internet. Although it by no means describes everything you should do to promote your Internet business, it does describe some of the key things that, from experience, are known to work.
Early on in the game, we came across many helpful sources of information. Two that stand out and that we highly recommend are: "The Art Of Business Web Site Promotion" by Jim Rhodes of Deadlock Promotions in London (http://www.deadlock.com/promote/) and "Taming the Internet Frontier" by Bruce Keiffer of National Card Systems (http://www.natlcard.com/). Both have used the Internet to generate business. Their experience is first-hand and hands-on.
Look at an Internet business as consisting of marketing and sales. Marketing brings potential customers to your site. Sales sells them the product or service once they're there. This report addresses marketing only. Nevertheless, there is some overlapping. Techniques that make a site good for marketing may also make it good for sales. This overlapping is mentioned wherever appropriate.
Be patient. Site promotion takes time and perseverance. Don't expect to start receiving visitors as soon as your site is activated. Your site has to be announced so that people know you're there. Even after announcing your site you won't necessarily get huge numbers of visitors. As with any type of business, momentum builds up gradually. If you do the right things AND do them right, you should start seeing results after six months.
Before building your web site, take a few weeks to surf the Internet. Develop ideas about what a good web site should be like. After that, you can turn it over to a specialist who will then construct the site without wasting valuable time and money with needless questions. In our case, we storyboarded our site before giving it to the site constructor. Afterwards, we were able to confidently make changes to it ourselves.
A large part of marketing is simply registering your site with the search services that abound on the Internet. Therefore, a large part of this report is dedicated to registering. The way to go about this is described in step-by-step detail at our SignPost site at http://www.signpost.ca/ and in a subsequent section.
Think of an Internet startup as a project with activities. The activities have estimated durations and completion dates. Following is a summary of the activities involved in the management of a typical Internet project. Use business judgement to determine if activities should be added or deleted. Adjust durations to suit each particular case. 1.1 Assemble all available data. This includes notes of conversations, relevant data on similar businesses and general marketing information on Internet commerce. 1.2 Visualize possible sales concepts. Sales techniques differ from one product to another. Selling services such as technical seminars requires a different approach than selling a manufactured product directly to an end-user. 1.3 Guesstimate possible sales. This is truly a guesstimate because there is not enough historical data to make quantitative forecasts. It amounts to best judgement based on knowledge of the Internet, backed up by gut feel. 1.4 Estimate fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are based on the estimated number of hours to be spent on management activities. Reasonably good estimates are possible based on the activities required to promote and manage an Internet business. Variable cost can also be fairly well estimated, since they relate directly to the product or service. Downloaded software may involve small variable costs, but support costs could be high. 2.1 Brainstorm approach to site. Internet means creativity. The result of this activity is a mission statement for the web site, along with general guidelines on how it will look and operate. 2.2 Evaluate hosting needs. A business requires hosting that allows it to accept payments easily, receive the estimated number of visits without slowing down and that is reliable in terms of function and service. 2.3 Establish merchant services. Merchant services allow payments to be accepted over the Internet. US-based businesses have an advantage here due to the availability of services, but there are ways of obtaining US merchant services even for non-US businesses. 2.4 Establish corporate identity. As a result of the mission statement, the Internet site and each page contained in it will have a corporate identity that is in harmony with the business as a whole. 2.5 Develop site content (layout, graphics, text). Site content follows from the mission statement. There is more work here than meets the eye. The overall effect of the site on a visitor must be right. Otherwise, any effort could be of no avail. The combination of layout, text and graphics must stimulate the viewer's imagination and emotions, while presenting solid content. 2.6 Develop promotional material (seeds, PR, ads). This includes: proper wording of visible and invisible text on each page; short, medium and long descriptions; keyword lists; press releases; classified ads. 3.1 Establish hosting account. Although site development can be done in a temporary staging area, it has to be officially hosted to be in business. Getting a domain name (yourbusiness.com) is part of it. This activity can be quickly accomplished unless it involves a study of hosting possibilities. 3.2 Establish site monitoring. Several companies offer site monitoring services at less than $100 a year for 100 pages. Some free services could be used, but they may require significant added effort to administer. 3.3 Transfer files and test all functions. Every single link and function, including the upload of files itself, has to be tested and pronounced operational before the site can be announced to the world. 3.4 List with major search engines. There are less than 10 search services which account for the bulk of search activity. This is a simple activity; it only requires submitting the URL addresses of all the site pages. Nevertheless, considerable tedious follow-up is needed to ensure that the submissions were actually indexed in the search engine. 3.5 List with Yahoo. Yahoo is a searchable directory used by millions of seekers. Listing with Yahoo is fairly simple, but the follow-up process can be time-consuming if they are overloaded. 3.6 List with all other directories. It's not easy to determine which of several hundred directories will be useful. If in doubt, one is better to list. This is a time-consuming activity that must be done. 3.7 List with announcement sites. This activity is not a one-time affair. To be effective it requires a program of announcements over the life of the launch (and the site.) 3.8 Announce on Usenet. This too is an on-going activity. It is subtle, however. Products must not be announced directly. The approach has to be indirect. 3.9 Send out press releases. The activity here is the same as for announcement sites. 3.10 Place classified ads. There are thousands of places to insert classified ads for free including some print media. Classified ads, both online and paper, can also be purchased. The life of a free ad is usually three to four weeks, whereas paid-for ads have runs of 90 days and more. 3.11 Establish reciprocal links with like sites. This could be the best of all the promotional activities. Getting a link on a related site that is already a success allows one to share in that success. 3.12 Follow up and track initial activities. This is the most tedious and time-consuming of all the activities. Nevertheless, it must be done to avoid wasting all the previous promotional efforts. 4.1 Track activity regularly. More so than other businesses, ones on the Internet must be followed up closely to see what works and what doesn't. The Internet is too new for there to be historical data to use. Each new business creates its own valuable data. 4.2 Renew promotional activities. This can be likened to a continuous launch of the business. 4.3 Renew ads. If measurable, ads that work are renewed and ones that don't are yanked. 4.4 Develop ongoing content. The content of any site needs to be regularly refreshed to keep visitors returning. If they keep seeing the same old stuff, they may simply go elsewhere. Creativity!
Understand how people read on the Web. They don't. They scan. An excellent study on this subject by Jakob Nielsen is located at http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/ and a brief summary is at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html. The basic recommended practices are to use: Jakob's study also found that exaggerated promotional language turns users off. This is because it's a mental strain for them to have to filter out the BS to get at the facts. For example, when people read a paragraph that starts "Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions," their first reaction is "No, it's not," and this thought slows them down and distracts them from using the site. If you're selling products directly at your web site, you must make it easy for customers to pay. Accept major credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard, as well as electronic checks. Offer an 800 number. Once your prospects have decided to buy, don't turn them off by asking them to run out to the post office for a $10 money order to send to you in the mail. For more information about credit card services, we highly recommend Merchant Express at http://www.merchantexpress.com/?1428. Find an Internet service provider that will offer you on-line access 24 hours a day. You might pay up to $100.00 per month depending on the services you get. It's worth it though not to have to worry about how much it is costing to be connected to the Internet. Before signing up for any services, check the references of the provider. There can be great variations from one provider to another. Avoid using large graphics on your web pages. They make your pages long to load. Internet surfers are impatient. They won't wait for your pages to load and they won't be back. First impressions are everything. Learn how to appeal to the new bumper-sticker-thinking mentality. For thousands of free fast-loading web graphics, we highly recommend ArtToday at http://banner.arttoday.com/PD-0025642/full.click For the same reasons, avoid using video and sound unless that's the business you're in. Avoid using frames and Java unless you really know what you're doing. Improperly used frames can be very annoying. Poorly done Java scripts can cause browsers to crash. Don't irritate your customers. To make it easy for your customers to reach you, put your phone and fax numbers on your web site. This is a major failing of large corporations. They have a beautiful web site, but something as simple as a phone number is often not there. Update your web site often. Each time you do, you have a reason for announcing something new. Promoting any type of business is an ongoing thing. If you can, give away something for free to attract attention to your product or services. This report is an example. Respond to all requests politely, quickly and professionally. You never know where your next customer might come from. On your site include the words "Bookmark this Page." If your page is useful, people will bookmark it and return often.
IMPORTANT!!! For your business to thrive (and even survive) on the Internet, you MUST place signposts everywhere directing people to your site. Registering properly with the available directories and search engines is a CRUCIAL activity. For detailed step-by-step instructions, go to our SignPost site at http://www.signpost.ca/ . Find out how the search engines work. Refer to their help screens. Send them questions by E-mail. If you don't know how they work, you could lose in two ways. First, you could waste valuable time giving them the wrong information that you'll end up resubmitting. Second, your site may not turn up when your prospective customers do a search. Determine if the search engine will search on the basis of hidden words. If so, you can include the keywords several times. Of course, if everybody else is doing this, it only levels the playing field. Eventually, the search engines will ignore numerous repetitions of hidden words and maybe even penalize sites for using them. Keep an eye on this. Before you spend too much time getting your site registered, try some searches with the different search services using keywords related to your business. See what turns up. Look at the source HTML of the pages that are listed at the top. Determine what got them there. List your site first with the true search engines. For a definition, refer to Submit It!'s answers to the questions, "What is a search engine?" and "How do search engines differ from directories, announcement sites, and guides on the web?" When you're ready to register your site, go to the Search Services and follow their directions to a tee. If you're asked to suggest keywords for your site, submit ones that users would use to find your product/service. category. These same keywords should also be a prominent part of your web page. For an extensive compilation of known search services, take a look at Beaucoup Search Engines. They have links that take you directly to the submission page of the search service. Most directories will list your site within two to three weeks. Some will do it immediately, others take longer, some never seem to get around to it. Some will send you an E-mail confirmation. Whatever, you must follow up with ALL the search services you registered with to ensure your site gets listed. Otherwise, why bother in the first place? If you have a lot of services to offer, divide your site up into topical pages with only one subject per page. Search engines are more likely to top-list the page if it's devoted to one subject only. Each page can contain references to other pages in your site. Find out as much as you can about registering. It's that important. It's all important. You can get to our SignPost site at http://www.signpost.ca/ Others we've found helpful are Submit It!'s "General Tips for Getting Listed in Search Engines" and the answer to the question, "How do I optimize my submission to a directory?" as well as SearchEngineWatch at http://searchenginewatch.com/ Be careful when you make changes to your URL listing. How your website is worded can affect how it will place on search results. If you must make changes, keep the original keywords intact. For example, National Card Systems made a small change to the text in their site. The search engine robots picked it up and used this new change as the basis for the keyword search to find them on the Internet. Traffic to their site dropped considerably as a result. They discovered it, but had to repost to over 300 directories again. Their site then started to reappear back in the upper placements as before. Know how to use the META tags. For example, InfoSeek allows 200 characters of description and 1,000 characters of keywords for a total of 1,200 characters. AltaVista, on the other hand, allows a grand total of 1,024 characters for the description and keywords combined. Note also that if InfoSeek detects a keyword repeated more than seven times, it will ignore the keyword list completely. To save time online, prepare all your submission material in advance so that you only have to copy and paste. You should have text ready for TITLE, DESCRIPTION, KEYWORDS, META DESCRIPTION AND META KEYWORDS. Be prepared also to select appropriate categories in which to list your business in the various directories. In your spare moments, go to any of the larger search engines, such as AltaVista, InfoSeek or WebCrawler and enter the keyword "directory" or "directories." Many will appear where you can list your site for free. Add these to your list of places to register. Try out one or more of the global site submission services. With this type of service, you typically complete one online form. All the information is then transferred automatically to numerous search engines and directories on the web. You still have to submit to each individually but you do not have to retype the submission form over again. Here are some services you can look into: Remember that even when you use a global submission service, there are two important activities that you still have to spend a lot of time on. One is correctly preparing your web page and submittal information. The other is following up with each directory to ensure that your site gets indexed. Otherwise, why bother in the first place? Go to our SignPost site at http://www.signpost.ca/ for step-by-step instructions. If it looks like registering your web business is a lot of work, it is. To properly launch and manage a web business for a year, think about 1,000 hours. There are Internet firms that will do it for you. Consider the likes of Web-Ignite (http://www.web-ignite.com/) and Outrider, the synthesis of Multimedia Marketing Group, BrainBug, and several other international resources. (http://www.outrider.com/). Remember though, whoever it is, someone has to take the time. Time is money, especially if someone else is doing the work for you. Read books on Internet marketing. There are now so many of them, it's hard to make a selection. You don't have to fret over this. Just go to the local library and start reading. After looking at a few books, you'll begin to see certain fundamental principles repeated. With time, the important stuff will sink in. Take advantage of the numerous sites that offer free web pages. In many cases, you can use the free pages to get additional listings. Be polite though, and follow the rules imposed by the service. If you search Yahoo with the keyword phrase "Free_Web_Pages" you'll find an extensive list of free web pages. Use E-mail to communicate quickly with your potential customers. Spend time learning how to use it, and learning how to make it bring business to you. Check frequently to make sure it is working. Send test messages to yourself. Copy yourself on messages you send to others. If you must spend money for paid banner advertising on other sites, be prepared to spend a lot. Think of the way traditional magazine advertising works. People remember ads that appear repeatedly. Do they remember them any better because they appear on a browser screen? Either way, you need the repetition and this costs money. If you must spend money for paid advertising, do your homework about where your ads will appear. If you were selling upscale auto accessories for example, would you advertise your product in a low-readership gardening magazine? Don't expect miracles from the free advertising available from the increasing number of banner exchange programs. Think about these numbers. When a banner is displayed, about one in 50 viewers on average will click on it to link through to the advertised site. To have your banner displayed on other sites 50 times you typically need to have had 100 "counted" visits to your own site. (The typical banner exchange program gives you one "display" credit for every two measured visits to your site.) The question you have to ask yourself is, "What promotional thing did you do to get the 100 visitors in the first place?" If you know what it is, keep on doing it! Monitor the traffic to your site. Even for personal pages, it's easy to get a visit counter. Ideally, you'll want to count the visitors to each page of your site, know where they enter and where they leave. To do this you need access to your server logs and the ability to analyze them. Use the search term "Log_Analysis_Tools" at Yahoo for an extensive list of services. Some examples are: Another way of monitoring your site traffic, which is not as accurate but useful nonetheless, is to participate in a banner exchange program. You'll want one that is reliable and provides good reports. TradeBanners (http://resource-marketing.com/banner.html) seems to provide the best measurement because their readings have always been higher than others in tests we have done. On the other hand, the Link Exchange (http://www.linkexchange.com/) offers daily reporting of site visits. When placing your site in malls, find out from the mall owner how they market it. Mall traffic can be great if people can find the mall. It's not so great if they can't. It's not enough that these malls are listed in the major Internet search engines. Find out what other ways they are marketing. How do they let the world know they exist? In many cases, for your site to be found, the seeker must go to the mall page first. Unless they know where the mall page is and that you are on it, it will be hard for someone to locate your site. Remember too that "mall" is just another name for a directory. There is no physical mall. Give your Internet business a URL that is descriptive and memorable. If it can be short without being cryptic, this is even better. If you're IBM, www.ibm.com is good. If you called yourself www.afrd.com who knows from that what your business is? You could be selling anything from organic kitty litter to baseball cards. Something like www.afrd.com/kittylitter/ would be better, but the afrd would still be hard to remember. Consider registering your own Internet domain name. Your Internet Service Provider can help you with this. The cost for a two-year registration is only $100, payable to the InterNIC. Your ISP might ask you for an additional $50 for making the application for you. If you have a Newsgroups reader, subscribe to many Newsgroups and post messages to them. Prior to posting any messages acquire books on learning how this works. Message posting using proper Netiquette is a good way to bring visitors to your site. Subscribe to mailing lists that provide information on topics of interest to you. There are more of these than you could possibly read in one lifetime. Try out a few and then stick with the ones that are most helpful. Spend a lot of time surfing and browsing the web. Contact sites that you like. E-mail these site owners to request reciprocal links. A well-placed link will bring you qualified prospects. Use E-mail signatures, so that every time you send a letter your signature at the end has a subtle message about your business. Keep your signature to about six lines. More than that is considered a nuisance on the web. Visit sites such as Guerrilla Marketing at http://www.gmarketing.com/ for selling and marketing tips you can use on and off the Internet. These sites usually also have a free newsletter you can subscribe to. Print your URL and E-mail address on all your company's printed material. Make it easy for prospective customers to find your site. For the same reasons, include your URL and E-mail addresses in traditional classified ads in the print media. To promote your site online and offline, invite people to an open house. For ideas on this, go to http://www.naftatrade.com/openhouse.html. After producing this page, we printed it up in color and hand-delivered it to potential customers. In fact, it's become one of our most effective calling cards. When you receive unsolicited E-mail ads respond by thanking them for their message and reply back by marketing whatever it is you are providing on the net. This only takes a minute and it might generate new business. There are hundreds of Internet-related publications on the market. It's easy to waste money on book after book that you don't really need. Here are some that cater only to those who are serious about doing business on the Internet. They are not intended to teach the basics of HTML, JAVA, CGI, and so on. They focus almost entirely on making money with legitimate Internet businesses. Creating Killer Web Sites US$45.00 Cyberplaces: The Internet Guide for Architects, Engineers & Contractors US$80.00 The New Internet Business Book US$24.95 Site Accessibility Information
A - Business Planning
1. Evaluate Business Potential
2. Create Business Web Site
3. Launch Business on Internet
4. Maintain Business
B - Site Development
* brief sentences
* bulleted lists
* short pages with minimal scrolling
* short lines with 10-12 words each
* highlighted keywords
* colorful, descriptive paragraph headers
* one idea per paragraph
* the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
* half the word count (or less) of conventional writing
C - Site Registration
* Broadcaster (http://www.broadcaster.co.uk/cgi-bin/broadcaster)
* Submit It! (http://www.submit-it.com/)
D - Site Promotion
* eXTReMe-DM (http://www.extreme-dm.com/)
* WebTrends (http://www.webtrends.com/)
Resources
This 270-page book by David Siegel shows how to create a web site with such strong visual appeal that visitors want to stay longer and come back again and again. Siegel, a graphics artist precisely tuned into the World Wide Web, shows exactly how to prepare images, lay out pages, render type and work creatively within the constraints of HTML. And to do it all in such a way that pages are still quick to load. This "bible of the professionals" is a must for anyone who wants to create a web site that is truly effective. You can order from Amazon books.
This 696-page book by Paul Doherty, AIA, CSI, is NOT just for architects, engineers and contractors. Although it has a slight construction industry focus, it's really for any business person who is contemplating doing something on the Internet, but is not a web expert. And that's almost everyone in business! There are two bonus features to this book making it an outstanding buy. The first is an accompanying CD-ROM, which allows you to explore referenced Internet sites AND earn Continuing Education Credits interactively! The second feature is a companion web site with continuous updates, which ensures that your book will never become obsolete. You cannot afford to be without this book. You can order from Amazon books.
This 490-page book by Jill H. Ellsworth and Matthew V. Ellsworth is "...a critical resource that you can't afford to be without!" according to Entrepreneur magazine. It is compeletely business-oriented, dealing professionally with topics such as: creating a business presence, doing business online, using discussion groups, making a business and marketing plan and electronic commerce. It also addresses Internet law and electronic commerce. Its strong business focus makes it a timely and timeless investement for the serious Internet entrepreneur. You can order from Amazon books.
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