Low Cost Marketing on the Web
So, you have optimised your website for the search
engines, your ranking positions are starting to build, what do you do
next?
You still don't need to spend significant money, but you
do need time. Ideally the webmaster should be in-house because he
is likely to have a better grasp of the company business than any
outsider. Look on your webmaster as potentially your most important
salesman because he can communicate with more customers than anyone else
in the business. The 'expert' web skills are less important than the
overall marketing sense, because you can buy the expertise outside if you
have to.
- Develop a link strategy to relevant partners
Quite reasonably search engines assume that if
other sites want to link to you it must show that you have interesting
content on that particular theme. Let's be clear, we are talking about
RELEVANT links not just any old link.
- Analyse your competition
If you have a competitor consistently higher in search
engine rankings than you are, analyse how they got there. Check on
www.linkpopularity.com to see
what sites link to them. Perhaps you can persuade some of them to link to
you as well.
- Establish yourself as an expert
Take part in relevant online chat groups and prove to
others that you know what you are talking about. You might even learn from
your competitors. It will certainly help you keep abreast of current
concerns of your potential customers.
- Online PR
Write articles and provide news for use in other media -
then you can use it at least twice; once on your own site and once on the
online PR site. Each article should feature your keywords and so
contribute to your search engine rankings. If a journalist actually picks
it up and makes use of it, you are multiplying the benefits both online
and offline.
- Write a regular online newsletter for opt-in
recipients.
They have said they want to hear from you, so make sure
you keep their interest and build awareness over time. This newsletter,
for example, will also be on the website so contributing to the content
already on the site and, in time. will be indexed by the search engines
and bring in new visitors.
If you build your site into the most effective source of
information for your customers, first the search engines will list you,
then push you up the rankings so that new customers find you. The process
is time-consuming - but, if you are not prepared to invest the time, why
should anyone bother to visit?
Talk to you next month
Stephen Orr |
