In the last issue we looked at various
cost free ways of promoting your site leading to more
hits and potentially more member sign-ups for you to
enjoy. If for some reason you didn't have chance to read
part 1 [click
here to view it].
Are the best things in life Free?
So you have reached the stage where you have built a
DateTec powered web site and have embarked on a free
marketing campaign that has started the bucks rolling...
or you have attempted to create a free marketing
strategy only to find that it is proving a little slow
on the pickup.
If this is the case then maybe a paid marketing campaign
is a route you should consider.
Premium marketing campaigns
Web-based marketing is big business so it should be no
surprise that there are a huge number of services and
options available to you. It is you job to decide which
option is the best one for you.
These are listed below:
Pay per click marketing
Pay per click advertising provides you with premium
search engine placement for a small fee each time your
link is clicked. The dynamics of pay per click programs
revolve around bidding for clicks. It is likely that you
will have competitors that will be looking for a high
search engine ranking using very similar if not the same
key words as you are. In such cases 'bidding wars' can
be initiated where the price per click is inflated due
to increased interest. It is not uncommon for
competitors to be involved in a real time bidding war
where they react to a competitor upping their bid and
thus upping theirs accordingly.
Per impression marketing
Pay per impression marketing is a similar concept to pay
per click marketing.
The main difference between the two methods is that
with per impression marketing you pay each time your
banner/link is displayed from within a browser rather
that when it is actually clicked on and/or followed.
This makes pay per impression on the whole less cost
effective than pay per click as you are paying for
surfers to view you banner which doesn't necessarily
denote interest in your product where as if they click
on your banner/link they must at least be curious.
On the whole, the rates for per impression advertising
are lower that for pay per click.
Search Engine/Directory Listings
You are probably thinking "wait a minute search engine
submissions are free". The truth is that the majority of
Search engines are free to list with. But, if like most
people you haven't got the time to fully optimise your
site to enable acceptable rankings you will need to call
in the professionals. There are a lot of companies that
exist out there in cyberspace that will (for a small
fee) optimise your site's potential to do well in search
listings. This can range from improving your metatags to
helping out with the wording of your site.
Search Engine Ads (Sponsored links)
You have probably noticed that a lot of search engines
including Google and Yahoo have what are known as
sponsored links.
Sponsored links run along side the main search engine
output when you commence a search but they are always
give a more prominent position. This can either mean
they are displayed inside coloured boxes down the right
hand side of the screen as is the case with Google, or
as text links in a separate section above all other
search results which is how it's done over at Yahoo.
E-mail Marketing
E-mail marketing is always an option that is worth
considering but is also something that needs to be
planned very carefully before you action a campaign.
Following the recent global concern regarding
junk e-mail (Spam) you need to be careful that you don't
upset any authorities. The best way to do this is to pay
for a professional company to do it for you.
Other Methods
The above marketing methods are intended to act an
introduction to marketing and inspire you to market your
site successfully. There are of course, many more
marketing techniques out there, Some of which will be
suitable for marketing your site and some that will be
less appropriate.
Conclusion
This concludes our look at how to go
about marketing your site. We have only really touched
on the most prominent site promotion techniques and with
further research we're sure you'll find more methods of
getting people to visit your site.
Remember To enjoy the benefits of a successful
and profitable DateTec web site you will need
to market it.
