Online Promotion: An Action Plan For Marketing Your Web Site (Part 1)

An Action Plan For Marketing Your Web Site (Part 1)

Written by Joanne Glasspoole

Build it and they will come. That might have worked in 1995 when repparttar

Web was new, but today that's a fallacy. With more than 3.2 billion Web pages competing against yours, if you don't promote it, no one will come.

Outlined below are some tasks to add to your marketing checklist. I will begin with repparttar 125140 most obvious--you wouldn't believe how many people don't think of these things!--and will finish with some more advanced techniques that really work.

DESIGNING SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY WEB SITES

Getting listed in repparttar 125141 major search engines is important, but do not fool yourself--it is not repparttar 125142 "be all." How many times have you conducted a search and ended up with over a million results? If your site is listed at 999,000, how many people do you think will visit? If you rely *only* on repparttar 125143 search engines for your customers to find you, they probably won't.

That being said, there are some things you should do before you submit your Web site to repparttar 125144 search engines. To make your site competitive, you need to "optimize" your Web pages. What does that mean? It means making your pages "search engine friendly."

Although meta tags do not weigh that heavily anymore in search engine rankings, they are still important. The two tags that *must* be included in each of your Web pages are:

Description Meta Tag--Summarize your Web page using lots of keywords. This tag is very important, because many of repparttar 125145 engines will use it to summarize your site in search results. (Note: The recommended number of characters for repparttar 125146 description meta tag is 150.)

Keywords Meta Tag--Because of abuse by unscrupulous Webmasters, repparttar 125147 keyword tag doesn't play as big a role as it did in repparttar 125148 past. To avoid being penalized (e.g., banned), there are some rules you must heed. For example, do not repeat keywords more than three times and avoid using repparttar 125149 refresh tag as most engines view it as spam. (Note: The recommended number of characters for keywords is 874--of course, this number varies according to repparttar 125150 search engine in question.)

"Generating Leads..And Multiple Streams of Income"

Written by Christopher Wright

"Finding Leads...Before and After You"

By Christopher Wright, Guerrilla Marketer www.GuerrillaPromotions.com

Once again...everyone's looking for leads. One can't really blame them...they are repparttar 'life blood' of business. Lets take a look at a simple strategy for locating leads, not just a look but a vertical look.

"Are You In...The Cycle?"

Sometimes repparttar 125139 best way to find leads is to work your cycle (sales cycle). Before you can 'work' this cycle, you first must find where you fit in this cycle. Once this is done, then its just a matter of contacting those before and after you to inquire as to repparttar 125140 possibility of a promotion.

Now, you may be wondering what I mean by 'before and after' you. This means who will your customers need before they see you and who will they need after they've done business with you. This applies whether you're focusing online or off-line.

"Form Your Crosses...Join Your Joints"

Ok, you've found your place in repparttar 125141 sales cycle, now it's time to contact other businesses. The hot term now on repparttar 125142 net is 'joint venture', but its been called 'cross promotions' for ages off-line. Let's say you're wedding planner and you're looking to increase your business. Let's see what we can do. Who would your potential clients need before they seek out your services? Surely they'll need wedding rings. So, let's contact some jewelers. Don't expect many jewelers to jump for joy over your prospective 'joint venture'...at least without some incentive.

The best incentive (but not always) is cash. How much should you offer? Should it be a flat fee per referral or a percentage of what they spend? This is something only you can answer. Your decision will be based on your expenses and profit margins.

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