The Most Beneficial and Most Under-Used Web Site Promotion ToolWritten by Rich Brunelle
The Most Beneficial and Most Under-Used Web Site Promotion Tool By: Rich BrunelleOf all methods of Web Site Promotion, Press Release is by far most beneficial tool available. It is also one of least used tools. When thinking of Web Site Promotion, a web site owner or his delegate has to consider what method of promotion will bring best results. But, a majority of these people fail to recognize significance of Press Release. Press Releases are one of few documents that can be submitted one time to one location, but be considered for publication in millions of other locations. Press Releases submitted to a quality News Distribution Service are routinely reviewed by a bunch of Journalists. Journalists from all forms of media consider use of Press Releases in their publication. It is probable that a Press Release of significance will get selected by numerous Journalists for inclusion in their publication or media as a Press Release, as well as used for a subsequent news feature. How many times has Google generated a Press Release that creates news features on television, radio, print publications, and all over Internet? In case you aren’t sure answer, every time. Now, most of us will never write a Press Release of such significance as to reach all forms of media like a Google press release, but a simple Press Release from an unknown stands a pretty good chance of getting significant distribution. A Press Release published on Internet, immediately upon publication generates attention to your business or web site. How? Most of News Media select Press Releases for inclusion to their Internet news publications. Most of these News Media sites also are Free Content Providers to millions of other web sites by offering free news feed linkage from News Media site. Not all of sites using such feeds are going to select specific feed that carries your Press Release. But, what if only one in ten do? You cannot pay for banner ads or search engine placement that will give you as much promotion in a single day. Press Releases are one of few documents that get published in other media that immediately attract attention to your business or web site. Newspapers, Newsletters, Magazines, and a large amount of company bulletin boards frequently pick up and publish Press Releases from News Distribution Services. If your Press Release is picked up for publication, first day of its release will probably be strongest in print media. However, newsletters and magazines usually are not a daily or weekly publication. So it’s possible that two weeks or a month after its release, your Press Release will get another strong viewing. Press Releases are one of few documents that get published to numerous locations without much effort. One single Press Release, submitted to a quality News Distribution Service is considered for publication in millions of media publications, read by tens of million readers. So, even if only one of these publications picks up and publishes your Press Release . . . Do math! A Press Release is best method of increasing Search Engine Ranking by linkage. Once a Press Release is published by any of News Media, it is archived in a searchable database. This placement of your link into a high ranking, high traffic media site is priceless. Test this for yourself if you wish. Simply prepare and distribute a press release. Within two to five days, do a search for your web site. If your Press Release was accepted and published, you will find a number of links from media that published your Press Release back to your web site. And, what if one of those media sites just happen to be Google or Time Magazine? We can wish and dream, can’t we?
| | What Should You Know About Search Engines and Pay-Per-Click?Written by Chet Childers
Here’s a fact for you, 85 to 95% of Websites are found through a search engine. You may have most incredible Website on Internet, but it will receive little or no traffic without search engine visibility and ranking. Can you imagine a billboard in Sahara desert? Who sees it? So, how will searchers find your website? What types of search engines could they use? Search engines fall into two categories. The first is referred to as natural, organic or standard. The second is called pay-per-click, paid inclusion or paid placement. Natural, organic and standard are interchangeable terms describing a search engine that bases its search rankings on a ranking algorithm. The algorithms involve a number of criteria and parameters, all relating to content of website, website’s size, number of incoming links to website, and content’s relevancy. You will hear terms such as keyword relevancy and keyword density to describe various components of algorithms. For standard search engines, you, your webmaster or hired search engine optimization specialist could spend considerable time optimizing your website to achieve top rankings. The goal is for your website to appear on first or second page of search engines’ results when your target user searches keywords or keyword phrases. The good news is rankings on standard search engines are free. The downside is tremendous amount of time and effort required to achieve exceptional search engine rankings. Let’s confess to each other that top rankings on standard search engines can be tough and timely to achieve! The interchangeable terms pay-per-click, paid inclusion or paid placement describe a search engine that bases its search rankings on a "bid for position" basis. Simply stated, you "bid" a price to be in a specific position of search rankings for a particular search keyword or keyword phrase. For example, #1 position on search phrase "pay per click" recently required a bid of $3.55 per click, whereas 15th position required only a bid of 55 cents. As a result, your differential website advertising costs between position #1 and #15 can be considerable. With pay-per-click search engines, your ability to bid high can dramatically impact your website's search engine ranking when search results display website domain names or URL's for search keyword or keyword phrase. The benefit is your website gains visibility with searcher, but you are not charged pay-per-click "bid" until a searcher actually clicks on your website domain name or URL displayed in search engine results. The selection of your website in search engine results is called a click-through. In general, click-through rates range from 1% to 5% of number of impressions. What is all of this? A click is when a searcher selects or "clicks" your pay-per-click ad. An impression is one display of your pay-per-click ad on search engine results. So, click-through rate is a measure of total number of ad clicks versus total number of impressions in a period of time: Click-Through Rate % = Total Number of Ad Clicks / Total Number of Ad Impressions * 100 Let's do math for our #1 position bid of $3.55 per click. In September, 2004 there were 21,535 searches for "pay per click." First, let’s assume a 1% click-through rate. The top bidder spent $764.49 (21,535 * 1% * $3.55). Now, at a 5% click-through rate top bidder spent $3,822.45 (21,535 * 5% * $3.55). Budgeting and controlling marketing expenses with such a broad range of potential costs could be tough. Plus, such costs could be tip of iceberg. We still must consider derivatives of keyword or keyword phrase. So, was being #1 worthwhile? That depends on your website’s cost per visitor, conversion rate and profit margin of your product or service. From what we’ve covered so far, you should realize you can achieve a top or high ranking through pay-per-click search engine. But, a high ranking will cost money and these costs can be volatile. Meanwhile, standard search engine remains free.
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