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Promote your Site!

Marketing Materials
Free Search Engine Submittal
Guaranteed Search Engine Inclusion
Search Engine Campaigns
Link Exchange :: Site Popularity
Co-Marketing
JV Marketing
Banner Advertising

Side Note: We have taken several clients sites (that were not placing in search engines) and have gotten them into the Top Ten in search engines for "very competitive" keywords in each of their respective fields! These are keywords that are truly searched (not like some that tout keywords that no one would ever search on) and have millions of results. Our marketing expertise gets results

MARKETING MATERIALS

The best way to promote your site is by generating awareness with prospective clients that you have direct contact with. Placing your website address (URL) on your business cards, marketing materials, and direct advertising campaigns will help generate and/or solidify prospective sales opportunities!

FREE SEARCH ENGINE SUBMITTAL

Basic search engine submittal will help boost your site slightly... but unfortunately, a new website will usually be located very far down the list (unless you have a large budget to sponsor your link). However, it does yield a little bit of traffic to your site. And, most importantly, basic search engine submittal is usually free or low-cost. To submit your site, go to the search engine website (i.e. www.google.com, www.excite.com, etc) and then look for a link that says something to the effect of 'Add URL' or 'Add Site.' Click on that link and follow the instructions.

Another option is a program called 'NetMechanic (www.netmechanic.com)' that submits your site to 100 search engines (basic knowledge of META tags/keywords and submission of form detailing your site is very helpful). We have been using Netmechanics for many of our customers and find that it does work well!

The only drawback is that some major search engines (like google, for instance) are beginning to penalize for automated submission services if they can detect that you are using one. So, how can you be absolutely safe, you ask? Don't use one. The ONLY safe way to get good search rankings now-a-days (without being penalized or potentially banned) is to do it all manually and to take the time to actually make a website worth visiting and/or that has a truly great product or service.

Below is a chart of how search engines used to charge for premium submissions
This pricing structure is no longer used. See 'guaranteed inclusion'

	Excite   Ask Jeeves   Alta Vista*   Inktomi   Lycos**
1 URL Website (to 10 URLs) Website (to 50 URLs) Website (to 100 URLs) Website (to 500 URLs)	$50 $30 $78 $39 $30 $100 $192 $600 $264 $138 $200 $912 $2,120 $1,264 $618 $250 $1,812 $4,020 $2,514 $1,218 $400 $9,012 $14,510 $12,514 $6,006

SEARCH ENGINE or THIRD-PARTY AD CAMPAIGNS

Seach engine marketing campaigns include 'sponsored link' and 'cost-per-click.' Typical marketing budgets in the neighborhood of $300-$5,000 per month can take advantage of 'cost-per-click' campaigns. For well-known companies, this can be a big boost in traffic. But for start-ups or small companies, this type of campaign will probably only double or triple a sites traffic (which isn't a whole lot if your site only receives 100 page views a month) -and may not be worth even $300 per month.

Overture is an Internet company that will place a very similar 'Sponsored link' on any number of websites in its network. It is very similar to Google's ad sponsorships, but may be more cost effective. We have not participated in their program, but have heard of companies achieving great results. The largest companies in this market are currectly google and overture.com. 'Sponsored link' campaigns will yield a significant boost in traffic by placing your link as part of the main search -but place it within the top three results. However, large search engines -like Google- will start these campaigns at $5,000 per month!

Other major brands that offer paid advertisements (or cost-per-click) are:

• findwhat.com
  
  
• enhance-interactive.com *formerly ah-ha.com
  
  
• inktomi.com
  
  
• msn.com

Cost-per-click campaigns can be very costly and can eat up your entire budget in one or two days if you're not careful in specifying your keywords and your limits (especially daily limits). I remember one horrible experience I had with a "unnamed" disreputable site. I had deposited $250 initially so that I could receive the 100% matching bonus. What a great deal, you would think. But, nay, there was a catch! Their automated system "could not" allow users to change the default settings for up to 24 hours. Yeah, I'm sure it just wasn't possible, eh? Well, to my surprise when I logged in the next day, I had supposedly had 5,000 targeted, unique visitors overnight! How strange that there were no phone calls or messages when we typically received at least a 5% conversion rate. And, naturally, all those "phantom" visitors used up the entire $500 budget. After weeks of complaining, they refunded $25 -to my account! And, they sent me an email to let me know this. Of course, that money didn't last long either AND it didn't generate any leads.

So, my story should prepare you to be a little more cautious, but don't let it deter you completely. Cost-per-click marketing can be very effective for some sites and if used properly, will generate numerous leads. Oh... and YES, I have had some successful cost-per-click campaigns (the best being with google). Although, it took a lot of practive (and money) to get it right.

To learn more, click the following link about pay-per-click campaigns.

GUARANTEED SEARCH ENGINE INCLUSION

This was perhaps THE most effective, short-term method for getting noticed on the Internet. In reality, however, this is just another marketing ploy that we have all been forced in to taking part. The major search engines are a monopoly and the situation only worsens as they consolidate and merge with one another. As of Jan 2004, the effectiveness of these types of campaigns is severely limited --not to mention that costs are skyrocketing.

If you decide to go this route, be careful that you are dealing with major search engines or reputable, targeted search engines/directories before you shell out your hard-earned dollars.

A few major brands that offer guaranteed inclusion are:

• findwhat.com
  
  
• enhance-interactive.com *formerly ah-ha.com / best option
  
  
• inktomi.com *be careful, paying to be included actually hurts long-term!
  
  
• msn.com

Also, a word of warning about so many of these "SEO" or "Search Engine Optimization" websites that tout "they can do this" and "they can do that" in only 6 months... blah blah blah. They typically charge exorbitant rates and claim that "you get what you pay for." Not only that, but they even guarantee to give your money back if you do not see results! What's the catch? Well, hang on...

First, there ARE a FEW good, reputable companies out there that correctly market, but getting them to take on your business is difficult unless you are going to be a large revenue-producer for them. That said, the companies that fight for your business... well, why are they fighting? If they're so good, they should be too busy for you, right? At any rate, here's the basic things to watch out for:

• those that tout to get you into google within 3-6 months
  The catch here is that you might show up in other search engines and therefore, google will pick up those listings and display them. However, you will mostly NOT be listed in the google DMOZ "directory"
  
  
• those that claim to get you in to Yahoo's directory without paying the $299-$600 fee
  These guys are betting on the fact that you do not know the difference of showing up in a web search and actually BEING listed in the directory itself. Being listed in Yahoo's directory boosts your ranking in most other search engine's eyes. BESIDES, as of 11.23.2003, Yahoo's searches COME FROM google anyway. So, if you're showing up in those searches, then you'll show up in Yahoo searches; but that doesn't guarantee your in the directory
  
  
• probably the most common issue is that most SEO companies will work "with" you on your keywords and META tags and let "you" pick the words that most easily target your business. The trick is that they will pick a few key phrases that will be easy to target and they get you ranked high for those phrases. This will typically fulfill their obligation and void the refund they promised. Remember, the easy-to-target keyword phrases are easy because you won't get very much traffic!

It used to be really bad. Some places would take your money and make you think you got a deal because you were #1 in Lycos for the term "Nobody makes better butter." But, in reality, nobody searches for that! So, in the end, those people got taken to the cleaners and didn't even realize it. Today, things are a little more complicated because people -like you- research more and they have to be a little craftier and a little trickier. Hopefully this article will help you outsmart the next would-be scammer before they snag you!

LINK EXCHANGE :: SITE POPULARITY
Click here for notes on usage relating to spamming

Another great way to boost your search rankings is to boost your "site popularity." Site popularity is determined by an algorithm used by search engines. It calculates your score/rank based upon how many sites (in their database) have your link (text or banner) on them.

Some search engines, however, will not count sites that are very small in size (pages, text) or that do not pertain in any way to your site. For the most part, though, having your link on a site is a plus. Setting up your link on other websites can be done by emailing the webmaster and simply asking if they are interested in doing so.

The best way to earn site popularity is to pay for links on related sites that have a good pagerank (measure of importance --according to google). You can determine a site's pagerank (PR) by installing the google toolbar and then visiting any web site to view it's PR.

Alternatively, you can choose to exchange links with webmasters to boost your rankings without having to spend a lot of money. However, many sites may not link to you for free if their PR is considerably higher than yours. In those cases, they will most likely insist on some form of compensation.

The biggest drawback to exchanging links is the time involved in maintaining the link pages. This can quickly become a monumental task and a veritable nightmare. We use and highly recommend Axandra's Arelis link page manager. It can be customized to have the look and feel of your web site and yet easily manages all of your links in one easy-to-use interface.

This program makes your link pages look professional and makes managing the links a snap. To see our link pages, visit 1site.net's Link Pages. There are many other features, but they are too many to list here. For a guide on using Arelis, right click on the following link and choose 'Save As' to download our FREE ebook: Arelis Link Popularity

CO-MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

In you are fortunate enough to have contacts in a "complementary" business to yours, they may be constantly targeting new markets and be interested in joint marketing ventures. This is usually very effective -especially if there is a joint offer or bonus attached. This method, of course, saves both parties money due to splitting all costs.

The main benefit is cost. For less than the price of a stamp (per prospect), you can get your company's message out to thousands of potential customers!

BANNER ADVERTISING

If you are considering this method, you had better have deep pockets. I say this because using Free-for-All (FFA) link farms is a BIG no-no now-a-days and advertising using a banner on most quality, targeted sites will be prohibitively expensive for the average-sized company. This is not to mention the design costs of creating a top-notch banner that actually attracts attention and visitors to your site. Most banners are irritating and the typical 468x60 banner size is -for the most part- ignored by our sub-conscious now. We've just seen them too much. The 120600 "skyscraper" format ads are doing fairly well, but that too will need to be replaced in time.

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