Effective way of getting people to your website? (1 Viewer)

[CRyan]

I am pretty net savvy I guess you could say. Have a decent grip on HTML and computers. But when it comes to marketing, I come up a little short. Listing your site with the various search engines is a no-brainer of course, but what else? I understand META, title, and image alt. tags for search engine functionality. Listing with Yahoo is a little much at $299.00US, but I guess that will need to happen eventually - maybe even soon.
I have also used ebay - sell something with a link to my site and boom, you get a little traffic. However, this is really not enough.
Any ideas? Links to banner add creation and how referral links work would be great. I know how they work on the surface, but have no idea how they do what they do in the background and how they are created.
I abhor email spam lists so that is OUT.
I have heard of and seen banner networks, but that does not really interest me as I do not really want a third-party banner on my web.
Is there anything else I am not thinking of? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Because I am out of ideas.
C. Ryan
Mods. I thought about placing this in the computer area, but this did not seem to fit. Feel free to move it!
------------------
http://www.elitestoragedesigns.com/RyanOAR.bmp
[Edited last by CRyan on October 03, 2001 at 12:44 AM]

 

[Alex Spindler]

I've always imagined that the internet community is best for linking content. I don't know the focus of your website, but asking existing community websites to include a button to your site can be very effective. You may have to start small, but it helps the visibility of your site and influential people may visit those smaller sites.
Just a guess. And I know nothing about internet marketing, so take this with a grain of salt.
------------------
Bombardment Society - Member

 

[Mike Wegimont]

Well, I've never really used it but my hosting provider (liquidweb) gives you 10,000 free banner exposures powered by fastclick just for hosting your site with them. If you have a hosting provider, see if they have anything like that.
Also, check this out, it's free: Link Removed
I'm sure there are more services like the one listed above but I have never used any.
Hope this helps.
Mike

 

[Mike Wegimont]

Well, now that I did a little more reading about the 10k free exposures, it seems you have to set up an account for $500 to get them.
From Liquidweb:
"Advertise your service or product accross our network of websites for as little as $500. Signup takes approxmately five minutes, activation of campaigns can be made within 48 hours.
All new campaigns will received 10,000 Free banner exposures."
Sorry for the confusion.
Mike

 

[Carlo_M]

Have the word "nude" so that a webpage search engine catches that word, and watch the hits climb!

Of course, so will the hate mail when they realize that there's none to be had on your site (or is there?).

 

[CRyan]

No, just a pretty pair of legs in an advertisement! mmmm models.
Thanks for the responses thus far. My provider has a "banner network" where you have a banner placed on your home page and then your banner add gets placed on another members site. Not really what I want.
I was kinda hoping there was another way that I was not aware of. Paid advertisement is in the future, but again I have no idea how referral banner adds work and would love to know how.
Thanks again,
C. Ryan
------------------
http://www.elitestoragedesigns.com/RyanOAR.bmp

 

[Iain Lambert]

Its probably a really obvious point, but have you considered putting a short text link in your sig here? Right now, we are talking about your site in the abstract because we can't see it; meanwhile the HTF clocks up thousands of visitors every day. Don't go crazy and advertise, but many, many people here have small sig links to their homepage.

 

[CRyan]

I believe that is against forum policy. I will reread it to confirm. A link to a personal website is one thing, but to a business is another. Vendors are not allowed to post here regarding their products or services, and I have NO intention of doing that. I figure any site managed for profit would fit into that catagory.
----Update: Rule #7 does prohibit any dealer advertising. So that is that.
Thanks for the thought though...any other ideas for creating traffic to a site? Or just information on the questions raised above.
C. Ryan
------------------
http://www.elitestoragedesigns.com/RyanOAR.bmp
[Edited last by CRyan on October 03, 2001 at 04:16 AM]

 

[Scott Dautel]

Learn from the master ... The unequivocal guru on this subject is former Yahoo exec. Seth Godin. I saw him speak about a year ago and he was quite compelling. He has written several books, but the one you should start with is "Unleashing the IdeaVirus" Even the story of this book is fascinating ... he wrote it a few years ago and put it out in its entirety on the internet for free download. weeks later, he offered hardcopies for sale on Amazon and sold millions at $20 a pop. It seems, many people who had downloaded it, also decided to buy the hardback, just to have a formal copy on their shelf.
Really an amazing guy. Download your own copy here --> http://www.ideavirus.com/01-getit.html

Scott
[Edited last by Scott Dautel on October 03, 2001 at 11:03 AM]

 

[Iain Lambert]

Aah, my mistake. I wasn't sure if this was a full-blown for-profit thing or not.

 

[Ryan Wright]

I work as a web operations analyst; my company places ads and runs promotions (buy 1 get 1 free, etc) to drive people to our site. Of course, we have a huge existing customer base and our ads are in national magazines and run tens of thousands of dollars a pop, but you don't have to spend that kind of money to place an ad somewhere.
You might consider taking a couple of marketing courses. Most traditional marketing techniques can be applied to web sites. Also, there are services that will resubmit your site to dozens of search engines on a monthly basis. Take advantage of them (some are free, or at least were the last time I checked). I don't have a URL handy but you should be able to find them fairly easily.
Keep using EBay. That's a sure fire way of pushing people to your site and selling your products. Make a highly visible remark that the same item is available on your web site for $x, and include a link.
------------------
-Ryan (http://www.ryanwright.com )
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you do criticize them, you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Sell DVDs at over 50% off.
Just kidding; you should definitely try to come up with unique and useful content and then spread the word around; look at Pat Sun's Sonosub page for example. He came up with something that no one else had done a complete page on and I'm sure he's gotten a good number of unique visits.
------------------

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

 

[CRyan]

My partner graduated a business major and had several marketing courses. We have discussed many options and some of them are in the works. However, most classes are dedicated to big business and not small business. Also, internet advertising is just completely new to both of us. I just figured there were probably alternatives we simply did not contemplate.
I guess there simply are not any. At this point, I suppose links to banner add creation sites and how-to sites would be most benneficial. We have searched for them of course. Maybe someone here has experience with one that really helped them learn.
Thanks for the help, and I will deffinately give that "e-book" a read.
C. Ryan
------------------
http://www.elitestoragedesigns.com/RyanOAR.bmp
[Edited last by CRyan on October 03, 2001 at 12:13 PM]

 

[Eric Scott]

C.
In less than 4 hours you have a good response, give this thread a few days. Don't reply back until a day later (to keep it current.) What do you sell BTW...?

 

[CRyan]

I did not mean to come across as pessimistic in my last post. I was more trying to let people know that I wanted more than anything at this point to obtain information on banner adds. Links or some other source of information for banner add creation and referral links and how they work.
I guess I feel as though there are really not that many oprions for advertising on the net - only coming down to a few options. I am very pleased with the response in such a short time, and I thank everyone for their time in posting.
Oh, and I guess it would probably be best for me to not even list what I sell in this thread or on this forum. If I did, I am afraid this thread would turn into an advertisement. That is not allowed and it is not the purpose of this thread. Thanks for the interest though! It was tempting (but just for a second)!
C. Ryan
------------------
http://www.elitestoragedesigns.com/RyanOAR.bmp