Bringing traffic to your website can be one of the hardest parts of operating a website. It sounds easy, but it isn’t always as easy as some may make it out. This is especially true if your business has no brick and mortar store. With a physical store people see it when they pass by, and a brick and mortar store can print their website address on all materials that may be given to customers. A virtual business, on the other hand, lacks these types of advertising opportunities, so you need to find ways to compensate for the loss.
Website and Digital Marketing Tips for your Online Business
Marketing and Advertising to Bring Traffic to Your Website
Getting customers to come back to your website on an ongoing basis is another challenge. This, in my experience, is harder to accomplish than getting customers to view the website the first time.
I have found many different ways and ideas to help bring traffic to your website. Some ways work really well, some are mediocre, while others are hit-and-miss. Both offline and online forms of advertising should be used to maximize exposure.
Listed below are some of the ideas that I have read about from a variety of different Sources. I have also included some of my own original ideas.
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Typical Offline Advertising for Marketing your Online Business Website
Stationery
Business letterheads, business cards, and any print related item should contain your website address. Surprisingly many businesses do not include their internet address on their company letterheads or business cards. This is one of the basic methods in letting your customers know that you have a website.
I heard a story one time about a guy who advertised his business and website on specially made business cards. He was at a ball game and threw up a whole bunch of the cards when other fans through objects up, too. If you go to watch a parade, then you could do something similar and throw a bunch of small cards or strips of paper to advertise your product or service. If you throw the paper out a window looking out above the parade, then the wind will help disperse them. This gives a new definition to confetti! Be sure to print on both sides of the paper.
Postcards are an inexpensive way to promote your product or service and your website offline to potential customers, and it’s an inexpensive way to stay in touch with existing customers. Sending email messages is a good idea, but sending postcards provides a more tactile connection between your business and current clients.
A great alternative to spam email is bulk postcards. Combining direct mail methods with your Internet website can produce additional website traffic and yield more sales. Many are growing tired–and even immune–to online banners and advertisements. So, you should consider using offline methods of advertising, and postcards are a great way to stay in touch with previous customers and to gain new customers. I have used postcards promoting a website before, and it does help to increase your web traffic.
Print Ads
Place ads in local newspapers and print publications that are related to your business. Local newspapers can be a tricky method of advertising. If you do not have a brick and mortar store, then you may not get much of a response. However; if you do have a product or service that can be advertised in a related classified section, then that could be an option for your business. I have placed ads in newspapers before, and received some response although my postcard mailings actually brought more traffic. However, it is worth a try, though, since my product was probably different from yours.
Magazine ads, though expensive, can be good for long term promotion. Many people, like myself, save their magazines for a period of time for a variety of reasons. I have a few business magazines that I frequently re-read for ideas. Public and private libraries also keep older magazine issues on-hand for their customers to browse. Doctors’ offices, business waiting rooms, laundry mats, and many waiting rooms have magazines for customers to read while they wait. You never know when someone will be waiting in the dentist’s office reading your ad in a two-month old issue of Golf Magazine. As in other ways of advertising, the target audience of the magazine should be the same target audience for your product or service.
Specialties
Bumper stickers, t-shirts, hats, pens, and other such advertising specialty items that you use to promote your business should have your Internet address imprinted on them.
I think that pens are one of the better forms of advertising specialties. Many people, especially me, are always looking for an extra pen. Everyone writes multiple times during the day, so why not have your Internet address and business name on that pen. Pens are cheap to give away, too. You can leave pens behind in waiting rooms, restaurant tables, phone booths, church pews, ATM machines, or wherever someone may need one to write. Business cards can be left in such places as well, but they usually get thrown away. Pens, on the other hand, get picked up and used.
The next form of advertising specialty to think about is magnet business cards. Many people put magnets on their refrigerator for a variety of reasons such as places they’ve visited, appointment reminders, and paper holders. This provides a regular form of advertising for your business.
Banner Exchanges for Marketing and advertising your Website
Banner exchanges are an arrangement such that you partner with other websites and exchange banner advertisements. The two primary types of exchanges are lists and individual sites.
Exchange Types
With banner lists you become part of a group of websites that share advertisements as a collective. The banners are typically managed by one website and all participants contribute a banner advertisement to the collection. All the participants are required to have special code on their websites and each time your webpage loads, the code automatically chooses a banner to display on your website.
The other type of banner exchange is when you agree with specific websites to exchange banner advertisements. In this exchange you agree to show a banner ad from the other party’s website and they agree to show a banner from your website.
Pro’s and Con’s
Banner exchanges are encouraged by some, but they can hurt your business. Banner advertisements from a banner list can be an uncontrollable ad for a competing product or service to your own. And if a potential customer sees a banner ad promoting a similar product, then that potential customer may be lost once they click on the banner.
Making arrangements to exchange banner ads with another business with a non-competing product or service can be an alternative, however. This way you have better control over the ads that appear on your site while you try to promote your own product or service.
Signatures for Marketing and advertising your Website
A signature is a custom message that is automatically attached to any email message you send. The application or webmail site does this for you. This is a good way to advertising your product or service.
Here are some examples of signatures:
- “Discover Search Engine Optimization Tips for your Website: http://www.brigadiercomputers.com“
- “Computer games that help your child to read while they’re having fun: www.brigadiercomputers.com/games/reading-games-for-kids.html”
- “How you may be poisoning your family and not even know it. See http://www.pondertablet.com/index.php/technology/health for more information.”
- “Eco-friendly products for your home or office: http://www.pondertablet.com/index.php/technology/health”
- “Excellent web solutions for your business: http://www.ionos.com.”
If you have been online for a while, then I am sure you have seen several other examples on emails.
Signatures can also be attached to forum and blog posts. If you are running a business and actively participate in making comments on blog posts or other peoples’ comments, then adding a signature to all your posts is a great way to advertising your business. Often times you can view your account details or account preferences on the blog or forum website to create a signature for your posts.
Autoresponders for Marketing and advertising your Website
Autoresponders enable you to automate your business. An autoresponder is an email addresses that is setup to automatically send a previously composed email in reply to all received email messages.
Typical Usages
For an example, send an email to
Undoubtedly you have sent an email to a company email address and have received a quick reply. The reply generally tells you that your message has been received, that the message will be responded to in time, and some type of thank you for contacting the company. This reply message is sent by an autoresponder.
You can use your autoresponder to provide a free article on a topic that is related to your product or service. For example, if you sell shoes, then provide an article on how to pick out a good pair of shoes. In the article you can discuss different features of shoes, differences between types of shoes--such as walking and running, and ways that different shoes help to support the different parts of the foot. On subsequent messages that you email, discuss other related topics such as how bad shoes can create back problems or why feet hurt from wearing the wrong shoes.
You can use autoresponders as a method of sending a series of messages about a certain product-related topic. If, for example, you are selling craft items, you could set your autoresponders to deliver five craft ideas or suggestions over a period of five, ten, or fifteen days. This helps you build rapport and credibility between you and your prospects. Statistically, you ought to have at least five email messages sent to individuals who request information from your autoresponder. Roughly 80% of sales are made after the fifth contact, so creating a five message string could help increase your sales.
You can use your autoresponder for sending an email to inform the customer that their email has been received and that a reply will be received within a specified time frame.
Automated Digital Marketing Salesperson
Converting prospects into customers through autoresponder messages can be tough. Here is a formula that you could utilize that has been proven successful.
- On the first message thank them for their request and present the free information. Attach a small signature at the end of the message promoting your product or service.
- For the second email tell them that you hope that the previous email was helpful, and then provide additional tips and information.
- A third message would explain how your product or service will be beneficial to him or her in relation to what the free article discussed.
- In a fourth message provide a few more tips, and if you are selling a service or self-made product, then explain how your personal experience and skills enhances your product or service.
- Email number five could include testimonials from previous and current customers.
- Provide a few precautions that the customer should be aware of when looking at competitive products on the sixth message. The precautions are the benefits of your product or service turned into questions.
- On the seventh message, summarize how your product or service benefits the customer, how your experience adds to the value of your product or service, and how your precautions are answered by your product or service. After the summary, encourage your prospect to take action by asking for the sale.
Advanced Usages
Follow up, as most successful salespeople know, is very important to maintain good customer relations. You can setup an autoresponder system that sends tips to customers that have purchased, for example a television, from you. The first message could provide tips on taking care of the television; the second message could provide help for navigating the menu on the TV; and a third message can explain how changing the tint, brightness, and contrast can add to or subtract from a viewing experience. This provides valuable information to your customer, it creates rapport with them, and it keeps your name in front of them so that they will purchase from you again.
Another method of usage includes training materials. If you sell a software program, then you can create short training email messages that help your customers better use the software or how to actually use the software. Many users do not read the Help section within an Application, so you can provide such help through short training email messages through your automated message system. As a courtesy you may want to inform your reader he or she will receive another message toward the end of each message emailed.
Tips and Suggestions
However you utilize an autoresponder system, keep your messages simple and easy to understand. Write professionally, but also write as though you are speaking with your reader.
Encourage the reader to take action. For example, ask the reader to pick up their TV remote so they can actually follow the steps as you help walk them through the menu.
Provide a step by step procedure when you provide short cuts or tips about how to use your product. A service business could provide a step by step procedure of a common service process to help customers become more familiar with what to expect.
When you send your tips, tricks, instructions, or whatever, you can add a signature to the bottom of the message promoting a related product or service. You can also add product links at appropriate spots within a message. However, do not overdo promotional efforts as few like a nagging salesperson.
Each message sent out from your autoresponder that is a part of a series of messages should have an unsubscribe or an opt-out option. You will have some that want out of the email loop, so be courteous and professional by allowing him or her a way to opt out.
Many principles and suggestions regarding autoresponders can be utilized and applied in the next section on electronic newsletters and magazines. In many ways electronic newsletters have replaced autoresponder systems, but even though newsletters have many similarities, autoresponders can still be utilized and helpful especially for providing immediate feedback from an email address.
Electronic Newsletters & Magazines for Marketing your Website
Little doubt exists that you have not had an encounter with some form of a company’s newsletter in your own email Inbox. When using this form of advertising, be conscience of how frequently you send out a newsletter or promotion via email. Sending too many newsletters or eZines too often can yield numbness and even requests to unsubscribe from your communication efforts. So finding that happy medium between too many too often and not enough too infrequently can be challenging.
eNewsletters
An electronic newsletter, or eNewsletter, is very similar to a paper newsletter. Creating a weekly or bi-monthly newsletter for your customers can help your customer and help your business. Such a newsletter can provide your customers with valuable information in relation to your products or services. For example, if your company sells office furniture, then include tips on how to keep the furniture in good shape.
In the newsletters you could include brief promotions for other products you carry; for example, in an article regarding taking care of the office furniture you could briefly mention that your company sells touch-up products.
Do not, however, over advertise your products; people want useable information in newsletters without being bombarded with ads. As mentioned previously, find a balance between sending too many too often and too few too infrequently. In addition, it is advised to not send out promotional emails outside of your regular newsletter. You may get accused of sending spam and generate opt-out requests. Anything you want to promote should be done through the newsletter.
eZines
eZines are quite similar to eNewsletters, and they are often referred to as a type of eNewsletter. Like regular print magazines, eZines will often come with graphic pictures while eNewsletters are usually only text.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” eZines can have pictures to help illustrate included articles and ideas. Unique graphics and short (quick) animations can help your eZine be unique as well as gain an audience. Reading articles that have pictures is much more enjoyable than articles without them. When you read a Newspaper, odds are that you will at least glance at all the pictures on each page that you read; others do the same thing, and adding pictures takes advantage of this behavior.
eZines can also include short video or audio clips. Use caution when dealing with audio and video, however. They have large file sizes, so they require a lot more bandwidth that you may have to pay extra for, and they require extra processing power from the web server. You could create a special audio and video eZine edition for customers that would be interested; with such additional service, you could charge a little extra for such a benefit and make extra money or you could simply view it as part of your ongoing customer service and advertising efforts.
Advertising in Other eZines or eNewsletters
If you don’t have the time to create your own electronic newsletter or magazine, then you could place advertisements in another related publication.
Just like traditional print newspapers and magazines, the electronic versions often have opportunities for businesses to advertise products or services. This allows you to promote your business to potential customers in a targeted audience.
Not only could you promote your products in other eNewsletters, but you can also promote your web site in other electronic magazines by writing a few helpful articles on topics related to your products or service. Submit the articles to eZines and eNewsletters that have a similar target market as your business.
The Link Back Gateways
For all the articles that you write, ensure that each article has its own webpage. Each of these webpages should be optimized and submitted to search engines. Each article should have at least one link back to your primary website or one link to a related product or service.
The more links back to your website, the higher your website will be in search engine results. You may be tempted to use a database to help organize the articles; however, try not to do this because search engines usually do not index pages within databases. On the other hand, some newer website software applications do have an SOE friendly feature for storing articles in databases such that search engines will still index the pages.
Precaution and Opportunity
The number of informational eNewsletters and eZines appears, unfortunately, to be on a decline. Companies are so busy sending out promotional emails that do nothing more than advertise and promote their products and services without much useful information for their customers.
So your business could take advantage of this opportunity to gain more loyal customers by providing useful and helpful information in electronic newsletters and magazines without badgering them with promotions and sales. After all, who likes a salesperson that only talks about selling a car or features and does nothing to help you once you have the car?
Web-Only Website and Digital Marketing Ideas
Promotions
Provide specials and discounts for orders submitted through the website. Promote such specials in your offline ads as well as in any electronic correspondence you send out. Many businesses use this method and have done quite well. The key is to really advertise and promote the online-only specials, especially if your business is primarily an offline operation.
In addition to online discounts, consider making certain, popular products available online exclusively. Ensure that the exclusively online product is mentioned in other advertised mediums such as in-store displays, flyers, brochures, etc.
Tips and Information
Provide online tips for the products and services that you sell. If you are selling vacuum cleaners, then provide online care-taking helps such as keeping the vacuum in good shape, reasons to change the bag frequently, safety precautions, etc. If you are selling craft supply products, then include craft making ideas and construction instructions online.
Organizing your articles may become difficult if your business has a lot of products; however, providing helps for the many products also means more traffic–and potentially more sales. Make each tip or instruction set into its own web page. Optimize each page for search engines (discussed later) and put links on each page back to its related product and to the main page.
Affiliate Fish Hooks
Encourage others to promote your products by providing some type of affiliate program. An affiliate program allows you to have several commission-only salespersons working for you. Affiliates who refer new customers to your website receive a commission for their referrals. Give your affiliates a good and fair commission to encourage them to promote your product and/or services.
Affiliate Program Types
The most common type of affiliate program is the ability to link to any specific product or group of products on the website.
If you can provide an entire webpage or website for your affiliates to help them advertise more efficiently, then do so. It could be an exact copy of your page or it can be a custom webpage for them.
Giving them their own webpage or website to help sell your products helps your affiliates feel as though they have their own store. Such feelings may help and encourage them to promote their own site more enthusiastically and lead to more sales for you.
Another option is to offer an affiliate program with your virtual storefront. Many of the previously mentioned click-and-install storefront solutions are capable of implementing this as a feature.
Implementing an Affiliate Program
If you provide an affiliate with a copy of a webpage, then you’ll need to ensure that the method of payment works properly when deployed on their site. If you use a payment service such as Paypal, then the payment processing should still work normally. To make ordering more secure on the webpage, you can modify the purchasing part of the page to link back to the payment processing section on your own website.
An affiliate program in a click-and-install storefront solution typically has to be manually enabled. But once enabled the software automatically handles keeping track of affiliates and their commissions. The handling of payments is typically handled by the store owner unless the software integrates with a payment or commission processing service.
For security reasons the preferred and suggested type of affiliate system to implement is the storefront type. This way order processing is handled on your own website and is less likely to be tampered with.