ONLINE MARKETING GUIDE:
What You Need to Know to Market Your Site Online

By Staff Writer Getting Started

Hundreds of thousands of Web sites are popping up on the Internet every day and it’s becoming much more competitive to attract an audience. What does this mean for your business? Opportunity!

The Internet is one of the most useful, cost effective tools for advertising and marketing purposes-on any scale.

The Internet is one of the most useful, cost effective tools for advertising and marketing purposes—on any scale. Unlike TV ads shown randomly to the masses, the Internet provides you with a unique opportunity to literally seek out the people you want to view your Web site. How can you reach these people, and more importantly drive them to your site? Use the popular online marketing strategies and promotional techniques in this article to get started.

Current Customer Checklist

• Do your existing customers know you’ve launched a Web site?
  
• Have you included your Web site's URL in all of your current marketing and company materials, such as printed brochures, letterhead, fax coversheets, sales receipts, invoices, business cards, catalogs and envelopes?
  
• Have you included "...please visit us at www.ourwebsite.com" on your corporate voicemail message?
  
• Once you’ve covered these basics, you can put your energy into actual online marketing strategies.

Search Engine Optimization

The first step in targeting your customers and attracting potential visitors to your site is getting listed on all the popular search engines.

Since more than 85% of all active Web users use search engines to find the products and services they're looking for, the first step in targeting your customers and attracting potential visitors to your site is getting listed on all the popular search engines.

Free Search Engines

Several search engines do not charge for keyword and URL submissions. However, some of these free programs will not show your site frequently enough to make a significant impact on your marketing efforts.

Free search engines can promote your site effectively, but there is no guarantee that your company’s listing will have a high ranking. Don’t depend on others; do your own research and see how, and where your company information will be presented on the search engine.

Once you are listed on the search engine, it's important to check your submissions frequently to make sure your site still comes up!

Paid Search Engines

With the CPC model, you choose the words most relevant to your site, business and services, and specify the amount you are willing to pay when a visitor types in these pre-selected keywords, and clicks on your listing.

Most popular search engines have programs that charge on a Cost per Click (CPC) model to ensure that your site appears when a searcher enters one of your keywords. With the CPC model, you choose the words most relevant to your site, business and services, and specify the amount you are willing to pay when a visitor types in these pre-selected keywords, and clicks on your listing. Naturally, the higher your bid per keyword, the higher your ranking in the search results. See how it works first hand by checking out Google’s Ad Select at https://adwords.google.com/select/main. CPC-based search engine programs give you complete control over your campaign. You can establish a daily, weekly or monthly budget dependent on how much you want to spend. You also have access to your reporting statistics and can monitor your listings as often as you like.

If you find that certain keywords are not generating clicks, you can increase the CPC for that keyword and see how the higher bid affects your ranking. In the beginning, it's trial and error, so consistently monitoring your keyword stats enables you to best optimize your listings and maximize your future Return on Investment (ROI ).