101 Ways to promote youar web site pptx

This book and Companion Web site will help you: • Drive more of your targeted customers to your Web site • Optimize your Web site for search engines • Make effective marketing use of c

Get More Traffic and Increase Sales!

Getting targeted traffic to your Web site will result in dramatically

increased revenue if your site is effective, interactive, and well

promoted But how can you get more targeted traffic to your

Web site? In 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site, internationally

recognized Internet marketing expert Susan Sweeney tells you

how with proven tips, tools and promotional techniques

In this freshly updated seventh edition, Susan Sweeney helps you

get on top of the latest Web 2.0 trends and techniques such as

RSS, blogs, podcasting, consumer generated media, and mobile

marketing This book (along with the “members only” companion

Web site) gives you practical tips, tools, techniques, and

step-by-step strategies to help you increase your conversions and

make more money online Entrepreneurs, corporate marketing

managers, small business owners, consultants, Webmasters,

individuals, new media professionals, and Web site designers will

all find this book invaluable for developing their online strategies

Included with this book is a personal password necessary for

accessing the companion Web site which leads you to

up-to-the-minute Internet marketing news, expanded information, tips, tools,

techniques, and other helpful Web site promotion resources This

book/Web site combination is unbeatable

This book (and Companion Web site) will help you:

• Drive more of your targeted customers

to your Web site

• Optimize your Web site for search engines

• Make effective marketing use of consumer generated media, mail lists,

meta indexes, e-zines, podcasting, blogs, wikis, mobile marketing, auto-responders,

social bookmarking, and more

• Leverage the power of e-mail in online sales

• Maximize “pay-per-click” search engine sponsored listing strategy

• Incorporate a dynamite media and public relations strategies

• Keep your customers coming back

• Use competitors’ sites to your advantage

• Develop viral and permission marketing campaigns

• Learn how to use Web metrics and Web traffic analysis to increase sales

About the Author

Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF is an internationally recognized Internet marketing expert, consultant, and speaker She is the author of eight Internet marketing books including 3G Marketing on the Internet

and The e-business Formula for Success Susan is the founder and owner of eLearningU.com, an online learning portal that offers courses on every subject imaginable related to business She developed

the popular two-day Internet Marketing Boot Camp in addition to webinars, seminars on CD, Internet marketing training programs, and e-books related to Internet marketing Besides being a well-known

author, Susan is a CA (Chartered Accountant) and a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and has been inducted into the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame (HoF) She is a frequent speaker on Internet marketing

at many conferences, corporate seminars, workshops, and events Susan lives in Waverley, Nova Scotia, and Ft Myers, Florida.

“Since I began using some of the ideas in this book, I have built

my Internet sales from

$1,200 per month to more than $1,000,000 per year…”

— Brian Tracy, author of

Includes a password for accessing a private Web site containing the latest Web site promotion news, expanded information, and more!

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“Great stuff! Practical, powerful tips on growing sales from your Web site Get it!”

—Randy Gage, author of Prosperity Mind and How to Build a Multi-Level Money Machine

“I have bought about 10 website books lately and this is by far the most useful I could hardly put it down I am not a website designer and this book is invaluable.”

—Grover Hillbolt, owner of Round Top Real Estate

“Expand your knowledge, competence, AND income by following the internet guru’s proven game plans I did They work Guaranteed!”

—David Jackson, CSP, CEO of the Australian Salesmasters Training Company

“This book is practical and no-nonsense and helped me increase my business tenfold! Your website needs this book!”

—Cheryl Cran, CSP, author of The Control Freak Revolution and 50 Ways to Lead and Love it

“The show we did on 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site was a huge success After reading your book, our staff decided to implement your ideas to grow our listening audience and it worked like magic 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site is a must read.”

—Bob Sommers, host of the Recognized Expert Marketing Show,

www.RecognizedExpert.com

“If you are serious about marketing your website to the top and making money

on line … this book is a MUST READ!”

—Debbie Allen, best-selling author of Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters

“Hands down, Best in Class: the ONLY book you need on the subject.”

—Warren Evans, Founding Chairman of the International Federation for

Professional Speakers

“Forget all the other books on growing your business on the internet and buy only this one The ideas I picked up in this book have grown my internet busi- ness by 500 percent, built my brand massively and resulted in more bookings and sales than I could ever have imagined.”

—Frank Furness, author of Walking with Tigers—Success Secrets of the World’s Top Business Leaders

“Quick and simple tips to help ANY small business owner make the most of her online presence I love this book, and highly recommend it!”

—Alexandria Brown, online entrepreneur and Millionaire Marketing Coach, www.AlexandriaBrown.com

Advance Praise

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• 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site

• 3G Marketing on the Internet

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For more information go to maxpress.com

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This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the ject matter covered It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services If legal, accounting, medical, psychological, or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought ADAPTED FROM A DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES OF A JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSO- CIATION AND PUBLISHERS.

sub-Copyright 2009 by Maximum Press.

All rights reserved Published simultaneously in Canada.

Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Maximum Press.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

I am truly blessed This book—all of my books, my business, and my success sofar—would not have been possible without so many people who have contrib-uted and made a difference to me in so many ways

Many thanks to my right hand, Stephanie Strathdee, for all the help with

this edition of 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site This book was definitely a

team effort Thanks as well to Stephanie for the tremendous effort on our line university, eLearningU.com, and for keeping everything running smoothly

on-in our fast-paced (to put it mildly) office

Thanks to my great team at Verb Interactive (http://www.verbinteractive.com):

Ed Dorey and Andy MacLellan who have been with me since their universitydays, and our whole team of Internet marketing experts

Thanks to my Indaba team and great friends, Lea and Sharon, for our manygreat meetings of minds and souls and the progress we have made on our spiri-tual and business journeys—what a difference you’ve made in my life

Thanks to Colleen Francis for our regular brainstorming calls that alwaysleave me invigorated and ready to conquer the world Also for the amount I getdone the day prior to those calls in anticipation

Thanks to my Canadian Association of Professional Speakers family, myNational Speakers Association family, and my International Federation of Pro-fessional Speakers family and all the incredible people I have had the pleasure

to listen to and learn from over the years Never have I met a more sharing,giving, and thoughtful group of people I am truly blessed to have found you.Thanks, Cathleen Filmore, for introducing me to this fabulous business of pro-fessional speaking

Thanks to the many businesses and organizations and amazing people aroundthe world that I have the pleasure and honor of working with You keep me on

my toes, keep things exciting, and continually help me grow

The Internet is a fascinating and vast publicly accessible resource from which

we can learn a great deal I’d like to thank all those people who share theirinformation so freely on the Net with sites like WilsonWeb

(www.wilsonweb.com) by Dr Ralph Wilson, SearchEngineWatch by Danny

Sullivan, and newsletters like I-Search by Detlev Johnson

Many thanks to my large network of experts I know I can always call on toget the latest scoop on what’s really happening Joe Mauro of inBox360.comand Ken Teeter of nTarget.com are always extremely knowledgeable and help-ful in terms of the ever-changing world of private mail list marketing

Thanks to Jim Hoskins and Gina Cooke at Maximum Press This is oursixteenth book together It’s always a pleasure to work with you One of thesedays we’re going to have to meet face to face!

our three amazing children—Kaitlyn, Kara, and Andrew—for their love, couragement, and support Love you more than the last number!

en-Special thanks to my mom and dad, Olga and Leonard Dooley, for alwaysbeing there and for instilling in me the confidence to know that I can do anything

I set my mind to It’s amazing what can be done when you “know you can.”

Disclaimer

The purchase of computer software or hardware is an important and costlybusiness decision While the author and publisher of this book have made rea-sonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the information con-tained herein, the author and publisher assume no liability with respect to loss

or damage caused or alleged to be caused by reliance on any information tained herein and disclaim any and all warranties, expressed or implied, as tothe accuracy or reliability of said information

con-This book is not intended to replace the manufacturer’s product tation or personnel in determining the specifications and capabilities of the prod-ucts mentioned in this book The manufacturer’s product documentation shouldalways be consulted, as the specifications and capabilities of computer hard-ware and software products are subject to frequent modification The reader issolely responsible for the choice of computer hardware and software All con-figurations and applications of computer hardware and software should be re-viewed with the manufacturer’s representatives prior to choosing or using anycomputer hardware and software

or term

Your “Members Only” Web Site

The online world changes every day That’s why there is a companion Web siteassociated with this book On this site you will find the latest news, expandedinformation, and other resources of interest

To get into the Web site, go to http://promote.maxpress.com You will be

asked for a password Type in:

sat

and you will then be granted access

Visit the site often and enjoy the updates and resources with our ments—and thanks again for buying the book We ask that you not share theuser ID and password for this site with anyone else

compli-Susan Sweeney’s Internet Marketing Mail List

You are also invited to join Susan Sweeney’s Internet Marketing Bi-weekly

In-ternet Marketing Tips, Tools, Techniques, and Resources Newsletter at http://

promote.maxpress.com.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:

The Fundamentals—Objectives, Target Markets, and Products

and Services 2

Common Objectives 3

Advertising Your Products or Services 4

Selling Your Products or Services Online 4

Providing Online Customer Service and Support 4

Providing Product or Corporate Information 5

Creating and Establishing Company Identity and Brand Awareness 5

Other Primary Objectives 5

Other Objectives to Consider Up Front 6

Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 6

Including Repeat-Traffic Generators on Your Site 7

Getting Visitors to Recommend Your Site 7

Using Permission Marketing 7

Creating Loyalty among Visitors 8

Including “Stickiness” Elements 8

Including Interactive Elements 8

A Final Word on Objectives 9

Target Markets 9

Products and Services 12

The Fundamentals 13

Using Competitor Sites to Your Advantage 13

Storyboarding Your Web Site 15

Detailed Web Site Planning 17

Content Notes 18

Text Notes 19

Color Notes 20

Navigation Notes 20

Graphics Notes 21

Visual Notes 22

Other Notes 23

Internet Resources for Chapter 1 23

Table of Contents ix

Chapter 2:

Methodology to Make Your Site Search Engine Friendly 25

Understanding Search Engines 25

Decide Which Search Engines Are Important 27

Learn the Search Engine Ranking Criteria 28

Keywords Are Critical 31

Brainstorming, Surveying, and Reviewing Promotional Material 33

Review Competing and Industry-Leading Web Sites 34

Assess Your Web Site Traffic Logs 35

Keyword Suggestion and Evaluation Tools 36

Fine-Tuning Your Keyword Phrases 36

Assign Specific Keywords to Specific Pages 42

Title Tags—Use Descriptive Page Titles 43

Keywords Meta-Tag 45

Description Meta-Tag 47

Alt Tags 47

Hypertext Links 48

Domain Name and File Names 48

Body Text—Header Tags and Page Copy 49

Headings—<H1>Header Tags</H1> 49

Page Copy 49

Spamming 51

Quality Guidelines—Basic Principles 54

Quality Guidelines—Specific Recommendations 55

Other Important Design Factors 56

Frames 57

Robots.txt, Meta-Robots Tag 58

Clean Code Is King 58

Navigation Techniques 59

Revisit Meta-Tag 59

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 59

Dynamic Pages and Special Characters 59

Splash Pages and the Use of Rich Media 60

Use of Tables 61

Custom Error Pages 61

Image Maps 62

Optimization for Search Localization 62

Monitoring Results 64

Internet Resources for Chapter 2 65

Chapter 3:

Rationale for Encouraging Repeat Visits 67

Use a What’s New Page for Repeat Visits 67

Free Stuff—Everyone Loves It 68

Everyone Wants the Best Price—Coupons and Discounts 69

Specials, Promotions, and Packages 70

A Calendar of Events Keeps Visitors Informed 71

Luring Customers with Contests and Competitions 71

Creating Useful Links from Your Site 74

Providing a “Featured” or “Tip of the Day/Week” to Encourage Repeat Visits 75

Ensuring That Your Site Gets Bookmarked 76

Encourage Repeat Visits with Your Site of the Day 77

MP3s/Podcasts 78

Distribution through RSS Feeds and Autoresponders 78

Internet Resources for Chapter 3 78

Chapter 4: Permission Marketing 80 Permission Marketing Explained 80

Uses of Permission Marketing 81

Personalization 82

Sell the Benefits 83

Cooperative Permission Marketing 84

Incentive-Based Permission Marketing 84

A Closing Comment on Permission Marketing 85

Internet Resources for Chapter 4 85

Chapter 5: Spreading the Word with Viral Marketing 86 Capitalizing on Viral Marketing Opportunities 87

Word of Mouth 87

Pass-It-On Viral Marketing 91

E-Books 92

Fun Videos 92

Checklists 92

Podcasts, MP3s, or Audiozines 93

Table of Contents xi

Articles 93

Virtual Postcards 93

Internet Resources for Chapter 5 94

Chapter 6: Great Content 95 The “Wow” Factor 96

eBrochures and iBrochures 97

Audio and Video 98

Podcasts 98

Interactive Maps 98

Interactive Elements 99

Blogs and Wikis 101

Internet Resources for Chapter 6 101

Chapter 7: Landing Pages 102 What Is a Landing Page? 102

Considerations for Landing Page Content 104

Testing Your Landing Page 105

Internet Resources for Chapter 7 107

Chapter 8: Search Engine and Directory Submissions 108 Submission Process 108

A Closer Look at Search Engines and Directories 109

Submitting to the Search Engines 112

Free Submissions 113

Paid Inclusion 113

Automated versus Manual Submission 114

Is Your Page Already Indexed? 114

Submitting to the Directories 114

Preparing Your Directory Submission 115

Pay Careful Attention to Titles and Descriptions 117

Pay Careful Attention to All Fields on the Submission Form 118 More Directory Submission Tips 119

Keep a Record of Your Submissions 120

Effective Use of Submission Tools and Services 121

Complete Your Site before You Submit 123

W3C HTML Validation Service 123

NetMechanic 123

WDG HTML Validator 123

Get Multiple Listings 123

Some Final Pointers 124

Internet Resources for Chapter 8 124

Chapter 9: Developing Your Pay-to-Play Strategy 125 Generating Targeted Traffic Using PPC Advertising 126

Exploring PPC Campaigns in Google and Yahoo! 127

How PPC Campaigns Work 128

Where Do Your Ads Appear? 129

Maximize Exposure with Contextual Advertising 131

Geo-Targeting Your Campaigns 131

Dayparting 132

Maximizing Your Exposure 132

Maximizing Your Budget 133

Internet Resources for Chapter 9 134

Chapter 10: The E-mail Advantage 135 Making the Connection 136

E-mail Program versus Mail List Software 136

Effective E-mail Messages 136

The Importance of Your E-mail Subject Line 137

E-mail “To” and “From” Headings Allow You to Personalize 138 Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) 138

Effective E-mail Message Formatting 139

A Call to Action 140

Appropriate E-mail Reply Tips 141

Always Use Your Signature Files 141

Discerning Use of Attachments 141

Expressing Yourself with Emoticons and Shorthand 142

E-mail Marketing Tips 145

Include a Brochure and Personal Note 146

Provide Customer Service 146

Gather a Library of Responses 146

Table of Contents xiii

Following Formalities with E-mail Netiquette 146

Graphic Headers and HTML 147

Reply Promptly 147

Leverage with Viral Marketing 147

Internet Resources for Chapter 10 148

Chapter 11: Utilizing Signature Files to Increase Web Site Traffic 149 Presenting Your e-Business Card 149

How to Develop Your Signature File 150

Graphic Headers and HTML 151

The Do’s and Don’ts of Signature Files 152

Sig Files to Bring Traffic to Your Web Site 154

Using Signature Files as an E-mail Template 157

Internet Resources for Chapter 11 157

Chapter 12: Autoresponders 158 What Are Autoresponders? 158

Why Use Autoresponders? 159

Types of Autoresponders 161

Autoresponder Features 161

Personalization 161

Multiple Responses/Sequential Autoresponders 161

Size of Message 162

Tracking 162

HTML Messaging 162

Successful Marketing through Autoresponders 162

Internet Resources for Chapter 12 163

Chapter 13: Consumer-Generated Media 164 What Is Consumer-Generated Media? 165

Why Consumer-Generated Media Is Important 165

The Effect of CGM on Corporate Reputation 166

CGM—Opportunity or Threat? 167

Developing a Social Media Strategy 168

Where Do You Find Consumer-Generated Media? 169

How Do You Use Consumer-Generated Media? 170

Internet Resources for Chapter 13 171

Chapter 14: Establishing Your Private Mailing List 172 Why Have Your Own Mailing List? 173

Permission-Based Marketing 173

The Issue of Privacy 176

Where We Need to Be 176

The Right Mail List Technology 177

Using Your E-mail Program 177

Using Mail List Software 178

Outsourcing Your Mail List 180

Building Your Database or Mail List 182

Promoting Your Private Mail List 184

Your Communication with Your Mail List 184

Stay under the Spam Radar 187

Recent Legislation 190

Measure, Measure, Measure 192

Why E-mail Is Not Dead 193

E-mail as the Killer App—The Latest 194

The Good News—RSS and E-mail Are Not Mutually Exclusive 196

Internet Resources for Chapter 14 196

Chapter 15: Effective Promotion through Direct Mail Lists 197 How Direct Mail List Companies Work 198

How to Select a Direct Mail Company 199

How to Work with a Direct Mail List Company 199

Costs Related to Direct Mail List Marketing 200

Make the Most of Your Direct Mail List Marketing 201

Internet Resources for Chapter 15 202

Chapter 16: Developing a Dynamite Links Strategy 203 Links Have an Impact 204

Links Have Staying Power 204

A Quick Talk about Outbound Links 205

Table of Contents xv

Google Webmaster Guidelines on Link Schemes 206

Strategies for Finding Appropriate Link Sites 208

Explore These URLs 208

Tools to Identify Your Competitors’ Links 210

Other Potential Link Strategies 211

Winning Approval for Potential Links 212

Making Your Link the Place to Click 214

To Add or Not to Add with Free-for-All Link Sites 216

Add Value with Affiliate Programs 216

Maintaining a Marketing Log 217

A Word of Caution with Link Trading 217

Internet Resources for Chapter 16 218

Chapter 17: Maximizing Promotion with Meta-Indexes 219 What Are Meta-Indexes? 219

How to Find Appropriate Meta-Indexes 221

Enlisting Meta-Indexes for Optimal Exposure 222

Internet Resources for Chapter 17 226

Chapter 18: Winning Awards, Cool Sites, and More 227 It’s an Honor Just to Be Nominated 228

Choosing Your Awards and Submitting to Win 229

What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Name of Cool 231

Posting Your Awards on Your Site 231

Becoming the Host of Your Own Awards Gala 231

Internet Resources for Chapter 18 232

Chapter 19: Online Advertising 233 Expanding Your Exposure through Internet Advertising 234

Maximize Advertising with Your Objectives in Mind 235

Online Advertising Terminology 236

Banner Ads 236

Click-Throughs 236

Hits 237

Impressions or Page Views 237

CPM 237

CPA 237

Keywords 238

Geo-targeting 238

Jump on the Banner Wagon 238

Exploring Your Banner Ad Options 240

Banner Ad Tips 241

Interesting Banner Ads 242

Location, Location, Location 245

Search Engines 245

Content Sites 245

Banner Ad Price Factors 245

Considerations When Purchasing Your Banner Ad 246

Make Sure Visitors Can See Your Banner 247

Making It Easy with Online Advertising Networks 247

Behavioral Advertising 249

Re-targeting 249

Bartering for Mutual Benefits with Banner Trading 249

Form Lasting Relationships with Sponsorships 250

Commercial Links 251

Sponsoring a Mailing List 251

Online and Offline Promotion 251

Advertising through Content Integration 252

Video Advertising 252

Social Network Advertising 252

A Few Final Thoughts to Remember 254

Internet Resources for Chapter 19 254

Chapter 20: Maximizing Media Relations 256 Managing Effective Public Relations 257

Benefits of Publicity versus Advertising 257

What Is a News Release? 258

Writing a News Release 258

Notice of Release 258

Header 259

Headline 259

City and Date 259

The Body 259

The Close 260

Advantages of Interactive News Releases 260

Table of Contents xvii Sending News Releases on Your Own versus Using a Distribution Service 262

Golden Tips for News Release Distribution 266

News Release Timing and Deadlines 266

Monthly Magazines 266

Daily Newspapers 266

TV and Radio 266

Formatting Your E-mail News Release 267

What Is Considered Newsworthy 267

What Isn’t Considered Newsworthy 268

Developing an Online Media Center for Public Relations 269

Internet Resources for Chapter 20 271

Chapter 21: Increasing Traffic Through Online Publications 272 Appealing to Magazine Subscribers on the Net 273

What Exactly Are E-zines? 273

Web-Based E-zines 274

E-mail E-zines 275

Using E-zines as Marketing Tools 275

Finding Appropriate E-zines for Your Marketing Effort 276

The Multiple Advantages of E-zine Advertising 276

Guidelines for Your Advertising 278

Providing Articles and News Releases to E-zines 280

Reasons You Might Start Your Own E-zine 280

Developing Your Own E-zine 281

eBrochures and iBrochures—The Latest in Online Publications 284

Internet Resources for Chapter 21 285

Chapter 22: Really Simple Syndication 287 What Is RSS? 288

How Does RSS Work? 288

RSS Content Options 289

Benefits of RSS 291

How to Promote Your RSS Content 292

What Is Social Bookmarking? 294

Why Is Social Bookmarking Important? 294

Getting the Most Out of Your RSS 297

RSS versus E-mail 297

Internet Resources for Chapter 22 298

Chapter 23: Blogs and Wikis 299 What Are Blogs and Wikis? 300

How Do I Create My Blog or Wiki? 301

Do Your Research 301

Determine Your Objectives for Starting a Blog 301

Decide on the Content and Tone of Your Blog 302

Choosing Blog Software 302

The Legalities 302

Schedule Your Posts 302

Writing Your Blog 303

Search Engine Rankings for Your Blog 303

Organize and Archive Your Entries 303

Track Your Blog’s Readership 303

To Blog or Not to Blog? 304

Pros and Cons of Blogging 304

Avoid Classic Blog Mistakes 306

Underestimating the Time Commitment 306

Overestimating the Marketing Impact 306

Irregular or Infrequent Updating 307

Writing for the Search Engines and Not for the Blog 307

Promote Your Blog 307

Resources for Chapter 23 309

Chapter 24: Podcasting and Videocasting 310 What Is Podcasting? 311

What Is Videocasting? 311

Advantages of Podcasting 311

Setting Up Your Podcast 312

Decide on Content and Frequency 312

Develop the Format 312

Gather Your Podcasting Equipment 313

Recording Your Podcast 313

Publishing Your Podcast 313

Outsourcing Your Podcast 314

Podcast Content 315

Promoting Your Podcast 316

Internet Resources for Chapter 24 319

Table of Contents xix

Chapter 25:

What Is Mobile Marketing? 320

SMS—Short Messaging Service 321

MMS—Multimedia Messaging Service 322

Instant Messaging 323

LBS—Location-Based Services 323

Profile-Specific Advertising 323

Mobile Blogging 324

Subscribed Content 324

Benefits of Mobile Marketing 324

Internet Resources for Chapter 25 325

Chapter 26: Interactive Mapping 327 What Is Interactive Mapping? 327

Why Is Interactive Mapping Important? 329

How Do You Do It? 331

How Do You Leverage Interactive Maps? 334

Internet Resources for Chapter 26 335

Chapter 27: The Power of Partnering 336 Ideal Partner Sites 336

Partnering Opportunities 337

Internet Resources for Chapter 27 339

Chapter 28: Web Traffic Analysis 340 Web Analytics Defined 341

Key Performance Indicators 342

Common Measurements of Performance 342

Click-Through Rate 342

Unique Visitors 342

Time Spent 343

Click Stream Analysis 343

Single-Page Access 343

Leads Generated, or Desired Action Taken 344

Customer Conversion Ratio 344

Net Dollars per Visitor 344

Cost per Visitor 344

Form Abandonment 344

Impact on Offline Sales 345

Return on Investment (ROI) 345

Monitor What Matters to Your Business 345

Determine What Works—A/B Testing as a Start 346

Keep It Simple 348

Give It Time 348

Tracking Your Tests 349

Go Deeper—Use It or Lose It 349

Bringing It All Together—Use What You’ve Learned from Other Sources 350

Segmenting Your Target Market 351

Choosing a Web Analytics Solution 353

Look at Yourself 353

Look at Technology 353

Look at the Vendor 355

Popular Web Analytics Vendors 357

Closing Comments on Web Analytics 358

Internet Resources for Chapter 28 358

About the Author 359

Planning Your Web Site 1

1

1

Planning Your Web Site

There are millions of Web sites, selling millions of products on the Internetevery day, and they are all competing for viewers; many of them are competingfor the same viewers you are! How do you get the results you’re looking for?When asked if they are marketing on the Internet, many people and organiza-tions say, “Yes, we have a Web site.” However, having a Web site and market-ing on the Internet are two very different things Yes, usually you need a Website to market on the Internet However, a Web site is simply a collection ofdocuments, images, and other electronic files that are publicly accessible acrossthe Internet Your site needs to be designed to meet your online objectives andshould be developed with your target market in mind Internet marketing en-compasses all the steps you take to reach your target market online, attractvisitors to your Web site, encourage them to buy your products or services, andmake them want to come back for more

Having a Web site is great, but it is meaningless if nobody knows about it.Just as having a brilliantly designed product brochure does you little good if itsits in your sales manager’s desk drawer, a Web site does you little good if yourtarget market isn’t visiting it It is the goal of this book to help you take yourWeb site out of the desk drawer, into the spotlight, and into the hands of yourtarget market You will learn how to formulate an Internet marketing strategy

in keeping with your objectives, your products or services, and your target ket This chapter provides you with an overview of this book and introducesthe importance of:

mar-• Defining your online objectives

• Defining your target markets and developing your Web site and onlinemarketing strategy with them in mind

• Developing the Internet marketing strategy that is appropriate for yourproduct or service

The Fundamentals—Objectives, Target Markets, and Products and Services

Things have changed dramatically over the past several years in terms of Website design and development methodology Back in the old days—a couple ofyears ago in Internet years—it was quite acceptable, and the norm, for an orga-nization to pack up all of its brochures, ads, direct-mail pieces, news releases,and other marketing materials in a box, drop it off at the Web developer’s of-fice, and after a short conversation, ask when they might expect the Web site to

be “done.” The Web developer would then take the marketing materials anddigitize some, scan some, and do some HTML programming to develop thesite By going through this process, organizations ended up with a Web site thatlooked just like their brochure—hence the term “brochureware.” Brochureware

is no longer acceptable on the Web if you want to be successful Sites that aresuccessful today are ones that are designed around:

• Objectives of the organization

• Needs, wants, and expectations of their target markets

• Products and services that are being offered

Everything related to Internet marketing revolves around these three things—objectives, target markets, and products or services It is critically important todefine these things appropriately and discuss them with your Web developer It

is your responsibility, not your Web developer’s, to define these things Youknow (or should know) what your objectives are more clearly than your Webdeveloper does If you don’t articulate these objectives and discuss them withyour Web developer, it is impossible for him or her to build a site to achieveyour objectives!

You know your target markets better than your Web developer does Youknow what your visitors want, what they base their buying decisions on, and

Planning Your Web Site 3

what their expectations are You need to provide this information so that yourWeb developer can build a Web site that meets the needs, wants, and expecta-tions of your target market

Let’s spend the remainder of the chapter on these tives, target markets, and products and services—so you can be better preparedfor the planning process for your Web site

fundamentals—objec-Common Objectives

Before you even start to create your Web site, you must clearly define youronline objectives What is the purpose of your site? Brainstorm with peoplefrom all parts of your organization, from the frontline clerks, to marketing andsales personnel, to customer support, to order fulfillment and administration.Generate a comprehensive list of primary and secondary objectives If you’regoing to build this Web site, you might as well build it to achieve all of youronline objectives If you don’t brainstorm with your stakeholders, documentthe objectives, and discuss these objectives with your Web developer, it will beimpossible for the Web developer to build you a Web site that addresses all ofyour objectives

Every element of your site should relate back to your objectives When youdecide to update, add, or change any elements on your Web site, examine howthese changes relate to the primary and secondary objectives you have identi-fied If there is not a clear match between your objectives and your intendedchanges, you might want to reconsider the changes It’s amazing how manyWeb sites have been developed without adequate planning or without ensuringthat the Web site ties in with the corporate objectives

Some of the most common primary objectives include:

• Advertising your product or service

• Selling your product or service

• Providing customer service and support

• Providing product or corporate information

• Creating and establishing brand identity and brand awareness or pany identity and awareness

com-Advertising Your Products or Services

The objective of some sites is simply to promote but not directly sell an event,product, or service The objective is to create awareness or a “buzz” about themovie, generate interest in the film, and, ultimately, have a large number ofpeople attend the movie when it is released This type of site might includemultimedia clips of the movie, pictures and stories of the actors in the movie,viral marketing (“Tell a friend about this movie”) elements to encourage word-of-mouth marketing, an intriguing story about the film, press releases for enter-tainment writers, and other elements to help them achieve their objective withtheir target market in mind

Selling Your Products or Services Online

Selling products or services online is a common objective The Internet provides

a broad geographic reach and a huge demographic reach Often businesses bine the objectives of advertising their products or services with trying to sellthem through their Web site This works well because visitors not only receiveinformation about your products and services, but they are given the option ofeasily ordering and purchasing online The easier you make it for people tomake a purchase from your company, the more likely they are to buy You willhave to provide detailed information on your products and services, your re-turn policies, guarantees and warranties, and shipping options If you are plan-ning to sell directly from the site, you also need to address security issues

com-Providing Online Customer Service and Support

You might decide that the main reason for your business to have an onlinepresence is to provide more comprehensive customer service and support Agreat benefit of a Web site is that you can provide customer assistance 24 hours

a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year If your company develops software, it is

a good idea to include downloadable upgrades as well as an FAQ (FrequentlyAsked Questions) section where you can provide solutions to common prob-lems By providing an easy way for your customers to solve their problems, youincrease customer loyalty Include the appropriate contact information for cus-tomers who have more complicated problems and need to talk to a human.There are even companies that you can outsource this to if you are a single-

person operation See http://www.patlive.com/signup/ssc for a great deal I have

negotiated for my e-club members

Planning Your Web Site 5Providing Product or Corporate Information

Some organizations simply wish to provide information on their products orservices to a particular target market Others might want to provide corporateinformation to potential investors Information-driven Web sites tend to be text-oriented, with graphics used only to accentuate the points being made and toprovide visual examples These types of sites usually have an FAQ section thatprovides useful and pertinent information on the company and its products orservices If the organization courts the media, it might include a Media Center,which can include all its press releases, corporate background, information onkey company officials, articles that have been written about the company, and agallery of relevant pictures that the media can use, as well as a direct link to thecompany’s media person

Creating and Establishing Company Identity and Brand Awareness

Another objective might be to create and establish company identity and brandawareness Based on the success of companies such as America Online, Yahoo!,Travelocity, Amazon, and eBay, it is apparent that branding a company or product

on the Web can occur swiftly Although they all had significant financial sources, each company used a combination of online and offline advertising tomeet its objectives Each of the sites features a prominent logo, consistent imag-ery, and a consistent color scheme There is a lot we can learn from them.When trying to establish corporate identity, any graphics developed for yourWeb site must be top-notch and reflect the colors associated with your corpo-rate logo A catchy slogan further promotes corporate identity Your Web sitemust have a consistent look and feel, and all offline promotional campaignsand material must be consistent with your online presence

re-Other Primary Objectives

Brainstorm with all the stakeholders in your organization to come up with otherprimary objectives for the organization This process is critical to theorganization’s online success Everything else revolves around your objectives—the elements included on your site and the Internet marketing techniques youuse If you were building new office space, you would want to include the input

of all people working in your office to ensure that their needs were taken intoconsideration and the office was designed appropriately The same is true whenbuilding a Web site—everyone must be included in the brainstorming session

As much time should be spent in the planning stage as in the constructionphase By going through this process, you will be able to develop the best blue-print or storyboard for your proposed Web site.

Other Objectives to Consider Up Front

Although setting your primary objectives is vital, it is just as important to tify your secondary objectives By setting appropriate secondary objectives, youwill be more prepared to achieve all of your online goals Many companiesidentify only primary objectives for their Web site and completely neglect sec-ondary objectives that can help them succeed online Following are some com-mon secondary objectives to consider:

iden-• Your site should be designed to be search engine friendly

• Your site should be designed to encourage repeat traffic

• Your site should have viral marketing elements that encourage visitors

to recommend your products or services to others

• Your site should incorporate permission marketing, where visitors areencouraged to give you permission to send them e-mail, newsletters,and e-specials on a regular basis

• Your site should be designed to encourage customer loyalty

• Your site should incorporate stickiness, encouraging visitors to stay awhile and visit many areas of the site

Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly

Creating a site that is search engine friendly should be an objective of everycompany that wants to do business on the Internet Search engines are the mostcommon way for Internet surfers to search on the Net In fact, 85 percent of allpeople who use the Internet use search engines as their primary way to look forinformation By using keywords relating to your company, and your productsand services, in appropriate places on your site, you can improve how searchengines rank you

You want these chosen keywords in the domain name if possible, your pagetitles and page text, your Alt tags for graphics, and your page headers and

Planning Your Web Site 7

keyword meta-tags as well as in each page’s description meta-tag Many searchengines place a lot of emphasis on the number and quality of links to a site todetermine its ranking This means that the more Web sites you can get to link toyour site, the higher your site will be in search engine results (See Chapter 2 formore information on designing your site for high search engine ranking.)

Including Repeat-Traffic Generators on Your Site

Every Web site should be designed to entice its visitors to return again andagain Generating repeat traffic to your site is a key element of your onlinesuccess and can be accomplished in a number of ways Using contests and com-petitions, specials, packages, games, advice columns, a calendar of events, andmany other techniques can increase your Web traffic Chapter 3 describes many

of these repeat-traffic generators in much more detail

Getting Visitors to Recommend Your Site

The best exposure your Web site can get is a recommendation by a friend orunbiased third party It is critical that you try to have elements of your Web siterecommended as often as possible; therefore, you should have a way for people

to quickly and easily tell others about elements on your site

The best way to encourage people to recommend your site is to include viralmarketing techniques such as a “Tell a Friend” button on your site You mightwant to include some variations on this as well Under articles or press releases,you can have an “E-mail this article to a friend” button for people to refer theirfriends and associates to your site

Virtual postcards are also a good way to get visitors to send more people toyour Web site There are many ways to encourage viral marketing These arediscussed in detail in Chapter 5

Using Permission Marketing

You always want your company to be seen as upholding the highest ethical dards and being in compliance with anti-spam legislation Do not send out unso-licited e-mail—known as spam—promoting your products or services This iswhy it’s important to develop a mailing list of people who have given you permis-sion to send them messages, including company news and promotions

stan-When you’re developing your Web site, an objective should be to get asmany visitors to your site as possible to give you their e-mail address and per-

mission to be included in your mailings You can do this by having numerousways for your visitors to sign up to join your e-club and to receive newsletters,notices of changes to your Web site, weekly specials, packages, coupons, or newgiveaways Chapter 3 has many examples of ways to encourage visitors to re-quest to be added to your e-mail list, and Chapter 4 provides all the details onpermission marketing.

Creating Loyalty among Visitors

The way to create loyalty among visitors is to provide them with some tives for joining your online community, and provide them with proof thatyou really appreciate their business You can do this by having a members-only section of your Web site or an e-club that has special offers exclusivelyfor them, as well as discounts or freebies People like to do business withpeople who appreciate their business We are seeing a real growth in loyaltyprograms online

incen-Including “Stickiness” Elements

To get your target market to visit your site often and have them visit a number

of pages every time they visit, you need to provide interesting, interactive, andrelevant content You want to have your site visitors feel as if they are part ofyour online community and to want to visit your site every day You create

“stickiness” by including many elements that keep your visitors’ attention and

by adding new content on a regular basis

Your site can have a daily advice column, descriptions of your many ucts, a discussion forum with constantly changing interesting conversations rela-tive to your products, a news section that is updated daily, as well as a weeklycontest that site visitors can enter The combination of these elements makes asite sticky You want your site to be a resource people return to often, and not aone-time event

prod-Including Interactive Elements

The longer people stay on your site and the more pages they visit, the more yourbrand is reinforced By utilizing interactive elements on your site, the morelikely you are to engage your visitors and keep them around longer The longer

Planning Your Web Site 9

they stay, the more they feel a part of your community The more they feel apart of your community, the more likely they are to give you permission to keep

in contact with them, or to tell a friend about you and your site, and the morelikely they are to do business with you; people like to do business with peoplethey know and trust

Interactive elements include such things as videos or virtual tours, podcasts orvideocasts (see Chapter 24 for more on podcasting and videocasting), or interac-tive maps (see Chapter 26 for more on interactive mapping) Check out yourcompetition and see how they incorporate interactive elements on their site What-ever you decide to implement, make sure it relates to your target market

A Final Word on Objectives

Setting your Web site’s objectives before you begin building your site is essential

so that you can convey to your Web developer what you want your Web site toachieve You obviously will have a number of different objectives for your site,but many of these objectives can work together to make your Web site complete.Whatever your objectives might be, you must carefully consider how best toincorporate elements in your Web site and your Internet marketing strategy tohelp you achieve them Successful marketing on the Web is not a simple under-taking Before you begin to brainstorm over the objectives of your Web site, becertain you have read and studied all the information that is pertinent to themarket you are attempting to enter Read everything you can find, and examinethe findings of industry experts

Your Web site objectives form a critical element in your Web site design anddevelopment, as you will see in the next section

Target Markets

It is important to define every one of your target markets If you’re going tobuild this Web site, you might as well build it for all of your target markets Foreach and every one of your target markets, you need to determine:

• Their needs

• Their wants

• Their expectations.

For each and every one of your target markets, you should also try to mine an appropriate “WOW” factor What can you provide for them on yourWeb site that will WOW them? Your objective should be to exceed the targetmarket’s expectations

deter-Your main target market might be your potential customer, but other targetmarkets might include existing customers, or the media, or those who influencethe buying decision for your potential customers

When you look at—really look at—potential customers versus existing tomers, you realize that what these two groups want and need from your Website is probably different Someone who is an existing customer knows yourcompany Learning about your products, services, business practices, and thelike, are not a priority for this person A potential customer needs to knowabout these things before giving you their business “Customer” is such a hugetarget market; it needs to be broken down into segments If you were a hotel,for example, your customer target market might be broken down further into:

color-Planning Your Web Site 11

your target market Chances are that fun-looking graphics will be used sively on your site to draw children further into it (See Figure 1.1.)

exten-Another aspect to consider when designing your Web site is your targetmarket’s propensity to utilize the latest technologies, and the configurationsthey are likely to be using Or it might be that your target market has yet toembrace the latest technologies and is still using a dial-up connection to theInternet, slower machines, and older software They might still be using theWeb browser that was originally installed on their system, simply because theyare uncomfortable downloading the latest version of the browser, are unaware

of the more recent version, or are uninterested in downloading a large file Ifyour target market includes this demographic, be careful with your use of Java,Flash, and large graphic files

Products and Services

It is important to define the products and services you want to promote online.Sometimes the products and services you offer offline in your physical store arethe same as in your online store, but quite often there are differences

Business owners that have a bricks-and-mortar location sometimes assumethat their online storefront is an extension of their offline storefront and thatthey will provide exactly the same products and services online as offline Insome cases, fewer products are offered online than in the physical store This isoften the case if you are test marketing, but also if some of the products you sell

in your physical location are not appropriate for online sales because of petitive pricing or shipping logistics

com-In other cases, your online store might offer more products or services thanthe bricks-and-mortar location For example, your offline bookstore might notoffer shipping or gift wrapping If your online bookstore does not offer theseservices, you will lose a lot of business to your online competition When a site’sproduct offerings include items that are appropriate for gift giving, it is essential

to also offer wrapping, customized cards, shipping to multiple addresses, andshipping options The consumer is “king” and is very demanding You have tomeet and beat your consumers’ expectations online to garner market share.People shopping for gifts online are looking for convenience, and the site thatprovides the greatest convenience and the greatest products at the lowest priceswill be the winner

Web sites and Internet marketing strategies differ depending on the product

or service being sold A company that markets toys, for instance, has to develop

a fun and interactive Web site that is attractive to children The Web site shouldalso give children a way to tell their friends about the site as well as a reason toreturn to the site The toy company might want to offer an electronic postcardservice whereby children can send a colorful and musical message to their friendsand tell them about the site

Another idea is to provide a “wish list” service Children can make a list ofthe toys they want, and this list is sent to their parents via e-mail The parentscan then make better-informed purchasing decisions and might become loyal tothe toy company’s site Likewise, some toy companies offer reminder servicesthat send an e-mail message to visitors who have registered and have completedthe appropriate questionnaire to remind them of a child’s birthday and to offersuggestions for gift ideas Once again, this promotes sales and repeat traffic andincreases customer loyalty

As another example, a software development company might want to vide downloadable demo versions of its software products and allow people to

pro-Planning Your Web Site 13

review its products for a specified period of time before they make a purchasingdecision

A travel agency’s Web site might include features such as an opt-in mailinglist to send people information on weekly vacation specials or a page on the sitedetailing the latest specials The travel agency’s site might also want to includedownloadable or streaming video tours of vacation resorts to entice visitors tobuy resort vacation packages Another idea is to have a system in place to helpcustomers book vacations, rent cars, and check for available flights The travelagency might also want to store customer profiles so they can track where par-ticular customers like to sit on the plane, the type of hotel room they usuallybook, and their credit card information to make bookings more efficient for thecustomer and the agency

If you are marketing a service online, it is difficult to visually depict whatyour service is all about Visitors to your site need some reassurance that theservice you are selling them is legitimate and valuable Therefore, you might wish

to include a page on your site that lists testimonials from well-known customers.This gives prospective customers more confidence about purchasing your service

The Fundamentals

Once you have clearly defined your online objectives, your target markets, andthe products or services you want to promote online, you are ready to move on

to the next phase of planning your Web site—doing your competitive analysis

Using Competitor Sites to Your Advantage

You have to realize that your online competition is different from your offlinecompetition Online, you are competing with all organizations that have anonline presence and sell the same types of products and services you do Whendoing your competitive analysis online, you want to select the “best of breed”—those fantastic Web sites of the organizations selling the same products andservices you do—no matter where they are physically located

One of your Web site’s objectives is to always meet and beat the tion in terms of search engine rankings and Web site content To do so, youmust understand exactly what it is your competition is doing Take the time toresearch competitors and compare them on an element-by-element basis

competi-There are a number of ways you can identify your competition online Youcan find them by conducting searches with the appropriate keywords, seeingwhich competing Web sites rank highly in the major search engines and directo-ries Similarly, there are many other online resources you can use to researchyour competition, including industry-specific Web portals and directories.Once you have gathered a list of competing Web sites, analyze them element

by element to determine which Web elements your competitors include on theirsites and how their sites compare to one another You want to look at whattypes of content they are providing to your target market Other componentsyou should analyze include the visual appeal of your competitors’ sites, con-tent, ease of navigation, search engine friendliness, interactivity, and Web sitestickiness, or what they do to keep people coming back to their site This infor-mation can provide you with details on what you need to incorporate into yoursite to meet and beat the competition

When we do a competitive analysis for clients, we reverse-engineer (or sect) the competing Web site from a number of different perspectives Gener-ally, you will choose five or six of the absolute best competing Web sites Thenyou start to build a database using Excel or a table in Word

dis-Start with the first competing Web site, and from your review, start to adddatabase elements to the first column Note any types of content, target mar-kets defined, repeat-traffic techniques used, viral marketing techniques used,search engine friendliness features used, download time for different types ofInternet connections, cross-platform compatibility, cross-browser compatibil-ity, and innovative elements When you have dissected the first competingWeb site and have noted appropriate database elements for comparative pur-poses, move on to the second competing Web site Go through the same pro-cess, adding those elements that are new or different from what you alreadyhave in your database Continue building the first column of your database

by continuing through all the sites you want to include in your competitiveanalysis

The next step is to develop a column for each of the sites you want toinclude in the competitive analysis Then add two more columns—one for yourexisting Web site, to see how your site stacks against the competition, and thesecond for future planning purposes

The next step is to go back and compare each site against the criteria forcolumn 1, noting appropriate comments For content information, you want tonote whether the particular site has the same specific content, and how well itwas presented For download speeds, note specific minutes and seconds foreach type of connection For each repeat-traffic generator, you may choose toinclude details, or just Yes/No Continue with this process until you have com-pleted the database, including your own existing site

Planning Your Web Site 15

By this time, you should have a good feel for users’ experiences when theyvisit your competitors’ sites Now you are ready to do your planning In the lastcolumn of your database, review each of the elements in the first column, re-view your notes in your competitive analysis, and, where appropriate, completethe last column by categorizing each of the elements as one of the following:

• A—Need to have; essential, critical element; can’t live without

• B—Nice to have if it doesn’t cost too much

• C—Don’t need; don’t want at any price

Remember that when users visit a number of sites that have certain ments incorporated, such as a virtual tour, that element becomes the norm Ifyour site does not have that virtual tour (or whatever that certain element is),they may feel as if you are not keeping up with industry standards, that you arenot meeting their expectations The bar is constantly being raised Once a per-son sees something on three or four of your competitors’ sites, it becomes anexpectation The Internet has helped create very demanding consumers withvery high expectations

ele-Having completed identification of your objectives, target markets, ucts and services, and now your competitive analysis, you are ready to developyour storyboard or architectural plan or blueprint for your site

prod-Storyboarding Your Web Site

Before you start construction on your Web site, there are many steps to betaken First you must have the storyboard, or the blueprint of your site, devel-oped In Web development, the majority of the time should be spent in theplanning stage—integrate your objectives, your target market information, thefindings of the competitive analysis, and your own ideas as well as those ofothers This is done through the process of storyboarding

The storyboard is the foundation of your Web site Consider it the tural plan or blueprint of your site It should show you, on paper, the first draft

architec-of the content and layout architec-of your site It gives you the chance to review thelayout and make changes before development begins

A Web site storyboard can be thought of much like a hierarchical tional chart in a business In a typical business structure, the executives sit ontop, followed by their subordinates, and so on

organiza-Think of your Web site storyboard like this: You begin with your main page

or home page at the top Under the main page you have your central navigationbar Each of the navigation options should be available on each page, regardless

of where the user is on your site Within each of the sections listed on your mainnavigation bar, you’re going to have subsections, and so on Figure 1.2 showsthe storyboard of a hotel’s Web site

Planning Your Web Site 17

The storyboard can be created with a software program like Microsoft Visio,with sheets of paper, or with any other mechanism Quite often when we beginstoryboarding a project for a client, we’ll start with yellow sticky notes on awall Very low tech, but it works! It is very easy to get a visual of the navigationstructure and easy to fill in the content pages (one per sticky note) in the appro-priate places It is also very easy to edit—simply move a sticky from one section

to another or add another sticky note for a new page

In this section of the chapter we cover:

• Detailed planning of your site before a line of code is ever written

Detailed Web Site Planning

In the previous section of this chapter you learned how to develop yourstoryboard Now you need to develop the specific content, text, and graphicsfor each page of your site

The first draft of the text, for each page, should be developed by you Youknow your target market better than anyone—you know what makes thembuy, you know what they want, and you know the buzz words for your indus-try far better than your Web developer

Once the first draft of the text is done, you want to have this text reviewedand edited by an online copywriter Your online copywriter can be a personfrom your own organization, someone from a Web development organization,

or an outsourced third party Online copywriters often have a background in

PR or advertising, and they know how to get the message across in as fewwords as possible Online copywriters know how to grab your readers’ atten-

tion and get them to do what it is you want them to do Internet users don’twant to read pages and pages of text—they want to get what they’re looking forquickly Online copywriters know that the text should be short, to the point,and written so it can easily be scanned.

Always review what the online copywriter has done You want to makesure that the substance of your text has stayed the same and only the form hasbeen changed

After you have reviewed and approved the online copywriter’s work, youwant to have the content reviewed and edited by an Internet marketer Again,the Internet marketer can be a person from your own organization, someonefrom a Web development organization, or an outsourced third party Be surethat the Internet marketer you choose has expertise in search engines and theirranking criteria, repeat-traffic generators, and viral and permission marketing,

as well as the latest trends in online marketing such as podcasts, blogs, andinteractive maps

The Internet marketer will review and edit the text and graphics, makingsure that the keywords are used in the appropriate places for high searchengine ranking The keyword assigned to a particular page should be usedappropriately in the page title, the text throughout the page, the meta-tags forkeyword and description, the headers, the Alt tags, and the comments tags.There is a real science to this, so be sure to choose your Internet marketercarefully You’ll learn more about designing your site to be search enginefriendly in Chapter 2

The Internet marketer should also ensure that you have used the ate repeat-traffic generators (see Chapter 3), appropriate permission marketingtechniques (see Chapter 4), and appropriate viral marketing techniques (seeChapter 5) Again, you need to review and approve the changes to make sureyour message is still presented appropriately for your target market

appropri-Once you are satisfied with the Internet marketer’s work, the next step isgraphic design The graphic designer will develop the “look and feel” for yoursite—the navigation bar, the background, and the separator bars The graphicdesigner knows that your online and offline corporate identity should be con-sistent Again, you will review and approve the graphic design

Once all this is done, and everything has been reviewed and approved, youare ready for the programming to start

Content Notes

Make all of your contact information readily available and easy to find andaccess You always want to include your contact information on every page Be

Planning Your Web Site 19

sure to include your physical or mailing address, phone and fax numbers, andyour e-mail address It is important to make it easy for people to get in touchwith you through every means possible

Avoid “Under Construction” pages on your site at all costs First of all, theyare of no value to your visitors When you have information, post it Until then,don’t mention it Second, “Under Construction” pages can actually hinder yoursearch engine placement with some of the more popular search engines anddirectories

Be sure to include security information Explain to your customers that whentransactions or exchanges of information occur on your Web site, they are secure

Be sure to include your privacy policy as well By telling your Web sitevisitors how their personal information (e.g., their name, e-mail address, etc.)will and will not be used, they will feel more comfortable and be more willing tosubmit inquiries to your site or join your mailing list

Minimize use of background sounds and auto-play sounds Some peoplesurf the Web from their office and wish to go discreetly from one site to thenext Background sounds and sounds that load automatically can compromisetheir discreetness Give your visitors the option of listening to a sound, but donot force it upon them

Keep text brief Almost 80 percent of Web users merely scan online text asopposed to actually reading it Make your key points quickly and succinctly,and use lots of bulleted lists, headers, and horizontal rules to create visual breaks

in the content This helps keep visitors interested enough to read the tion on your site If they are faced with huge blocks of text, most visitors areoverwhelmed by the quantity of the information and either are too intimidated

informa-to read your message or do not want informa-to spend the amount of time it will take informa-toread your message Write for scanability

Don’t set your text size too small, as this is too hard to read However, ifyour text is set too large, it looks like you are shouting Also, avoid using ALLCAPS, WHICH ALSO COMES ACROSS AS SHOUTING