Last updated: 10/15/02

It has been said that 5% of the internet's web sites get 95% of the traffic. Why is this? One word: Marketing. It is true that a web site lives or dies on marketing. 

10 key marketing mistakes.

1. The notion that "if you build it, they will come". You can have the most fantastic web site in the world, but unless there are others that know this site exists, it is useless.

2. Lack of a corporate looking presence. An unprofessional looking site (i.e. Microsoft FrontPage 2000 templates, odd colors, gadgets and general lack of artistic value). Customers are not eagerly waiting to send you money as soon as they find out about your site. They must have confidence and trust in you before they hand over their personal and financial information. 

3. Making it difficult for customers to buy your product. If you are expecting them to send a check in the mail, chances are it will not work unless you have a high cost product or service. Today's customers are impulsive and want things "now". The easier you make it for your customers to buy your product or service, and the faster they get it in their hands, the more sales you will make. 

4. Search engine misconceptions. It takes work and innovation to get visitors to your site via the search engines. Submitting your site to the search engines will not guarantee good placement. There are ways to get your site to the top of the search engines which will be discussed below.

5. Hidden contact information. An 800 number is invaluable in increasing your credibility as a business. Be sure to list it on every page along with your email address. This makes your website more personal and inviting because it shows that you aren't hiding from the public. 

6. Slow loading web pages. Not everyone has a DSL connection. In fact, the majority of internet users today are still connecting with standard analog modems. Pages that take over 30 seconds to load are more likely to meet the dreaded "back button". Also make sure your web page is readable in all resolutions, 640X480, 800X600 and 1280X 1024. Failure to consider these points will result in lost sales and/or less traffic.

7. No automation. Because the business owner spends all his time doing billing, paperwork, processing and shipping, there is no time for marketing. It is always best to automate as much of your business as you can. 

8. Falling for marketing schemes. Bulk Email will only get you into trouble and will get your site shutdown completely. Beware of pyramid marketing schemes which focus on raw traffic and not traffic that would be interested in your product or services. They rarely ever deliver on their promises. Look for solid, targeted traffic!

9. Lack of patience and resolve. It takes time for marketing strategies and techniques to take hold. You need to test different ideas to see what works and focus in on what works. Be patient enough for your business to grow. It takes work to start any business and make it successful. Some internet business owners spend 300 hours building their site, but then a couple hours a week on marketing it. This is a recipe for failure. Spend several hours a day on wise marketing and your site can be successful!

10. Limiting yourself to working the local markets. Local markets are often very difficult and oversold. There are a lot of places on the internet to market your product. Learn more about them in the below section.

 
Tips

• If your product is very popular, try to find a site that has a directory of your specific kind of service (or even start your own!). For instance, in the Web Hosting industry, there are numerous searchable web host directories that list companies and their web hosting plans. 
   

• If you have a specialized product where there isn't a great deal of competition on the web (Example: handcrafted pianos), your chances of getting ranked higher on the search engines is much better. You would do well to concentrate on this area of marketing.
   

• Your goal is not just raw traffic, but targeted traffic. That is, visitors to your site who are looking for your particular type of product, service or information. 
   

• Avoid the temptation to trade too many URL links with other sites unless it will definitely not make you look desperate. Trading links can be a good way to get started if the link will not take away from your sales and if it is related to your product or service. Any link that take someone away from your site should open a new browser window so they really don't leave your site.
   

• Offer an unconditional money back guarantee. This will increase your credibility, and besides that---the law requires a 30 day guarantee if you send orders via postal mail.
   

• You must be able to accept credit cards online if you plan to do a solid volume of business on the web. The only exceptions would be if you have a big ticket item. Click here to learn more about how to accept credit cards easily.
   

• Once your site is built and you are wanting to tell the world about it, the $5/month referrer log option is a total necessity. Unless you know where your traffic is coming from, you have no way of knowing what is working and what is not working. Your referrer reports are the single most useful tool you can have. If you didn't choose the option when you signed up, click here to add it to your account.
   

• When doing marketing analysis, there are several figures that you will need to know. They are:
  

  • Number of visitors to your site

  • The number of sales made

  • Then determine the ratio between the number of visitors to your site and the sales made. 

  • Your average sale/profit margin

  This is important information that will help you determine how much you can safely pay for advertising. For instance, if you know that 1 out of 50 visitors coming to your site will buy, then you can determine what you are willing to pay to get a visitor to your site. Once you know that, you can best determine how to spend advertising dollars.
   

• To know how to properly spend advertising dollars, your goal when evaluating various advertising venues is determining what it is going to cost you 'per click'. For instance, let's say you are paying $50 for 5,000 banner ad impressions. Ask the advertiser what their average click-through is on that banner ad slot. If it is 2%, then if your banner effectiveness is average, you can estimate you will get 100 visitors from that site, which means you will be paying .50 cents a click/visitor. 
  

Places to market your site

 
Search engines (taken from yahoo.com)

• Yahoo! - portal providing a category-based Web directory.
   
• Excite - is a global media company offering consumers and advertisers comprehensive Internet navigation services with extensive personalization capabilities. Search services include the Excite and WebCrawler brands.
   
• Lycos - develops and provides online guides to locate and filter information on the Internet. Products enable users to accurately identify and select information of interest to them.
   
• Google - uses text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search.
   
• AltaVista - web and newsgroup search engine.
   
• HotBot - offers users a point-and-click interface, pulldown menus, and the ability to use plain English terminology for constructing searches.
   

• ..more search engines and directories

Help with Search engine placement

• Mass submit your site to over 1200 search engines and directories - Although this might be helpful for getting the word out about your site, it is not very effective at ensuring high placement in the search engine results. In fact, it can be counterproductive. Also, don't place an email on this page that you do not mind getting a ton of junk mail. When you introduce your site to the world, it is inevitable.
   

• WebPositionGold, software that will help you get listed higher on the major search engines (highly recommended).

Popular pay-per-click search engines

• Overture.com - Most popular pay-per-click search engine. If you bid for the top three listings for your keyword, you will reaches 67% of all web searches on the internet. Because of this, Overture can be the most expensive to advertise. 
  

• Findwhat.com - Fairly popular search engine. Generally much cheaper than GoTo.com.
   

• Sprinks.com - An excellent place to market your products. It is relatively unknown, but since it is run by About.com, it receives a tremendous amount of traffic.
   

• Pay per click search engines reviewed and linked. Dozens of them, a very good site.
   

• Google - Google is a good place to start advertising and requires no hefty upfront costs. 

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are growing in popularity. They are excellent ways to drive traffic to your site. http://www.onlinebusiness.com/ is a good place to start learning about them. 

Other sites are:

http://www.affiliateworld.com
http://www.cashpile.com
http://www.refer-it.com
http://www.associateprograms.com

Banner Advertising

• 14 proven laws of banner advertising - Banner advertising can be effective but internet users are slowly training their eyes to ignore banners.

 
Other Advertising

• Ebay - The Internet's most popular auction site. Sell goods and services to the highest bidder. Excellent for increasing sales and traffic to your site.

Other Places to help you market your site

• bCentral Digest - A mailing list of over 100,000 webmasters discussing how to get traffic to their site. Good for keeping up on the latest and greatest marketing techniques. 
  

• WebProNews - A very helpful newsletter that teaches you the ins and outs of Internet Business and web page building.
  

• Marketing Tips - An excellent site that teaches you effective marketing strategies. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter and look at the back issues. If you are new to Internet Marketing, we do recommend his Marketing Course. 

Check back at this site often as more links and tips are added! We want to help make your site successful. If you have questions or need advice, feel free to call our sales office at 877-4WYENET.