Top 10 eMarketing Tips

eBC Guide to eMarketing Success

Successful marketing on the Internet is not just about listing your website on Yahoo or
sending out thousands of unsolicited emails. Without a quality product or service and a
well developed website a top 10 listing in Google is pointless.



1. Content, Page Quantity and Frequency of Changes
The bottom line for getting good search engine results is to have lots of keyword rich
content on lots of pages. Google likes big sites. The larger sites are presumed to be
better funded, better organized, better constructed, and therefore better sites. Content
must be updated often; this is a Google patent and concerns the changes to page
content over time. Google sees newer content as better content especially if the site
‘theme’ is news, retail or auction.

2. Submit Your Site
You should submit your site to Google, Yahoo, and MSN at least once and no more than
once every 30 days. Although Google says that manually submitting your pages to their
index is unnecessary however they have an interface for you to do so. MSN will seldom
visit a website unless invited by submission. Yahoo frequents more than MSN but less
than Google but will dramatically increase visits after submission
Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/
Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
MSN: http://beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

3. Google Sitemaps
Google Sitemaps is an easy way for you to submit all your URLs to the Google index
and get detailed reports about the visibility of your pages on Google. With Google
Sitemaps you can automatically keep Google informed of all your web pages, and when
you make changes to these pages to help improve your coverage in the Google crawl.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps

4. Yahoo Directory Submit
Yahoo! Directory Submit is part of a suite of services Yahoo! created to serve the needs
of businesses like yours. Yahoo! Directory Submit provides expedited review of web
sites that are submited for possible inclusion in the Yahoo! Directory for US$299
(nonrefundable) for each Directory listing that is submitted. Furthermore, for each listing
accepted into the Directory, there is a recurring annual fee of US$299 to maintain the
listing in the Directory for the subsequent year.
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/dirsb/dirsb_pr.php

5. Site Listed in DMOZ Directory
This is a huge boost as it is said that Google's directory comes straight from the DMOZ
directory. The DMOZ is commonly known as the Open Directory Project
(http://dmoz.org/) and it has strict guidelines as to who is listed. Submission info can be
found here: http://dmoz.org/add.html

6. Offline Marketing
Never underestimate the value of using low-cost, offline marketing techniques to
encourage people to visit your website. Ensure your website address is clearly listed on all of your marketing materials – that is, your business card, brochure, published articles,
print advertisements, sandwich boards, your vehicle, etc.


7. eMail Newsletter
Permission-based email marketing can be a low-cost and very effective component of
your web marketing strategy. It can help to build a relationship between your business
and target market, and can drive traffic back to your website. Email marketing can
consist of direct email blasts and sales letters, personalized auto-responders, and/or
email newsletters.

8. 3rd Party Publishing
A great method of marketing your business is by publishing editorials in third-party ezines,
e-newsletters and on information-based websites. Just as editorials in offline
media can help position you as an expert in your field and drive readers to your website,
providing articles written (or ghost-written) by you to targeted online media can also drive
traffic to your website, often with no out-of pocket expense. Just remember to include a
short biography that outlines what you do and a link to your website at the bottom of
each article you publish.

9. Start a Blog
A blog or weblog is simply a web page that scrolls chronologically like a journal and
contains links to other websites of interest. Blogs, as creative online journals, have been
used by technical specialists for a number of years, but business blogs, or b-blogs are
just now making inroads into the mainstream.
As an alternative, low-cost (or even free) means of electronic communication, blogs can
make up a significant part of your overall marketing strategy. Although b-blogs carry an
inherent marketing focus not found in creative weblogs, their casual structure provides
the opportunity to connect with readers on a more immediate and personal level than
traditional websites and newsletters allow.

10. Develop a "Free" Service
Offer free information and tools on your site that can be used by your online visitors. It's
one thing to say, "Come to our site and learn about our business." It's quite another to
say, "Use the free kitchen remodelling calculator available exclusively on our site." Make
sure that your free service is closely related to what you are selling so the visitors you
attract will be good prospects for your business. Give visitors multiple opportunities and
links to cross over to the sales part of your site.