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On-line Promotion
You have to be seen to be believed! Getting a
Web site or
a shop (or other Internet activity) up and running is not enough. You must
become 'visible' on the internet and take continuous action to ensure that you
remain ahead of your competitors. Unless you can achieve this, your
investment will have been wasted.
There a number of ways that this can be done. For a Web
site, for example:
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Put your URL on
all stationery.
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Include your URL
in all promotional material. Hard-copy brochures, Business cards, CDs
etc.
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Ensure that
'friendly' Web sites point to yours.
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Take steps to
locate all specialist business and trade directories (hard-copy and on-line)
have your URL and a brief description.
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Research
specialist search engines dealing with you business area and ensure that
they have logged your URL.
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Research the
current hierarchy of Internet search engines and ensure that you have
registered with at least the top 5
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Regularly use
analysis software to determine your 'visibility' in all the major search
engines, analyze the competitiveness of your Web pages and take action to
improve competitiveness.
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Consider paid-for
registration with search engines
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If there are
relevant Newsgroups, make an announcement, get a discussion going about what
you have to offer
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If you are mainly
a research-focused or academic-related business, research current 'closed'
mailing lists. Ensure that you subscribe to any that are relevant and,
at appropriate times, announce key facts relating to your Web site.
Search engines. Of all the above, probably
(6 - 8) present both the
greatest opportunity for increasing Internet 'visibility' - and also some of the the
greatest problems.
Of the hundreds
of search engines designed to retrieve Web pages, only a very small number of
key 'players' are truly universal and widely used
all over the world. When you examine the inter-relationships behind
these companies, you find that the actual number of search engines that go out
and 'spider' the Web is just a handful - and it is just these few that supply
data to all the other well-known names.
To complicate matters, competitive pressures and the growth of
the Internet cause continuous re-alignments and policy changes within the industry and
within the main search engines - not least in charging for registration.
The effect of these changes has been to:
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Make paid-for
submission an option to consider seriously.
At present, costs are not too high and an annual budget of £500-£1,000 can
help to 'ensure' that your Web site is listed. The
alternative is to submit, wait and hope. While your URL may be registered
instantly, the main 'spider' that logs your pages and does the real work,
may not visit for 6-24 months, if at all.
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Make search
engine watching vital. In just the same way that a marketing
manager should keep abreast of the ownership, allegiances and strategies of
his agents, the same care needs to be taken with search engines.
Search policies can change monthly and ownership yearly - all with
consequences for the Web site owner that need to be addressed.
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Make Web site
'benchmarking' a must. Regular 'benchmarking' of your site against
competitors using specialist analysis software is the only way to ensure
that your promotional strategy with respect to each search engine remains
optimized and that you achieve and maintain maximum Web 'visibility'.
A final caution.
Never use "Submit to 1,000 Search engines" type services unless you
are prepared to change your email address to avoid the resulting avalanche of
advertising 'Spam' - and probably have your Web site blacklisted by the major search
engines. Hand-submission to the few search engines that matter is the only
sure way.
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