Winnipeg Web Design
a winnipeg website design company.
a winnipeg website design company.
Looking back at what we started to do, we discussed the making of a web site through the following avenues: 1) completion of a web site business and marketing form that allows you to analyze the ins and outs of your site; from design and look and feel, to functionality, to marketing; 2) how to create a web site from scratch with Photoshop, laying out positioning and placements of call-to-actions; 3) how to slice and convert images into CSS for HTML uploads; 4) how to conduct, develop, and implement search engine optimization techniques, tactics, and marketing verbiage in your site. Now let’s take a look at the final step: creating a robust online marketing and search marketing infrastructure to your site.
Let’s break this final step down to further detail. Saying “online marketing†or “internet marketing†can be very vague, because it really can be vague, depending on who you are talking to about this subject. Online marketing is really the umbrella for a lot of marketing infrastructures, but the primary infrastructures to focus on in this tutorial are search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM). Other infrastructures that overlap these primaries include behavioral marketing, guerilla marketing, email marketing, et. al.
From where we left off, we have completed the new web site with infused SEO verbiage and techniques to boot. Now we can focus on creating a search marketing program and social media program for this company.
There are a variety of ways to get engaged in search engine marketing from an off-page perspective (off-page refers to implementation of marketing techniques outside of the actual code or content of the desired page to rank). Below are just smidgeons of methods to conduct when it comes to off-page search marketing.
The first thing to do after your site is SEO-friendly is to create sitemaps and submit to search engines and search directories. You can create sitemaps for Google, Yahoo! and Bing from one place at http://www.sitemapdoc.com.
Up next is listing your site in directory submission sites that will help increase exposure to your company and help get your brand searched on. It is good best-practice to submit to a search directory that has at least a PR4 (page ranking = 4, or page 4 ranking) to start, as that provides a good search weight to start getting your business exposed. The directory sites you submit your company to will ultimately depend on where you want to be listed, but here are some general places (in no particular order) that will at least give you a boost.
Most search directories will ask you to include your company name, site title, and keywords for you to be listed in. These items are included in the implementation of SEO that we conducted in the previous article, which is why it is critical to have your SEO prior to submission.
**NOTE**: Some site directories will require payment of their services while others are free. I normally go to the free ones (such as Yahoo!) since those are cost-effective for me. Others charge for higher placement on their site, similar to how paid search advertising. While different companies have different financial, business, and marketing goals, where you decide to submit your site will depend on the existing goals you have and the current resources you have to offer.
There are third party applications such as Internet Business Promoter and WebCEO that provide ample directories for you to search and submit your site on. These can be helpful in getting you exposed; however, it is better to not use their automated submission procedures, as that is and can be perceived as spam techniques. At all times, use a manual submission as much as possible.
Link exchanges have been known for a while in the SEM realm for its value in generating page weight and site rankings. However, more and more search engines are defining how exchanging links are conducted and their valued results. While most searches perceive the results differently, they are agreeing more universally on a handful of factors to help your business.
Firstly, and this is always agreed on, is that links to and from spam sites/pages are frowned upon. This has always been “a given†and will continue to do so.
Second, one-way link exchanges are never good to conduct. One-way links are links that are only directed towards one location; for example, a link in site 1 pointing to site 2 when site 2 is not linking back to site 1.
Conversely, two-way link exchanges are great to conduct, as they (theoretically) provide both parties the page weight, and ultimately site weight, to their respective sites. The bad news about two-way link exchanges is that the links being exchanged (or hosted) are usually buried deep in their sites, making it difficult to obtain the fullness of the result that the method brings to the marketing table. For example, site 1 links to site 2, but the page where the exchanged links are kept are 2-4 subfolders deep with no to minimal access from the main page. Simultaneously, site 2’s requirements to exchange links is that site 1 has to show site 2’s exchanged link in their main folder (or no more than 1 subfolder) to be considered a link partner. So the strategies behind link exchanges can be convoluted and one-sided as more companies use more shady methods to generate weight without giving back.
Third, links being exchanged are more monitored to show relevancy within links and pages. An exchanged link with the contents of a tractor manufacturing company will not show relevancy to a site that is geared towards Xbox gamers. A topical and content relationship must be established and evident to generate page weight and site rankings.
Conducting link exchanges can and may be different from company to company, site to site, so your methods of delivery may differ. However, there are certain factors to look out for that are pretty much standard in conducting link exchanges.
Now everyone knows (or at least is familiar) with the social media boom, and to no surprise, everyone is at least somewhat exposed to marketing within social media methods. Why you should or shouldn’t market using social mediums is really up to personal interests and convictions (and yes, I said personal not professional), but for this purposes, we are diving in to social media marketing as part of our online marketing efforts. Below are the four most distinct and commonly used avenues for social media marketing (in no particular order):
A few highlights on why Facebook is a necessary avenue:
A few highlights on why Twitter is a necessary avenue:
A few highlights on why LinkedIn is a necessary avenue:
A few highlights on why Blogs are a necessary avenue:
Other social marketing methods include social bookmarking sites and social networking sites (Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, and et.al.), viral marketing platforms (YouTube, Google Video) round up other mediums for marketers to enhance business.
Below are summaries of other marketing avenues and techniques that can be conducted to help your search rankings and overall brand exposure.
Email marketing / newsletter marketing can be a great asset that can compliment your existing marketing initiatives. While it is advisable not to have email marketing as your primary method, it does provide ample ammunition to generate positive return on your investment, given best-practices, customer-focused mentality in your approach.
Feeds are great in harnessing online marketing power without necessarily doing “too muchâ€. Feeds, like email marketing, are secondary to your primary initiatives. Moreover, with feeds having more frequently updated content (generating from your tweets or blogs), it has a better reach and less intrusive approach than your email marketing campaigns. It allows your users to manually subscribe for themselves when your content is worthy of their time, rather than building your own email lists, which can take a while to do.
While this term can be very vague at best, the methods within such marketing are very much as powerful as the topics being discussed today. Methods like word of mouth marketing, behavioral marketing, and even aspects of social media marketing – all encourage to market outside of well-known methods and means – are elements that comprise guerilla marketing tactics. So even if you don’t know what true guerilla marketing is, you may be doing it already when you tweet, blog, or stumble.
Conducting one marketing initiative alone will not increase any brand exposure to any company. It takes a number of initiatives working closely and intermittently together, using vast majority of human, time, and other resources, to create a well-oiled marketing machine. Search marketing is a great way to get started, but in the world of ever-changing technological and marketing advancements, it is necessary to include other means and methods of marketing as part of the overall brand marketing strategy. A conglomerate of metrics-focused, consumer-based initiatives produces a well-rounded marketing plan to generate the consumer interest, business, and positive return on your investment in the company.
That’s it for this series. Hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and have learned a lot from it. For any questions about the tutorial, please email me at info at zion eye media dot com.
Best of luck,
David
Morton Prok Says:
December 20th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Hey What a This is a awesome post. Pretty good opinions too. Thanks!
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