Top Ten Tips for Marketing Your Website

January 30, 2008 | 10 Comments

town_cryer

If you’ve started the New Year with a shiny new website, and invested in some copywriting for the landing page, you might be thinking that you can just sit back and wait for the sales to come flooding in.

Well, it’s not that easy I’m afraid. It takes a lot of effort to successfully market and manage an effective website.

You’ve got to find a way to signpost it so your customers can find you and then you’ve got to work out how you’re going to sell to them when they arrive. There are barriers to building trust online; people want to see more than some JPEGS and PayPal buttons before they’re ready to buy.

But fear not because (inspired by a similarly themed post from Junta42) I’ve scribbled down my top ten internet marketing tips for getting your website noticed and building credibility with customers (I’ll give you a hint: it all revolves around becoming a publisher and being generous with your content):

1. Regularly post useful articles that contain your keywords

Preferably articles should be posted onto a blog of some description so you can interact with customers and perpetuate the love affair between blogs and search engine optimisation. The key is to be offering insight and advice which will not only attract the search spiders, but will also help promote your expertise and answer the questions that might be blocking a sale.

2. Let everyone know the traditional way

Tell all your contacts about the new site. An emailed message is too easy to dismiss. So dust off your telephone and call them up to announce your new venture, or send them a concisely worded and designed postcard. Both methods are relatively inexpensive and will make more impact than email bombing as many people as you can.

3. Network online

Find out who the thought leaders are in your industry and then comment insightfully on their blogs to introduce yourself. Many industry news websites have now integrated comment sections, so you should be able to find somewhere to print your name. This will help attract attention to your own site, create valuable backlinks to boost your Google rank and build authority in your online marketplace.

4. Drive traffic with social bookmarking

It might still be regarded as a niche way of searching the web, but social bookmarking can send you a lot of traffic. If you can get enough people to vote for your articles, you can literally attract thousands of new visitors via sites like Stumble Upon, Digg or Del.icio.us, and a host of other services to choose from.

The trick is to integrate yourself into the social bookmarking community by tracking who votes for you and then returning the favour. Over time you can build a network of social bookmarking pals and assist each other in driving traffic.

5. Print your web address everywhere

Get your website address added to every email signature, letterhead and piece of marketing material you send out. Even if you manage to get a leaflet into someone’s pocket at a networking event, if they’re interested the first thing they’ll want to do is check out your website. So make sure they know the address.

Marketing should be an integrated approach with your offline activities linked into your website. You can only fit so many words onto a tri-fold brochure. But there’s no shortage of space to develop your offer online.

6. Promote with online press releases

You no longer need contacts in the traditional media to get exposure for your business. And you don’t need a new product launch to justify a press release. You can use online PR distribution services to publish useful articles offering insight to your target customers. This could be advice to schools on setting up a cycling policy to promote your bike sheds, or the healthiest way to cook chicken to promote your grease free grill.

Press releases push out links back to your website and cement your credibility if you’re providing useful information.

7. Publish on other people’s sites

If you’ve already been networking with bloggers in your field then why not approach them to write a guest post. This will help you attract more attention by showcasing your expertise as well as generating a backlink from a relevant website. If there aren’t enough bloggers around, try approaching your industry’s news sites to see if they’ll accept submissions. Everybody needs fresh content to keep eyeballs occupied.

Just make sure you’re providing useful articles, and not a blatant sales pitch, if you don’t want your submission dumped in the recycle bin.

8. Give away a free eBook

What questions do your customers have before they make a purchase or how can your product make their lives easier? Both can be answered in a free downloadable eBook that demonstrates your credibility, expertise and builds a closer affinity with your customers.

If you’re being useful by giving away free information then you’ll be rewarded with the customer’s increased trust and confidence.

9. Start a monthly newsletter

In this age where everybody expects to get content for free, it might be getting harder to charge customers for words but it has never been easier to publish. So why not take advantage and produce a newsletter to maintain contact with your latest news, articles and product guides long after prospects have left the site.

10. Stick to the plan and don’t expect instant results

Even if you follow steps 1-9 it can still take a number of months to build your Google ranking, attract a steady flow of traffic and build your customer base. However, if you don’t invest in building your web presence then your shiny new website will simply remain hidden away and ignored. So put a strategy in place for regularly generating and promoting your content, be persistent and if you build it they will come.

In this age of niche products reaching global marketplaces, sending a town crier around your local shopping district didn’t make my list. It won’t hurt if you want to attract local business, but it wont be enough to find you customers further a field.

Investing in good quality copywriting for all your pages (including the ‘About Us’ page), and not just the landing page, is the first step. The next stage is to become a publisher and be generous with your content.

Becoming a publisher will boost your Google rank, attract traffic and develop credibility with your customers, who will have more trust in you because you’ve invested time in making their buying decisions easier.

Enjoy this post? Vote for it at Digg. Thanks!

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting, Marketing, Online-PR, blogging 

Content Marketing. Who’s on board?

January 23, 2008 | 5 Comments

train

Whilst the economic outlook might be doom and gloom, the content marketing bandwagon is rolling at full speed. It’s filling up with enthusiastic new supporters at every stop, and gathering pace towards its destination in marketing boardrooms.

The ideas I first encountered when researching business blogging have been picked up, dusted off and given a new set of clothes in the form of content marketing. People are ignoring advertising, so the future is to barter for their attention with content of value.

Add to the equation that the costs of becoming a publisher have plummeted along with the price at which you can sell content. Content itself is now a promotional, marketing tool for building a closer affinity, rather than a way of generating income in itself.

I think content marketing has a bright future and is a future field for copywriters. In my own experience I’m finding more people who not only want words for the search engines, but also words that can provide ammunition to their sales teams and educate visitors.

This week I thought I’d share some of the blogs I regularly read on the evolving demand for high quality, useful content. I’d recommend adding them all to your reading list if you’re interested in where marketing and copywriting is heading:

Copyblogger - what initial started as a blog about copywriting techniques has now evolved into a speakers platform for sharing advice on writing for the web and the need to invest in quality content, rather than hammering out posts as though your PC is about to explode.

Web Ink Now - blog of viral marketing evangelist David Meerman Scott who shares his views on offering content of value and throwing overtly sales tactics in the bin.

Junta42 - a blog dedicated to content marketing. Whose doing it well? Who needs to start doing it? And how can you do it better? All questions dealt with using real life examples. They’ve recently announced their own list of content marketing blogs - so much to read, so little time.

Engagement Principles - blog of veteran copywriter Tom Chandler of Copywriter Underground fame focusing on engaging with content that appeals to people’s desires and interests, rather than blandly bores.

Seth Godin - Seth is constantly preaching on the need to tell authentic stories and to be more remarkable in a world filled with mediocrity. His massive fan base of disciples will be the ones pushing content marketing when Seth gives them the nod.

Chris Anderson - the editor-in-chief of Wired will soon be releasing a new book on the internet’s economics of giving away for free so you can profit in other ways. If it has the same impact as ‘The Long Tail’ then expect to see it referenced in the national media sometime soon. Here’s a link to a speech he recently gave on the subject to whet your appetite.

So there you have it. It’s not just be banging my drum but a whole orchestra of bloggers playing the content marketing tune. We write about it every week knowing that eventually our combined noise will be loud enough to penetrate corporate marketing boardrooms everywhere.

Hopefully this will then lead to a bright new world in which freelance copywriters and article writers are called upon to drive their content marketing campaigns, and not just think up their next ad’s tag line.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting, Marketing, blogging 

A slow start to 2008. But a start with promise.

January 10, 2008 | 3 Comments

I decided to award myself a week off at Christmas to spend time with the family, which then grew into a fortnight when I became a victim of the flu outbreak that’s crippling the country. Working from home hasn’t equipped me with the toughest immune system, and the week away would have left me dangerously exposed.

I was bedridden for a week, with barely the energy to change the TV channel. But I’m pleased to say that I’m now back to three meals a day and watched enough brain draining daytime TV to keep me at my desk for many years to come.

Whilst I might have barely had the energy to warm up soup, I was still able to keep a keen eye on my website’s stats. The impact of my recent redesign certainly seems to have kicked in, with swarms of potential clients pouring over every easily found page, whilst deciding whether to give this young chap a shot at sorting out their copy.

Well, I’m now booked up for the next couple of weeks and visitors just keep on coming. So hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and my keyboard busy for the rest of the year.

In 2008 my aims are simple:

  • Write more.
  • Read more.
  • Add direct mail and sales letter writing to my portfolio.

I also intend to carry on banging my drum on the need to invest in useful, valuable content to anybody who’ll listen.

So, I’d like to wish a Happy New Year to every one of my readers. And let’s make this the year when businesses really start to appreciate the value of well written words.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under About, Blog