Category: Site Promotion
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Hey, now that’s a headline that got your attention, didn’t it? You’re still reading so it did get your attention – and that’s what a good headline on your homepage does. It gets attention. Web hosting provider explains headlines and how to make them more effective.
There are plenty of high-priced, Fortune 500 company sites that have ignored this basic marketing axiom – headlines grab attention. Don’t believe it? Okay, imagine the next issue if your favorite magazine arrives with no contents page, no headlines or subheads – just big globs of text and pictures without any captions. How long are you going to wade through all of that content to find the stuff you really want to read?
Same idea with your website. A grabber headline will lower your bounce rate because more visitors stick around, pulled in by a great headline.
A good headline is one that keeps the visitor on site. So what are we talking about, here? What’s going to keep a visitor from bouncing?
Self-interest headlines identify the benefits of the product or service to the reader. The objective of these headlines is to be as specific as you can about the benefit(s). For example:
Double Your Portfolio Return Without Risk
Backache? Let Acme Pregnancy Pillows Make You Comfortable
Lose 30 Pounds in 60 Days: FREE Recipe Book
Notice that each headline defines specific benefits: double returns, get comfortable, lose weight easily. Self-interest headlines describe the key benefits of whatever it is you’re selling.
A note worth noting here: web users are NOT idiots. Headlines like:
EARN $5000 a DAY FROM HOME
DOUBLE YOUR MONEY IN 60 SECONDS
BUY RENTAL PROPERTY IN FRANCE:
EARN $10,000 A MONTH WITH NO MONEY DOWN
STAY YOUNG FOREVER WITH ACME ALGAE DRINK
(May not be legal in all states.)
You still see this ridiculous bombast all over the web. Look, all you site owners who are doing this. Web users are smart so treat them with respect and don’t insult their intelligence with this kind of hype. Self-interest headlines work but screw the top back on the hype jar. People aren’t idiots.
News Headlines present information without any sales spin, though spin is usually the point.
HERBENOUGH EARNS SEAL of APPROVAL
XZY ENERGY BRINGS OIL TO THE PIPELINE
DOCTORS AGREE ON GLAUCOMA TREATMENT
Now, the news headline should be void of any type of sales or promo. Think of it as a press release or newspaper headline. These headlines work well for NFPs, service organizations, pharmas, micro-cap companies (penny stocks) and other agencies projecting a non-commercial, online persona.
Even though these headlines should be void of sizzle, they should still draw the attention of the reader. Boring doesn’t sell. The sites that use this type of headline are usually sites that attract the needs-driven buyer – the guy facing foreclosure or the gal who just lost her health insurance. Needs-driven buyers want information. They don’t want (or need) a lot of sales hype. The sale is already made.
Intrigue Headlines appeal to the curiosity of the reader – evoking a need to learn more.
DO YOU HAVE ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS?
IS THAT A UFO IN YOUR LOCKER?
WAIT’LL YOU GET A LOAD OF THIS!!!!
Hmm, do I have any of these symptoms? Hey, I better do something. These headlines tease the reader into digging in and reading the rest of the piece, which can include some sizzle, but please remember the hype quotient (HQ). Keep it to a minimum.
Check out that sub-head: perfect headline above. So, if you’re a site owner and you’ve read this far, you’re going to want to learn some tips for developing the “perfect headline.” Get it?
So, okay, the headline should fall into one of the three categories described above. The headline should be the largest design element above the fold on the homepage. Bigger than your business logo, company name, contact information – the perfect headline demands attention.
Turn the spotlight on the reader. Don’t talk about “me” and “my.” Who cares? Talk to “You.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO EARN EXTRA INCOME?
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR WATER IS DOING TO YOU
YOUR FUTURE BEGINS TODAY WITH US
People are motivated to read content that applies to them. It may sound callous, but it’s the old “What’s in it for me?” mentality. So tell the reader what’s in it for her – in the homepage headline.
Avoid any kind of negativity. It’s okay to say “We’re the best.” That’s positive. It’s not okay to say “Our competition stinks.” Way too negative so keep the focus on your positives, not the competition’s negatives.
Tests indicate that long headlines, as long as no scrolling is involved, work as well as short headlines. So, go for it:
EARN MORE MONEY THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE
WITH ABSOLUTELY NO RISK TO YOU
AND NO COST TO YOU
A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY THAT HAS UNLIMITED UPSIDE
WITH VIRTUALLY NO DOWNSIDE WHATSOEVER
You get the idea. Visitors will read the long headline as long as it continues to point out benefits to the reader. So go short or go long. Just keep it focused on the reader.
Avoid headlines designed to show just how clever or witty you are. Again, the site headline is designed for one purpose – to grab and hold the visitor’s attention, not to “wow” the visitor with your rapier wit.
Don’t use industry insider jargon, either. You can’t be sure who will be reading the headline and if it’s a clerk in ‘Purchasing’ he may not understand the headline.
Finally, test different headlines to determine which is stickiest. You might think it’s the greatest headline ever written but if it isn’t pulling, move on and try something else that focuses on the benefits of the product or service to the reader.
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Your web space may be professionally designed, optimized for search engines and structured to deliver the highest possible conversion ratios. You’re well on your way to creating a successful online enterprise.
But just because you built it doesn’t mean they’ll come. In fact, with literally billions of websites all competing for the attention of W3 users, you’ll be lucky if you get a hit a day. No, you can’t just create the perfect online business, you have to let others know your site is there – not always an easy thing to do surrounded by the cacophony of noise and blitz of glitz that are the world wide web.
And, because you operate in a digital “space,” your site’s media kit is going to have to go digital, as well.
For the small, online business owner, there’s plenty of free information on the web that’ll tell you how to market your site. You’ll find a bunch of articles on viral marketing and paid marketing in this blog alone so it’s no big secret, (something to keep in mind as you’re writing out a big, fat check to an SEO maven).
Submit the site map to search engines, register with directories, use social sites, become an authority, swap links, add you local address to site text and keyword tag – there are fairly standard protocols for gaining a little attention on the web. The emphasis, here, is on the word “little.” When you’re a small fish in a digital pond expanding at the rate of 6,000 new sites a day, you need as much attention as you can get.
You need a digital media kit.
They used to be called press kits back in the day because newspapers were the primary outlet for news. Today, news comes at us from a variety of media – web, TV on demand, magazines, newspapers, PDAs – there are plenty of outlets to distribute the news. And you’ve got some BIG news. You have a web store.
Web hosting provider explains - A digital media kit is a collection of key information, written in a succinct and specific style that is then distributed by electronic means to local, national and international news outlets. Simple, right? Now way. Developing a good media kit is an art and doing it right will get you the results you’re looking for – recognition.
Before you start collating every piece of text you’ve written into a zip file, stop for a second and consider a few things.
1. Formatting. Your digital media kit will be seen on a variety of browsers by lots of different people using lots of differently-configured computer systems. Formatting should be simple and be fully compliant with the latest World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) open standards. This will ensure the widest usability across all digital media.
Format all printable content as PDF. This holds the formatting of the release and makes it difficult to steal and use your content on a competitor site.
2. Size. Chances are your media kit will land in the inbox of (1) an intern who wouldn’t know a good story if it bit him on the backside or (2) an over-worked, under-paid editor who doesn’t have a lot of time to learn all about your dream come true.
3. Usability. Your media kit should include media in a number of different formats – DV, printable downloads and other usable digital content. Remember, whatever you use in a media kit is fair game for online media usage so make sure you have the necessary permissions (publishing rights) for any text, image or graphic you include. If you don’t own it or have permission to use it, don’t include it.
The dowjonesonline.com media kit page. Notice the menu of onesheets in PDF format in the left column. Those are full color downloads that can quickly be added to any website or printed out for give-aways at the next convention.
Many companies (yours?) also offer digital video (DV) promos, human interest stories, “how-to” content and news. All of this content is free for the taking, free for the viewing and most importantly, free for broadcasting, podcasting or webcasting.
4. Notice that this video page of the media kit includes all tech specs – absolutely essential to make sure the content is useable (compatible) with the broadcasters’ software configuration.
5. It’s also a terrific idea to provide vid-clips so potential users can see the high production values and quality of content you’re providing. If you’re planning on developing a digital media kit using your $19.95 web cam with a backdrop of your dirty bedroom, you won’t get picked up by anyone (except YouTube where you’ll become the laughing stock for the next 15 minutes). Look professional to get results.
6. Archive your media kits. Some information doesn’t change. Some is considered news within your industry so provide reporters with a backlist of news releases to make research easier. The easier it is to find a piece of information, the more likely an element of your media kit gets picked up.
7. Provide complete contact information. You may believe that you and your team have thought of everything only to forget to put an email link on the homepage. Providing complete contact information and encouraging web reporters to contact you will give you invaluable feedback that you can use immediately to make changes to your digital media kit.
8. Provide a separate “Media Kit” link off the home page, or better yet, if you’ve got the room, add it to the navigation bar that appears on every page. This separates content for media from site content when search engine spiders visit your site.
Short and sweet. In order or presentation:
What makes you or your company newsworthy?
What is the Unique Positioning Statement (UPS) of you or your company?
What products or services do you provide? Be sure to provide a complete list, including details of services and top-down product descriptions.
Why did the editor (or intern) receive the media kit? It’s not always obvious.
Complete page links to specific types of media, e.g. onesheets, tech specs, DV presentations, Flash animations, podcasts and webcasts.
Define fair use. You are providing this media kit to promote your site. So, say you produce a great Flash animation and a competitor gets a hold of it and uses it on his/her site. That would constitute unfair use. However, by making that animation part of your media kit you are asking media outlets to display it. Just make it clear what constitutes fair use of all digital media kit components.
The web consumes content at a prodigious rate. News is old in hours. The joke of the day is stale by the time you punch out. Keep your media kit up to date. Add new features and new content – even if not much changes in your industry. There’s plenty of news of interest to industry insiders.
It only takes a few hours to develop an attractive, professional-looking media kit that you can submit to a variety of sites that publish content. Be careful. You can’t do an email blast without getting busted but you can (1) contact industry media outlets one at a time and provide a link to your media kit page and (2) you can make the media kit available to anyone – reporter or otherwise – on your website.
Look good. Sound good. Grow big.
Director: “And….that’s a cut.”
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When the topic of a particular product type, service, or area of knowledge arises, what name comes to people's minds? Who do they go to and recommend? Who do journalists talk to for quotes or interviews on the topic?
If a niche doesn't already have a recognized expert and you're knowledgeable enough about the topic, it could be you. Web hosting provider explains becoming a niche authority - Choose a niche, keep learning about it, develop credibility and recognition as an authority, and continue building that reputation.
Almost everyone is an expert at something. Or can become one. To target a niche market, you need to become the person or company that people in your target market seek for specialized products, services, or knowledge.
Large companies are less likely to serve niche markets, so there's less competition for them, especially when they don't already have a known authority. Being known as an expert in a particular niche market can help your business grow. People in your target market will want to link to your content and read what you write, and they'll talk about you and recommend you offline and online. And because of your authority status, other business opportunities may come your way.
To find a niche market that can be profitable for your business, look for a target audience with these characteristics:
In other words, find a need that you can meet and that isn't being met fully, and then meet that need.
Look at what you're already doing and knowledgeable about. What requests do you get that your business can't meet? Are they requests that you could meet if you focused on them? Analyze what your existing customers have in common. What needs and wants do they have that you could fulfill? What knowledge do you have that people already seek you out for? Consider also the benefits your products or services provide and who else could benefit from them. There may be a target market out there that you haven't discovered yet.
Once you choose a niche, learn everything you can about the products, services, industry, and target market. Learn and track what other people say and write about it, including your target audience. Develop the products and skills that this market wants.
One way to learn is by doing. Offer some of your services at no cost to get started, in particular to individuals or organizations that may want to link to your site to return the favor. Trade services with other businesses or individuals. Paid or not, provide outstanding service and products so that people will want to talk about you.
Give away more if you can: free estimates, free samples, free newsletter signups, free information at your site. Giving away something of value can lead to increased trust and help create buzz.
Quality written content can greatly increase your exposure in your niche, especially online. If you have information and perspectives to share but can't write well, consider hiring a writer or editor to give your words a professional appearance.
Start a business blog about your niche, and add to it regularly. When people comment on your posts, respond. Comment in other blogs about related topics.
When you've established your blog, look for other opportunities to have your work published, such as article directories and trade publications. Write letters to the editor when your area of expertise is covered in newspapers or magazines. Take part in relevant forum discussions with quality contributions. Write an e-book to give away or sell at your site. Start an online newsletter.
What to write about:
Have a professional-looking website and lots of content, and continue adding to that content. Aim for your website to be a rich resource of information. Link to related content at your site using anchor text in context as well as your site navigation.
To optimize your site for search engines, see the articles in the SEO and Search Engine Optimization category at the right. Links to articles on SMO, or social media optimization, are at the end of this article.
Speak about your niche. Be a voice and a face in addition to words, and you'll be remembered more:
Have an online presence where your target audience may be, through advertising, online profiles, and participation. Find businesses with related products or services and look for ways to work with them, such as link exchanges and advertising on each other's sites.
Your website can be a growing showcase of your recognition within your niche. Continue adding links between older and newer related content at your site; doing so will help with search engines as well as with human credibility. Link to other sites where you've been mentioned or interviewed, and list your publications and speaking engagements. A news section or media room may be useful for this.
After you've become recognized as an authority, don't be afraid to describe yourself as one in bios and profiles. Don't go overboard with it, but if other people are calling you one, you can describe yourself as an authority too.
Related articles about using social media
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If you own a website, you own much more than some sell pages and a check-out. You own digital content in the form of articles, news forums, graphics, pictures, your logo – virtually every piece of your web site is digitized and programmed for display on a variety of browsers, from IE to AOL.
You paid a lot of money for those digital assets but are they paying you back? Are you seeing a nice return on your marketing development dollars? Probably not, but given time…
Tom Wheeler, managing Director at Core Capital Partners, recently forecasted that by the year 2011, digital, mobile advertising will hit $14.4 billion dollars. Currently. $1.4 billion is being spent on advertising via mobile computers, PDAs, cell phones, iPods, iPhones – and the list of gadgets just keeps on growing - let your web hosting provider explain.
So, if your site marketing plan is limited to traditional promotional activities, i.e. PPC, paid links, hosted content and other marketing tactics that worked well last year, chances are you won’t be in business next year.
Paradigm is an odious word. People toss it around without a clue what it means. It’s one of those buzzwords that every SEO and CEO throws around like verbal confetti. But in the case of digital advertising, we have actually found a legitimate use for the words “changing paradigm.”
A paradigm is nothing more than an “outstandingly clear example,” what, in the day, was called an archetype. So you start researching how digital advertising is going to change things for web-based businesses and you keep running into “changing paradigm,” which doesn’t mean anything more than a changing example. Now, indeed, if we’re spending 1.4 billion on digital advertising today and the projected figure just a few years hence is $14.4, there is clearly something afoot. But it ain’t no paradigm.
The content will be the same. The messages won’t change and the human emotional buttons will still be there. In fact, the only thing that’ll change is the way this content is delivered to the listener or viewer.
Once a document, a song, a picture or an image of the accountant’s butt is digitized on the copier at the office party, it can be used in lots of ways – ways that you can use to expand your site’s reach (except the accountant butt image. Toss it, PLEASE!) Even more importantly, you can reach that sweet, care-free-money-in-the-pocket-demographic of 15-25 year olds who have lots discretionary income and a cell or PDA.
If your future advertising is land-locked (as in you don’t plan on using digitized content for other promotional uses), you might as well be working in Mesopotamia with a mud table and a stylus. You are sooooo four millennia ago.
Once digitized, content can be quickly, easily and inexpensively adapted to other formats that are picked up by other communications devices. For example, let’s say you put together a weekly podcast for the illumination of your audience. If that podcast is only available on your website, do you have any idea how many opportunities you’re missing?
That same podcast can be formatted to XML scripting and sent via RSS feed to thousands, millions of sites. Or, it could be reformatted for pick up by cell or PDA. This way, even if your number one fan is on the bus, he can still hear your podcast through his cell – if you’re set up to do that. Even hearing aid technology has gone wireless, enabling those with hearing loss to take advantage of all these digital goings-on.
With ad revenues from traditional media dropping (thanks to the inventor of the remote control and the fine art of channel surfing, among other reasons), advertisers are scrambling to find new ways to keep the product or service in front of the buying public. You can’t see a movie without strategic product placement. The main character is eating Fruit Loops for a reason. Kellogg’s paid for that product placement.
What other avenues are growing – fast, especially for smaller online businesses? Cell phone downloads are coming on strong. You often get a 15-second ad for acne cream before your actually content appears on screen. Just cost a few pennies, but you saw it. And the more you see it the more likely you are to buy it.
Good copywriters don’t come cheap. And the ones who also understand SEM can be downright expensive. So, if you’ve paid pesos grandé for content development, you want to use that content in as many ways as you can. It’s an asset, but if it’s parked on your website and not making the digital rounds, you’ve paid more than you have to for a single piece of site text.
Use that expensive (but beautifully written) copy, your own song, your own pictures – whatever digital content you have to create a more expansive presence on the web. It won’t cost you more in development costs and, at least at this time, the costs of digital advertising outlets aren’t enough to break the bank – even if you’re fishing your marketing budget from between the car seats, i.e. it’s cost effective.
So amortize your content development costs and prepare yourself for a 10-fold increase in digital ad revenues. Do you want a piece of that pie?
Start now to stay ahead of the curve.
Visit our web hosting blog again next week for more interesting, relevant articles intended to help make your website a success!
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Every website has a reason for existence. Getting traffic to that website is essential for the site to serve its purpose. Your web hosting provider lists some website strategies.
The more methods you use to increase site traffic, the more successful your efforts will be.
The steps listed in this article are useful only if you have a quality website to start with:
For most websites, the majority of traffic comes via search engines. SEO (search engine optimization) at the website level starts with these steps:
See also these SEO articles:
Inbound links are part of SEO; search engines treat quality inbound links as votes for the site they link to. Getting other people to link to your site is easier when each page has quality content that's original and useful. People will link to your content from forums, blogs, bookmarking sites, and other social media sites after finding it through search engines or other methods. Other ways to acquire inbound links:
For more information about acquiring inbound links, see these articles:
If you've followed the above steps, you don't need to submit your site to most search engines. They'll find it by following links from other sites. Adding a Google sitemap to your site will help search engines crawl your site and index all the pages. It will also help you identify any problems search engines may have indexing your site.
Beyond the main search engine results, you can get your site listed in the following types of search engines, among others:
See also these articles:
Quality website content will help get your website off to a good start. But search engines need to frequently find new content at your sitefor it to maintain its position in search results. Regular new content also leads to more inbound links and provides more reasons for site visitors to return to your site.
You can create the content yourself, and you can have user-generated content, such as product reviews or a forum. A blog is good way to get new content online often and fast, and with RSS feeds, it can reach a wide audience almost immediately. See these articles for more information:
We've already mentioned location keywords and local search engines and directories. Even if you don't offer local services, optimizing your site for local search is useful. Some people prefer to do business with local companies, and additional links are valuable for SEO.
If you serve the local community, you can advertise locally in addition to optimizing your site for local search. Include your URL with all advertising so that people can go to your website for more information.
See also these articles:
Any or all of these promotional methods can increase traffic to your website:
See these articles for details:
Site visitors can bookmark your site at social media sites such as del.icio.us. To make it easier for them to markmark pages at your site, you can add social media buttons to your pages. You can also create portable content such as videos for YouTube and other video sites, and you can create your own profile at social media sites and add content yourself. See these articles for details:
Come back to this web hosting blog for more wemaster tips for a successful website.
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