Marketing Guy
05-11-2005, 10:57 AM
I've noticed a lot of people lately (well, not just lately) who get a site and then look around and say, "OK I got a site - now what?". So someone pops up and says, "SEO it - free traffic!". Free traffic huh? That's great! So our random person SEO's their site (or pays someone to do it) and assuming they don't screw it up, they sit back, look around again and say "OK it's SEO'd - now what?".
Maybe they are sandboxed. Maybe they are sitting in a low traffic market, with obscure terms. Maybe their product isn't ideal for the web. Maybe they are just waiting for some SE's to update.
No matter what they are doing or waiting for - most consider this to be the end of the work that needs to be done (apart from ongoing maintenance). This is wrong! Well, not wrong, but it's limiting the potential of your reach.
The overall online marketing process should be ongoing, with the first stages taking into account market research, design, build and SEO of your website. It's what happens after that's the issue - people tend to grind to a halt on for various reasons.
So I thought it would be agood idea to open a discussion on what to do after your SEO implementation is complete, in terms of further promoting your website on low or no budget. Maybe give some ideas to folks on how to minimise the loss from being sandboxed, or to maxmise ongoing profitability.
I studied Marketing at Uni, not because I had some innate calling to the industry - I did it because I'm cheap and I like getting things for free! Hence the attraction to SEO!
There's plenty of stuff you can do for free (or at least do pretty cheaply) but always remember the Golden Rule - don't go overboard!
I think everyone is more than aware of the fine line between creative marketing and excessive spam - it's certainly a central concept in the SEO industry (more of a grey area for some, rather than a white line though!).
Taking a good idea and implementing it well, but going overboard drives you into the realm of spam (look at the recent thread about press release spam (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=46019) for example).
While excessive marketing can reap some rewards it is not good in the long term, as it can result in you gaining a bad reputation or (more importantly) can force those being "abused" to take counter measures, which will effectively mean harder work in the future.
An example of this is the Google sandbox effect, implemented to counter excessive throw away domain spam. Google *needed* to do that and as a result it's now harder for people to launch new sites. I wouldn't be surprised if press release companies began to charge or heavily vet realeases due to the increase in PR spam as well.
This isn't good for the industry.
Let's face it - one cream cake is good - 20 and you start to feel ill!
One major issues prior to starting a campaign is to consider how "brandable" your site really is. Creating a buzz for your name is all very well, but if your domain is a generic term you could be doing a lot of work just for others to walk in and reap the rewards with mis-spelled or similar domains. Something to think about!
Some suggestions for post-SEO marketing (hope some other folks can contribute to this):
Press release
Discussed in the thread linked to above - general concensus - keep it relevant - you don't need to force a press release on the world for ever stupid detail. :rolleyes:
PPC
Can get expensive, but is also cheap to try out (and you can turn it on and off as you please). There's plenty of guides about the web (all the good ones are probably here though!).
Working with other sites
Not just link exchanges - compatible sites can offer each other a variety of benefits, from exposure to experienced professionals (think: article writers, experts, forum moderators, etc) to affiliate income. Note: some webmasters may not like you contacting them! Remember what I said about excessive behaviour having a long term impact? Mass email spam = disgruntled webmasters! Consider a more subtle approach - networking groups are always good.
Viral Email Marketing
Cheap, free and easy. Know all those joke emails your mates keep sending you? If you can do something similar relating to your site and slap on a signature then you can have your mates work for you! No need to spam - you send to their friends list - they do the same - and so on.
Awards
I'm not talking about nasty "awards" sites that give everyone an award! But your industry will most likely have at least a few organisations who will give out awards (probably annually) - even getting nominated will generate a buzz!
Email Newsletters
Bit of a pain to do yourself so if you can't be bothered, then why not find a range of niche sites that do regular newsletters and see about advertising. I recently got a huge amount of traffic from a newsletter (I assume, because I still haven't been able to track the source) - it tripled my traffic for 2 days + Adsense income.
Re-invest
While we're on the subject of income - how many of you re-invest your earnings? Even if you only make £100 per month, you can still re-invest it to increase exposure - there are lots of low cost methods of advertising out there.
Gimmicks!
OK, I can't tell you how to come up with a gimmick for your site, but I can give an example, which I thought was quite interesting. I once read about a real estate company (in a hot climate) that would give a tub of ice cream to property viewers. The idea was that they would take the ice cream home to freeze it rather than going to view more properties (with the competition). Can't comment on how effective this was but certainly an interesting approach and 10/10 for thinking outside the box!
Forums
Particularly those related to your site. Remember what I said about spamming spoiling the long term value of stuff? Just look at forums that no longer allow URL drops or sigs due to spamming. Don't go overboard!
(Ironically I just previewed this post and was informed that it contained too many images - smilies - I must confess, I am a smilie-spammer - I'm currently seeking help :rolleyes: )
Blogs
I'm not a fan of "secret" blogs that try to pretend to be non-bias, but just plus sell their own stuff. That's too underhand and I don't think users are so stupid to fall for it (it's on par with posting on a forum for the first time and saying, "hey guys I just found this site and thought it might be useful..."). Cheap, nasty and tacky. Look at what the major players are doing - Google, MSN, etc all have their own blogs and yes they promote their own products through them - but here's the key - they are respected for it!
Blogs are good for inbound links to your site, but as always - remember the Golden Rule! The main benefit which IMO is way under valued, is the buzz you can generate from writing about your subject area.
Merchandise
A white hat for SEO clients? Mouse mats for gaming sites? Pens for just about anyone? Plenty of cheap crap that can be knocked out and given away.
Competitions
We're verging into the realms of "sticky content" here which I think is another topic alltogether. But competitions can be a great way to attract people to your site (and get some feedback at the same time). Consider getting another company to supply the prizes in exchange for co-branding.
Others
Don't have the time to list anymore stuff but you all know it - TV, radio, newspapers, etc etc etc - just be creative! I'm sure some other folks here can add more to this list as well and share experiences.
And just one more time incase you missed the theme of this thread - don't over do it! :P
MG
Maybe they are sandboxed. Maybe they are sitting in a low traffic market, with obscure terms. Maybe their product isn't ideal for the web. Maybe they are just waiting for some SE's to update.
No matter what they are doing or waiting for - most consider this to be the end of the work that needs to be done (apart from ongoing maintenance). This is wrong! Well, not wrong, but it's limiting the potential of your reach.
The overall online marketing process should be ongoing, with the first stages taking into account market research, design, build and SEO of your website. It's what happens after that's the issue - people tend to grind to a halt on for various reasons.
So I thought it would be agood idea to open a discussion on what to do after your SEO implementation is complete, in terms of further promoting your website on low or no budget. Maybe give some ideas to folks on how to minimise the loss from being sandboxed, or to maxmise ongoing profitability.
I studied Marketing at Uni, not because I had some innate calling to the industry - I did it because I'm cheap and I like getting things for free! Hence the attraction to SEO!
There's plenty of stuff you can do for free (or at least do pretty cheaply) but always remember the Golden Rule - don't go overboard!
I think everyone is more than aware of the fine line between creative marketing and excessive spam - it's certainly a central concept in the SEO industry (more of a grey area for some, rather than a white line though!).
Taking a good idea and implementing it well, but going overboard drives you into the realm of spam (look at the recent thread about press release spam (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=46019) for example).
While excessive marketing can reap some rewards it is not good in the long term, as it can result in you gaining a bad reputation or (more importantly) can force those being "abused" to take counter measures, which will effectively mean harder work in the future.
An example of this is the Google sandbox effect, implemented to counter excessive throw away domain spam. Google *needed* to do that and as a result it's now harder for people to launch new sites. I wouldn't be surprised if press release companies began to charge or heavily vet realeases due to the increase in PR spam as well.
This isn't good for the industry.
Let's face it - one cream cake is good - 20 and you start to feel ill!
One major issues prior to starting a campaign is to consider how "brandable" your site really is. Creating a buzz for your name is all very well, but if your domain is a generic term you could be doing a lot of work just for others to walk in and reap the rewards with mis-spelled or similar domains. Something to think about!
Some suggestions for post-SEO marketing (hope some other folks can contribute to this):
Press release
Discussed in the thread linked to above - general concensus - keep it relevant - you don't need to force a press release on the world for ever stupid detail. :rolleyes:
PPC
Can get expensive, but is also cheap to try out (and you can turn it on and off as you please). There's plenty of guides about the web (all the good ones are probably here though!).
Working with other sites
Not just link exchanges - compatible sites can offer each other a variety of benefits, from exposure to experienced professionals (think: article writers, experts, forum moderators, etc) to affiliate income. Note: some webmasters may not like you contacting them! Remember what I said about excessive behaviour having a long term impact? Mass email spam = disgruntled webmasters! Consider a more subtle approach - networking groups are always good.
Viral Email Marketing
Cheap, free and easy. Know all those joke emails your mates keep sending you? If you can do something similar relating to your site and slap on a signature then you can have your mates work for you! No need to spam - you send to their friends list - they do the same - and so on.
Awards
I'm not talking about nasty "awards" sites that give everyone an award! But your industry will most likely have at least a few organisations who will give out awards (probably annually) - even getting nominated will generate a buzz!
Email Newsletters
Bit of a pain to do yourself so if you can't be bothered, then why not find a range of niche sites that do regular newsletters and see about advertising. I recently got a huge amount of traffic from a newsletter (I assume, because I still haven't been able to track the source) - it tripled my traffic for 2 days + Adsense income.
Re-invest
While we're on the subject of income - how many of you re-invest your earnings? Even if you only make £100 per month, you can still re-invest it to increase exposure - there are lots of low cost methods of advertising out there.
Gimmicks!
OK, I can't tell you how to come up with a gimmick for your site, but I can give an example, which I thought was quite interesting. I once read about a real estate company (in a hot climate) that would give a tub of ice cream to property viewers. The idea was that they would take the ice cream home to freeze it rather than going to view more properties (with the competition). Can't comment on how effective this was but certainly an interesting approach and 10/10 for thinking outside the box!
Forums
Particularly those related to your site. Remember what I said about spamming spoiling the long term value of stuff? Just look at forums that no longer allow URL drops or sigs due to spamming. Don't go overboard!
(Ironically I just previewed this post and was informed that it contained too many images - smilies - I must confess, I am a smilie-spammer - I'm currently seeking help :rolleyes: )
Blogs
I'm not a fan of "secret" blogs that try to pretend to be non-bias, but just plus sell their own stuff. That's too underhand and I don't think users are so stupid to fall for it (it's on par with posting on a forum for the first time and saying, "hey guys I just found this site and thought it might be useful..."). Cheap, nasty and tacky. Look at what the major players are doing - Google, MSN, etc all have their own blogs and yes they promote their own products through them - but here's the key - they are respected for it!
Blogs are good for inbound links to your site, but as always - remember the Golden Rule! The main benefit which IMO is way under valued, is the buzz you can generate from writing about your subject area.
Merchandise
A white hat for SEO clients? Mouse mats for gaming sites? Pens for just about anyone? Plenty of cheap crap that can be knocked out and given away.
Competitions
We're verging into the realms of "sticky content" here which I think is another topic alltogether. But competitions can be a great way to attract people to your site (and get some feedback at the same time). Consider getting another company to supply the prizes in exchange for co-branding.
Others
Don't have the time to list anymore stuff but you all know it - TV, radio, newspapers, etc etc etc - just be creative! I'm sure some other folks here can add more to this list as well and share experiences.
And just one more time incase you missed the theme of this thread - don't over do it! :P
MG