 Joe Tracy is a public speaker, author, and worldwide Internet marketing consultant. He is also the publisher of Animation Artist Magazine and the Director of Internet Marketing for American Computer Experience, the leading provider of summer computer camps for kids at over 89 universities worldwide. Joe may be reached at 440-891-2650 or by e-mail at joetracy@ earthlink.net. Visit the Book Site..  from Amazon.com |
Web Marketing 101by Joe TracyWeb Marketing Applied from Chapter One Published by Advanstar Communications Inc. Every day, thousands of new Web pages appear on the World Wide Web. As the Web gets more crowded, getting recognized becomes more difficult. Part of the problem is how most people approach the Web. They build a Website, use a free submission tool to get listed on search engines, and then wait for thousands of visitors to arrive. There's only one problem - the visitors never show up. Marketing is 80% of the success of your product or service. This percentage does not change on the Web. With that in mind let me be amongst the first to congratulate you, because by purchasing Web Marketing Applied, you have proven that you are serious about having a competitive edge on the World Wide Web. Purchasing this book is only the first step, however. Your consistent implementation of the ideas within and your marketing strategy is what will bring you the ultimate success.  Throughout the rest of this chapter, you will find a step-by-step introduction into the world of successful Web marketing. I will also give you real life examples on how I apply these ideas to Websites I market like Animation Artist - www.animationartist.com Step #1: Understand What Others Want In order to market to the Web surfing community, you must first understand what Web surfers want from the World Wide Web. There are four key things that people look for on the Web. 1) Information and Content. The Web is the world's biggest library, where people go to find a wealth of information on any topic. For example, if you were to go to a regular library and try to find information on how to prevent canker sores, you would be lucky to find 3-4 references in an entire day of searching. Yet on the Web you can find hundreds of pages of information on canker sore prevention in less than an hour. No matter what the topic, the Web has become the first choice to find the answer. If your Website doesn't have the information or answers that someone is looking for, then that person will quickly go elsewhere and never think twice about visiting your site again. There is a saying about Websites that "content is king." That saying has been true since day one of the Web and will most likely remain so for decades to come. 2) Interactivity. Besides being the world's biggest library, the Web is also the world's biggest entertainment empire. People can play games, post their opinions, chat with other people, participate in polls, and even send multimedia greeting cards to friends. Many Websites are incorporating interactivity through the use of high-end programs such as Flash. Interactivity is fun and can keep a person coming back again and again. Just look at how popular Slingo is on AOL. It's the only reason my wife purchased an AOL account a few months ago! 3) Shopping. The Mall of America is huge. It is the biggest shopping center in the United States with more than 35 million visits a year. It's so big, in fact, that it contains a seven-acre indoor amusement park, an eighteen-hole miniature golf course, and over 500 stores. It even has a weekly newspaper! It would take 24,336 school buses to fill up the Mall of America. The mall has an economic impact on Minnesota in the amount of $1.5 billion a year. Those are pretty impressive facts. That is, until you compare it to the Web. The Web has tens of thousands of shopping locations. Estimates by Jupiter Communications put online spending at $11.9 billion for 1999. It is expected to rise to $41 billion by the year 2002. Who would have ever thought in the early 1990's that companies called eToys and Amazon would bring fear to Toys 'R Us and Barnes & Noble? The Web once again dominates, this time as the world's largest shopping mall. 4) Free Stuff. The fourth main reason that people turn to the Web is for free stuff. This includes free software (freeware), free contests, free trials, free email, and free advice. You can even play lotteries for free on the Web (check out www.freelotto.com). If you win the million-dollar jackpot, I do accept tips.  Now that you understand what people want from the Web, you need to be able to deliver these elements to your visitors. After all, the more of the four key elements you can deliver, the better position you will be in to drive traffic to your Website and to keep that traffic coming back.Real Life Example: http://www.animationartist.com Animation Artist Magazine is a great and fun Website to market because it targets the four key elements of what people are seeking. First, there are nearly 1,000 pages of content and information aimed at the animation enthusiast. This includes interviews, reviews, feature stories, daily news, tutorials, animation behind-the-scenes information, etc. Second, there is an entire interactive area called "Animation Playland" with fun and entertaining interactive adventures. There's also voting polls and opinion areas for people to express their thoughts. Third, there is a huge mall area connected with affiliate programs, but organized in a "directory" manner much like you'd see when you enter a shopping mall and go to the directory to find certain stores. Animators can easily find animation supplies from here too. Finally, there are many free things for visitors including contests (with prizes aimed at animators), free email, and free advice. Step #2: Understand What You Want (Internal Goal Statement) The second step to Web marketing is defining what you want out of your Website and out of those who visit your Website. Why does your site exist on the Web? Is it there as a hobby or as something for friends to look at? Perhaps you built it for shopping or for the purpose of improving it then selling it? Maybe you want to drive lots of traffic there to make it attractive to advertisers?  Because you wisely purchased this book, my guess is that you want to make money with your Website by attracting more visitors to see (and hopefully purchase) your products and services or to increase the value of your ad space. Whatever the reason, you need to write it down as an Internal Goal Statement so that you clearly understand why your site exists and what you want visitors to ultimately do. The more specific you can be with your Internal Goal Statement, the better. Here's a real life example:Real Life Example - www.webmastertechniques.com "Webmaster Techniques exists to provide Webmasters with the information and tools they need to build better Websites. By increasing our visitor count to at least 4,000 unique visitors a day, we will be able to offer a strategic Web banner advertising program to increase both revenue and the value of the Website. The ideal visitor is a Webmaster who returns on a regular basis, purchases from our affiliate stores, purchases Web Marketing Applied, and participates in the interactive areas." In the Real Life Example, I identified how much I wanted my visitor count to be (4,000 a day), what the results of that will be (the strategic Web banner advertising program to increase revenue and site value), and what I want visitors to do (shop through our affiliates and purchase this book). It is important to note that this is an Internal Goal Statement for your personal information only. You should frame it and place it just above your computer, reading it every day and aiming toward making the statement come true. This is not a Mission Statement. Please see Chapter 2 for more information on Mission Statements and Chapter 9 for the difference between an Internal Goal Statement and a Mission Statement. Once you have identified what you want, it is time to move to Step #3.  Step #3: Commit to what it takes to be a Successful Web MarketerTo understand what it takes to be a successful Web marketer, there must be a clear and easy definition of successful Web marketing. Here is my definition: Successful Web marketing is the creative and consistent use of strategies and tactics aimed at drawing a long-term interest in your Website. With that definition in mind, let's get down to the nitty-gritty and look at the attributes it takes to be a successful marketer. These are the things you must have in order for your marketing efforts to be successful.  1) You must have discipline.Large portions of today's society are procrastinators. Unfortunately, I fall into that category. We are the type that will go out and buy a book on eliminating procrastination, yet never get around to reading it. But even for procrastinators, there must be some amount of discipline in our lives. As long as you apply that discipline to the right aspects of your life, you can still accomplish important tasks in a timely fashion. One of those important tasks is Web marketing. Web marketing is not something that you do once and then wait for the results. You must do it several times a day, every day. You must get in the habit of doing it. For example, I'm in the habit of taking vitamins every morning. I disciplined myself to do it every day and after a few weeks it became a natural habit. With Web marketing, you must establish a list of daily activities that you strictly follow. If you find this hard to do, then use a discipline/reward process, in which you don't allow yourself to do something you like until a task is completed. Trust me, it cures the procrastination problem pretty quickly! For example, I love to participate in the selling and buying of auction items on eBay (a great marketing technique as I'll show you in Chapter 2). So when I'm faced with an important task that must be accomplished, I refuse to allow myself to check eBay until I'm successfully done with that task. It works! Delegating certain duties can also be a big assistance in your marketing efforts. For example, I recruited my mom and dad to submit Animation Artist Magazine to Free For All Link pages on a daily basis! They do it faithfully every day. I know because of the hundreds of autoresponders I get every day from the Free For All Link sites (see Chapter 4 to learn how to avoid this). Delegate certain aspects of your marketing to people you can trust and be sure to reward them when you are successful. 2) You must have patience. In today's rush-rush society, it is easy to want everything to happen overnight. In the world of Web marketing, however, successful sites are built one day at a time. The Web marketing strategies you apply must be strategically woven so that they help achieve long-term goals and results as well as short-term goals. You want your Web visitors to return, right? If so, then you must have your marketing strategy in place to get visitors to return before you market for people to initially visit your Website. After all, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression - and it is that first impression that will determine whether a person returns or not. Remember that Web marketing is a consistent effort applied on a daily basis. You will see the results begin to add up as time goes on. Sure, you may only get ten new people a day who begin visiting regularly, but over the course of a year that amount has built to 3,650 loyal visitors a day! That's a pretty impressive number that will pay off big. With the first site I ever managed, it took me one year to build traffic up to 89,000 visitors a month. It was the number one Website in the company I worked for, which put out more than 50 sites. The success came through discipline and patience. 3) You must have realistic goals. Setting realistic goals goes hand-in-hand with patience. For example, "getting forty thousand new visitors in one week" is not a realistic goal. And even if it were, do you have the marketing tools in place to keep the visitors coming back on a regular basis? When Animation Artist Magazine reached 1,000 visitors a day and had 400 people on its mailing list, my wife (the editor) and I sat down to establish what our new goals would be for the next two months. We figured that within two months we could realistically double both numbers. So we set out to achieve 2,000 daily visitors and 800 mailing list subscribers. We surpassed the 2,000 daily visitors (by a couple of hundred) and came in slightly under the 800-member mailing list goal. Our new goal, for the following two-month period, was 3,000 visitors and 1,100 mailing list members, with a stronger marketing focus being put on getting newsletter subscribers. Once you set a realistic goal, you must do everything in your power to meet and exceed that goal. Keep daily track of your progress, even if it means putting a hand-drawn goal chart on your wall to track your progress. If you can visualize your goals getting accomplished, it will help motivate you to market your site even more. 4) You Must Have a Desire to Succeed. Everyone has a role model - someone that you have looked up to and have tried to shape aspects of your life after. My role model has always been Walt Disney. Here is a man who, when younger, was always told that it couldn't be done. He was told that no one would pay to see a full-length animated movie. He was told that Disneyland wouldn't succeed. Everywhere he went he heard "it can't be done," "that's impossible," "people won't be interested" and other negative comments. After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and other full-length Disney animated features, Walt Disney looked back saying, "You should have heard the howls of warning when we started making a full-length cartoon. It was prophesied that nobody would sit through such a thing." Walt Disney had a desire to succeed and a will to make his dreams come true. He knew that obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal. Walt Disney never saw any obstacles (because he didn't allow himself to) - only success. When you set a goal, it is important to zero in on that goal and do everything in your power to make that goal become a reality. If, by some chance, you fail the first time, get right back on your feet and start after the goal again. You will succeed. Never give up the desire and always remember these quotes: "The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Peter Drucker5) You Must Have Ethics. Unfortunately, the Web is plagued with marketers who use unethical methods to try and drive traffic to their sites or to the sites of their advertisers. Such unethical methods include forcing new windows to open when you try to leave a site, using search engine keywords that have nothing to do with their site, lying to visitors, and deceiving visitors. A few centuries ago, similar unethical methods would have meant the loss of one's honor - the ultimate punishment. If you want your marketing success to mean something, then you must avoid unethical behavior at all costs. Always be honest to your visitors and advertisers. Such honesty will only increase your loyalty. A few years ago I watched as a gentleman with a good reputation decided to enter the world of magazine publishing. He did a huge marketing push, recruiting experts in his field to write and to give "pre-testimonials" (testimonials before the product was done) as to how the publication was the best in the field. He emphasized that his publication was number one and what it offered blew away any competitors. He promised great things - a consistently delivered magazine with nearly 200 pages, and great bonuses to those who signed up. At every turn you would see a lot of hype and it was working as hundreds of people started to subscribe. But then some unique things started to happen. The first issue was very late and when it finally came out, the bonuses weren't included. People started to complain. The second issue was much later than the first. Instead of facing subscribers and telling them that he had gotten in over his head, this individual began making up stories about fires and other disasters being responsible for the delays. Emails from readers weren't returned, refunds weren't being given, and the "best magazine in the field" had only delivered two issues in a one-year period. Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, the individual was trying to sell the publication to publishing companies who wouldn't touch it because of the amount of debt it had incurred (I worked for one of the publishing companies he approached). Finally, he announced that the parent company had screwed up everything and he wasn't associated with the parent company, so was not part of the problem. Those who researched further found out that he was the parent company! Instead of being honest with readers and admitting his mistakes, this individual continued to build upon his lies. This resulted in threats of class-action lawsuits and hundreds of public posts condemning his behavior. There are now hundreds, if not thousands, of people who will never trust this person again because he was unethical in the treatment of his clients. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to always maintain your credibility and honor. Never lie to your visitors and never lie to your advertisers. Don't use deceiving methods to drive traffic to your site and don't lie about your statistics. Once you lose your honor, you can never regain it. Those you deceived will always be skeptical. When mob families were big in the early 1900's, dishonoring the family often meant a quick death. Even in medieval times a person who betrayed one's own king to help another to the throne was sometimes put to death by the very king he helped. Why? Because the new king knew the person who betrayed the former king could also betray him. So how can you keep your honor from being lost? A) Don't pre-announce things you aren't ready to deliver. Besides, it will tip off your competitors, as we'll discuss in Chapter 4. B) Don't over hype your product, service, or Website (it will only lead to disappointment). C) Choose your words carefully for it is not easy to take them back. D) Be willing to admit when you are wrong and be willing to apologize. E) Never be misleading.  Step #4: Design a Strategic Marketing PlanWhen you purchase a new product, like a software program, you turn to the manual to learn how to operate the software. The manual becomes your guide and the better the manual is written the quicker you will learn the program. In marketing, your guide is your Strategic Marketing Plan. This is what you will draft based on the advice and worksheets in Chapters 9 and 10. Your Strategic Marketing Plan is the personalization of Web marketing strategies and tactics into a plan aimed at increasing the number of visitors to your Website, establishing visitor loyalty, and reaching specific goals. Utilize the advice and worksheets in Chapters 9 & 10 to form your plan. Step #5: Execute Your Strategic Marketing Plan and Marketing Ideas Executing your Strategic Marketing Plan and marketing ideas is the most important element to your marketing success. You've laid the foundation and now you're ready to execute your plan. Chapter 2: 101 Marketing Ideas will be your key to great methods for marketing your Website. The chapter has been strategically organized to present you with 101 individual ideas, let you know which ideas work best, and to inform you as to what purpose each idea serves (i.e. attracting visitors, developing loyalty, etc.). The consistency with which you execute these ideas and the strategies you implement from your Strategic Marketing Plan will be the key aspect in how many visitors you get and whether those visitors form a loyalty to your Website. Before you start executing your Strategic Marketing Plan, and all of the ideas in Chapter 2, make sure that you have done the following: 1) You have a plan in place to turn a first time visitor into a repeat visitor. 2) You have a plan in place to encourage the visitor to sign up for your email newsletter. 3) Your site is optimized for branding (see Chapter 5: Marketing Your Website's Image). 4) You have a way to track your Website statistics (most providers hosting your site will provide these for you). 5) You are prepared to immediately respond to any inquiries (see Chapter 8: The Role of Public Relations in Marketing). Once all the above requirements are met, it's time to market, market, market! Now you may have questions like, "how do I encourage visitors to sign up for my email newsletter, how do I make an email newsletter? "How do I encourage repeat visits?" All those questions are answered in the Questions and Answers section of this chapter or throughout the book. © Copyright 2000 Joe Tracy. All rights reserved. return: idea site for business main menu |