Web Wise

Marketing Your Web Site

"A Web site is like a store built on a dead-end street. Nobody comes by accident. Either they deliberately type in your URL, or more likely they click on a link they find in a Web search engine or elsewhere," says Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, editor of Web Marketing Today.

Marketing your Web site is the key to Web success. Finding the right marketing mix for a Web site is fairly easy, but it may take some time to carry out the process.

Registering At Search Engines
When your Web site goes on-line the first thing you need to do is register your Uniform Resource Locator (URL) at the major search engines and directories (Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, Infoseek...). Before you start this process you should come up with key words (location, shop name, specialties) and a brief description of what your Web site offers. At the search engine, go to the section called "Add URL" or "Add Site" and fill out the form. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks for your site to be added.

Some search engines will only let you register your domain name, while others allow registration of each Web page in your site. Also, in categorical indexes, like Yahoo, you will need to choose the correct directory heading for your URL.

Most of the popular search engines will link to your site for free, though some services do charge fees for linking. There are also many Web marketing services that will register your site at search engines, for a fee. Basically, if you get linked to the popular free sites, your Web site will be found by the majority of Web users.

Advertising On The Web
The majority of advertising on the Web is done with Banner Ads and links. Banner Ads are small graphics with slogans linked to the home page of the advertiser, usually appearing at the top of a Web page. However, getting related sites to link to your site is probably the best way to advertise on the Web. Go to Web sites of the associations and businesses that you deal with and request a link to your Web site. Finding a local directory Web site for your community is a good idea too. There may be a fee but for local exposure the link is worth the money.

Targeting Your Audience
Most Web users are consumers looking for information about products and services. Some may come to your site out of curiousity while they are surfing the Web, but usually searches are driven by a desire to learn more about a certain topic.

People who have access to the Web and don't have a regular shop will most likely surf the Web when they need to find one. You will want to focus on these Web users. Directions to your shop, on-line appointment request forms, Web coupons and detailed information about your shop qualifications will give you an edge over the competition with Web users. If you make it easy for them to choose you they probably will!

Put Your URL On Everything
Once your Web site is established with a domain name, make sure that you put the URL and e-mail address on all of your printed material (letterhead, business cards, brochures, mailings, advertisements, invoices). Also, all employees should become familiar with the Web site and know the URL in case they receive any inquiries. You may also want to send out a press release to the community stating what your site offers.

Geek Speak:

Spider: A computer program used by some search engines to crawl around the Web to find new Web pages to add to their index. (AltaVista: http://www.altavista.com)

Directory: A catalog of Web sites where URLs need to be registered in order to appear in search results. (Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com)

ASA Web Ways

ASA will help you market your site on the Web! You can get a link to your site from the Find Nearest ASA Shop section of the ASA Web site. This section has been the most visted page on the ASA Web site for the past few months. Consumers are definitely looking for shops on-line!

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