WebStuff in Baraboo, WI has saved many a website from Anonymity.

Internet Marketing Strategies
that will catch more flies.

The Web is ALL around you.

If you are not yet a believer of what a WebSite can mean to your company, read on. Below are the Finer Points, and Importance of a Good WebSite.

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The Importance of a Good WebSite

  • Your Website is YOU - People expect it to be as functional, informative, and complete as anything else in your organization, if not more.
  • 24/7/365 Advertisement, Receptionist, and Information Resource.
  • Your WebSite is persistent…other advertising disappears into space as a radio-wave, or into the trash.
  • Include your www.address.com in all conventional advertising.
  • 10 pages or 100 pages - virtually the same cost.
  • Statewide/Nationwide/Worldwide.
  • Utilizing the WWW is for the most part Free.
  • Recruitment Resource, Hiring Tool

Search Engine Rankings

  • Without search engines, the only way to find a site is to know the exact URL or click a link.
  • All search engines use different algorithms and rules for ranking; they have different missions (some are medical, media, research, technical, or business oriented).
  • Search Engines all rank differently, but they have many similarities in "what they like to see in a Site".
  • Search engines are very changeable. They change their criteria, are frequently bought, sold, and cross-indexed.
  • Your site must be written and maintained with these criteria foremost in mind.

Web Visibility

  • Tap into the many resources people use to find products on the WWW.
  • Get listed on Electronic Yellow Pages, White Pages, Directories, etc...
  • Utilize links from "Partner" and friendly pages such as: State Tourism, Manufacturing Assoc., Trade and Industry groups, etc...
  • Learn, and use to FULL advantage, your new-found marketing tools.
  • Leverage all aspects of visibility - and keep at it.

E-Marketing on your Site

  • Don't miss a trick - make available all of your products and services.
  • Make available ALL pertinent information and give visitors a reasonable idea of pricing.
  • People hate Websites that skimp on content and convenience.
  • Give your clients an easy way to contact you or your dealers.
  • Customer Sign-Up for newsletters and notifications.
  • Customer Sign-Up for special events, give-aways, and contests.
  • Your Website is an ideal sales and marketing opportunity. Unlike every other form of advertisement, they have sought YOU out, and are paying you a visit. Don't blow it.

Write your Site

  • Clear, well considered content is King, for the Visitors and the Engines.
  • Avoid "Search Engine banned" practices. Gambling, prescription drug, and adult sites have used many tricks that the Engines screen for. Emulating their practices unknowingly can get you banned. FOREVER.
  • Site function and "find-ability" is more important than looks.
  • Poorly organized and deficient content will be the number one reason a visitor leaves your site and goes to the next one on the search list.
  • Content must appeal to search engines and visitors. The two are not easy to achieve simultaneously.
  • Keep your target audience in mind, and don't underestimate them.
  • Plenty of relevant pictures.
  • Give your visitors clear, appealing choices, not gizmos and whiz-bangs.

Submissions

  • Eventually, a few Search Engines will find you unbidden. But to actively improve your ratings you must "Submit" your site and get "Indexed".
  • Because every search engine is different, submitting your site "in bulk" is dangerous. Your first submissions are especially sensitive and must be manually completed and documented.
  • Submitting is far more difficult, and important, than it first appears. Most Engines have a 'Submit a Site' button. However, you really only get one chance to make a first Submission. The required responses on the questionnaire can be bewildering. It is not very obvious how the info will be used - until you see your Site on the Engine and say: "That's where my verbiage ended up?". The little blurb (Summary) next to your ranking, for instance, is very important and may be determined by what you say on the questionnaire at the time of Submission. Each Engine displays the search results a little differently. Some Engines just use the first sentence on your Site for a blurb. Both options can prove to be inadequate and embarrassing if you don't use some know-how at Submission time. This is only one example of many.
  • Repeat Submissions must be carefully documented but are less laborious and can be "automated". A haphazard approach to Submissions can nullify every other effort to achieve higher rankings.
  • Any search engine can banish you at it's discretion, for slight and unintentional mistakes in Site content or submission practices.
  • Learn, and leverage, each search engine's preferences.
  • Err on the side of caution. It can take considerable time to earn your high rankings, and one submission to lose it.

Indexing

  • The Search Engine's process for cataloguing EVERY word in your site's code and text.
  • Search Engine catalogs every image, word, link, title, heading, summary, description, and url on your site.
  • Spiders follow and record every link; internal and external.

Search Engines

  • Examples: Overture, Alta Vista, Lycos. Ranking Driven
  • Primarily artificial intelligence.
  • Can be manipulated(+) and abused(-)
  • Easier to EARN higher rankings. Merit based.
  • No way to ask for a review or appeal.
  • More garbage.

Search Directories

  • Examples: Yahoo, DMOZ, LookSmart. Category Driven
  • Primarily human supervised and rated.
  • Less likely to be manipulated or abused.
  • Much less control on rankings…you get what they assign you. No guarantees.
  • In some cases you can appeal to the humans.
  • In some cases, more trusted by users.
  • Less garbage.

Data Mining

  • Use Log Files and "trapped" information to identify Visitor's site usage.
  • Construct profiles of visitors and their habits.
  • Determine most popular pages and traffic patterns.
  • Identify returning visitors, one-timers, visitor locale, most popular days, times, departments etc…

Log File Analysis

  • LogFiles are free…and every site has them.
  • Coded record of every single click users make on your Site.
  • Indispensable for Data Mining.
  • Need to be configured, monitored, and secure.
  • Warns of broken links and server errors.
  • Traffic Analyzer - patterns of usage. Find most popular patterns and play to them.
  • Determine least favorite and "exit" pages and change them to increase and retain visitors.

Pay to Play

  • WebStuff does NOT recommend paying-to-play. Pay to play means when you stop paying, you stop playing. WS can show you how to have a great presence ALL THE TIME without paying a dime.
  • Some search engines and directories require one-time fees. Usually well worth it (and far cheaper) when compared to other advertising fees. (Yellow Pages, Print, TV, Radio).
  • Be decisive. Decide quickly where you will or won't pay, and live with the choice.
  • Search Engine Fees, Electronic YellowPage Fees, and Fees to Place Links (at choice WebSites that pertain to your business and can channel select traffic to you) are the extent of Pay to Play choices.
  • Many other free alternatives exist. There are many ways to get on PayOnly (payola) sites and directories without paying.
  • Try submitting your sites to all the Top Search Engines without paying anything, then come talk to WebStuff about how we do it.

The Continuing Game

  • Search engines are a moving, changeable target that requires constant vigilance.
  • It is a game you don't want to be left out of.
  • Search Engines buy and sell each other. Some provide content to other partner-engines. They can change their rules or focus without warning or explanation. Therefore, you can't expect them to sit still and you can't afford to lose track of them.

Maintain Rankings

  • You work very hard to achieve your rankings…don't waste the effort by letting them slide.
  • Competition is omnipresent, however you have the edge of superior knowledge and technique. This will allow you to consistently win and overcome your competitors.
  • The whole point of web-presence is lost every time you slip or are not PRESENT.

Keep it Fast

  • The Visitor hates a slow WebSite.
  • Flash animation, whiz-bangs, and most bells'n'whistles slow your site down. Clean, user-friendly, smart sites are easier to use and do not risk annoying the visitor.
  • Assume 90% of the public has a slow connection.
  • Visitors many-times think a link or page is broken if slow.
  • Most web-images look great even at low resolution. Not true with print media.

Use your WebSite

  • Far too many companies make a Site and under-utilize, or even give-up on it.
  • Don't be deterred by failures or disappointing results…WebSite success is not dependent on Luck. Diligence and smart-work will win out in the end.
  • An outdated, unkempt WebSite can be worse than no Site at all.
  • Websites are here to stay. Not staying in the game means you are riding the bench.

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