1. Choose the right URL, or Web site, address.

2. Make your Web site visible on the various search engines.

3. Place banner advertisements that link to your Web site on other Web sites.

4. Promote your Web site to your existing customers and prospects.

 

URLs
Your Web site address should be short, logical, and memorable so that someone could remember it without writing it down. Many new Internet companies will actually choose their name based on the availability of a domain name. You may not have this flexibility. It is also best to choose a domain within the “dotcom” top level domain. This is the premium real estate on the Web and will continue to be so even if or when additional top level domains become released.

Search Engines
Businesses have gone to a great deal of trouble making sure their Web sites show up on the various Web search engines. There are two types of search engines:

Many Web site search engines require you to submit your Web site address and a brief description of the content on your Web site. Sometimes these search engines automatically list your site, other times employees evaluate your site to make sure that what you promise is what you deliver.

Other search engines work quietly in the background, constantly searching the Web for keywords located in the text at the top of each of the individual pages of your Web site or elsewhere in your Web site, categorizing your Web site on the basis of the keywords.

If your Web site address doesn’t show up frequently enough (or at all), you might consider devoting some time to visiting each of the search Web sites, locating their search criteria, and submitting (or resubmitting) your Web site address.

Increasing your visibility
There are some inexpensive ways you can ensure that search engines that actively search the Web will locate your Web site. One is to be sure that you clearly identify the contents of each page of your Web site in the title area at the top of each page.

Another approach is to add HTML meta text to the top of each page below the title area. Meta text consists of keywords that describe the contents of each page. Meta text does not show up on the screen of your Web site visitor, but it is visible to the search engines who silently visit Web pages and inventory the meta text located at the top of each page.

If your Web site contains important text, like headlines and pull quotes formatted as graphic files that are downloaded along with each page of your Web site, you can use alt text to make sure that the formatted text is searchable. Although the graphic files themselves are not indexed by search engines, alt text (which appears on the screen of your visitor’s computer as the graphic text is downloaded) is searchable and indexable.

Pros and cons of search engines
The advantage of being listed by a search engine is that a lot of potential visitors to your Web site depend on them. However, if you are totally absent from the search engines, you will undoubtedly miss out on some sales opportunities.

Other problems involved with search engines are that not every Web visitor is aware of them or uses them, and the explosive growth of the Web has meant that the search engines are unable to keep up with new sites. Some research indicates that less than 16 percent of all Web sites are listed on search engines. Search sites are overwhelmed by the number of Web sites out there.

The primary emphasis of this book is on using the Web as a tool to develop closer relationships with existing customers and prospects and those you encounter during your day-to-day business activities. For this reason, it makes more sense to concentrate your attention on developing open and premium content for visitors at each stage of the customer development cycle, and backing up your efforts with a consistent and targeted e-mail program aimed at those most likely to buy from you, rather than investing a lot of time on marginal prospects.

Banner Advertising
Many Web sites contain banner advertisements. Banners are ads that, when clicked, bring the visitor from the current site to your Web site. Banner ads are either traded or sold. The purpose of trading banner ads is that, hopefully, when your ad is seen by visitors at a site attracting the same market as yours, the visitor will click on the banner and visit your Web site. You can also purchase banner ads on Web sites that, presumably, attract visitors who would enjoy visiting your site.

The pros and cons of banner ads
The advantage of banner advertisements is that your name and brief advertising message is viewed by tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of visitors to other Web sites each day, thereby increasing your firm’s visibility. Also, since payment for many banner advertisements is based on the number of visitors who click on the banner and visit your site, you pay only for the actual site visitors, even though your advertising message may have be seen by far more people. And, of course, there is no charge for banner ads that are exchanged or traded with other sites.

The problem of banner ads is that—at best—they are intrusions. They interrupt the primary reason the visitor is at a Web site, which is to learn something.

When trading banner ads on your site for banner ads on another site, of course, each time a visitor clicks on a banner on your site and leaves your site, there is a chance they might never return.

Another problem is that it is very difficult to obtain actual statistics on the number of purchases that result from banner advertising. Although many individuals may click on your banner advertisement and visit your Web site, it is very difficult to relate these visits to actual sales. You might end up spending a lot of money on banner advertising and find that only a few actual sales can be traced back to the originating advertisements. Your banner advertising might be attracting curiosity seekers rather than serious buyers.

Look to your competition
When evaluating banner advertising, pay attention to your competition. See how many businesses similar to yours in size and product mix use banner advertisements and where they are placed. This will give you a rough indication of whether others similar to you have successfully employed banner advertisements.

Promoting Your Web Site to Existing Customers and Prospects
A far better alternative to get visitors to your site is to promote your Web site to your core market—your current customers and prospects. There are three ways to do this:

You can promote your Web site’s address wherever possible, such as on all of your existing print communications.

You can obtain your customers’ and prospects’ e-mail addresses whenever possible.

You can create a direct-mail or telemarketing promotion designed to drive visitors to your site.