Web Business Overview – Marketing

You’ve done your research, written a business plan and created a web site. Now it’s time to market your web business.

Internet Marketing

There are many ways to market a web site. One of the best ways is through search engines and directories. Search engines ensure pre-qualified traffic, meaning that if someone finds your site through a search engine, there is a good chance they are looking for the widgets you are selling. You just have to do you homework on keywords, optimize your site and submit it to search engines correctly.

Organic

There are several types of search engines and directories. A spider search engine uses programs called spiders to go around the web and collect data and bring it back to the engine. The data is then analyzed using various mathematical algorithms and your site appears in various listings. Of course, you want to get to the top of the listings, but that subject is beyond the scope of this article.

PPC

Then there are pay-per-click search engines, which require the site owner to pay for every click received from a list of search terms the site owner provides. Traffic can cost anywhere from a cent to a few dollars per click on pay per click engines. This is a good way to get immediate traffic to your site.

Directories

Then there are the directories, such as Yahoo. These directors have reviewers that check submissions for quality and categorize them in folder-like branches of information. Directories such as Yahoo require a payment for listing, whereas other directories, such as DMOZ, do not. Some directories use a combination of human and spider review as well.

Trading Links

Another way to get traffic to your site is by trading links with other sites. A banner or text link is placed on your site to another relevant site, then you kindly request that a link to your site be placed on the site you have linked to. Link trading has a side benefit, to wit, the more you trade the higher you will appear in organic search engine results.

Brick n’ Mortar

Other methods of web promotion include web rings, banner exchanges, print advertising, banner advertising, TV and radio advertising and good old networking. Far to often, web businesses fail to pursue regular old marketing methods. Don’t make this mistake.

Now that you have a good plan, done some research, provided your service or product for all to see with a web site, and marketed your site to no end, there is nothing left to do but sit back and rake in the cash. Until, of course, your competitors start moving in on your customers and you have to start the cycle all over again.