Why use contact forms? by Ted Peterson
Individuals and businesses for an easy communication form use contact forms for their guests. This gives all visitors a way in which to communicate with your business or with you, regarding all kinds of things from questions about products to ordering your products and services. Many contact forms can also be used for gathering information for survey questions, polling visitors on various topics, or allowing visitors to join your newsletter.
When companies post their emails addresses on their websites it opens the door for spammers to send you all kinds of emails that you more than likely do not wish to receive, this can include advertisements, pornography, and other such material. If you run a business weeding through all the spam emails to find the ones you really need or wish to read can be a very time consuming chore. On the other hand, if you use a contact form, your email is hidden from the human eye. Of course, this does not mean that you will never receive spam, but with the newest technologies available with our contact forms you will not receive as much as some.
There are such things out there called email harvesters and bots that can either retrieve your email by visiting your website and seeing the posted address or by the way of bots that can retrieve email addresses even behind the scenes. There are even some bots that can write in the fields you have on your form to send you spam submissions. With our contact forms you will have an advantage as we have a hidden anti-spam form field that the human eye cannot see. The bot of course will see this field and fill it in. When this occurs, the submitted content will automatically be discarded as spam.
Using contact forms is a better way in which to protect not only your email address, but personal information that might be included on the contact form from your visitors. You will be protecting not only yourself and your business but all that wish to correspond with you through the contact form. Bots will not be able to retrieve any of the information supplied by yourself or by your visitors.
With contact forms on your website you will be able to give your visitors the ability to communicate safely and effectively through a website form, thus giving them a more secure and reliable communication system. With this in place, you will see an increase in community interaction and comments for your surveys and polls.
Using our contact forms is so easy; you do not need to know html, any technical knowledge, and can work on any web server. Our wizard will guide you through the process step by step so you can create the exact contact form while including all the questions you may need without any hassles of learning a computer language. All you do is fill in the information, copy the code that is generated, and then paste the code onto the appropriate page of your website.
About the Author
Ted Peterson writes for 123 Contact Form , a free service that helps you integrate HTML forms into your website.
Secret Confessions of A Webmaster
Secret Confessions of A Webmaster by Thomas Henricks
Sitting here working on a new website, it occurred to me that there have been several progressions in my website publishing skills and several changes to the quality of those websites. The amusing thing that I pondered was the fact that at each stage I was so proud of my accomplishment and thought I had achieved success.
The stages I went through all came back to mind.
My first effort was with one of the new and cool online website tools, possibly Geocities or Yahoo. I think I tried them both. I was very excited about the fact that I actually had something on the internet. I think I even managed to add a picture to display to friends and family. This was exciting. At that time I thought, this is it, I am there and I have done it. It can not get any better. I have a website.
Well, it got better. I started a little fishing charter business on the side and decided that I must have a website to promote the small business. I am going to do this thing right. You see, I had hosting space included with my high speed internet package. This would be the ultimate, actually having my own website name and the works.
I invested heavily in a website building software package. I think it cost me about seventy bucks. That package is still around. I had to look it up when thinking back about all these memories. Now I had my own website name (domain) and web hosting space dedicated specifically for me. I even learned a bit about SEO although back then I do not remember as much emphasis on the issue. Now I published a real website. I thought, wow, I am there now. Looking back I realize just how crude that website really was but I loved it.
I guess from there, the progressions were not so pronounced but I must say they were many. I tried Dreamweaver and I really did not like it. I moved on to FrontPage publishing. It is a nice package but sometimes the unconventional extras are a pain in the rear.
I have moved on again. I have found a complete yet simple to use website publishing package. It lacks some of the bells and whistles of the others but it is unmatched in my opinion for getting out a code clean, pleasant appearing, basic website. It is easy to learn and guides you through the process quite efficiently. It even helps you with some basic SEO assistance built right into the application.
So now I have more website and again I think , I am there. It does not get any better. Let me see, have I not said that before? Does any of this ring a bell with you? I wonder what I will be looking back on again in a year or two. Will I again be saying, well now I am there?
About the Author
Tom Henricks shares webmaster experiences. Quality webhosting is important. For assistance please visit Top rated Website Hosting Packages For issues related to website hosting goto Website Hosting Discussions
Sitting here working on a new website, it occurred to me that there have been several progressions in my website publishing skills and several changes to the quality of those websites. The amusing thing that I pondered was the fact that at each stage I was so proud of my accomplishment and thought I had achieved success.
The stages I went through all came back to mind.
My first effort was with one of the new and cool online website tools, possibly Geocities or Yahoo. I think I tried them both. I was very excited about the fact that I actually had something on the internet. I think I even managed to add a picture to display to friends and family. This was exciting. At that time I thought, this is it, I am there and I have done it. It can not get any better. I have a website.
Well, it got better. I started a little fishing charter business on the side and decided that I must have a website to promote the small business. I am going to do this thing right. You see, I had hosting space included with my high speed internet package. This would be the ultimate, actually having my own website name and the works.
I invested heavily in a website building software package. I think it cost me about seventy bucks. That package is still around. I had to look it up when thinking back about all these memories. Now I had my own website name (domain) and web hosting space dedicated specifically for me. I even learned a bit about SEO although back then I do not remember as much emphasis on the issue. Now I published a real website. I thought, wow, I am there now. Looking back I realize just how crude that website really was but I loved it.
I guess from there, the progressions were not so pronounced but I must say they were many. I tried Dreamweaver and I really did not like it. I moved on to FrontPage publishing. It is a nice package but sometimes the unconventional extras are a pain in the rear.
I have moved on again. I have found a complete yet simple to use website publishing package. It lacks some of the bells and whistles of the others but it is unmatched in my opinion for getting out a code clean, pleasant appearing, basic website. It is easy to learn and guides you through the process quite efficiently. It even helps you with some basic SEO assistance built right into the application.
So now I have more website and again I think , I am there. It does not get any better. Let me see, have I not said that before? Does any of this ring a bell with you? I wonder what I will be looking back on again in a year or two. Will I again be saying, well now I am there?
About the Author
Tom Henricks shares webmaster experiences. Quality webhosting is important. For assistance please visit Top rated Website Hosting Packages For issues related to website hosting goto Website Hosting Discussions
Business Web Directories Generate Good Business
Business Web Directories Generate Good Business by Ajeet Khurana
The potential of the Internet as a medium for business enterprise is undoubtedly not being taken for granted. Functions necessarily thrive on sponsorships in order to be successful, since operating costs can get quite significant. The user can not afford the cost turnover, companies are willing to compensate for at least part of the expenses in return for advertisement.
The web as we call it is also based on a similar paradigm. The web is practically a sprawling fair ground for thriving and established businesses, in an effort to stake their share of the user's attention, and hopefully generate good business in the process. With numerous corporations sprawled all over and across the vast area of open cyberspace, it's but natural for a user to be hindered by limitations when searching for a particular product or service, unless he knows the particular domain which the company has taken on.
In my opinion this makes a strong case for Internet based web directories.
Business web directories function very much like every other search engine: the user types a query or keyword which is related to a particular topic in mind, and the search engine processes all content within its database which has any relation to the keyword.
This is compiled into a list and presented to the user in order of decreasing relevance. Business web directories differ since they focus mainly on topics of business and financial content. For example a query keyword of 'stock' may bring results containing the word of varied topics in a general search engine, but with a business web directory, the list would only contain topics which leans to the business context of the word, such as 'stock options' or 'stock market.'
Business web directories have a database containing numerous business articles which may be of assistance to the user who may be looking for content of specific nature, or for those who are still unsure of what to look, for but may have a vague idea concerning a topic.
You can certainly learn business by reading articles written by experts. Users can also browse business documents of varied content, some are available free of charge while some require a viewing or download fee. Content can be anything from documents of rights acquisition to a copy of a corporation's in-house policies.
Business web directories generate a substantial part of their income from paid advertisements and sponsorships, as well as paid links which are published on the site. A typical search listing from a user may include paid links which comprises the top results, giving more exposure to the company which posted it.
It is not the general results, but the sponsored results that come up first. Regular advertisements are also a main source for income, since companies pay high premiums in having their company ad posted on the header or sides of a page.
There are many kinds of sponsorships. It could be CPC, CPM or simply a fixed fee paid per month. That is not to say that I have not seen far more creative approaches to charging advertisers.
About the Author
A friend runs a Business Directory. In it she has Business Articles and Business Documents Templates. Do visit and check it out.
The potential of the Internet as a medium for business enterprise is undoubtedly not being taken for granted. Functions necessarily thrive on sponsorships in order to be successful, since operating costs can get quite significant. The user can not afford the cost turnover, companies are willing to compensate for at least part of the expenses in return for advertisement.
The web as we call it is also based on a similar paradigm. The web is practically a sprawling fair ground for thriving and established businesses, in an effort to stake their share of the user's attention, and hopefully generate good business in the process. With numerous corporations sprawled all over and across the vast area of open cyberspace, it's but natural for a user to be hindered by limitations when searching for a particular product or service, unless he knows the particular domain which the company has taken on.
In my opinion this makes a strong case for Internet based web directories.
Business web directories function very much like every other search engine: the user types a query or keyword which is related to a particular topic in mind, and the search engine processes all content within its database which has any relation to the keyword.
This is compiled into a list and presented to the user in order of decreasing relevance. Business web directories differ since they focus mainly on topics of business and financial content. For example a query keyword of 'stock' may bring results containing the word of varied topics in a general search engine, but with a business web directory, the list would only contain topics which leans to the business context of the word, such as 'stock options' or 'stock market.'
Business web directories have a database containing numerous business articles which may be of assistance to the user who may be looking for content of specific nature, or for those who are still unsure of what to look, for but may have a vague idea concerning a topic.
You can certainly learn business by reading articles written by experts. Users can also browse business documents of varied content, some are available free of charge while some require a viewing or download fee. Content can be anything from documents of rights acquisition to a copy of a corporation's in-house policies.
Business web directories generate a substantial part of their income from paid advertisements and sponsorships, as well as paid links which are published on the site. A typical search listing from a user may include paid links which comprises the top results, giving more exposure to the company which posted it.
It is not the general results, but the sponsored results that come up first. Regular advertisements are also a main source for income, since companies pay high premiums in having their company ad posted on the header or sides of a page.
There are many kinds of sponsorships. It could be CPC, CPM or simply a fixed fee paid per month. That is not to say that I have not seen far more creative approaches to charging advertisers.
About the Author
A friend runs a Business Directory. In it she has Business Articles and Business Documents Templates. Do visit and check it out.
How To Get FreeTargeted Website Traffic
How To Get FreeTargeted Website Traffic by Martin Eshleman
One of the most difficult tasks of owning and operating a website is making the website known to the rest of the world. Submitting your website to search engines is not the only way to start getting visitors. Besides, after doing this, it may take months to get your website listed even in any search results! Now you will learn some of the best methods of driving quality traffic to your website. These methods require very little effort and are totally free!
Perhaps one of the best methods of driving free targeted visitors to your website is to submit to online forums. Joining an online forum takes less than 3 minutes and you can usually get started right away. The first step a person should take is to find a forum that is very popular and related to your website content. This can be easily done by performing a fast search on any major search engine. The forums on the very first page are the most popular and get the most visitors. You want the forum to be related to your website content simply because it will help eliminate your post from being considered spam. Also, this ensures that you will receive quality visitors to your website. A visitor going to a forum about dogs will not want to read your post about something other than dogs and even if they do read your post and click on your link then there is a very high chance this visitor to your website will not stay long enough for the page to get done even loading. However, if the forum is about cars and your website is also about cars then the person visiting the forum will already be interested in cars or else they would not be there in the first place. Then they go on to read your post and click the link to your website and you got yourself a targeted visitor. After finding the forum for you, the next step is to create a signature line that will contain a link to your website. This is great if you want to post replies to topics already posted by other people. You can also start your own topics but just make sure its relevant to your website content and not spammy, as was already explained. However, even if the forums for some reason do not bring you traffic, the links in your posts will be seen by the search engines and will count as a oneway backlink to your website which will help your search engine rankings.
Another great method of driving free targeted traffic to your website is to join online groups. Joining is free and takes only a couple minutes. Almost all online groups are moderated so you do not want to send to all the members of a group about investing a message about your website that is about toys. This is spam and will most likely be reported. It will not produce quality traffic anyways. Some groups have one thousand or more members who get the group messages directly emailed to them. Join a lot of relevant groups and send intelligent messages and you will immediately start seeing positive results! Before posting to online groups, it is recommended that you read the group guidelines and terms.
Another great method of getting free targeted traffic is to register for free online auctions. There are some good ones believe it or not that actually do bring a ton of visitors. They can be found by performing a search on any of the major search engines. After registering, create an "About Me" page that contains some information relevant to your website and make sure to provide a link to your website. Also, on every auction listing be sure to make a link directly to your "About Me" page. Then visitors to your auction will see a link to this page and some will click on it and out of these visitors to your "About Me" page a certain percentage will click on the link to your website. And they will be quality visitors because if they did not like what you said in your "About Me" page they would have never clicked on the link to your website. However, even if this does not produce you any traffic you can still make money selling your items for free instead of paid auctions. And the best part of all, having a link to your website from your "About Me" page will be seen by the search engines and will be counted as a oneway backlink to your website which will increase your ranking on search engines anyways.
Finally, another great method of bringing free targeted traffic to your website is to create an email signature. This signature should contain a line or two about your website that will catch the attention of the reader. It should also contain a link to your website. Email signatures are placed in your emails automatically by your email provider. If you send a lot of emails per week then it is fair to say that a good percentage will see the signature, read the attention grabber and click on the link to your website. The more emails you would send the better and the best part of all it is totally free and requires no effort on your part. Again, do not send spam emails to people in hopes it will produce you more traffic. It is against the law and will most likely result in you being reported.
About the Author
Freebies and Super Discounts
24-7 Discounts Copyright 2007
www.24-7Discounts.com
One of the most difficult tasks of owning and operating a website is making the website known to the rest of the world. Submitting your website to search engines is not the only way to start getting visitors. Besides, after doing this, it may take months to get your website listed even in any search results! Now you will learn some of the best methods of driving quality traffic to your website. These methods require very little effort and are totally free!
Perhaps one of the best methods of driving free targeted visitors to your website is to submit to online forums. Joining an online forum takes less than 3 minutes and you can usually get started right away. The first step a person should take is to find a forum that is very popular and related to your website content. This can be easily done by performing a fast search on any major search engine. The forums on the very first page are the most popular and get the most visitors. You want the forum to be related to your website content simply because it will help eliminate your post from being considered spam. Also, this ensures that you will receive quality visitors to your website. A visitor going to a forum about dogs will not want to read your post about something other than dogs and even if they do read your post and click on your link then there is a very high chance this visitor to your website will not stay long enough for the page to get done even loading. However, if the forum is about cars and your website is also about cars then the person visiting the forum will already be interested in cars or else they would not be there in the first place. Then they go on to read your post and click the link to your website and you got yourself a targeted visitor. After finding the forum for you, the next step is to create a signature line that will contain a link to your website. This is great if you want to post replies to topics already posted by other people. You can also start your own topics but just make sure its relevant to your website content and not spammy, as was already explained. However, even if the forums for some reason do not bring you traffic, the links in your posts will be seen by the search engines and will count as a oneway backlink to your website which will help your search engine rankings.
Another great method of driving free targeted traffic to your website is to join online groups. Joining is free and takes only a couple minutes. Almost all online groups are moderated so you do not want to send to all the members of a group about investing a message about your website that is about toys. This is spam and will most likely be reported. It will not produce quality traffic anyways. Some groups have one thousand or more members who get the group messages directly emailed to them. Join a lot of relevant groups and send intelligent messages and you will immediately start seeing positive results! Before posting to online groups, it is recommended that you read the group guidelines and terms.
Another great method of getting free targeted traffic is to register for free online auctions. There are some good ones believe it or not that actually do bring a ton of visitors. They can be found by performing a search on any of the major search engines. After registering, create an "About Me" page that contains some information relevant to your website and make sure to provide a link to your website. Also, on every auction listing be sure to make a link directly to your "About Me" page. Then visitors to your auction will see a link to this page and some will click on it and out of these visitors to your "About Me" page a certain percentage will click on the link to your website. And they will be quality visitors because if they did not like what you said in your "About Me" page they would have never clicked on the link to your website. However, even if this does not produce you any traffic you can still make money selling your items for free instead of paid auctions. And the best part of all, having a link to your website from your "About Me" page will be seen by the search engines and will be counted as a oneway backlink to your website which will increase your ranking on search engines anyways.
Finally, another great method of bringing free targeted traffic to your website is to create an email signature. This signature should contain a line or two about your website that will catch the attention of the reader. It should also contain a link to your website. Email signatures are placed in your emails automatically by your email provider. If you send a lot of emails per week then it is fair to say that a good percentage will see the signature, read the attention grabber and click on the link to your website. The more emails you would send the better and the best part of all it is totally free and requires no effort on your part. Again, do not send spam emails to people in hopes it will produce you more traffic. It is against the law and will most likely result in you being reported.
About the Author
Freebies and Super Discounts
24-7 Discounts Copyright 2007
www.24-7Discounts.com
The Rewards of Writing Articles
The Rewards of Writing Articles by Thomas Henricks
Do you enjoy writng articles about various themes or topics and enjoy the challenge of trying to be the best in a very competitive industry. Building websites and trying to make them perform better that masses of websites numbering in the millions can be a great learning experience if it fits into your nature.
Success in Tomswebsites has come in varying degrees but through the years he has learned a great deal about search engine optimization and has run the gamut for various come and go methods to make the search engines happy. Google as expected is constantly in a stste of change regarding it's ranking algorhythm and. It is said that their end goal is to please the consumer and provide better search results for the user.
To that end result, webmasters are constantly making every possible effort to incorporate techniques that will meet the demands that Google requires for a quality website, we have seen the constant discussion regarding reciprocal linking. This was simply a process where webmaster exchanged links in order to provide some form of authority support for each other's website.
The theory is that if a website that has a strong rank as seen by Google, links to another website, then that website must have some sort of validity within it.This process became over used and soon we saw discussions that revolved around the issue. Tom Henricks wrote one such article titled "Is reciprocal linking dead" several years ago. I believe that discussion and question remains valid yet today.
Another reciprocal linking article that is valid yet "Follow Up "Is reciprocal Linking Dead" discusses reciprocal linking techniques and efforts of webmasters. Then articles surfaced stating emphatically that yes- "Reciprocal Linking is dead". Without doubt, the value of reciprocal links has diminished to a high degree. This is not to say they have no value at all though.
We have seen the rise of techniques such as social bookmarking, blogs, tag and ping and lately much emphasis has been place on the website's own linking structure. Through out this whole evolution really should bear in mind one important issue. Regardless of the who analysis algorhythm used by search engines, quality content within websites will prevail in the end. That is the goal of search engine analysis and they are constantly getting better at this analysis game.
Tom is amused often by searches of articles he has written. He observes plagiarism of articles such as " Water Softener VS Water Filter" and " What is the Magic in a Hibiscus Plant? ". It is I guess some form of compliment or flattery when a would be author takes an article and rewrites it (often poorly) and submits it as his own work. The whole challenge is exciting and when you experience some degree of success, a great feeling of satisfaction will be your reward.
About the Author
Tom Henricks shares webmaster experiences. Quality webhosting is important. For assistance please visit http://www.onlinweb.com/Packages-At-A-Glance.html Best Rated Webhosting For discussions on website hosting goto http://www.onlinweb.com/wordpress Website Hosting Discussions
Do you enjoy writng articles about various themes or topics and enjoy the challenge of trying to be the best in a very competitive industry. Building websites and trying to make them perform better that masses of websites numbering in the millions can be a great learning experience if it fits into your nature.
Success in Tomswebsites has come in varying degrees but through the years he has learned a great deal about search engine optimization and has run the gamut for various come and go methods to make the search engines happy. Google as expected is constantly in a stste of change regarding it's ranking algorhythm and. It is said that their end goal is to please the consumer and provide better search results for the user.
To that end result, webmasters are constantly making every possible effort to incorporate techniques that will meet the demands that Google requires for a quality website, we have seen the constant discussion regarding reciprocal linking. This was simply a process where webmaster exchanged links in order to provide some form of authority support for each other's website.
The theory is that if a website that has a strong rank as seen by Google, links to another website, then that website must have some sort of validity within it.This process became over used and soon we saw discussions that revolved around the issue. Tom Henricks wrote one such article titled "Is reciprocal linking dead" several years ago. I believe that discussion and question remains valid yet today.
Another reciprocal linking article that is valid yet "Follow Up "Is reciprocal Linking Dead" discusses reciprocal linking techniques and efforts of webmasters. Then articles surfaced stating emphatically that yes- "Reciprocal Linking is dead". Without doubt, the value of reciprocal links has diminished to a high degree. This is not to say they have no value at all though.
We have seen the rise of techniques such as social bookmarking, blogs, tag and ping and lately much emphasis has been place on the website's own linking structure. Through out this whole evolution really should bear in mind one important issue. Regardless of the who analysis algorhythm used by search engines, quality content within websites will prevail in the end. That is the goal of search engine analysis and they are constantly getting better at this analysis game.
Tom is amused often by searches of articles he has written. He observes plagiarism of articles such as " Water Softener VS Water Filter" and " What is the Magic in a Hibiscus Plant? ". It is I guess some form of compliment or flattery when a would be author takes an article and rewrites it (often poorly) and submits it as his own work. The whole challenge is exciting and when you experience some degree of success, a great feeling of satisfaction will be your reward.
About the Author
Tom Henricks shares webmaster experiences. Quality webhosting is important. For assistance please visit http://www.onlinweb.com/Packages-At-A-Glance.html Best Rated Webhosting For discussions on website hosting goto http://www.onlinweb.com/wordpress Website Hosting Discussions
Free Web Marketing
Free Web Marketing by Sharon Housley
Not all web marketing needs to cost money. Aside from website submissions, there are a number of things that web marketers can do that are free, though they may be rather time-consuming. Other marketing tactics are relatively inexpensive, and are often well worth the investment.
Follow these basic steps to market your website and business.
1. Sign It
Include your website URL as part of your "signature" in any online forum and newsgroup posts. It is not uncommon for someone who appreciates the comments to click through to the websites found in the signatures of forum posts. This will not only increase link popularity, but will help establish your industry knowledge. It goes without saying that URLs should also be included in email signatures.
2. Utilize Social Bookmarking
There are a number of social bookmarking websites, where the collective users select the materials that they determine to be popular. If you have created resources that are worthy, be sure to bookmark them in the social bookmarking networks. List of
Social Bookmarking Websites - http://www.feedforall.com/social-bookmarking-icons.htm
3. Niche Networking
Network with key players in niche markets. Schmoozing with authorities in niche markets can often pay big dividends. Learn the "Who's Who" in any given niche market.
4. Donations
Goodwill goes a long way. Donate a percentage of sales to a non-profit organization or charity. If revenue is an issue, consider donating products or services to fund-raising auctions or other fund-raising efforts. Donations will often reach an audience outside the parameters of your normal market, and will show that you care... and aside from all that, your donations will actually benefit the organization or charity.
5. Answers / Askville
Use Yahoo Answers and Amazon's Askville to answer questions. The more answers that are endorsed, the more your advice will be valued. Provide genuine, honest answers and build your reputation. It appears that many "top" answers appear high in Yahoo search results, and Yahoo Answers captures a lot of long-tail traffic.
Yahoo Answers - http://answers.yahoo.com Amazon Askville - http://www.askville.com
6. SEO
Spend the time it takes to properly optimize your website for the search engines. This is not an area to cut corners or skimp on. Proper search engine optimization, while an ongoing process and very time-consuming, can pay big dividends and will often result in long-term search engine traffic.
7. Classifieds
There are a number of free classified listing services. Add your products or services to any free classified listings that might be relevant.
8. Recommend It
Add a "Recommend To A Friend" script to the product pages on your website. Nothing beats a referral from a friend. Leverage viral marketing by providing your website visitors with the tools to easily spread the word for you.
9. Blog / RSS / Podcasting
Generate your own publicity using a blog, RSS feed, podcast, or video cast. Use these alternate communication channels to expand your audience. 10. Related Content Site Develop a content website that contains related information and materials. Content sites are often defined as "authority" websites. Authority websites are often quick to garner search engine favor and top ranking for relevant search terms.
10. Wiki
Update wiki listings with useful and helpful content. Good wiki editing will reinforce your reputation and help educate your audience.
11. Forum Participation
Actively participating in related forums will generate goodwill and increase your brand reputation. And be sure to add a company tagline and website link to the signature of your forum posts.
Marketing efforts need not break the bank for a fledgling company or struggling small business. Use the tools available, and build your business through smart marketing.
About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
Not all web marketing needs to cost money. Aside from website submissions, there are a number of things that web marketers can do that are free, though they may be rather time-consuming. Other marketing tactics are relatively inexpensive, and are often well worth the investment.
Follow these basic steps to market your website and business.
1. Sign It
Include your website URL as part of your "signature" in any online forum and newsgroup posts. It is not uncommon for someone who appreciates the comments to click through to the websites found in the signatures of forum posts. This will not only increase link popularity, but will help establish your industry knowledge. It goes without saying that URLs should also be included in email signatures.
2. Utilize Social Bookmarking
There are a number of social bookmarking websites, where the collective users select the materials that they determine to be popular. If you have created resources that are worthy, be sure to bookmark them in the social bookmarking networks. List of
Social Bookmarking Websites - http://www.feedforall.com/social-bookmarking-icons.htm
3. Niche Networking
Network with key players in niche markets. Schmoozing with authorities in niche markets can often pay big dividends. Learn the "Who's Who" in any given niche market.
4. Donations
Goodwill goes a long way. Donate a percentage of sales to a non-profit organization or charity. If revenue is an issue, consider donating products or services to fund-raising auctions or other fund-raising efforts. Donations will often reach an audience outside the parameters of your normal market, and will show that you care... and aside from all that, your donations will actually benefit the organization or charity.
5. Answers / Askville
Use Yahoo Answers and Amazon's Askville to answer questions. The more answers that are endorsed, the more your advice will be valued. Provide genuine, honest answers and build your reputation. It appears that many "top" answers appear high in Yahoo search results, and Yahoo Answers captures a lot of long-tail traffic.
Yahoo Answers - http://answers.yahoo.com Amazon Askville - http://www.askville.com
6. SEO
Spend the time it takes to properly optimize your website for the search engines. This is not an area to cut corners or skimp on. Proper search engine optimization, while an ongoing process and very time-consuming, can pay big dividends and will often result in long-term search engine traffic.
7. Classifieds
There are a number of free classified listing services. Add your products or services to any free classified listings that might be relevant.
8. Recommend It
Add a "Recommend To A Friend" script to the product pages on your website. Nothing beats a referral from a friend. Leverage viral marketing by providing your website visitors with the tools to easily spread the word for you.
9. Blog / RSS / Podcasting
Generate your own publicity using a blog, RSS feed, podcast, or video cast. Use these alternate communication channels to expand your audience. 10. Related Content Site Develop a content website that contains related information and materials. Content sites are often defined as "authority" websites. Authority websites are often quick to garner search engine favor and top ranking for relevant search terms.
10. Wiki
Update wiki listings with useful and helpful content. Good wiki editing will reinforce your reputation and help educate your audience.
11. Forum Participation
Actively participating in related forums will generate goodwill and increase your brand reputation. And be sure to add a company tagline and website link to the signature of your forum posts.
Marketing efforts need not break the bank for a fledgling company or struggling small business. Use the tools available, and build your business through smart marketing.
About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
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