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| Internet |
 Marketing On The
InternetBy Lisa Kryder, owner of NetProfitMarketing.com Day by day, the World Wide Web becomes the medium of choice for finding information in a hurry. The estimated number of current users ranges from 9 to 35 million, as cited by the magazine Intelliquest. The average age of Internet users is 33, according to a Dec. 1997 article in Internet Words, while their average salaries are $59,000 (compared with a U.S. average of $20,690). Why do people cruise the Web? The vast majority of people (97%) use it to become better informed, while 81% find it a good place to research products and services. Another 57% say they surf the Web for fun. (Statistics based on survey of 500 adults reported in Net Smart Mag.) Website owners interested in promoting products and services have one desire in common; to bring browsers back to their sites again and again. As every marketing guru says, repetition works, so repeat visits to Websites multiplies chances of closing the loop on a sale. Keep Them Coming Back to Your Site - What makes interested browsers keep coming back? • Update - Provide information of value and keep changing that information. Establish yourself as a subject matter expert through your Website. Offer the latest topics, trends, breakthroughs, conference updates, etc. on your site. Making your ideas relevant to the industry ties them closer to your site as an information resource. Being creative, even outrageous. Search the Web to see what others are doing and adapt them to your area of expertise. • Engage - Encourage participation when browsers visit your site. Have them pick door A or B, answer a preliminary question, choose from a list, email their opinion on a subject . • Reward - Give them a free 'something' if they leave their name and address. For example, you can e-mail them an article on the subject of your expertise. Offer them an industry update. Think about what people in your target audience want to know. • Give Tips - Offer 'thought of the day' or 'tip of the week' regularly. • Teach - Create an on-line tutorial. Use short instructions that teaches your visitors something new. • Question - Make it easy for visitors to give their opinions through an online guest book. You might even pose a question and announce the person who gave the correct answer as a winner on your Website. Give the winner a reward (i.e., a coupon to buy your product at a nearby store) and pose a new question to keep the momentum going. Be sure to acknowledge every winner on the site, and keep prizes fresh and interesting. • Create Links - Find complementary connections on the Web and appeal to site owners to create a link with yours. Start with people you know, then use search engines to find companies offering complementary products and services. When you find compatriots, offer to hot link their sites to yours and combine your promotions to create synergy for all. • More Links - Determine places your business may be listed through online directories (e.g., Chamber of Commerce, etc.) and refer visitors to those directories through hot links. Including international, national, regional and local affiliations. • Member Ties - Have Website features that are for members only, requiring a password to participate. Find other ways to make visitors feel exclusive. (i.e., if they sign your guest book, they get a password to enter a closed area on your site.) • Draw Prospects to Your Site - The ideas above are designed to bring people back repeatedly to your site, but don't neglect the strategic ways to get them there in the first place: - Mail a postcard or letter to your clients/prospects telling them how to contact you via the Internet. Entice them with a taste of information they can expect to find there. Follow with fax memos and voice mail messages. - Place your Website address and email address on every piece of advertising you do, including stationery. Make this information as standard as your phone and fax numbers. - Continually send updated information about your site and appropriate key words to the search engines, shopping malls, and bulletin boards relevant to your business. Lisa Kryder owner of NetProfitMarketing.com, a full service marketing firm in Denver. She invites you to check out her website at www.netprofitmarketing.com for the latest marketing information! Lisa can also be reached in the daytime at 303 286-8342 or by email at lisak@netprofitmarketing.com |