1. Burn the midnight oil. There is no substitute for persistence
when it comes to announcing your presence on the Net.
2. Submit to all major search engines. Each engine has a
different submission format. They take from 3 days to 6 weeks to
process new submissions. Go back and check out each one, and if
you’re not there write and ask why.
Make sure you have all appropriate keywords in a <meta> tag in
the <head> element of your index page. Search engine spiders will
read this text, but it won’t be visible by web browsers. With
millions of pages out there competing for the top spot on a search
list, choice of keywords is all-important.
Repeating certain keywords too many times causes some search
engines to ignore that particular word. Placing keywords in the
<title> element of each page and sub-page helps give additional
exposure and helps bring up your site near the top of some
search lists.
3. Make sure your page works. Get the bugs out. Make sure it
loads fast. Make sure you’re on a fast and reliable server.
Surfing the Net is a lot like playing channel roulette on TV.
Net surfers are easily bored. Grab their attention and don’t
lose your viewers with slow-loading complex graphics or a long
fill-out form.
4. Answer your email. A Web page is a lot like any other ad.
The point is to get your customer to call you, or send email.
Follow up your leads immediately. Follow up a second time.
Email is free, remember, you have nothing to lose but your time.
Practice your typing and computer skills. The faster you can use
the tools, the more customers you can contact with your time.
5. Use all the free advertising sources you can find. Use any
personal Web space you get as part of your access account for an
additional URL linked back to your commercial site.
6. Use newsgroups discreetly. They are a valuable resource if
used wisely. Stay on-topic and cross-post reasonably.
Newsgroups have been abused, and there are many subscribers who
will complain angrily. Excessive abuse can get your account
closed by your access provider, because their news providers can
shut them down.
7. Broadcast email is a touchy subject. Many people object to
receiving unsolicited email, and you can get flamed mightily.
When people complain, remove them from your broadcast list. Some
access and presence providers will shut you down for too many
complaints. Others are more understanding. The source of your
broadcast list is all-important, and if obtained from classified
ads you will get much better response. Purchased lists generally
provoke lots of complaints, because these people have been
spammed to death already. Floodgate is an excellent program for
getting email addresses and removing complainers, but it’s
expensive and not well supported. Pegasus is a great email
program for creating distribution lists, and it’s free.
8. Paid banner advertising is up to you. At last check, the Wall
Street Journal Online wants $10,000 per month for a 1″ square
graphic link, next to Toyota and the other big boys. Who else
gets the most hits besides porno? Do your advertising dollars
turn into sales dollars? Do you really have the budget to use
paid advertising on the Web?
Paid broadcast email advertising seems to work. There are now
quite a few outfits offering this service, including:
denisem@dmv.com (Quantum Innovations); alan1305@aol.com
(Megaweb); dvandyke@hevanet.com (Follow Up Professionals),
Info.now@worldnet.att.net (Info.now). All these services are
reasonably priced.
9. Reciprocal links are free of charge, and they do help spread
the word. It takes lots of time, and there are thousands of
sites that will gladly exchange links with you.
10. See tip #1. Burn the midnight oil. Go to the Commercial-
Directory and follow all the links. Follow Up! Go back later and
follow up again. The Net changes fast. New sites appear daily.
There is no substitute for persistence when it comes to
announcing your presence on the Net.
