Tag and Ping, Google Analytics, Micro-Dissecting Logs, Visual PageRank... What does all those topics have in common? No, I haven't gotten into the happy-pill jar, just in case you're wondering! What does all those topics have in common? They are all marketing tactics or strategies I am presently using to promote and propel my sites into the ever increasing, all encompassing Internet stratosphere. Let's face it, there are countless marketing methods, tricks, tips, strategies you can use to give your site an edge over the competition. And yes, there are many marketing secrets left to be told. More being born each day. Countless secrets most of us will never discover, let alone understand. But what you have to understand, each webmaster or marketer employs a whole set of techniques to promote and propel their sites. Each marketing system is different, each one can develop into a complex creature slowly weaving its presence into the fabric of the world wide web. Might sound a bit fantastic, but it is nevertheless true. Also know each website on the Internet has its own unique linking structure, connections, keywords, traffic... its own unique genetic link-code. Why should da Vinci have all the fun! Each webmaster, whether they realize it or not, creates this unique linking structure for each site they build. From day one, when the first link is placed on their site -- this complex marketing structure is put into motion. What makes some sites succeed, what makes them become successful automatic profit generating machines... while others fail? That is the real question. That is the only real secret you need to know. Of course, a site's content plays a major role, but even two sites with more or less the same content will have two totally different dynamic linking structures created. One may succeed, the other fail. So in this line of thinking, I thought I would tell you some of the marketing strategies I use for my sites and also reveal what I believe to be the underlying factor that is key to the whole shebang. Tactics that will promote and propel your site into the center of the world wide web. Are you Ready? Here goes: Tag and Ping A few years back, it was all blog and ping. This technique really worked for a while. You wrote a keyword rich entry into one of your blogs and then pinged this entry with one of the many blogging directories or sites like MyYahoo to get the information spidered and indexed. The search engines wised up quickly and it no longer works as well. Now, you will hear the magic words 'Tag and Ping' till you're sick of hearing them. This is a method I have been using for some time. It's basically the same thing, only you're using the tag or tagging system of such sites as Technorati to draw attention to your tag or keyword. It has a special application for keyword marketing and is very effective for getting traffic and links to your keywords. One simple way to use tags with Technorati: <*a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Computers" rel="tag">Computers<*/a> (remove asterisks in actual code) Or if your blogging software supports categories; this will be recognized by Technorati as a tag. Since this is a relatively new way of marketing your site, expect it to work for a little while. Until the spammers get in and ruin it, like they did to blog comments. Google Analytics This is a free program from Google that every webmaster should be using. If you don't use it -- get it! www.google.com/analytics Google Analytics will give you priceless information about your sites, your links, your visitors and your marketing. It will show you which pages are working, which pages are not working. It will tell you which pages holds your visitor's attention, which pages lead to your marketing goals/sales...in other words it will tell you how effective your site is at getting the job done. The more knowledge you have about your site, the more successful it will be. A lot of times, being a success is finding/tracking the one method or technique that works and repeating it again and again on your other pages or sites. Google analytics will help you find the successful techniques on your site. Then you have to run with them. Micro-Dissecting Logs Another valuable source of information about your site is in your daily logs. If you're not dissecting or micro inspecting your daily hosting logs, you're not realizing the full potential of your site. Your site's logs holds the keys to your site's success, it holds the information that will make your site profitable or more profitable. It will give you information on your site, it will also give you information on your site's visitors. The real key to Internet marketing is finding out what exactly your visitors are looking for and then giving it to them. Find out the exact keywords your visitors type into search engines, then supply the answer or solution on your site. It is as simple as that -- give your visitors what they want. Whether it is more information on 'the nature of the universe' or where they can purchase the cheapest laptop? Just supply the answer to their question. Your daily logs will give you this information, read them, dissect them and most of all use them to give your visitors what they want. Make your content relevant. Buying Links This marketing technique has mixed reviews, many marketers use it -- many discourage it. You have to be very careful when buying links, know exactly what you're buying and be wary of the search engines who may look down upon this practice. Don't buy any links from link farms, or sites which have been banned from Google. Stay clear of any black hat tricks or methods, play fair and you will win in the long run. To me, buying links is just another way of advertising your site. If your site or online business is successful, naturally you're going to put some of your profits back into promoting or advertising your site. One way to do this is through buying links on high ranked pages/sites: PR5 or over. I recently bought my first text link! It's something I rarely do, mainly because my article writing produces many one-way links back to my site. However, there was one site I just wanted to get a link from, and if it means I have to pay $7 a month for the link, so be it. Currently the page has a PR0! Why would I buy a link on a PR0 page -- don't worry, still haven't gotten into that happy-pill jar. Because it's a very new popular page on a very popular new site. The site is www.iwebtool.com and it has an Alexa ranking under 2000. The site is about a year old! The page itself holds what I believe will be a very popular webmaster tool that shows you visually all the PR rankings on any webpage on the net. Visual PageRank. In other words, just type in any url and it will show you visually all the Google PR rankings for all the links on that page, internal links and external links. Valuable information any webmaster or marketer can use. Besides, that page has a cool factor which in my opinion will propel it to a very high PR ranking in the future. There are already a few pages on this site with a PR6 ranking, but all those links have been sold. Once this new page was created, I jumped at a chance to get a link there on that site. Other places to purchase links:
www.linkhaul.com
www.linkadage.com
www.textlinkbrokers.com One more Marketing Technique There is one more important marketing method that makes all the above techniques pale in comparison. This simple technique is article marketing. Write simple informative articles on the subject of your site. Submit these keyword rich articles to online article directories like ezinearticles.com and place links back to your site in the resource box at the end of each article. Article writing is one of the best methods to market your site, you will be surprised at the effectiveness of this simple marketing technique. Done correctly, it can be your most powerful marketing tool. Information Core. Did you get the big picture? Did you get the underlying theme running through all these Internet marketing techniques? The common thread that holds everything together? What makes them effective? That common thread is Information. Information runs the web. It is the center. Dispensing this information is a complex system consisting of search engines, directories, websites, blogs... you must entangle and entwine your site as deeply as you can into this information process. That's why article writing is such an effective marketing tool, it strikes at the center of this essential process. It places your content and your site right in the middle of all this exchange of information. The more relevant your content, the closer you will get to the real action and the more popular your site will become. Remember, all these marketing techniques are not really secrets, just effective ways you can promote and propel your site or sites closer to the information core that runs the web. The thread that binds everything together. The closer you can get your site to this center, the better it will flourish. The more you can entangle your site into the whole mix.... search engines, directories, links to popular sites... the more successful your site will become. All these marketing techniques: tag and ping, article marketing, buying links... will help place your site into this information mix. Likewise, Google Analytics, micro-dissecting your logs, and visual pagerank are all information gathering methods every webmaster should use to make this journey easier and quicker. Knowledge is the only real marketing tool you need. So go 'Tag and Ping' all you like but realize it is just the latest in a long line of marketing techniques you should be using to promote and propel your site closer towards the one common thread that really matters. Information. |
