Website Marketing
This page is part of our Knowledge Base area and has all the information that appears in Area 4 so visitors can easily download or print the information in one go.
Please use the menu to the left to go to the section of area three you are interested in.
Knowledge Base Area 4
In this area we cover the marketing of a website, to improve visitor numbers, conversion rates and overall brand awareness. They are many different ways to market your website, but how do you stand out from the crowd? How do you get that all important first page in Google's listing and maybe even that top position?
Article Submission
Several years ago article submission was seen as a good thing, writing an article and having it posted on other sites with a link to your website to help build your page rank and inbound links.
This method of link building is no longer of any value to a website for the following reasons:
Most article sites now use nofollow links so no page rank will flow to your website.
Article writing usually creates duplicate content.
These websites are now seen to have no value to the web and have become link farms.
Watch the short video on how Google views article submission as a online marketing strategy.
Creating a blog
Having a blog on your website or a link to your blog from your website is a great way to keep your visitors and customer informed and keep the channels of communication open on an on-going basis.
Blogs are also a great way of gaining quality organic inbound links, which in turn will boost your website page rank and position in the SERP's (Search Engine Result Pages).
Several things you should consider before starting a blog:
Should you incorporate the blog in to your website or host it on a third party site?
Blogs have to be updated regularly, do you have the time to do this?
Anybody can write a comment on your blog, be it a positive or negative one.
Does your business really need a blog?
Web Directory Submission
There are now thousands of web directories on the net and it can be beneficial to have your website listed on these directories.
There are many companies that offer web directory submission for a very small amount of money and claim to get you thousands of directory listing for what seems like an amazing price.
Directory submission has be abused over the past five years and now many of these listing hold no value to you, your website, your visitors or search engines (Google). In fact having hundreds of listings on non-relevant websites in other countries will have less value than just one listing on a local reputable directory using the correct anchor text.
When submitting your website to online directories keep in mind the following:
Is this a reputable web directory, what page rank does it have with Google?
What country is the directory hosted in?
Are outbound links do-follow?
Would people visiting this directory be interested in your products and services?
Does the directory have a theme that matches your website?
Do you have to pay to get a listing?
Google Adwords Marketing
Google Adwords PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is great online marketing tool if set up and managed correctly.
Your website can appear in the sponsored listings on Google's Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) in minutes for your selected keywords and phrases. This form of advertising is highly targeted and can achieve far greater conversion rates than other forms of advertising.
With Google Adwords marketing you only pay when a person clicks on your ad and visits your website, you can set your budget to as little as $5 a day and cancel at any time with no cost.
We highly recommended that you seek professional advice when considering Adwords advertising as a professionally managed campaign will receive a more targeted audience, with a higher conversion rate at a lower Cost Per Click (CPC) and the savings can be offset against the cost of managing your campaign.
Inbound Link Building
The link popularity and the quality of those links is the key part to your Off-page SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts, improving your websites online visibility and ultimately leading to more visitors and more sales.
An inbound link is a link to your website from another website, social network, web directory etc. These links are used in Google's algorithms to determine the subject and quality or your website.
There are now many companies on the web offering thousands of links for a one off low cost, these links will have no significant impact on your websites ranking and in some cases they may have a negative impact. You need to build quality links on reputable, local and relevant website. One quality inbound link using the right anchor text can be worth thousands of unrelated poor quality foreign web links.
Trading links with other websites is a good practice only if the visitors of both websites would find the information on the linking site relevant to the information they are searching for. Reciprocal links now have less of an effect with Google, as this method has been abuse by link farms but for the human visitor if the websites are related you will still gain more traffic.
Follow these simple guidelines for building inbound links:
Submit your website to reputable local web directories
Use anchor text that matches your website theme
Try to find do-follow links where possible
Use social networks
Have relevant up to date content on your website that people will want to link to
If creating a reciprocal link with another website make sure both websites are relevant to each other
Website design and development Auckland
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Marketing
In the last ten years search engine optimisation has become the key to any website success on the internet, no longer can you design a great looking website with a list of keyword and expect searcher to find your site. In fact Google has not used website keywords for almost ten years now.
SEO is all about getting your website listed as high in the search engine result pages as possible for selected keywords and phrases. Without professional SEO your website will struggle to achieve that all important fist page ranking in Google and other search engines resulting at best, in a great looking website that nobody can find.
Search Engine Optimisation is a highly professional and time consuming process and if done correctly will see your website appear on page one of Google and other search engine when people search for your products and services online.
Social Network Marketing
In today's online market social networking marketing has huge advantages for any business and has become a very powerful and persuasive tool. Social network marketing is becoming increasingly more important in influencing a consumer's decision in purchasing products and services online.
Because customers can provide a large majority of the content direct to the social network, you as a company have less control over what is written, and prospect customers view feedback and comments as more trustworthy and are more inclined to purchase from you.
What are social networks?
Social networks including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to name a few are online communities of individual people and companies who share common activities and interest. Social networks supply a wide variety of ways for people to interact, including email, blogs, instant messaging and newsfeeds.
When a person or a company joins a social networking site they have to set up a profile for themselves, the profile will include information such as interests, links to friend, photos, video, career, and more. This allows for highly targeted marketing and great viral marketing possibilities.
How does social network marketing influence purchasing decisions?
Social network members share opinions with friend and colleagues making recommendations on a wide variety of products and services they have experienced. Research shows that consumers seek and highly value independent recommendation when considering purchasing products and services, and the social networks are where this takes place. These opinions are also seen as more objective and trustworthy and hold a far greater value for your business.
Social network marketing is highly viral and powerful as members and friends don't have the information pushed towards them like other forms of advertising; it is referred to them by a trusted friend or associates and is there for far more trustworthy.
Benefits of social network marketing
There are many benefits to social network marketing and they can be gained at a very low cost, these include:
Increasing product & brand awareness: Social network marketing will increase the online presence of your products, services and brand. Many companies now actively use social networks to drive traffic and create brand awareness.
Increase website traffic: Social network marketing is about increasing visitors to your website, as this is where you will sell your products and services. Visitors to your website that come from social networks will be highly targeted and have a positive initial impression of your company, increasing the outcome of a sale.
Improve your websites search engine optimisation (SEO): Social network are a great way of build one way natural 'backlinks', search engines like Google place a high value on natural backlinks and especially those that come from the larger social networking sites.
Increase success and awareness of new product launches: Social networks provide a platform to inform and receive information on new products and service before launching them. Giving potential customers an input in to the development of a product will increase their loyalty and increase product success when launched.
