Internet Marketing
Building a great web site does not mean that you will automatically be
doing business on the internet. In fact a great web site won't
help you unless you are getting lots of visitors to your site.
The work of getting people to come to your web site is called
"internet marketing" or "web site promotion".
There are many ways to get people to come to your web site.
The methods you use will depend on the type of business you
have and the amount of traffic that you need. Some of the questions
below will help you understand a little more about internet
marketing. If you would like to speak to someone about marketing
your web site, please contact us at 800-786-1469.
FAQ's
How will people find my web site?
Most people discover web sites by using search engines (Yahoo,
Google, etc.). Search engines are web sites that people can
use to search for a particular topic. Search engines provide
users with a list of web sites that are most relevant to the
users search term. Another way that user are directed to web
sites is through the use of online advertising. These advertisements
can take many forms ranging from banners that appear on a web
site to pop up ads that appear when you visit or leave a site.
A third means of generating traffic is to pay for clicks.
This type of advertising generally provides you with some prominent
placement on a major site. When a user clicks the link for
your site, you pay the advertiser a fee.
What are the primary search engines?
Major search engines include:
· Yahoo
· Lycos
· AltaVista
· Excite
· Google
· HotBot
· InfoSeek
· WebCrawler
· Open Directory Project
· Ask Jeeves
Of the above, Google is the most popular followed by Yahoo.
What is the difference between an engine and a directory?
Search sites employ two different means of gathering pages.
The first method is to electronically scan a web site for information
and index the information in a directory. Sites that populate
their directories using this method are considered to be "Search
Engines". The second method of populating a directory
is for real people to review a web site and include the information
in the directory. Sites like Yahoo and Snap are built using
human reviewers and are actually considered to be "Directories" rather
than search engines. For simplicity, both types of sites are
categorized under the same heading.
How do search engines work?
Search engines work by looking for "keywords" and
indexing your site according to the occurrence of those keywords.
If you sell hats on your web site then you might use keywords
like "hat", "baseball cap", etc. In general
the more your site has these keywords the better, however,
your site can be penalized and rejected if you abuse the use
of keywords or attempt to hide them.
Where should keywords appear on my pages?
The keywords can appear in the following places:
· Page Title
· Body of the pages
· META tags
· ALT attributes of the IMG tag
· Links
· Comment Tags
Does the placing of keywords make a difference in my search
rankings?
Yes! Selecting and placing the right keywords is critical
to achieving good rankings in a search.
Do all search engines work the same?
No! Each search engine works differently. Just because your
page ranks well in one search engine is no guarantee that it
will rank well in another.
How do I get my site into a search engine?
Many search engines now require a fee to submit your
site for inclusion. This fee can be minimal or substantial
depending on the engine chosen. For instance, Lycos charges
approximately $30 to submit a site while Yahoo charges $300.
Where can I get more information?
There are some good web sites with in depth information. We
recommend:
www.searchenginewatch.com
www.searchengineforums.com
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