100+ Ways To Market Your Website

Clients are always asking for a list of places to market and promote their websites.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a combination of creating links and content on your own site and on many others.  Every  SEO program is unique, many using geographic or industry-specific websites, but almost every site can benefit from a program that utilizes a combination of the marketing channels, sites and tools below:

Use Good Creative

• Create a Emotional Connection
• Kids sell – use images that connect to your audience

Search Marketing

• Paid Search or PPC – Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, plus lots more smaller players
• Search Engine Optimization – The best advertising channel for many businesses
• Local Search – Free local listing on Google Maps

Blogging

• Blogging – Showcase your products or expertise through your blog. Works great for service based business in which information can be given away
• RSS – Feed out your blog content direct to RSS subscribers
• Link Bait Content – Generate buzz and links through content
• Guest Posting – Guest post on authority blogs
• Paid Blog Posts – Reviewme

Social Networking Sites

• Stumbleupon – Paid and free models
• Twitter – Follow and connect with prospective customers and keep in touch with existing
• Facebook Ads – Demographic and geotarget ads can work for DM
• MySpace Ads
• Facebook Profiles/Pages – Apps / fans pages / personal profiles
• Mass Social News Sites – A story on digg or reddit may bring your site down!
• Niche Social News Sites – Eg Sphinn for SEO
• In Social Apps Ads – Socialmedia.com, fbx
• Forum Signature – Advertise in your forum signature

Email

• Blanket Mass Email – This is spam, so don’t do it.
• Email database – buy/rent – Send your message to an opt in bought database
• Email Shot Sponsorship – Sponsor a targeted website’s email shot
• Email Newsletter – A regular reason to stay in touch with your customers
• Application Emails – You can add marketing messages to other automated type emails you are sending out
• Targeted Sales Email – The better researched and targeted your email (recipient and email copy) the better
• Personal Email Footer – Add marketing messages at the bottom of your emails

Content Promotion

• Podcasts and itunes
• Online Videos – Start a channel and publish on YouTube
• Articles – Submit articles to ezinearticles & other article sites
• Teleseminars
• Free eBooks – build a targeted database by giving something away
• Question and Answer Websites – Yahoo Answers, Blurtit, Answerbag, WikiAnswers

Online Other

• Web Directories – Dmoz and Yahoo
• Widgets & Toolbars
• Virtual worlds, Secondlife – Would love to hear if this has worked for anyone
• Text Ads
• ISP level advertising – NebuAds
• Behavioral Targeting
• Spyware / Adware
• In Game Ads
• Gamevitorials – Make a Flash game for your brand

Mobile

• Mobile Search
• Mobile Ad networks
• Bluetooth Push
• Mobile Apps – iPhone and Android Apps
• SMS

Viral

• Viral – Google ‘will it blend’ for an example
• Viral Seeding – Paid version seeding the above
• Viral Loop – Gold dust, if the application spreads itself like Hotmail

Online Display

• Banner Ads – Remember to try the ad exchanges for low CPM’s
• Video Ads – Embedded ads in videos
• Popups / Popunders
• In Line Ads – Kontera, Vibrant Media
• Contextual Text/Banner Networks – Google Adsense
• Blog Ad Networks – BuySellAds, Federated Media
• Niche Banner Ads – Eg w00tmedia.net for cult websites

Online Marketplaces

• eBay – Sell anything on eBay
• Amazon Marketplace
• Supplier Portals – Wholesale/Import/Export Portals
• Service marketplaces – Get projects from elance & guru
• Classified Ads – Free ads on Craiglist, Gumtree & Google Base
• Niche Online Storefronts – eg Dreamstime for Images

Online Networking

• Linkedin – Build a network and Inmail rocks
• Niche Online Communities – For example econsultancy
• IM – Instant Messengers – Build your contact lists MSN, Gtalk, Skype

Distribution Channels

• Wholesalers
• Exporters
• Retailers

Online PR

• Local and Industry Directories
• Profile Page Promotion – From Wikipedia to Flickr
• Blog Reviews – Get your products reviewed by top bloggers to generate buzz

Offline PR

• Entering Business Competitions
• Corporate Events
• Interviews and quotes in Publications
• Writing for Publications – With a bio of course!
• Publicity Stunts
• Celeb Endorsements

Partnership Marketing

• Online Affiliate Programs
• Joint Ventures

Networking

• Corporate Entertainment
• Personal Networking – Build a great black book & keep in touch
• Tradeshow / Seminars – Go to events, places & seminars your clients are going to be & rub shoulders

Tradeshows

• Speaking engagements
• Stands
• Tradeshow Sponsorship
• Run Your Own Seminar

Promotional Material

• Flyers
• Branded Items
• Catalogues and Brochures
• Business Cards
• Stickers
• Promotional Gifts

Signage

• Vehicle Lettering & Car Stickers
• On Site Billboards – Construction industry standard
• Store Front Signs
• Walking Sandwich Boards – Also pointer sign holders

Cinema

• In Film Product Placement
• Pre Roll Ads

Television

• TV Ads
• Program Sponsorship
• Product Placement

Radio

• Radio Ads

Radio

• Program Sponsorship
• Product Placement

Outdoor Display

• Road side billboards
• Underground or Subways
• Buses and Vehicles – Regional target via routes
• Restrooms Billboards

Sponsorship

• Team Sponsorship
• Awards Sponsorship
• Bursary Sponsorship

Direct Marketing

• Directory Enquiries SMS Sponsorship
• SMS List Marketing
• Telesales Cold Calling
• Mailshots
• Personal handout
• Door to Door Cold Calling

Print

• Magazine Ads
• Newspaper Ads
• Publication Product Placement

Directories

• Yellow Pages – Plus other large directories
• Trade Directories

Doing Business Well

• Word of Mouth – If your product is awesome it will spread
• Referrals – Ok, so it’s the same as the above

Apple Then, Apple Now

Apple’s 1984 Macintosh SuperBowl commercial was and is still one of the most viral ads because if it’s everyman, “us against the world” rebel attitude.

It doesn’t hurt that the technology matches the promise.  Now Apple introduces the iPad, and the most popular ads are no longer traditional TV ads at all but rather online mashups, parodies and fan generated content.  The marketing platforms may have changed, but the medssage is still  the same: we still want to be entertained by the marketing.

Web 2.0 Marketing for Dummies

The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World–Wall Street Journal

Web 2.0 tools can be used to do what traditional advertising does: persuade consumers to buy a company’s products or services. An executive can write a blog, for instance, that regularly talks up the company’s goods. But that kind of approach misses the point of 2.0. Instead, companies should use these tools to get the consumers involved, inviting them to participate in marketing-related activities from product development to feedback to customer service.

How can you do that? A leading greeting-card and gift company that we spoke with is one of many that have set up an online community — a site where it can talk to consumers and the consumers can talk to each other. The company solicits opinions on various aspects of greeting-card design and on ideas for gifts and their pricing. It also asks the consumers to talk about their lifestyles and even upload photos of themselves, so that it can better understand its market.