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Common Sense While Promoting Your Website
by: Robert Nixon
In previous articles, I have discussed various places you can
submit your website such as Search Engines, FFA pages,
Classifieds, and Safe list, and what to expect in return.
Never forget to always use your common sense when doing
any submissions. Do not put your posting across multiple
categories, but stay to the category that matches your theme as
close as possible and only post there.
IF you do not follow this advice, you will be banned from future
postings at many places you have spent some time getting
listed with. Why? If you do not follow the rules, then you make
others think you are only just another spammer, and that is
what you have become by letting your desires outweigh your
common sense. You will end up losing more than you will ever
gain by doing so. You have to always think of quality first and
coverage second while on the internet.
Directories:
In my opinion, these are actually search engines aimed at
targeted niche's. You will find some that you can only submit to
if you pay a fee, some that require a 'link back', some that you
have to register with, and some that will let you submit without
any requirements. Most, if not of the pure paid inclusion type
will give you the option of a faster listing with a 'link back' or a
slower one without.
This is where having a 'links' page maybe of some value to
your site, although I am not sure if such a page will actually pay
off for anything else but to keep your link on a specific Directory.
The thought is that with a link to your site on the Directory, the
major search engines may pick these up a additional links to
your site.
Here you should pay close attention to the Directories you are
listing with, making sure they are themed close to your
website's theme. Many Directories are human edited and they
will go to your site and check it out to see if your site meets
their quality standards. Just as you have a list of search
engines, you will want a good list of Directories and the
requirements of them, if possible. Others will send a robot to
check out your site during the process of submission and will
insert the information it needs on your submission form and
still others will send their robot to your links page url to confirm
their link before allowing your posting.
By doing a search on Google, I ran across a really good site
that takes a lot of the effort out of manual submission by listing
what each of the listed Directories require or take to submit.
You may want to save the following link as I have and start
going thru the listed Directories.
http://www.4th-media.com/directories/
Some of the directories on the list have changed their
requirements since the list was put together, but the number of
them is very small so I think the list is still quite good.
I am sure there are some great directory auto-submitters out
there that will also save you some time with this effort, but I
have noticed that many of the Directories on this list require you
to fill in a 'code' before you can do the final submit, keeping
auto- submitters out ( a form of spam to the directory owner's
that want to keep their directory clean and with only sites that
pertain to their correct categories ).
Some places in my opinion to avoid are sites that require you
to visit or rate other sites in order for yours to continue or to get
listed. My thinking is that they are just creating hits to and from
sites in order to show traffic volume on theirs. Think about it,
just where are you when you are doing this? The hits you get
maybe heavy but you may also notice the 'click thrus', that is the
page views just are way out of whack in the ratios. For one
thing, I think it is a true waste of my time to sit at my PC and to
do so for very little in return. I have better things to do with my
time spent with promoting my website and it's various themed
pages.
You must realize that as more time passes more and more
new sites, and people, are accessing the internet. The days of
various engines of any sort taking anything and everything are
long gone. The main reason for this is abuse and sheer
volume. On the other hand, this volume also means more and
more people are looking for what you maybe offering. Your
chances of making sales or getting sign ups for your programs
are good, if they see your site on their PC. Keeping an eye on
the current trends of the internet and what will produce for you
and looking at where the trends are leading are very difficult for
those that have not been on the internet for any long period of
time. They just don't understand what is happening and the
effect the trends have on their efforts.
The benefits your product or program offers are what will get
you what you desire. It is all in how you present it on your
website. I often think of various ways to change my
presentations ( ad copy to many of you ) in order to see what
the results will become. If I am getting a lot of views but no
takers when visitors go to one of my associate pages, then the
fault lays with my associate program owner, I have done my
part by getting them there. I have noticed this with a couple of
my associate programs and am considering other options. Still
there are others that have advantages or provide tools that I
really like and use often. By my explaining why I do so in my ad
copy, then others will see the benefit of the tool or product also.
Recently we have all heard the hype about VOIP ( Voice Over
Internet Protocol ). This is an extension of 'digital' phone
service using your PC and the internet for access.
The benefits of any sort of VOIP is that you will save on toll and
long distance calls, if you are charged at all for anything other
than the access fee. With potential clients coming from all over
the country this means giving them the personal touch that will
make many more sales for you is well worth the money saved.
For a certain fee ( normally the same as you 'basic' phone
charges from you local phone provider ), you can either not be
charged or get huge discounts on your toll and long distance
bills.
This has been around for quite awhile and many companies
have been using this for years by purchasing their own T-1
lines to handle the bandwidth needed for the thousands of
calls their employees have to make every day. For larger
companies this is still be more cost effective method ( but it
also includes special hardware and software to run ). The
service providers have made great gains in the past few years
with providing more and more 'home' and 'small business'
users with more bandwidth by the means of DSL's and fiber
optics ( many of your ISP's use fiber ) to the home users. At first
there were several 'dialers' on the internet that were free to use
but were quickly shut down by the major providers. When you
pay a fee, some of that fee goes to them for the use of their
lines. You will still have to pay for your internet access plus for
the VOIP service.
There are always exceptions:
This one is free to the user as the time and bandwidth used
are paid by the advertisers. Of course one requirement is that
you at least 'click' on one of the advertisers ad during your
usage time. This seems to me to be a fair trade off considering
the cost. You will also have to have a 'headphone/microphone'
set up correctly for usage and you will have to log in to the
service ( done automatically once you join and attempt
access). http://www.adcallads.com/
Are there others? I am sure there are but this is the one I like.
Once again it is from one of my associate programs that also
offers other items and products of which you are under no
obligation what so ever to use, just pick and choose what you
need, if any.
Chat rooms:
In my opinion a chat room is still the best way to communicate
with your clients or associate members. Just another form of
VOIP but with the ability to be specific to your website,
associate programs or whatever. Ones with sound will cost or
be a little more difficult to set up but are well worth the effort.
Conference calls:
The use of conference calls has seen a recent up-swing in
usage by many on the internet. Here you may have to pay and
you will have to enter a 'pin' number for access.
If the call is worth it to you, then the cost won't matter and the
benefits of the conference maybe of great value to your on-line
success.
Want to test your internet access speed?
http://internetspeed.blogspot.com/
Look in the middle of the page where it says 'Test internet
speed'.
Have you been thinking about changing colors of various
things on your website using html?
If you are like me, then you need a reference to the codes.
http://html-color-codes.com/
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