What the usenet is
The Usenet consists of two areas: newsgroups and chat-rooms, or online conversation areas. Newsgroups are not live conversation areas. You can go into a newsgroup, ask a question, and then check back the next day for the answer to the question. Chat-rooms are live conversation areas. You can talk one-on-one with people about many different subjects.
Newsgroups can be very profitable because they are demographically targeted (broken up into different interest groups), easy to access, and read by millions of users each day. There are a lot more people that read along and follow conversations in newsgroups and chat-rooms than the number of people that are actually talking on them, so this can be a very powerful marketing tool.
However, you cannot blatantly advertise in some newsgroups or chat-rooms. If you do, you may get "flamed," which means that a bunch of people will send you hate email telling you not to advertise in their newsgroup or chat-room. If you get flamed, don't ever respond; it will only encourage and agitate them further.
Therefore, you have to apply schizophrenic marketing tactics. This is essentially having conversations with yourself as people follow along and read. You will be asking and answering questions that would guide people to your website.
Steps to using the usenet to advertise
There are four steps to applying schizophrenic marketing to the usenet:
Set up 2-3 free email accounts
Find newsgroups that consist of people from your target market
Register your different email accounts under different names
Apply schizophrenic marketing techniques
1. Set up 2-3 free email accounts
To talk on the newsgroups, you must have an email address and a name. To find free email accounts, go to the search engines and type in "free email" and hundreds of sites will come up that offer free email services. Many of the major search engines, like yahoo and msn, offer free email. Some free email sites are the following:
www.hotmail.com
www.yahoo.com
www.juno.com
2. Find newsgroups that consist of people from your target market
There are newsgroup categories for just about every subject under the sun. Think about the characteristics of your potential customers. Then choose some categories that would have people with these characteristics discussing things in them.
A good place to start would be to go to www.google.com. Google has a directory of online newsgroups. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will also have newsgroups to register and talk on.
You can also find newsgroups through searching the Internet with the different search engines. Go to the different search engines and search for newsgroups in the category of your target market. Focus on the newsgroups at the top of the searches. You don't want to waste time talking in newsgroups that don't have many people talking on them.
3. Register your different email accounts under different names
Again, in order to talk on the newsgroups, you must have an email address and a name. Don't use your own name, or they will know that you are advertising. Therefore, make up different names for each email account so it looks like completely different people.
4. Apply schizophrenic marketing techniques
Before you begin guiding people to your site in the newsgroups, you'll want to build a rapport with the people out there. Spend 2-3 weeks asking and answering questions without referring to your site at all.
When your site is completed, begin asking and answering your own questions in the different newsgroup areas guiding people to your site. Ask a question with one email address and name, and then answer that question with your different email address and name by referring to your website. For example:
Q: I’m looking for a website that offers a great budgeting spreadsheet to help with doing a family budget.
A: I was just at www.myfinancialsoftware.com and they have a great Excel spreadsheet that can help with family budgeting.
Remember, there are a lot more people that are following along and reading in the newsgroups than those that actually talk on them; therefore, as you get your website address in front of people through schizophrenic marketing, they will visit your site.
Chat-rooms essentially work the same way. You cannot blatantly advertise here either; therefore, you must apply the same schizophrenic marketing tactics.
Online websites and resources
www.hotmail.com
www.yahoo.com
www.juno.com
www.google.com
Showing posts with label e-marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-marketing. Show all posts
Friday, January 02, 2009
Monday, December 29, 2008
Webrings
What webrings are
Webrings are a collection of websites that have organized themselves into a circle. Each site in the ring displays a webring navigator that links it to the next site in the ring. The whole point of a webring is to share traffic with the owners of other sites in the ring.
For example, if a person is interested in basketball, they could visit every single site in the basketball webring without ever having to go back to a search engine. Webrings are usually free services that can be added to your website.
Finding webrings
The best place to find what types of webrings are available is a http://www.webring.org/. Webring.org anchors thousands of webrings. They have an easy to navigate directory where you can browse the available webrings by topic. This is a free service as well.
Once you find a webring you think is appropriate and relates to your site, take some time navigating through the ring. Compare your website to the ones you find in the webring. You will want to join webrings that have many other sites registered at the ring because they are the ones that are receiving most of the traffic.
Utilizing webrings
After you have navigated through a webring you like and that relates to your site, then you want to apply for membership to that ring. The process is simple. You only need to fill out the online application form. Your application will be reviewed to make sure that you site is appropriate to the ring (this is why you want to do your own research on the ring ahead of time, so you won't get rejected).
If you accepted then you will receive some source code (HTML) that represents the navigator for the webring, which you need to add to your website. Some webrings are strict and insist that the navigator be on the front page of member websites. Once you've done that, you will be added into the ring within a few days, and you should start receiving traffic right away.
Online websites and resources
http://www.webring.org/
Webrings are a collection of websites that have organized themselves into a circle. Each site in the ring displays a webring navigator that links it to the next site in the ring. The whole point of a webring is to share traffic with the owners of other sites in the ring.
For example, if a person is interested in basketball, they could visit every single site in the basketball webring without ever having to go back to a search engine. Webrings are usually free services that can be added to your website.
Finding webrings
The best place to find what types of webrings are available is a http://www.webring.org/. Webring.org anchors thousands of webrings. They have an easy to navigate directory where you can browse the available webrings by topic. This is a free service as well.
Once you find a webring you think is appropriate and relates to your site, take some time navigating through the ring. Compare your website to the ones you find in the webring. You will want to join webrings that have many other sites registered at the ring because they are the ones that are receiving most of the traffic.
Utilizing webrings
After you have navigated through a webring you like and that relates to your site, then you want to apply for membership to that ring. The process is simple. You only need to fill out the online application form. Your application will be reviewed to make sure that you site is appropriate to the ring (this is why you want to do your own research on the ring ahead of time, so you won't get rejected).
If you accepted then you will receive some source code (HTML) that represents the navigator for the webring, which you need to add to your website. Some webrings are strict and insist that the navigator be on the front page of member websites. Once you've done that, you will be added into the ring within a few days, and you should start receiving traffic right away.
Online websites and resources
http://www.webring.org/
Gateway Pages
What gateway pages are
Gateway pages are free one-page websites that link to your original homepage. They are an alternate way for people to find your website, other than through your homepage. The whole purpose of gateway pages is to make your website more visible on the search engines. So instead of people having to find your website only through your homepage, they can find it through multiple pages.
In order to be found in the search engines, you must rank in the top 10-30 matches found. To do that that requires the creation of pages that appeal to each search engines' preferences. These pages are often called gateway pages, doorway pages, splash pages, or bridge pages since they act as a doorway or an alternate entrance to your website.
Methods of utilizing gateway pages
There are two main methods of utilizing gateway pages:
To focus on different keyword phrases
To build pages specific to certain search engines’ preferences
1. To focus on different keyword phrases
Remember back in the first marketing strategy when you read about what search engines look for? The emphasis was to build your homepage focused on a couple keyword phrases so that the search engines will rank you higher. Creating gateway pages allows you to build multiple pages focusing on different keyword phrases. So instead of an Internet surfer only being able to find you under a couple keywords, he or she can find you under many.
For example, if you are in the competitive category of "travel" and find it too difficult to obtain a high ranking on the word "travel," then create pages that describe in detail one particular destination or activity. Perhaps create a gateway page discussing "sailing in the Caribbean.”
Most people try to be specific in their search engines today because they know if they don't, they will get back thousands of pages that they aren't interested in. Therefore, you can create gateway pages for specific elements of your website to allow for a higher ranking in the search engines. A great website to help you research keyword phrases is http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion.
2. To build pages specific to certain search engines’ preferences
Every search engine is different and looks for different elements in ranking pages. No single page can rank well for all search engines because all search engines are different. Therefore, you must customize your gateway page to the different search engines you are registering at.
For information and tips on what the specific search engines look for, go to the www.searchengines.com, www.searchenginewatch.com, and www.searchengineforums.com.
Steps to setting up a gateway page
There are three main steps to follow in setting up a gateway page:
Find free web space
Put together page
Register page to the search engines
1. Find free web space
There are many different resources that offer free web space that you can take advantage of on the Internet. Many of these places are online builders that do not require you to know any HTML to build a page.
Some of those websites that you can use are the following:
www.freeservers.com
www.homestead.com
www.thefreesite.com
Many Internet service providers also give out free web space as well for using their services. In choosing a place to build the page, make sure the URL that they give you is not just the domain name of the site and then /whatever at the end of it. The domain name must look something like www.camping.freeservers.com instead of like www.freeservers.com/camping. This is primarily for the search engines. Many search engines are ignoring domain names that look like free sites, like in the second example.
2. Put together page
In actually building the page, you will set up a gateway page just like you would set up a regular homepage. You will want the text laid out introducing your website and products. You will also want a keyword phrase that you are focusing on to be repeated throughout the text and meta tags.
You will also want graphics on the page to make it look more eye appealing. A consistent logo on each gateway page would be a good idea so that people know that they are at the same place. As well as similar color schemes on the gateway page and your actual homepage.
The main difference between a gateway page and a regular homepage is that with a gateway page you don't need working navigation buttons. You'll usually have Click here to enter in a couple places on the site, which, when clicked on, would link to your original homepage or whatever page you'd like it to link to on your site.
3. Register page to the search engines
Once you’ve got the gateway pages built, you are now ready to register them to the search engines. The fastest and easiest way to do that is to use free submission sites like www.jimtools.com.
Online websites and resources
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion
www.searchengines.com
www.searchenginewatch.com
www.searchengineforums.com
www.freeservers.com
www.homestead.com
www.thefreesite.com
www.jimtools.com
www.webposition.com offers a very advanced software program that automatically creates gateway pages to rank high on search engines for you. The program is called Web Position Gold.
Some great articles on gateway pages are at www.searchengines.com/doorway_pages.html and www.wordtracker.com/articles.
Gateway pages are free one-page websites that link to your original homepage. They are an alternate way for people to find your website, other than through your homepage. The whole purpose of gateway pages is to make your website more visible on the search engines. So instead of people having to find your website only through your homepage, they can find it through multiple pages.
In order to be found in the search engines, you must rank in the top 10-30 matches found. To do that that requires the creation of pages that appeal to each search engines' preferences. These pages are often called gateway pages, doorway pages, splash pages, or bridge pages since they act as a doorway or an alternate entrance to your website.
Methods of utilizing gateway pages
There are two main methods of utilizing gateway pages:
To focus on different keyword phrases
To build pages specific to certain search engines’ preferences
1. To focus on different keyword phrases
Remember back in the first marketing strategy when you read about what search engines look for? The emphasis was to build your homepage focused on a couple keyword phrases so that the search engines will rank you higher. Creating gateway pages allows you to build multiple pages focusing on different keyword phrases. So instead of an Internet surfer only being able to find you under a couple keywords, he or she can find you under many.
For example, if you are in the competitive category of "travel" and find it too difficult to obtain a high ranking on the word "travel," then create pages that describe in detail one particular destination or activity. Perhaps create a gateway page discussing "sailing in the Caribbean.”
Most people try to be specific in their search engines today because they know if they don't, they will get back thousands of pages that they aren't interested in. Therefore, you can create gateway pages for specific elements of your website to allow for a higher ranking in the search engines. A great website to help you research keyword phrases is http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion.
2. To build pages specific to certain search engines’ preferences
Every search engine is different and looks for different elements in ranking pages. No single page can rank well for all search engines because all search engines are different. Therefore, you must customize your gateway page to the different search engines you are registering at.
For information and tips on what the specific search engines look for, go to the www.searchengines.com, www.searchenginewatch.com, and www.searchengineforums.com.
Steps to setting up a gateway page
There are three main steps to follow in setting up a gateway page:
Find free web space
Put together page
Register page to the search engines
1. Find free web space
There are many different resources that offer free web space that you can take advantage of on the Internet. Many of these places are online builders that do not require you to know any HTML to build a page.
Some of those websites that you can use are the following:
www.freeservers.com
www.homestead.com
www.thefreesite.com
Many Internet service providers also give out free web space as well for using their services. In choosing a place to build the page, make sure the URL that they give you is not just the domain name of the site and then /whatever at the end of it. The domain name must look something like www.camping.freeservers.com instead of like www.freeservers.com/camping. This is primarily for the search engines. Many search engines are ignoring domain names that look like free sites, like in the second example.
2. Put together page
In actually building the page, you will set up a gateway page just like you would set up a regular homepage. You will want the text laid out introducing your website and products. You will also want a keyword phrase that you are focusing on to be repeated throughout the text and meta tags.
You will also want graphics on the page to make it look more eye appealing. A consistent logo on each gateway page would be a good idea so that people know that they are at the same place. As well as similar color schemes on the gateway page and your actual homepage.
The main difference between a gateway page and a regular homepage is that with a gateway page you don't need working navigation buttons. You'll usually have Click here to enter in a couple places on the site, which, when clicked on, would link to your original homepage or whatever page you'd like it to link to on your site.
3. Register page to the search engines
Once you’ve got the gateway pages built, you are now ready to register them to the search engines. The fastest and easiest way to do that is to use free submission sites like www.jimtools.com.
Online websites and resources
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion
www.searchengines.com
www.searchenginewatch.com
www.searchengineforums.com
www.freeservers.com
www.homestead.com
www.thefreesite.com
www.jimtools.com
www.webposition.com offers a very advanced software program that automatically creates gateway pages to rank high on search engines for you. The program is called Web Position Gold.
Some great articles on gateway pages are at www.searchengines.com/doorway_pages.html and www.wordtracker.com/articles.
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