by Curtis Carmichael

Some of these methods have proven to be very effective on the Web. Take a look at these techniques and give them consideration!

1) Offer your own Web site design award in the form of a graphic. As you give this award and have its recipient link to it, you’ll have the potential to generate more page views (or "hits"). As you generate more page views, advertising agencies and other companies may become interested in advertising on your site. (Which means more money for you.) This method will work similar to the obnoxious chain-mail letters but on a slower basis.

Suggestion: Some people might not know how to create hyperlinks (especially novices knowing little HTML coding) so you might want to consider placing some HTML on your pages that lead to your award page and/or graphic. Creating different versions of your award graphic will lead to a greater chance of someone displaying it on their Web site since one of them might pertain more exactly to their site’s color scheme or simply appeal to their personal preference. If you’re serious about your marketing strategies, you might want to consider having your award graphics created professionally.

2) Use powerful, catchy adjectives. Words like "chalk-full" or "excessive" are much better than just saying you have "a lot" of something. You also might want to consider using big words (if appropriate to your target audience) to create the impression you’re a well-recognized firm or you offer important services.

3) Take advantage of using the dynamically updated JavaScript date scripts. A simple input of "Today is" (followed by the day, month, and date) creates an impression that you’re pages are updated on a frequent basis. And if they believe they’re updated frequently, they’ll most likely return to your site in the future. (You can see this script in action on our Web site at http://www.pcmachines.com.)

4) Place some special effects or advanced functionality, when possible. Add some professionally designed graphics or use clip-art, if needed. Creating a professional appearance makes the visitor envision you offer quality services or products. Need some clip art? Try the site http://www.clipart.com. For professional photographs from award-winning photographers, try Photodisc at http://www.photodisc.com.

5) If appropriate for your site, create a section for "free stuff" aimed directly at your target audience. If within your budget, offer free tee shirts to both promote your site. Tee shirts are an excellent form of free advertising. Make sure that if you do offer free tee shirts that they look somewhat decent so people will wear them. Other popular physical forms of promotion include bumper stickers, key chains, pencils, and pens.

6) If registering for a domain name in the form "www.yourname.com", create a product (or service) oriented domain name. Unfortunately, many of the single-word domains are already registered so you may have to get creative. For example, if you were a athletic wear company, you would want to register "athletics.com" as your Web address. This also serves as domain-based advertising. If interested, domain name registration can be done through InterNIC, at the site http://www.networksolutions.com.

7) Offer a free newsletter delivered through e-mail. Make sure it’s not entirely full with advertising although we do suggest some advertising. Try to advertise as conspicuously as possible so your newsletter won’t look like something that’s aimed entirely at promoting your site. To generate a mailing list, use your address book program that came with your Web browser. You can collect e-mail addresses through your forms. Simply create a checkbox and write something along the line of "click here if you would like a copy of our free newsletter." In the actual newsletter, make sure you offer an option for the recipient to unsubscribe or it becomes illegal as per Senate Bill H.R.1910 of the 106th Congress May 24, 1999. Just write a message at the bottom of your newsletter saying "If you do not wish to receive future newsletters from us, reply with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject field" and you should be fine.

8) Based on the affiliate program idea reviewed earlier in this book, you might want to consider impressing your potential customer or visitor. Now, its possible for you to have a "store" without stocking virtually any merchandise. And how does that work out? If you become affiliated with Amazon.com (a popular online book store), you can actually display the book cover with a short description and link to the secure order form provided by Amazon.com. You earn referrer fees by directing your "customer" to the Amazon.com Web site. The only catch is your visitor will have to register with Amazon.com for an account to order their book(s) from your "store."