412 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site

There are a few basic ways to improve your success online:
• Generate more traffic to your Web site—that’s what this book is
all about.
• Improve your conversion rate or convert more of your Web site
visitors into paying customers.
• Your sales conversion rate is affected by:
– How well you have targeted your audience
– How good your offer is
– How convincing your copy is
– How well your audience knows you—loyalty and trust
factors
– Reducing the clicks to buy—the more clicks to the checkout,
the more abandoned shopping carts
• Get your customers to buy more. Ways to do this include:
– Cross-sell
– Up-sell
– Improve your sales copy
– Offer value-added services, such as gift wrapping and expedited
shipping.
If you don’t track, you can’t measure. If you don’t measure, you
don’t improve. It is as simple as that.
What to Measure
The digital nature of the Web makes the medium inherently measurable.
You need to know what to measure, how to measure it, and
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how to improve over time. Quite often industry benchmarks are irrelevant.
What you are concerned with is measuring your own
organization’s results and ratios and improving them month after
month. As long as you keep getting better at what you’re doing and
improving your performance and bottom line, does it really matter
that there is a benchmark out there that you’re not beating? There are
too many variables at play that can distort industry-wide or Internetwide
benchmarks.
Some of the key metrics that you want to measure include:
• Conversion ratio
• Sales per visitor
• Cost per visitor
• Net profit per sale
• Return on investment.
Conversion Ratio (CR)
A conversion ratio is the number of times a desired action is taken,
presented as a percentage of the number of opportunities for the action
to be taken. Although most people look at this ratio as the conversion
of a site visitor into a paying customer, there are many other conversion
ratios that are relevant. Conversion ratios of site visitors to sign-ups for
any permission marketing opportunity (newsletters, coupons, e-specials)
is a very important ratio.
By way of example, let’s assume you have 300 visitors to your Web
site in a day and you have 30 sales in the same time period. The sales
conversion ratio would be:
The number of people who purchase divided by the number of people
who visit the site: 30/300 = 10 percent
If you had 3,000 visitors and 30 sales, your conversion ratio would
be 1 percent: 30/3,000 = 1 percent
If you could find a way to increase your conversion ratio from 1
percent to 2 percent, you will have doubled your sales. Obviously, the
higher the conversion ratio the better.
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Sales per Visitor (SPV)
The sales per visitor is calculated by taking the gross sales or total dollar
sales amount for a period of time divided by the number of visitors
over the same period of time.
If you have $3,000 in sales for the day and 300 visitors, you have a
$10 sales per visitor ratio: $3,000 sales/300 visitors = $10 SPV.
You want to increase this number over time.
Cost per Visitor (CPV)
Your cost per visitor can be calculated two ways. You can look at your
total cost per visitor over all marketing activities, or you can choose to
measure your cost per visitor for a specific campaign. The specific-campaign
measurement is more relevant because you want to know which
Internet marketing activities are most cost-effective and yield a higher
return on investment.
To calculate your overall cost per visitor, you simply take all your
marketing expenses and divide by the number of unique visitors.
To calculate a campaign-specific cost per visitor, you take the cost
of the campaign and divide it by the number of unique visitors provided
by that campaign. Let’s run an example. Let’s say you run a banner
advertising campaign that costs you $20 CPM (cost per thousand impressions).
And let’s further assume you get a 1 percent click-through
rate. Your 1 percent click-through yields you ten visitors (1,000 × 1percent
= 10 visitors). Your cost per visitor for this campaign is $2. You
take the campaign cost (in this case, $20) and divide it by the number of
visitors (in this case, ten): $20/10 visitors = $2 cost per visitor for this
campaign.
Cost per Sale (CPS)
Your cost per sale is calculated as the cost of your campaign divided by
the number of sales it produces.
Let’s follow through on the previous example. Our campaign cost
was $20 for 1,000 banner ad impressions. We had a 1 percent clickthrough
rate, or ten visitors. Let’s assume that 10 percent of our visitors
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bought, so 10 percent is one sale. To calculate our cost per sale, we take
our campaign cost and divide it by the number of sales: $20 campaign
cost/1 sale = $20 CPS.
Net Profit per Sale (NPPS)
Let’s continue with our example. Let’s assume that each sale produces
at $45 gross profit. Gross profit is calculated by taking the selling price
and subtracting the cost of goods sold. Net profit per sale is calculated
by taking the net profit and subtracting our cost-per-sale (which is the
previous calculation we figured as $20). The net profit per sale for this
campaign is: Gross profit per sale - cost per sale: $45 - $20 = $25 NPPS.
Return on Investment (ROI)
The return on investment before non-marketing expenses is calculated
by taking the net profit per sale and dividing it by the investment or the
cost per sale. In this case, you had a $25 net profit per sale divided by
$20 cost per sale: $25/$20 = 125 percent ROI.
This campaign was profitable. But you need to do these calculations
for all of your campaigns so that you can compare them against each
other to see where you want to focus your marketing dollars and also to
improve your ratios over time on the same types of marketing activities—
in other words, get better at the game.
Web Metrics Tools
Now that you have learned how to do all the calculations and your
heart is racing thinking about this new full-time job that has just been
created, we’ll let you in on a few tools that might help.
Some of the tools available include:
• AdMinder (http://www.adminder.com). AdMinder can calculate
not only the cost per click, but also the cost per sale (or action)
and the return on investment for that particular campaign.
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AdMinder allows for easy management of multiple campaigns
by displaying ads that are scheduled to run in the near future
and ads that are about to expire. AdMinder allows for the export
of data to Excel or any other spreadsheet software.
• FutureNowInc.com (http://www.futurenowinc.com/digital
salescalculators.htm). The FutureNow Digital Sales Calculator
includes 22 metrics.
• NetAuditNow (http://netauditnow.com). NetAuditNow is a service
that logs onto your Web server, grabs your log files, and
then uses them to spit out reports. One of the reports that
NetAuditNow generates is the advertising quality and returnon-
investment report. This report compares the quantity (total
and average number) to quality (time, pages viewed, and purchases)
of visitors who came to your site from various ad banners
and links. Can report on everything from search engine
traffic to total monthly page views and unique visitors.
• Net Quantify (http://www.netquantify.com). Online reports reveal
which placements generate the most sales, registrations, and
any other activity you want to track.
• PromotionStat (http://www.promotionstat.com). PromotionStat
reports on and separates visitors from different advertising vehicles
or sources and tracks their behaviors once they’re on
your site.
Internet Resources for Chapter 28
I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding Web
metrics. For additional resources on a variety of topics, I recommend
that you visit the Resources section of my Web site at http://www.
susansweeney.com/resources.html. There you will find additional tips,
tools, techniques, and resources.
How to Interpret Web Metrics
http://www.clickz.com/sales/traffic/article.php/992351
An interesting article on how to interpret what all these numbers mean.
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Web Metrics and ROI
http://www.stepbystepwebmarketing.com/bottom.php
Another article about Web metrics from the Institute of International
Research.
Understanding Web Metrics to Improve Site Performance
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol29/metrics.htm
Many online entrepreneurs fail to properly understand and utilize their
site’s metrics. Here’s an in-depth look on how statistics can be used to
achieve traffic, marketing, sales, and customer service goals.
Marketing Experiment
http://www.marketingexperiments.com/archives/web_metrics_pt1.cfm
Marketing Experiment tests 26 different Web metrics tools to determine
the simplest, most accurate way to capture the numbers you need.

Which Pages Are Popular and Which Pages Are Not?

Which Pages Are Popular and Which Pages Are Not?
What pages are most popular with your visitors? Do you see traffic
spike when you have new content? Release a newsletter or news re-
Figure 27.2. This WebTrends report lets you know which versions of each
browser your visitors are using.
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lease? Do you get more traffic on the weekend or during the week? Are
your online marketing efforts having an impact? Are people clicking
through?
When you look at the log files and see where your audience is spending
most of their time on your site, you can also tell where they are not.
You can then use this information to determine what the popular pages
on your site incorporate that the less popular ones do not. Perhaps the
popular pages are similar to the less popular, but are visited by a specific
source (i.e., search engines, newsgroups). Maybe there is a content
problem on the less popular pages, or maybe they take longer to load
than the other pages and visitors do not want to wait for them to load.
Whatever the case may be, you can use this information and attempt to
fix those problems that would keep visitors from spending time on all
the pages of your site.
Find Out How Each Visitor Found Your Site
By finding out how each visitor came to your site, you can boost your
traffic tremendously. You can determine which of your banner ads is producing
the best results (see Figure 27.3). You can use this information to
Figure 27.3. This WebTrends report identifies how frequently a banner ad is
viewed.
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Figure 27.4. This WebTrends report illustrates the first-time visitor sessions
initiated by searches from each search engine.
help you with the selection of banners you use and also the allocation of
your online advertising budget. You can determine how many visitors
found your site through search engines (see Figure 27.4). You can even
determine which keyword led to the most visitors through the search
engines (see Figure 27.5). If most of your traffic is coming from the Excite
search engine (http://www.excite.com), you could consider purchasing a
banner advertisement on that page. The same theory applies if your traffic
is coming from a newsgroup, meta-indexes, and so on.
You can also find out where your visitors go when they leave your
Web site. You want your viewers to stay at your site as long as possible.
If you notice that the majority of your viewers are not traveling through
your entire site and are not viewing important information that you
want them to see, you may want to manipulate the layout of your Web
site to decrease the “flight effect.” If you notice that your top exit page
is your home page, you might even decide to try a whole new approach
because people seem to be turned off from searching through your site
from the beginning.
Single-access pages are pages on your Web site that are accessed
through a link or search engine and then are immediately exited. If a
high percentage of your Web site traffic is a result of these pages, it is
very important that you convey a strong message while you have the
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visitors’ attention. If you have pages like this, you should reevaluate
what is on those pages and try to come up with content that entices
your visitor to search through the rest of your site.
Most of the Web traffic analysis software will tell you which keywords
and phrases your visitors used to find your site using a search
engine. This is extremely valuable information because you can use these
keywords to increase your popularity in the search engines. By knowing
the most popular keywords your visitors are using to visit your site, you
can make sure you use them in your meta-tags, Alt tags, and page titles,
and in the text of your page for higher placement in the search engines.
Also, by seeing which search engines are being used more by your visitors,
you can choose to purchase a banner ad or keywords for that
engine to achieve maximum visibility to your market.
Another benefit of observing who is viewing your site is that you
can see when spiders and crawlers from search engines have crawled to
your page. This means that your site most likely will be indexed on their
corresponding search engine. This is good to know, not only because it
reassures you that you are going to be indexed, but also because by
Figure 27.5. This WebTrends report identifies the specific keywords that led
the most visitors to the site through the search engines.
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knowing this, you will not resubmit your site to the search engine and
risk spamming.
Identifying Your Target Market
After you have collected data from your log files and used the Web
traffic analysis software to determine which demographic groups are
actually visiting your site, you then must determine whether these are
the groups that you want to target. If not, you must then determine how
you are going to reach your target market. For example, you might find
that you need to change your online advertising campaign. Or perhaps
you should reevaluate your Internet marketing strategy, taking into consideration
the new data that you have collected.
Find out What Forms of Online Promotion Work for Your Site
When you first launch your Web site, you are going to aggressively
implement your Internet marketing strategy by experimenting with all
of the different forms of online marketing. However, when you analyze
who is actually visiting your site and you find out where the majority of
your traffic is coming from, you can then determine where to focus the
majority of your marketing efforts. You might find that a link on a
particular Web site is resulting in a high amount of traffic to your site;
therefore, you might consider purchasing a banner advertisement on
that site. The same goes for all of the other forms of Internet marketing.
If, after a short period of time, your analysis software tells you that you
are receiving low traffic from a banner ad that you have purchased, you
should pull it off that site and allocate your investment to another site
on the Internet. This is a good way to make sure you get the most for
your investments in online marketing.
How Do You Get Web Traffic
Analysis Software for Your Site?
One option is to use a tracking service like eXTReMe Tracking (http://
www.extreme-dm.com), where the tracking software resides on the ser-
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406 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
vice provider’s server. You place the tracker code on your Web site,
which provides all the input to the tracking software, and then you have
access to all the tracking reports.
You can purchase Web traffic analysis software if you wish, but
for it to work it must be installed on the server where you host your
Web site. If you are hosting your own Web site, you definitely have
to purchase your own software; however, if you are paying an ISP to
host your Web site, the host should already be able to provide some
sort of analysis software. Most people don’t take advantage of the
tremendous marketing opportunities available from analyzing their
traffic; therefore, they do not ask their ISP about the software. It
should be available to you, for you are paying for their services. If it
is not, simply ask them to purchase the Web traffic analysis software
of your choice, for they would much rather have you as a client than
say no. In some cases they might charge you an additional fee for this
service.
Internet Resources for Chapter 27
I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding Web
traffic analysis. For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the
Resources section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you can find additional tips, tools, and resources.
Web Traffic Analysis Services
Analog
http://www.analog.cx
“The most popular log file analyzer in the world.”
eXTReMe Tracker
http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking
The eXTReMe Tracker is a completely free service that offers comprehensive
real-time reporting, with no limit on the amount of traffic that
you receive on your Web site. It is capable of tracking your visitors’
geographic location, their domain, e-mail address, the browser they are
using, and much more.
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Funnel Web Analyzer
http://www.quest.com/funnel_web/analyzer
Every person who visits your company’s Web site leaves behind a trail.
Your Web server logs their every action, and you can use this information
to help improve your business. Funnel Web Analyzer provides essential
Web site visitor and traffic analysis. It measures everything from server
load and referrals to visitor demographics and marketing ROI. Funnel
Web Analyzer helps you optimize your Web site, by allowing you to analyze
how users interact with your site, and helps you make informed decisions
about what changes you can make to improve their experience.
HitBox
http://www.hitbox.com
HitBox is designed for ad-supported, personal, or e-commerce sites. It’s
capable of developing user profiles, tracking which sites refer visitors to
your site, and how much traffic you receive on a daily, monthly, and
annual basis. HitBox can also track how your visitors navigate around
your Web site, which can help you in customizing your Web site to your
viewers’ needs.
IBM SurfAid Analytics
http://surfaid.dfw.ibm.com/web/home/index.html
SurfAid customers range from startups to Internet giants. Regardless of
your traffic volumes, SurfAid processes your data in hours. SurfAid has
handled the processing and analysis for some of the world’s most heavily
trafficked Web sites to date, including the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
TheCounter.com
http://www.thecounter.com
The Counter provides tracking services to its members. By placing a
small image on your Web site, you can get information such as when
your visitors came, from where, and by using what browser. If you are
just experimenting with Web traffic analysis, you can’t go wrong with
TheCounter.com.
Webalizer
http://www.mrunix.net/webalizer
The Webalizer is a fast, free Web server log file analysis program. It
produces highly detailed, easily configurable usage reports in HTML
format, for viewing with a standard Web browser.
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Web Site Traffic Reports
http://www.websitetrafficreport.com
This free service provides you with a bit of code to insert into your Web
page, and then sends you an e-mail daily with your Web traffic report.
Web-Stat Traffic Analysis
http://www.web-stat.com
For $5 per month you can use this service, which provides very detailed
Web traffic analysis reports.
Web Traffic Analysis Software
AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.com
AccessWatch is open source shareware. AccessWatch generates browser
statistics, referrer, page views, and other Web site traffic statistics.
Mach5 FastStats Analyzer
http://www.mach5.com/products/analyzer/analyzer.html
A powerful software application that provides detailed analysis of your
server’s log files.
NetIQ’s WebTrends Enterprise Suite
http://www.netiq.com/webtrends/products/previous/reporting_series_
enterprise.asp
The WebTrends Enterprise Suite is one of the most comprehensive Web
site analysis software packages available. It provides you with reports
on everything from the number of views your banner ads receive on
another Web page, to which keyword was used when a visitor found
your site using a search engine. You can easily target specific hits and
user sessions that include file types and names, entry pages, time and
day, user addresses, or any other medium that might have pointed a
visitor to your page. WebTrends develops detailed advertising reports,
which tell you how often banners on your Web site are viewed and how
often people click through. This assists you in selling and billing space
to your clients. This is an all-in-one piece of Web traffic analysis software
that does more than answer the question of who is actually visiting
your site.
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NetTracker eBusiness Edition
http://www.sane.com
NetTracker uses an Oracle database engine, which is great for most
companies because they don’t need a database administrator to use it.
The Business Edition can handle really large log files with the speed and
agility of an Oracle8 database. The Business Edition also lets you access
your data for additional analysis using standard reporting tools such as
Crystal Reports and products from Cognos, Information Builders, and
more. This product contains 79 standardized summaries, plus you can
create and save your own. NetTracker generates usage reports for multiple
Web sites, proxy servers, firewalls, and FTP sites.
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28
Web Metrics
Over the past few years the Internet has come a long way toward being
a sales and distribution channel for most businesses. As with any
distribution channel, there are costs involved. Where business costs are
involved, the owners want to see a return on their investment. To determine
the return on investment, businesses need to measure and analyze
a number of things.
Over the past year we have seen more and more companies allocate
significantly more of their marketing budget to Internet marketing. Businesses
are taking the Internet very seriously these days. Businesses are
beginning to measure their Web site’s effectiveness from both a marketing
and a merchandising perspective. In this chapter, we cover:
• Measuring your online success
• What to measure
• Conversion ratio
• Sales per visitor
• Cost per visitor
• Cost per sale
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Web Metrics 411
• Net profit per sale
• Return on investment
• Web metrics tools.
Measuring Your Online Success
E-commerce is a numbers game. The trick is to focus on
the right numbers so that you can make accurate decisions
about how to improve your Web site, and ultimately, your
customer conversion rate. Without e-metrics, the Web
continues to be a grand experiment, a government research
project that escaped the lab, mutated, and took
over the world. But with e-metrics you have the opportunity
to approach the Web from an objective, systematic
perspective. You can move from trial and error to trial,
measure and improve.
Bryan Eisenburg
CIO Future Now Inc.
http://futurenowinc.com
It is becoming imperative that companies track the effectiveness of
their online marketing campaigns in real time and make adjustments, if
necessary, immediately. It is also imperative that companies track the
effectiveness of the elements on their Web site and make adjustments
over time.
From a marketing perspective, organizations want to measure and
improve advertising effectiveness, click-throughs, cost of customer acquisitions,
etc.
From a Web site perspective, organizations want to improve online
sales, cross-sells, up-sells, customer retention rates, average order per
customer, number of page views per visitor, customer loyalty, newsletters,
sign-ups, and so on. They want to determine the most popular
areas of the site so the content can be improved. They want to identify
popular “exit” pages so they can modify them and make their site more
“sticky.”

Effective Offline Promotion 391

• Envelopes
• Checks
• Fax coversheets
• Report covers
• Flyers
• Advertisements
• Direct mail pieces
• Newsletters
• Press releases
• Media kits.
URL Exposure through Promotional Items
If your company uses promotional items as giveaways at trade shows
and events, it is a good idea to incorporate your Web site marketing
with these items. Figures 26.1 and 26.2 offer examples of the different
promotional products that you can order on the Internet for your business.
Promotional items that are used in and around computer workstations
are ideal because your URL is visible when people are in a position
to actually visit your site. Some examples are:
• Mouse pads
• CD holders
• Screen cleaning kits
• Software
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Figure 26.1. Mousepads.com is a site where you can order personalized
mouse pads.
Figure 26.2. At epromos.com you can put your Web address on a multitude
of different products.
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Effective Offline Promotion 393
• Screen savers
• Pens and pencils
• Scratch pads
• Coffee mugs
• Coasters
• Letter openers
• Stress balls
• Calendars
• Sticky notes.
URL Exposure through Clothing
Articles of clothing are another great promotional item. When people
wear an article of clothing with your URL on it, they become a walking
billboard for your site. I personally have a jacket that was provided by
Webjacket.com (see Figure 26.3), and the quality is great. Your corporate
jacket provides exposure for your company and your Web site. If
you have a corporate uniform, your URL should be displayed. Put your
URL and a catchy phrase or tag line on items such as:
• Golf shirts
• T-shirts
• Sweatshirts
• Hats
• Aprons
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• Jackets.
URL Exposure on Novelty Items
Novelty items can be an effective place to print your URL. If your target
market is a younger audience, then put your URL on items that appeal
to them, such as:
• Frisbees
• Balls
• Beach towels
• Sunglasses
• Key chains
• Magnets
• Chocolate bars
Figure 26.3. eZINESearch.com provides a searchable directory of e-zines.
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Effective Offline Promotion 395
• Bumper stickers.
Promotion with a Touch of Creativity
Be creative and come up with catchy slogans that have a connection
with the promotional item. For example:
• Clocks: “Take some time to visit our Web site at …”
• Rulers: “For a measurable difference, visit us at …”
• Coffee mugs: “Take a break and visit our Web site at …”
• Tape measures: “Visit our Web site at http://www.YourURL.com
and see how our site measures up.”
• Magnifying glasses: “You don’t need one of these to see that our
site is the best. Come visit us online at …”
• Watches: “Isn’t it about time you visited us at … ?”
• Bookmarks: “Take a break from reading and visit our Web
site at …”
URL Exposure on Your Products
If possible, put your URL on your products themselves. This is an innovative
idea that Joe Boxer has used. They stitch their URL into the waistband
of their underwear.
Internet Resources for Chapter 26
I have included a few resources for you to check out about offline promotion.
For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the Re-
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396 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
sources section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you can find additional tips, tools, techniques,
and resources.
Advertising Concepts
http://www.bumperstickers.com/ad.htm
“Why Use Promotional Products?” This site gives you good promotional
ideas and explains what these promotional products can do for you.
Digital-Women.com
http://www.digital-women.com/unique.htm
This includes unique ideas for online and offline promotion.
e-Promos.com
http://www.epromos.com
This site has a huge offering of items appropriate to display your logo.
Mousepads.com
http://www.mousepads.com
Mousepads.com allows you to choose from many styles or will develop
a custom one just for you. They also allow you to sign up for their
e-specials on their site.
PC Mojo
http://www.pcmojo.com/content/techsuppwebpromoteoffline.htm
Information on why you need to promote your site off the Internet.
Promotional Webstickers
http://www.websticker.com/products.htm
Simple ideas to effectively promote your Web site offline.
Webjacket.com
http://www.webjacket.com
Webjacket.com provides a great quality jacket with your corporate logo
and Web address. You design your own right on the site. I have one!
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27
Web Traffic Analysis
Today, technology not only allows us to generate interactive Web sites
for our viewers, it allows us to learn about our viewers as well. Many
Web sites are now using Web traffic analysis software that enables them
to analyze not only what page of the Web site their visitors came to
first, but also where they came from, how long they were there, and
what they did while they stayed. Once you have this information, you
can do some calculations to see what is working for you and what is
not. In this chapter, you will learn:
• What your Web server’s log files can tell you
• How analyzing log files with Web traffic analysis software can
benefit your Web site
• How to develop a profile of your visitors
• How to optimize your Web site to accommodate your visitors
• How to get the most for your marketing dollar
• How to generate leads for your business
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• How analysis software can help you to manage your online advertising
business
• How you can get Web traffic analysis software for your Web site
• The popular brands of Web traffic analysis software.
Do You Know Who Is Visiting Your Web Site?
Retailers have always spent endless hours trying to analyze the shoppers
who visit their stores. They are constantly trying to collect data
about their markets so that they can decide what the best forms of advertising
are for their target market, what consumers really want in
order to make wiser buying decisions, what services are important to
them, what product features their target market is looking for, and so
on. The same thing is happening today on the Internet. Companies are
constantly collecting data on their target market—their needs, wants,
preferences, and desires. Most people are unaware that they are even
doing this.
Web traffic analysis software helps companies to focus on their target
market like never before. It helps them to understand the traffic on
their Web site and enables them to make the necessary changes that are
critical to producing the results that they desire from their Web site.
“But how do they do it?” you ask.
Using Log Files to Your Advantage
All Web servers log a list of all the requests for individual files that
people have requested from a Web site. These logs include the HTML
files and their embedded graphic images and any other associated files
that get transmitted through the server. These logs can be analyzed by
Web traffic analysis tools to generate the following data:
• The number of visitors to your home page
• Where the visitors came from in terms of their IP addresses
• How many times each page on your Web site was requested
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• What time, day of the week, and season people access your site
• Which browser your visitor is using
• Which keywords or phrases your visitors are using to find your
site using a search engine
• Which advertisements are viewed the most on your Web site
• Detailed information on visitors and demographics.
This might not sound like very important information; however,
there are some very amazing things you can do with this data. Like any
good experiment, you must collect the data first, complete the experiment,
and then make the recommendations.
Analyzing Log Files with Web
Traffic Analysis Software
By analyzing the data from your log files, you can generate results that
could significantly increase the popularity and success of your Web site.
By tracking the visitors on your Web site in terms of where they spend
their time, how they came to your site, and if they do what you want
them to do, you can fine-tune your Web site to fit the specific needs of
your target market.
Developing a Profile of Your Visitors
Who is visiting your site? Are most of your visitors from the United
States? Canada? Australia? Are your visitors AOL users? University students?
Government? Are your visitors primarily Mac or PC users? Which
browser are they using? Which version of the browsers are they using?
By analyzing the log files, you can learn a great deal about your
audience. You can see how the majority of your audience came to your
site and what they like to do while they are there—meaning whether
they request information or not, if they download products, or if they
are interested in free giveaways. You can use this information to find
out if your site needs to be changed to accommodate the needs of your
visitors. For example, if you find that many of your visitors are spend-
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ing much of their time on your What’s New page, maybe it would be in
your best interest to start a monthly mail list to inform your audience
about new additions to your Web site.
The log files can tell you when your audience is entering your site.
For example, if the log files indicate that your traffic is mostly at night,
you could predict that most people visit your site from home. Because
many homes do not have high-speed access, you might want to check
your graphic sizes to make sure that they are not taking too long for
your site to load. If your analysis tells you that not many people visit
your site on Saturday, you could select this day as your maintenance
day. You don’t want to make changes to your site on days when you
receive high traffic because it is very discouraging to your visitors to
receive HTTP 404 errors because your site is temporarily down.
You can also see your visitor’s IP address, which the software translates
into his or her geographical location; some of the software is even
capable of narrowing the data down to the city (see Figure 27.1). From
a marketing perspective, this can benefit you in planning your marketing
efforts in other media. If you are planning a television campaign for
Figure 27.1. WebTrends can tell you what cities are bringing you the most
online traffic.
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Web Traffic Analysis 401
your business, you might want to start in a city that frequently visits
your site, thus increasing the chance of a successful campaign.
It is very common for Web traffic analysis software to indicate which
browser your visitors are using when visiting your Web site (see Figure
27.2). Although you want to have a Web site that is designed to be
compatible with both older and newer browsers, this data can be used
to your advantage. Older browsers that cannot read Java scripting properly
and that do not have the proper plug-ins for a Flash introduction
might still be in use by your viewers. However, if a majority of your
viewers are using the latest browsers, you could incorporate more of
the latest technology into your site. Remember that you should always
offer a “Skip Flash” option on your site and the latest Java plug-ins for
people with older browsers.

Webcasting and Rich Media 381

The Technology Changes Too Often
Webcasting is a relatively new medium. Of course, new standards are
being introduced every few months. The key here is to watch what technologies
the major Internet sites are using. If you see some of the major
players in the Internet starting to use a particular Webcasting technology,
you should investigate it. Generally, the learning curve for new technologies
is not very steep because they are based on previous technologies.
Uses of Webcasting
Despite the existence of a few barriers to using Webcasting as a promotional
vehicle, you should investigate it if you think your target market
is ready for it. Some important uses of providing rich media content to
the general public include:
• Live continuous broadcasts of radio stations and networks
• Broadcasts of cable networks and television stations
• Coverage of sporting events (both streaming and nonstreaming
footage)
• Live music including concerts and club performances (both
streaming and nonstreaming footage)
• On demand shows, corporate events, CDs, audiobooks, video
titles, and so on.
As bandwidth increases and more people have access to higher-end
technology, Webcasting will become a regular part of our lives and be
more accepted as an advertising medium. The transition to Webcasting
has already begun, as is evidenced by the large number of prominent
players already entrenched in the field.
Today we are seeing that many major corporations are providing
live Webcasts of their corporate annual meetings. This is a great idea for
a number of reasons. If there are company shareholders who are unable
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to attend the annual meeting in person, they are able to observe the
meeting remotely via the Internet and Webcasting. Similarly, potential
investors can view your annual meeting on-line and gain valuable insight
into your organization, which might result in the individuals making
an investment in your organization. If potential investors or
shareholders miss the live Webcast of the annual meeting, they can visit
your site and download the event to watch at their convenience. This is
just one example of how Webcasting can add value to your Web site,
and ultimately your organization.
Many travel and tourism sites are providing virtual tours of their
locations. A picture is worth a thousand words, and this is certainly the
case when it comes to marketing hotels, bed and breakfasts, resorts,
golf courses, theme parks, attractions, and other travel destinations.
We are also seeing an increase in the number of professional training
organizations providing online training modules, or “virtual seminars,”
from their Web sites. The growing popularity of online training
is a result of the flexibility and cost efficiency offered by these organizations.
In order for your clients to attend your seminars in person,
they would be inconvenienced by the need to schedule time for it. This
inconvenience incorporates travel expenses, the seminar fee, and the
opportunity costs of being absent from their office. Virtual seminars
enable your clients to usually pay a much smaller fee to view the same
seminar from the comfort of their desk. Business professionals are
also finding online training useful because it allows them to decide
when to view the seminar, as some of the online training sessions can
be viewed at their convenience. Others are “live” and available only
at a specific time and date.
Many professional speakers are now offering live Webcasts,
downloadable training modules, and streaming video clips from their
Web sites in an effort to increase their online bookings. For example,
meeting planners and organizers who are looking for speakers for their
upcoming conference can visit my Web site, SusanSweeney.com (http://
www.susansweeney.com), to download streaming video clips of samples
of my speaking. This enables visitors to gain a feel for my presentation
style and the quality of content that I deliver. I also offer live “Webinars”
every couple of weeks on various topics related to Internet marketing
(http://www.susansweeney.com/tele_seminars.html). While I’m on a roll
I’ll also give a plug for The Recognized Expert Marketing Show
(http://www.recognizedexpert.com), an online radio program where I’ve
been interviewed.
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Internet Resources for Chapter 24
I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding Webcasting
and rich media. For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the
Resources section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you will find additional tips, tools, and techniques.
Yahoo! Platinum
http://platinum.yahoo.com
Yahoo! Platinum offers a wide variety of on-demand audio and video
content, from space shuttle launches to full-length movies.
Internet Pictures Corp
http://www.ipix.com
This company is known for its 360-degree virtual tours.
The Media CHANNEL
http://www.mediachannel.com
A guide to video on the Internet.
RealNetworks
http://www.real.com
Innovators in the field of streaming media, RealNetworks has several
popular Webcasting software applications, including RealPlayer,
RealJukebox, and RealSlideshow.
Streaming Media World
http://www.streamingmediaworld.com
Streaming Media World offers media player reviews, news, tools, tutorials,
discussion forums, and cool links devoted to streaming video, audio,
MP3, multimedia, and GIF animation.
VideoDome.Com Networks Inc.
http://www.videodome.com
Offers a variety of Internet On Demand video solutions to meet your
online video needs.
Virtual Kingdom Interactive Inc.
http://www.virtualkingdom.ca/vkingdom/
A company that provides virtual tour technology for your Web site.
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VirtualTuner.com
http://www.virtualtuner.com
Directory of live and on-demand radio links for the Internet.
Web-Radio
http://www.web-radio.com
A comprehensive directory of radio stations broadcasting on the Web.
WebReference.com
http://www.webreference.com/multimedia/video.html
A directory of multimedia tools including Windows Media Player, Real,
Emblaze, and Macromedia.
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25
Grand Opening Tips for Your Web
Site Virtual Launch
Just as you would have a book or software launch, you can have a Web
site launch. In preparation, you must develop a launch strategy. In this
chapter, we cover:
• Development of your Web site launch strategy
• Web site announcement mailing lists
• Direct e-mail postcards to your customers or prospective clients.
Launching and Announcing Your Web Site
A new Web site or your new location in cyberspace
can be launched in many of the same ways that you
would launch a new physical store location. This
might involve both online and offline activities. Just
as you would prepare a book launch strategy or a
new software product launch strategy, you can de-
Cyberspace
Virtual location where
Web sites live.
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velop an appropriate launch strategy for your new Web site. Sometimes a
launch strategy could be more work than the benefit that would be gained.
On the other hand, if you are opening the next Amazon, it is imperative.
Your Web Site Virtual Launch
Let’s take a look at a traditional retail store grand opening. For the
grand opening, which usually lasts for an evening or a day, there are
invitations to the media, press releases distributed to the media, invited
guests, opening ceremonies, advertising, and possibly gift giveaways.
A Web site virtual location launch occurs in cyberspace, and the
“grand opening” can last for a day, a week, or a month. Many of the
activities you would include in your traditional grand opening can also
be included in your Internet grand opening. The effectiveness of your
launch can be increased with the following tips:
• Media attention can be generated through the distribution of
press releases on-line and off-line. (See Chapter 21 for press release
distribution information.)
• Guests can be invited to your online opening through postings
in newsgroups, newsletters, “What’s New” sites, banner advertising,
direct e-mail, and signature files, as well as through offline
direct mail and advertising.
• Opening ceremonies can be just as exciting on-line as off-line.
They can last for a month rather than a day. The opening must
be designed to appeal to your target market.
• You can feature special guests in chat areas for your grand opening
or several special guests over the duration. Again, relate your
guests and the topics to be discussed to the needs and wants of
your target market.
• You can run contests that require visitors to visit various parts
of your site to compete for prizes. Perhaps they have to complete
a multiple-choice quiz whose answers are found throughout
your site. This way you encourage your guests to visit all
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Grand Opening Tips for Your Web Site Virtual Launch 387
those pages you want them to. You can also ask if they would
like to be notified via e-mail of the winner. This gives you an
opportunity to send them e-mail with their permission.
• You can have audio and video greetings from your site.
• You can have press releases regarding your opening available
for download by the media. Make your press release interactive.
(See Chapter 21 for details on how to do this.)
• Special free gifts can be provided to the first 20 or 50 visitors to
your site. You can also provide prizes to the first 100 to link to
your site.
• Do some offline advertising for your new URL (see Chapter 26
for innovative offline opportunities), or take advantage of online
advertising via announcement sites.
There are many other innovative “grand opening” attention grabbers
that can be brainstormed with marketing and public relations individuals.
Whatever you decide to do, make it memorable, make it appropriate
for your target market, and provide reasons for them to return.
Internet Resources for Chapter 25
I have included a few resources for you to check out for your Web site
virtual launch. For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the
Resources section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you can find additional tips, tools, and techniques.
Best-Web-Sites Announcement List
You can join this mailing list by e-mailing the message “sub BESTWEB
[your name]” to listserv@vm3090.ege.edu.tr.
Nerd World What’s New
http://www.nerdworld.com/whatsnew.html
The newest links added to Nerd World, and a place to show off your
site. Not just for nerds.
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WhatsNu
http://www.whatsnu.com
The WhatsNu search engine filters Web site listings by date/category
and offers the Internet community a free weekly notification of new
Web sites launching on the Internet.
Get Ready for Grand Re-Openings
http://www.clickz.com/experts/media/media_buy/article.php/1579801
A great article about site reopening and buying media.
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26
Effective Offline Promotion
There are many benefits to cross-promoting your Web site using traditional
media and print materials. Your Web site can answer many questions
and provide more information than you can print in a magazine
or newspaper ad. Your site can be kept up to date with the latest information
available. People can request additional information or order
online. In this chapter, we cover:
• Tips for offline promotion of your Web site
• Offline promotion opportunities.
Offline Promotion Objectives
Because visitors can be directed from offline promotion to request additional
information or order online, you should promote your URL on
every piece of promotional material you produce! The more exposure
your URL receives, the more likely it is that people will remember it
when they go online.
Be creative with your offline promotion campaign. Brainstorm with
innovative thinkers to come up with a number of good places to pro-
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390 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
mote your URL; for example, try displaying your URL in your TV and
radio commercials, magazine and newspaper ads, and billboards. The
more places your URL appears, the more it will get noticed. Some businesses
even incorporate their URL into their building and vehicle signage.
Answer your telephone “YourCompanyName.com, Good Morning.”
This is quite effective in letting people know that you want them to visit
your Web site and providing them with your URL at the same time.
Next time they have a question or want to place an order, they can go
directly to the Web site.
Displaying your URL in traditional media encourages people to visit
your site for more information about your company. Another benefit is
that people usually can order from your Web site. Naturally, your site
should be up to date, with all of the latest information on products,
prices, and sales promotions. If a 6-month-old advertisement is seen in
a magazine, as long as the URL is displayed in the ad, readers can go to
your site and get current information. Your Web site is your most effective
advertisement, but it is an advertisement that people have to know
about before they can view it.
If you have a bricks-and-mortar location you can consider having
posters or promotional material on display letting people know about
your Web site or encouraging them to join your e-club.
URL Exposure through Corporate
Literature and Material
It is important that your corporate image be consistent in both your
online and offline promotional campaigns. Businesses should use the
same colors, style, fonts, logo, and tag lines on all of their marketing
materials. As a rule of thumb, try to place your URL on everything you
put your logo on—which means just about every piece of corporate
literature. Make sure to include your URL on the following:
• Letterhead
• Business cards
• Corporate brochures
TEAM

Other Marketing Opportunities Provided by Web Rings

When you have found a Web ring that attracts your target market, you
can participate and enjoy the increase in visitors to your site. The Massage
and Bodywork Web ring shown in Figure 23.2 is an example of a
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Web Rings as a Promotion Tool 371
professional type of Web ring. It is a Web ring devoted to massage schools
and educators and other support services for massage professionals.
Web rings provide an array of other opportunities as well.
You can search through the list of participants in a Web ring to
arrange reciprocal links. You can also search a Web ring for banneradvertising
purposes. You can either exchange banners or purchase advertising
on these sites. You can find sites that may be appropriate for
cooperative advertising purposes. You can exchange coupons with another
site you are linked to, which works especially well when you sell
noncompeting products to the same target market.
Internet Resources for Chapter 23
I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding public
Web rings. For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the Resources
section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you will find additional tips, tools, and techniques.
Figure 23.2. The Massage and Bodywork Web ring is an example of a
professional Web ring; it is exclusively for massage schools, educators, and other
services supportive of massage professionals.
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RingSurf
http://www.ringsurf.com
Sites of a particular subject together in a ring. A visitor to any site in the
ring can easily move forward or backward through the ring and visit
other sites within that subject area. This drives targeted qualified traffic
to all the ring sites. Surfers don’t want to deal with mounds of irrelevant
search engine results. They want to visit sites on topics they love. RingSurf
is a free service that lets users quickly, easily, and reliably navigate thousands
of related Web sites organized by areas of interest.
WebRing
http://dir.webring.com/rw
Web rings are one of the fastest and most exciting ways to navigate the
World Wide Web. In each of its tens of thousands of rings, member Web
sites have banded together to form their sites into linked circles. Their
purpose is to allow more visitors to reach them quickly and easily.
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24
Webcasting and Rich Media
Webcasting is defined by Netlingo (http://www.netlingo.com) as: “Using
the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, to broadcast
information. Unlike typical surfing, which relies on a pull method of
transferring Web pages, Webcasting uses push technologies.”
According to a study conducted by Arbitron New Media and
Northstar Interactive, 70 percent of the Webcast audience clicks for
content information, and while listening to or viewing streaming media,
nearly 60 percent click through for advertising information. The
study also states that approximately half of the Webcast audience buys
online-advertised products and 44 percent click online ads. The majority
of Webcast users tune in from home (63 percent), followed by atwork
users (37 percent). In this chapter, we cover:
• Streaming versus nonstreaming media (also known as rich media)
• Advertising with rich media
• Barriers to acceptance of Webcasting
• Uses of Webcasting
• Prominent Webcasters.
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Streaming versus Nonstreaming Media
Before we explain the marketing implications of Webcasting, or rich
media, it is important to explain some of the terms and what the end
user requires to view them. Webcasting consists primarily of video and
audio. Whatis.com defines rich media as:
Rich media is an Internet advertising term for a Web page ad that
uses advanced technology such as streaming video, downloaded
applets (programs) that interact instantly with the user, and ads
that change when the user’s mouse passes over it. For example:
• An ad for a Hollywood movie that includes a streaming video
sample of a scene from the movie
• A mouse cursor that changes to an image on a particular Web
site if the user requests it
• A standard-size banner ad that includes an inquiry form about
ISDN installation, capturing the user’s filled-in personal information
and telling the user he or she will be contacted by a
company representative—all simply by interacting with an ad
on an online publisher’s Web page.
This section talks about streaming and nonstreaming content, with
most emphasis placed on streaming because it has the highest promotional
potential. What is the difference between streaming and
nonstreaming? To put it simply, streaming is presented as it arrives.
RealAudio files are an example of streaming media. Meanwhile,
nonstreaming requires you to download the entire clip or file before
you can listen to it or view it. AVI, MP3, and MOV file formats are
nonstreaming file formats.
• Video. This category includes both streaming formats (Real
Audio, G2, and Windows Media Player) and nonstreaming video
formats (such as AVI and MOV files). Streaming video is often
sent from prepared files but is usually distributed as a live broadcast
feed. Examples of this include news clips, movie clips, and
online movie presentations.
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Webcasting and Rich Media 375
• Audio. Audio also includes streaming and nonstreaming formats.
Leading providers of streaming audio are RealNetwork’s
RealAudio, Macromedia’s Shockwave, and Microsoft’s Windows
Media Player.
Obviously, streaming video file formats contain an audio element as
well. After all, a movie clip is much more interesting when there is sound
associated with it.
Other popular Webcasting or push technology formats include:
• ASF (Advanced Streaming Format). Designed to store synchronized
multimedia data and deliver it over a large variety of networks
and protocols.
• CDF (Channel Definition Format). Permits Web developers to
push information to users through the use of channels.
Push technologies involve sending information to your target market
across the Internet. Internet users install software on their system
that receives content from the Webcaster. For example, they might receive
the latest sports scores, current weather conditions in 20 cities
around the world, or current headlines. The information is “pushed” to
the client’s system. This is different from “pull” marketing, in which the
client specifically requests content from a Web site by loading it into the
browser.
Technically speaking, e-mail is one of the earliest forms of push technology.
Internet marketers send e-mail messages to individuals in their
target market without permission to do so from each of the recipients.
However, we all know that this is spam. Savvy Internet marketers can
still use e-mail to push their message to potential clients, but they must
have the potential clients’ permission beforehand.
Webcasters can use push technologies much as Internet marketers do
with e-mail marketing campaigns. RealNetworks (http://www.real.com)
has been involved in the Webcasting field for several years. Their RealPlayer
software is a prime example of how to use push technology. The basic
version of the player can be downloaded for free from the RealNetworks
Web site. Active channels have been incorporated into the RealPlayer
application. Clicking on one of the active channels in the “Channels”
menu automatically connects the user to a streaming audio/video presen-
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376 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
tation from the site of one of RealNetworks’ partners. In this way,
RealNetworks assists its partners (ESPN, Fox, ZDNet, etc.) to brand themselves
through the RealPlayer Webcasting software, and RealNetworks
likely receives a healthy sum of money in exchange for this advertising.
The RealPlayer software permits you to subscribe to other channels as
well. Thus, RealNetworks gives users a free application, but the company
profits from RealPlayer by selling advertising space. RealNetworks is the
perfect example of how Webcasting can be used to quickly achieve brand
recognition and earn additional revenue.
Aside from RealNetworks, the following companies also provide
software to allow for the distribution of channels:
• Apple’s QuickTime (http://www.apple.com/quicktime)
• Microsoft Active Channels software (http://www.microsoft.com).
Advertising with Rich Media
Companies can use rich media by purchasing a “commercial” that precedes
an online presentation or audio event, or a company can develop
and use rich media on its own Web site to provide a greater sense of
interactivity, which results in more repeat traffic. For an example of
this, go to Yahoo! Platinum (http://platinum.yahoo.com). Yahoo! Platinum
provides current streaming audio and video footage of almost any
event you could imagine. For instance, you can listen to the commentary
of an entire NBA basketball game. However, just before the game
gets under way, you will be greeted by a 25-second audio advertisement.
Why is this good advertising?
• Rich media advertising leaves a deeper impression on customers
than does a static banner ad.
• Rich media averages higher recall.
• Higher customer recall of rich media makes it easier to brand a
company name or product.
• Rich media has higher click-through rates.
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Webcasting and Rich Media 377
• Rich media is more “likeable.”
Higher Recall
A recent usage study among consumers who had recently switched from
dial-up to high-speed Internet access revealed the following results:
• 93 percent of users download more MP3s than they did when
using a dial-up connection.
• 90 percent download more music and videos.
• 89 percent watch more streaming video.
• 86 percent listen to more streaming audio.
• 79 percent transfer a greater number of large files.
• 78 percent share more photos on-line.
This means that more and more people are likely to remember your
company’s streaming media presentation than a static banner ad, as
they are more apt to view rich media.
Better Branding
It goes without saying that better customer recall leads to better branding.
Creating brand awareness with banner ads is difficult because banner
ads are not very interactive. The combination of sight and sound
possible with rich media advertising makes it much more effective than
a static image or looping animated GIF.
More Click-Throughs
A banner ad incorporating Java or Flash Media will have more than
twice the number of click-throughs than a static banner ad. Static banner
ads average less than one click-through per hundred impressions. If
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378 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
you have a banner ad that actively engages your customer, you can
achieve higher click-through rates and generate more sales leads.
More Likeable
Intel concluded that a nonstreaming interactive banner ad offers a 20
percent potential increase in likeability. People are more likely to interact
with a banner ad that has some sort of game built into it as opposed
to a static image. Therefore, an interactive banner ad has the potential
to attract many people who are not usually inclined to click on banner
ads of any sort. Likewise, a 30-second spot in a streaming multimedia
presentation (e.g., watching the Superbowl on-line) is going to be more
acceptable to a user than is a pop-up banner ad.
The bottom line is that if people like you, they will probably buy
from you. Both steaming and nonstreaming broadband media advertising
increase your chances of making a positive impression on customers.
More Reasons to Use Rich Media Advertising
Given the high recall rates, the cost per branding impression (i.e., the
number of times a customer must view the ad before becoming familiar
with your brand) decreases. This increases your ROI (return on investment)
because you do not have to invest as much in rich media advertising
to get your message across as you would with traditional advertising.
For instance, to brand your company’s name or product using television
advertising could require a substantial financial investment. People
change the channel during commercial breaks, so it is harder to reach
television viewers.
However, when people intentionally subscribe to an Internet channel,
they are viewing and listening to information they are interested in.
Plus, it is more of an effort to switch channels on the Net than while
watching television. Therefore, the user’s tendency to remain “tuned
in” is higher.
Also, the Internet is a worldwide network. Television, magazines,
and other traditional marketing vehicles are more regionalized. Therefore,
a rich media advertisement streaming across the Internet has the
potential to reach a much larger audience.
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Webcasting and Rich Media 379
The Barriers of Webcasting (Rich Media) Acceptance
With every new medium, there are bound to be barriers to its public
acceptance. Webcasting, both streaming and nonstreaming, is no different.
There are six primary obstacles that Webcasting must overcome
before it becomes a publicly acceptable advertising medium.
Cost
The possibilities are there, but so are the costs, and you must be aware
of this. Although the cost is coming down, the cost of developing streaming
media and nonstreaming media still can be considered expensive for
some budgets. Moreover, if you’re looking to advertise on a site that
applies video and audio content, then you must be made aware that
most of the sites that apply this technology are high-budget, high-volume,
and high-bandwidth sites and will likely ask for quite a fee to
advertise.
You must also consider the potential return on investment. We described
earlier how rich media advertising has a higher recall rate than
standard Web advertising. Also, rich media is more cost-effective and
efficient for branding purposes. Therefore, although the initial expense
of producing a rich media advertisement might be quite high, it could
quickly be recovered by the interest and sales the ad generates.
Rich Media Advertising Is Not Accepted by All Sites
Although many sites do not have the resources to offer Webcast advertising
opportunities, a lot of major sites do. Content sites such as
Launch.Yahoo.com and RollingStone.com place ads in front of some
of the videos you can view on their site. These streaming media sites
offer tremendous exposure opportunities for companies that advertise
with them.
There are also sites such as MP3.com (http://www.mp3.com) that
offer free Webcast advertising. On MP3.com, unsigned music artists
can post MP3 versions of their songs for the world to hear. MP3.com is
a high-traffic site as a result of the community of artists they have created,
and the artists themselves benefit from the increased exposure.
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Bandwidth Constraints
Both streaming and nonstreaming media require that users have high
connection speeds in order to experience a Webcast as it is intended. To
view streaming content, you need a plug-in or player of some sort. Popular
applications used to view or hear streaming content include:
• Windows Media Player
• Quicktime
• RealPlayer
• Macromedia Shockwave Player.
It is important to note that the higher the connection speed, the
more convenient the use of streaming content is. If you’re still using a
14.4 Kbps modem, you’re simply not going to get the performance
needed to make it worthwhile. This presents an obstacle to people
with slower Internet connection rates. Also, some people simply do
not wish to download and install the plug-ins necessary to play rich
media files. You will not be able to target your Webcasting advertising
campaign toward these users.
Irritates User
Does Webcasting annoy users? Sure it does. But this is the case only for
people with low bandwidth or less robust machines. Also, some people
despise advertising in any form, so you probably won’t win over any of
these individuals either.
Too Complicated
The software to create rich media content exists and, with a little initiative,
can be learned by anyone. You first should determine if your target
market is likely to be a user of rich media. Learning to create rich media
just requires a little bit of initiative and patience.

Internet Resources for Chapter 22

I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding e-zines.
For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the Resources section
of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/resources.html.
There you will find additional tips, tools, and techniques.
BestEzines
http://www.bestezines.com/ezines/master.shtml
Directory of e-zines organized by category. A great site to find e-zines to
reach your target market.
The Book of Zines
http://www.zinebook.com
Dynamite site with tons of links to e-zines, advice on developing your
e-zine, reviews, interviews, how-to section, newly noted, and zine tips.
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Ecola Newsstand
http://www.ecola.com
Ecola Newsstand has more than 8,400 magazines, newspapers, and
publications. There are more than 100 categories of magazines from
which to choose.
Ezine-Universe
http://ezine-universe.com
Ezine-Universe is a great directory of e-mail-based e-zines.
InfoJump
http://www.infojump.com
Browse a huge directory of e-zines by category.
List City’s Book of E-zines
http://www.list-city.com/ezines.htm
A list of e-zines organized by category that accept paid advertising as
well as all the details and contact information for each e-zine.
MediaFinder
http://www.mediafinder.com
A national directory of magazines with details on target audience, publisher,
contact, telephone numbers, Web addresses, e-mail addresses,
editorial descriptions, issue frequency, and subscription price. In many
cases, an information request form is attached should you want further
details. Great resource!
Ezine Directory
http://www.ezine-dir.com
The Ezine Directory lists over 2,400 of the best e-mail newsletters available
on the Internet today. Search, browse, or add your e-zine for free!
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23
Web Rings as a Promotion Tool
Web rings provide a different way to organize sites. They are a free
service offered to the Internet community. Web rings arrange sites with
similar content by linking them together in a circle, or a ring. Each link
in the ring is directed to a CGI script on the Web ring’s server that sends
the viewer on to the next site in the ring. There are literally thousands of
rings with subjects such as communications, games, art, real estate, and
so on. If there isn’t a ring suitable for your site, you can create your
own. The types of visitors you receive from participating in the Web
ring will be potential customers who are responsive to the content of
your site and curious about your products or services. In this chapter,
we cover:
• What are Web rings and how do they work?
• What promotion possibilities are available with Web rings?
• How do I participate and what will it cost?
• Where will I find Web rings that work for my company?
• What Web ring resources are available on the Net?
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An Effective Alternative to Search
Engines and Directories
Web rings are a fast-growing service on the Internet, providing one of
the easiest ways for visitors to navigate the Internet. In each of its tens
of thousands of topic-specific rings, member Web sites have linked their
sites together, thus permitting more targeted visitors to reach the joined
sites quickly and easily.
People increasingly are becoming dissatisfied with search engines
and directories as tools to identify specific topic-related sites. Searches
on a specific keyword sometimes yield results that include totally unrelated
sites. For instance, if you were planning a vacation to Mexico and
you wanted to search for resorts in Mexico, the search engine results
would likely include sites only vaguely related to what you were looking
for. The results might include book titles at Amazon.com related to
Mexican travel, personal pages with other people’s experiences traveling
in Mexico complete with pictures from their family vacation, travel
agencies, and tour company sites. The Web ring provides an alternative
to these tools.
Site owners typically trade links with other Web sites to help promote
each other’s sites. The Web ring was developed to enlarge the scope of
link trading. A Web ring joins together many sites with a common topic.
Two of the major Web ring sites are:
• WebRing (http://dir.webring.com/rw)
• RingSurf (http://www.ringsurf.com)
What Are Web Rings?
A Web ring is made up of a number of topic-specific sites that are grouped
together. There are country inn Web rings, Star Trek Web rings, prenatal
care Web rings, BMW Web rings, and remote-sensing Web rings in
the huge list of Web rings that exists today. At WebRing there are several
major categories:
• Business and Finance
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• Computers and Internet
• Cultures and Community
• Entertainment and Arts
• Family and Home
• Games
• Government and Politics
• Health and Wellness
• Hobbies and Crafts
• Music
• Recreation and Sports
• Regional
• Religion and Beliefs
• Relationships and Romance
• Schools and Education
• Science
RingSurf also has many categories:
• Arts
• Automotive
• Business
• Computers
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• Dating
• Food
• Games
• Health
• Home
• Home Pages
• Kids and Teens
• Miscellaneous
• News
• Pets
• Recreation
• Reference
• Regional
• Religion
• Science
• Shopping
• Society
• Sports
• Travel
• United States.
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Each of these major categories has a number of subcategories, and
each of the subcategories has a number of individual rings.
Rings can contain any number of sites. There must be at least three
before the ring is listed in the directories. Generally, the rings contain
between 20 and 200 sites. Some rings are smaller and some are substantially
higher, with close to a thousand sites included.
Each ring was started and is maintained by an individual Web site
owner. Through navigation links found most often at the bottom of member
pages, visitors can travel to all or any of the sites in a ring. They can
move through a ring in either direction, going to the next or previous site,
or listing the next five sites in the ring. Visitors can also jump to a random
site in the ring or survey all the sites that make up the ring.
An extraordinary system, Web rings are entirely open and free of
charge to both visitors and members. As more and more people discover
Web rings, we will see phenomenal growth in this as a preferred
method to surf the net. At the time this edition was written, RingSurf
had 36,964 Web rings with 312,246 member sites.
How Do Web Rings Work?
To surf a ring, all you have to do is use the links at the bottom of the
page in the Web ring block. At the bottom of a Web ring participant’s
pages, you find the Web ring navigation aid. A common Web ring graphic
includes links to the “Next” site in the ring, the “Previous” site in the
ring, or a “Random” site in the ring. You also have the option, in many
cases, to see a list of the “Next 5” sites in the ring or to view the entire
“Index” of the ring’s sites. Once you begin surfing a ring, there is no
clear beginning or end, just a circle of related material. The Web ring
program compensates for sites that are unreachable because they no
longer exist or have server problems. You will always be able to navigate
the ring.
When using a search engine, you are provided with a list of sites,
only some of which are relevant. You visit the sites listed and then,
depending on which browser you are using, you may use your “Back”
button to return to the Results page to make another selection. With a
Web ring this backing out is unnecessary. Once you’ve finished reviewing
a site in the ring, you proceed to the next site that is of interest or
simply surf through the connected sites one by one.
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How to Participate in Web Rings
The first thing to do is find Web rings that are right for your product or
service—those that cater to your target market. You can review the directories
at the WebRing site http://dir.webring.com/rw and also at the
RingSurf site http://www.ringsurf.com.
Once you have found a promising Web ring, you contact the owner
to ask permission to join. See Figure 23.1 for an example of this. The
owner reviews your site to determine your “fit” with the theme. Once
you are accepted, the owner provides you with the required code and
accompanying graphics, which you insert on your page. The ring owner
provides all the required material; you slip it into your HTML file, and
that’s that.
Once the code is on your site, WebRing or RingSurf monitors the
traffic and collects the statistics for your site, as they do for all Web ring
sites. This is beneficial to you because you can see how much traffic you
are getting through the Web ring.
Any Web site owner who feels no existing ring is suitable can apply
to create a new ring. If the application is approved, WebRing or RingSurf
Figure 23.1. This inclusion request was taken from the Foreign Travel Web
Ring to show how easy it is to join a Web ring.
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will provide all the necessary code and instructions. New Web rings are
listed in the directory once they contain at least five sites.
Web Ring Participation Costs
The cost to participate in these Web rings is absolutely nil. No application
fees, no charge for the approval, no charge for the code to be inserted
on your pages, no charge for the increased traffic a Web ring brings.
The Benefits of Web Rings
There are many benefits to both the users of Web rings and the participating
Web sites. Benefits to the user include:
• Web rings provide a great navigation tool when looking for more
information on a specific topic.
• Web rings are easy to use. They provide one of the most efficient
ways to find specific content on the Internet.
• Web rings avoid the duplication found in search engines, where
a site may appear several times in one search. Each site is linked
only once in each Web ring.
• Web rings speed up search time.
• Web rings eliminate sifting through mounds of search engine
results for appropriate sites.
Benefits to participating Web sites include:
• Web ring participation increases the number of targeted visitors
to your Web site.
• The organizers of the Web rings make it easy to monitor how
successful your ring is. Traffic reports and “top rings” statistics
are made available to participants.
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• Web rings drive traffic to your site.
Business Reluctance to Participate in Web Rings
One of the biggest hurdles Web rings face in being adopted by the business
sector is that when you join a ring, you are linking to the competition.
It is likely that this mentality explains why Web rings have been so
popular for personal sites and special-interest groups, but have failed to
catch on in today’s business community. But, again, small businesses
and retail-oriented sites have not shied away from rings. For example,
rings and banner programs are hot marketing strategies for stores that
sell collectibles. This is particularly true for hard-to-find collectibles.
Take the Pez phenomenon: Not being on a Pez Web ring could be a
crucial mistake for vendors. After all, if a customer hits a site and it
doesn’t have a specific Pez, the quest isn’t over—it’s on to the next site.
What better way to get there than via a ring? Your site might just be the
next one.
Lately we have seen growth in the commercial application of Web
rings. There are a few reasons for this:
• A number of articles have appeared in Internet marketing magazines
related to the high volume of traffic through these Web
rings. Businesses have sometimes found that the bulk of the traffic
to their site is coming through the Web ring.
• Other articles talk about the benefits of being conveniently located
near your competition, bringing more traffic for everyone.
Several have likened it to what happens in the real world in
the fast-food industry. When a McDonald’s opens, you quickly
see a Burger King, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell all
open up close by. This means more business for everyone.

Increasing Traffic through Online Publications 351

all accessible via the Internet. Some of these provide the full version of
their traditional magazine; others are selective about the articles they provide;
and still others provide the previous month’s edition.
Web-Based E-zines
There are Web-based e-zines that have only an online presence (Figure
22.2). These e-zines are accessed through their Web sites by browsing
from page to page. They have the look and feel of a traditional magazine.
They include lots of glossy pictures and advertisements. Usually
there is no charge to view the Web-based e-zines, but some do charge a
subscription fee. These Web-based e-zines tend to be as graphically pleasing
as offline magazines.
E-mail E-zines
Although e-mail e-zines can come as text or HTML, these days we are
seeing more and more HTML as they get a much higher readership and
Figure 22.2. Vermont Living is a Web-based e-zine.
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most e-mail viewers have no problem displaying HTML e-mails, which
look like a Web page. Today we are seeing a blur between newsletters
and e-mail e-zines as most newsletters now are sent as HTML and most
are content-rich on a specific subject.
E-mail-based e-zines tend to be very content-rich and, as such, tend
to be more of a target-marketing mechanism. E-mail e-zines tend to be
several screens in length with one main or several short articles and,
sometimes, classified advertising. The benchmark is that these e-zines
should be able to be read in about five minutes. Circulation is often in
the thousands. Most run weekly or biweekly editions. Most e-zines are
free to subscribers.
People interested in the subject have taken the time to subscribe and
ask to receive the information directly in their e-mail box. Once you
have found an e-zine that caters to your target market, the e-zine could
be a valuable marketing vehicle.
Every subscriber to an e-mail-based e-zine has access to the Internet.
These people regularly receive and send e-mail and quite likely surf the
Net. If you advertise in this type of medium and place your Internet
address in the ad, your prospective customer is not more than a couple
of clicks away from your site.
People subscribe because they are interested. Even if they don’t read
it immediately when it is received, they usually read it eventually. Otherwise,
they would not have subscribed. Subscribers will see your URL
and product advertisements. For this reason, e-mail e-zines are a great
marketing tool.
Using E-zines as Marketing Tools
Online publications are superior marketing tools for a number of reasons.
They can be used in a number of ways to increase the traffic to
your Web site. You can:
• Advertise directly
• Be a sponsor
• Submit articles
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• Send press releases
• Start your own.
Finding Appropriate E-zines for Your Marketing Effort
There are many locations on-line to find lists and links to both Webbased
and e-mail e-zines. A number of these resources are listed in the
Internet Resources section at the end of this chapter.
You evaluate an e-zine’s marketing potential by its audience, reach,
and effectiveness. The most important element of choosing an e-zine is
to find one that reaches your target market. E-zine ads are effective
because there is a high correlation between the target customer and the
magazine’s subscribers. If you advertise in an e-zine simply because it
has the largest subscriber rate, you will probably be disappointed unless
your products or services have mass-market appeal.
You should review a number of the e-zine-listing sites, such as the
one shown in Figure 22.3. Some of these sites have keyword search
Figure 22.3. eZINESearch.com provides a searchable directory of e-zines.
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capabilities. Others have their e-zines listed by category. Once you have
a list of e-zines you feel fit well with your marketing objectives, you
should subscribe and begin reviewing these e-zines.
The Multiple Advantages of E-zine Advertising
One of the major advantages of e-zine advertising is the lifespan of your
ads. E-zines that are delivered to e-mail addresses are read by the recipient
and sometimes saved for future reference. Many e-zines archive their
issues with the ads intact. Advertisers have received responses to ads
that are several months old!
When you place an ad in an e-zine, you see it in a relatively short
period of time, perhaps the next day or the next week depending on
how often the e-zine is published. Most traditional magazines close out
their ad space months before the issue is available on the newsstand.
Your ad in an e-zine is also much more likely to be noticed because
there are so few of them. In a traditional magazine every second page is
an ad, whereas e-zines have a much greater focus on content and far
fewer ads.
When your ad appears in an e-zine, your customer is just a click
away because your ad is usually hyperlinked to your Web site. This
brings your customer that much closer to being able to purchase your
products or services.
Another advantage of e-zine advertising is that e-zines are often shared
with friends and associates. Most e-zines use viral marketing effectively,
encouraging readers to send a copy to a friend. Your ad might be passed
around a number of times after it first enters the mailbox of the subscriber.
You are being charged for the ad based on the number of e-mail
subscribers. Therefore, the extra viewers of your ad cost you nothing.
One of the most tangible advantages of e-zine advertising is the relatively
low cost due, in part, to the low overhead for development, production,
and delivery. E-zines need to fill all of their available space. If
an e-zine advertising section has empty spaces, the publisher might be
willing to negotiate. Some will even barter with you—advertising space
at a discounted price in exchange for their e-zine promotion on your
Web site.
E-zines provide a very targeted advertising medium. People subscribe
to various e-zines because they have a genuine interest in the topics
covered. This provides a major advantage over other advertising medi-
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Increasing Traffic through Online Publications 355
ums. E-zine ads have been shown to have very high response rates due
to their targeted nature.
Because they are distributed via the Internet, e-zines reach a far wider
audience geographically than most traditional magazines. It is not uncommon
for an e-zine to have subscribers from all around the world.
There are thousands of e-zines out there related to every topic imaginable.
Most e-zines have thousands of subscribers. When you couple
the low cost to advertise in these e-zines and the many e-zines that might
reach your target market, it is no wonder many companies are allocating
more and more of their advertising budgets to online activities.
Guidelines for Your Advertising
Once you have found e-zines that reach your target market, you should
consider a number of other factors before you make a final decision on
placing your ad.
• Check the ads displayed in the e-zine for repetition. If advertisers
have not advertised more than once, then they probably did
not see very positive results.
• Respond to some of the ads and ask the advertisers what their
experiences were with advertising in that particular e-zine. Be sure
to tell them who you are and why you are contacting them. If you
are up front, they will probably be receptive to your inquiry.
• Talk to the e-zine publisher and ask questions (e.g., how many
subscribers there are). Ask what other advertisers have had to
say about their results. Find out what types of ads they accept
and if there are any restrictions. Check to see if the publisher
has a policy of never running competing ads. Maybe the e-zine
has a set of advertising policies that you can receive via e-mail.
• Find out if the publisher provides tracking information and, if
so, what specific reports you will have access to.
• Find out if your ad can have a hyperlink to your Web site. If the
e-zine allows hyperlinks, make sure you link to an effective
page—one that is a continuation of the advertisement or a page
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that provides details on the item you were advertising. Provide a
link to the order form from this page to assist the transaction.
• In some cases e-zines have an editorial calendar available to assist
you with the timing of your ad. The editorial calendar will
tell you what articles will be included in upcoming issues. If an
upcoming issue will have an article relating to your type of product
or service, you could choose to advertise in that issue. You
might contact the editor regarding a product review or submit
an article relevant to the issue topics.
• Make sure that the advertising rates are reasonable based on the
number of subscribers, and ask yourself if you can afford it.
Find out the “open” rate, or the rate charged for advertising
once in the e-zine. Ask what the rate is for multiple placements.
If you are not in a position to pay for the advertising now, ask if
there are other arrangements that could be made. For example,
the publisher might accept a link on your Web site in exchange
for the ad.
• Develop your ads with your target customer in mind. They should
attract your best prospects. Wherever possible, you should link
to your site or provide an e-mail link to the right individual
within your organization.
• Develop a mechanism to track advertising responses. You could
use different e-mail accounts for different ads to determine which
ads are bringing you the responses. You can also use different
URLs to point viewers to different pages within your site. If you
have a good traffic-analysis package, you can track the increase
in visitors as a result of your ad.
• Make sure you are versed in the publication’s advertising deadlines
and ad format preferences.
Providing Articles and News Releases to E-zines
Besides advertising, a number of other marketing opportunities can be
explored with e-zines. Once you have found the e-zines that cater to
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Increasing Traffic through Online Publications 357
your target market, these e-zines could be fruitful recipients for your
news releases. Refer to Chapter 21 for recommendations on news release
development and distribution. The editors might also accept articles
of interest to their readers. You might be able to incorporate
information on your products and services in an interesting article that
would fit the editor’s guidelines.
There are many e-zines looking for great content. If you can write
articles for them that provide great content for their readers and at the
same time provide a little exposure for you, it’s a real win–win situation.
You’ll want to target those e-zines that have the same target market
you do and have a broad subscriber base. You’ll want to make sure
the e-zine includes a resource box at the end of the article crediting you
as the author and providing a hyperlink to your Web site or your e-mail
address. Having articles published enhances your reputation as an expert,
and people like to buy products and services from people who are
experts in their field. You might see if you can be a contributing editor
or have a regular column or feature in their e-zine.
Besides sending your articles directly to targeted e-zines, you can
also submit them to “article banks” on-line. Article banks are online
resource sites for e-zine publishers. E-zine publishers search through
these banks for appropriate articles for their e-zine and, if they use one,
they include the resource box of the author.
Reasons You Might Start Your Own E-zine
You can start your own e-zine. Today, this is relatively easy. There are lots
of resources on-line regarding e-zine development and administration.
Don’t make this decision without much thought, though, as you can damage
your reputation if you don’t deliver consistent, valuable content.
There are a multitude of reasons that you should consider developing
and distributing your own e-zine. E-zines can be an extremely effective
online marketing tool for the following reasons:
• You become established as an “expert.” By providing your readers
with valuable articles related to your area of expertise, you
become, in their eyes, a valued and trusted expert.
• You establish trust. The first time someone visits your Web site,
he or she has no idea who you are, how capable you are, or how
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professional you are. Sure, visitors get an impression from the
look and feel and content of your site, but are they ready to do
business with you? By providing them with free, valuable content
over a period of time, you earn your visitors’ trust, and they
are more likely to turn to you when they need the type of product
or service you provide.
• You generate significant traffic to your Web site. Your e-zine
should always reference and provide a hyperlink to something
available from your Web site. Once your visitor links through,
there should be elements that encourage him to stay awhile and
visit a number of pages on your site. The more often people visit
your site, the more likely they are to do business with you.
• You build loyalty. Relationship marketing is what it’s all about
on the Web. You build relationships over time, and your e-zine
will help you do just that. Your subscribers receive something
free from you every month. Whom are they going to do business
with when they have a need for your product or service?
People prefer to spend their money with businesses they know
and trust.
• You stay current with your customers and potential customers.
When you are in front of your subscribers every month, you’re
not too easy to forget. You can keep them up to date on what’s
new with your company and your products and services, or
what’s new in your area of expertise.
• You grow your database. See Chapter 14 for tips on how to
build your database.
Developing Your Own E-zine
If you do start your own e-zine, you should spend sufficient time planning
and testing before you publish to ensure that you do it right. You
don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and you want
your readers to subscribe and tell others about the great e-zine they
found. You want them to be excited to read your e-zine every time it is
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Increasing Traffic through Online Publications 359
delivered to their e-mail box. The following tips will help you in your
e-mail-based e-zine planning and preparation:
• Provide great content. This goes without saying. If you have
content that people want to read, they will remain subscribers.
Don’t think that shameless self-promotion is great content; your
target audience certainly won’t. As a rough guide, make sure
your e-zine is 80 percent rich content and no more than 20 percent
promotion and ads. Your e-zine should be full of what your
target market considers useful information.
• You should keep length a consideration because you want your
e-zine to be read and not put aside for later because it is always
too long to read quickly. In this case, less is more. Subscribers
should be able to read your e-zine in five minutes or less. If you
do have a lengthy article, you might give a synopsis in the e-zine
with a hyperlink to more detail on your Web site.
• Limit your content to four or five dynamite articles for an e-mailbased
e-zine. Provide a brief table of contents at the beginning
of the e-zine. Keep the copy short and to the point.
• Keep your line length under 60 characters including spaces to
avoid word-wrap issues.
• Encourage your readers to send a copy to others they feel might
be interested in your great content. Make sure you provide subscribing
instructions as well for those who receive these forwarded
copies (Figure 22.4). You should also provide instructions
on how to opt out, or unsubscribe.
• Test your e-zine with different e-mail programs to ensure that
your e-zine looks the way you designed it no matter which e-mail
program your reader uses. Send test copies to friends with different
e-mail readers such as Outlook Express, Netscape Mail,
Pegasus Mail, and Eudora. See how it looks, make sure that
word-wrap is not an issue, and make sure the hyperlinks work.
• Keep your subscriber addresses private and let subscribers know
your privacy policy.
TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine!
360 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
As the word about your e-zine spreads, you will have a large community
of people who fit your target market reading it.
Once you have your own e-zine, you’ll have to:
• Promote it to your target market through newsgroups, mail lists,
your Web site, and your e-mail signature file. If you do promote
your e-zine in newsgroups and mail lists, be sure it is appropriate
to advertise your e-zine in a given newsgroup or mail list
before you post. You do not want to be accused of spamming.
However, promote your e-zine shamelessly on your site (let people
subscribe to the e-zine on your site) and in your signature file.
• Provide an opportunity for subscribers to let others know. In
your online e-zine, have a form that allows subscribers to e-mail
a copy of the e-zine to their friends and colleagues. Use a call-toaction
statement such as “Do you know someone who might be
interested in this e-zine? Click here to send them a copy.” This is
a great way to pick up additional subscribers because some of
Figure 22.4. Encourage readers to send a copy of your e-zine to a friend and
provide subscribe instructions for those who receive forwarded copies.
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Increasing Traffic through Online Publications 361
the non-subscribers who read your e-zine might then become
subscribers if your content is interesting to them.
• Make it easy for people to subscribe to your e-zine. Provide
clear subscription instructions in each e-mail version of your
e-zine and on the online version. Have a form handy on your
site to collect e-mail addresses from people who wish to subscribe.
Always ask for the first name so that you can personalize
your e-zine.
• Provide an archive of past issues on your Web site so that visitors
can sample your wares before subscribing. Make sure you provide
an option for visitors to subscribe from that page as well.
• Don’t provide your list of subscribers to anyone. This protects
your subscribers’ privacy and keeps your list spam-free. Thus,
when you mail your e-zine, use the BCC feature or use a specialized
e-mail program that hides all the recipients’ addresses so
the entire list is not compromised. People will not be happy if
they start receiving spam as a result of your e-zine.