Chapter 14. promoting your site

"You know what's wrong with this commercial? It's too commercial."

don't miss ...

1. Clever ways to "tell a friend"

2. 12 secrets of successful emails

3. Linking strategies

4. 5 keys to a successful ad campaign

5. 6 online ads that get noticed

6. Action section: How will you promote your site?

It's a familiar problem one that's faced by every company, every product, every TV show: How do you get the word out?

The challenge is no different for web sites. "You should treat your web site the way you'd treat any other kind of destination point in the marketing process," says online marketing expert Hunter Madsen.

That said, the old rules don't always apply. First of all, the best place to promote a web site is on the web itself or at least through email. Online, no one is more than a click away from your site. So the barriers to entry are astonishingly low, and memory isn't an obstacle. But other media like direct mail or print ads are less immediate, and therefore less effective.

Second, the role of the news media is diminished. A bad review can make or break some products, like packaged software, for example. But news coverage and reviews have little impact on the fate of web sites. "Peer-to-peer recommendations drive popularity on the web," says Adam Berliant of Microsoft. "[Wall Street Journal columnist] Walt Mossberg had nothing to do with the success of eBay."

And if reviews mean little to web sites, celebrity endorsements mean even less. "When we were first raising money for BlackPlanet, we had an opportunity to bring on some celebrity investors," says Omar Wasow, the site's founder. "But it was clear to me that the way to win was by delivering a better customer experience, not by having a celebrity spokesperson. This wasn't going to be a conventional marketing war."

The key to winning this war, it seems, is to take advantage of the web's user-centered properties, rather than fighting them. Many traditional promotional techniques try to change consumers' behavior by interrupting them, distracting them, or changing their minds. But people are singularly focused online. A promotion scheme that goes head-to-head with the user's own intentions will almost always lose.

However, when marketers work with users instead of against them, the results can be spectacular. If you find users when they're already looking for you; if you help them accomplish their task at hand; if you let them help you spread the word you can reap remarkable results.

6 keys to promoting your site

1. Focus your efforts online. Online promotions are far more effective than traditional media, like direct mail or print ads. "There's less friction and lower costs if you stay in the medium," says Hunter Madsen. "Getting people to jump media is extremely difficult."

2. Emphasize email. Email is by far the most effective way to lure repeat visitors back to your site. And it's not a bad way to find new customers either so long as you choose your lists carefully. See email strategies, p. 282.

3. Find users when they're looking for you. Context is the key to effective marketing, and the web lets you reach customers when your site or product is most relevant as they're searching on a related topic or completing a related task. See linking strategies, p. 290 and online advertising, p. 294.

4. Get users involved in site promotion. It's good for any business to get referrals. But web sites, especially, have much to gain when customers tell their friends. See word-of-mouth strategies, p. 280

5. Encourage immediate action. As Rabelais said so many years ago, "You must strike while the iron is hot." Whether you're sending an email or placing an ad, always spur users toward immediate action clicking, buying, registering while it's fresh on their minds.

6. Be clear, not clever. Funny, punny slogans and whizzy, fizzy graphics may work in other media. But web users want to know what they're getting when they click on a link or an ad. The last thing they need is more surprises. See why section names should be clear, p. 126.