Competitive Intelligence Report
Competitive intelligence reports and other tools to help your
Internet marketing strategy: an independent guide.
Alternative Marketing Strategies
What's your Internet marketing strategy? We discuss competitive
intelligence reports, search
engines, affiliate,
press releases
and email marketing
on other pages, and here look at the Internet marketing strategies
remaining.
Viral Marketing
Perhaps your site is offering some special feature — software,
a free service, an extensive directory — that would interest
other sites. By offering the feature as an add-on you'll be getting
your service noticed on other sites. In turn, they will offer
it to third parties, and interest will grow. That's the essence
of viral marketing, something which is passed to an increasing
circle of users. The "virus" can be very simple, perhaps
just a free download, classified ads board or competition. But,
by inviting other sites to link, you spread the word and increase
traffic.
Classified Ads Board
What about a classified ads board on its own, something for visitors
to place items wanted and for sale?
Ad boards are still used, but haven't been as popular as hoped.
The items conflicted with what the site sold, or lowered its tone.
And visitors seemed unwilling to visit a site purely for the classified
adds, finding a greater selection at well-known auction
sites. That said, a selected ads board could be a valuable
addition to a narrowly-focused portal
site, but would need careful management.
Web Rings
Web rings link sites of a similar nature. Traffic at one site
is passed on to another through a code snippet, which usually
placed at the foot of the page.
Unfortunately, whatever the theory, web rings are not effective
in increasing traffic. Yahoo
may be the best, but on the whole web rings increase competition,
or link to sites that hold little interest anyway.
Chat Rooms
Some folks have tried frequenting chat rooms to drum up interest
in their site. It doesn't work: the audience is too sparse and
the effort involved out of proportion to the results.
Cool Sites
Awards increase traffic, but to win them you must submit your
site. Our resources page
shows you how to find the sites giving awards.
Posting to Bulletin Boards
Whatever you are selling, there is probably somewhere on the
Internet a bulletin board / discussion forum where issues of common
interest are debated. Participants may not always be knowledgeable,
but they are mighty suspicious of commerce. Nonetheless, if you
have some important information to offer, and you can do so without
overtly plugging your service or product, then a contribution
is usually welcome. Your signature can include the website URL,
and interested readers can take the hint. Thousands of such groups
exist, and our resources
section shows you how to find them.
But tread carefully. Follow the discussion for a month or so
before wading in, as you're expected to know what's gone before.
Don't give your real name or email address until you're sure of
the response, as you can be flamed by hundreds of irate responses
that will clog up your emails or even put you out of business
for a time.
Offline Advertising
Don't overlook traditional advertising, particularly if you're
selling in a local and/or specialized market. Small box or one-line
adverts in trade journals or local directories can be very effective,
and are relatively cheap. They're especially useful in the early
months, before your site has got a respectable ranking in the
search engines.
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