Website
Promotion
The Yahoo directory has a list of companies that promote Web sites. Check them out by selecting Computers and Internet, then select Internet, then World Wide Web, then Announcement Services. Yahoo lists several links to Web locations that will promote your Web site or list your URL for free. Yahoo also offers links to a number of Web promotion indices (i.e., megalists of Web site publicity services). Multimedia Marketing Group's WebStep Top 100 (http://www.mmgco.com/top100.html) features links to the best 100 places that will list your site for free.
Yahoo, Infoseek, and Excite each provide a link to AAA Internet Promotions [http://www.websitepromote.com/dls], a Santa Barbara, Calif., company that enables you to submit a URL to 50 directories and search engines for $110 or 100 directories for $195. This fee includes a free subscription to the company's monthly newsletter, with tips on traffic-building techniques.
To get AAAIP to submit your Web site to its various directory lists, including sites such as World Wide Yellow Pages, NetMall, Global On-Line directory, Yahoo, Lycos, WebCrawler, BizWeb, and others, you fill out an on-screen form listing preferred directory categories, your company's site name and URL, a short description, plus up to 10 keywords that others might use to search for a Web site. AAAIP states that it takes about a week to complete the submissions. It will then send youan e-mail message listing all submitted sites.
Libertyville, Ill.-based WebPromote [http://www.webpromote.com] offers a similar service. For $185, you can subscribe to its WebPromote 100 and have it submit your site information to a collection of 100 major directories, search engines, yellow pages, What's New sites, minor directories, and general submission sites. WebPromote 200 buys submissions to 200 sites and costs $265. Both packages include a free subscription to WebPromote Monthly, an electronic newsletter with search-engine triggering tips. WebPromote sells additional advertising services that actively publicize your Web site to targeted demographics. Its WebPromote Bronze, Silver, and Gold packages range in price from $325 to $1,200 per month and include from 4 to 24 hours of promotional service.
Banners on High
Banners
are those colorful (and sometimes animated) Web page graphics that incorporate
a marketing message to attract people to your site. They appear on
almost every commercial Web page because they have proven to be a successful
marketing ploy. Ad rates for banner advertising vary. Charges range
from two to five cents per banner hit,or about $20 to $50 per thousand.
Banner
rates depend not only on the amount of traffic a site receives, but on
audience demographics. In other the rate for a general-interest
audience might be as low as $20 per thousand impressions delivered, while
the rate for a highly desirable demographic group might go as high as $80
per thousand.
Placing
a banner advertisement on Netscape's
What's Cool, What's New, and Net Search pages can run as high as $46,000.
That's because Netscape (one of the most frequently visited sites on the
Web) guarantees over two million impressions per month.
Multimedia
Marketing Group's WebStep Banner Bundle ($395; http://www.mmgco.com/banner.html)
requires clients to purchase a minimum of 10,000 impressions, which can
be spread out over as many as five different Web sites. On the other hand,
banner service from the Internet
Link Exchange is free. It helps Web sites advertise one another. When
you join, you agree to display advertising banners for other members, who
in turn will display banners for you. You'll also find links to free banner-creation
services.
Internet
advertising isn't cheap, but if done correctly, it's an effective way to
promote your product and make your presence felt on the Web. Shop around
and try out some of the promotion companies to see which ones generate
the most site visits and hence the most income for you or your company.
Remember, with a few keystrokes you can send a message to thousands of
people.
