How to advertise a web page

How to advertise a web page
'How to advertise a web page' is a very common question.
Unfortunately, the answer is neither simple nor
unambiguous. Why?

Because there are many web pages that are addressed to
different users, and they are owned by individuals or
companies with different, usually quite a limited,
advertising budget. Clearly, the simplest solution could be
an advertising spot bought in the best air time in one of
the national Polish television channels, but it is not a
method worth considering here. Let us focus on online
promotion, since a website is located on the Internet; the
remaining types of marketing activities concerning a web
page will be discussed as complementary.

Web page development

Promotion should be taken into consideration already at the
development stage of a web page. Proper construction of a
website, especially its html code, is a very important
factor determining the effectiveness of subsequent
promotion. That is why one should not forget about the
so-called 'meta name' tags, namely 'description',
'keywords' and, probably the most important, 'title' (the
website name). These tags will enable web page indexation
by Web 'crawlers' (search engines indexing programs).

Indexing registration in search engines and catalogues

The first element of website promotion is its indexation.
Indexation is a process of adding a web page address to
search engines and website catalogues which are the most
important from the point of view of the owner. While
chosing the catalogues, one should not forget about
thematic and branch directories. They are built in
compliance with the demands and expectations of particular
branches, targeted at a limited group of experts looking
for highly specialized information meant for a specific
group of receivers. Putting a link to the newly constructed
web page in such catalogues would bring the best results in
the future.

Positioning

Among the marketing activities that aim at increasing the
number of website visits, search engine positioning should
not be neglected. Positioning means manipulating the page's
rank in the search results. This form of promotion is worth
considering since adding a web page into the search engine
and a catalogue does not guarantee its high rank within the
keyword search results. Positioning is the domain of a
small group of search system experts, who specialize in
search programs; they are able to guarantee that the web
page has a high, if not the highest, position within the
search results. An additional advantage of such marketing
activities, as opposed to other forms of promotion, is that
they have to be paid for when a certain result, e.g. number
one on the search results list, is achieved.

Online advertising

The classic forms of web page promotion include campaigns
with banners or other graphic elements. The currently used
graphic advertisements are banners, buttons, billboards and
top layers. They are more and more fanciful, often
interactive involve acting from Internet users ranging from
simple animations in gif format to advanced multimedia
objects employing Flash technology. Nowadays, such tools
are used to lure a web surfer to a given web page. On the
one hand, there are free campaigns based on exchanging
guests visiting a given web page with a group of friends.
On the other hand, there are expensive campaigns that
guarantee extending the reach of marketing activities; they
are thoroughly organized and their target group is
carefully selected, which guarantees high effectiveness
and, consequently, higher sales results. Of course, the
choice of the form of advertising depends on our financial
capacity or the number of friends on whose web pages we can
place our banner.

Mailing

A website can also be promoted via electronic mail.
Information sent in this way does not necessarily have to
refer to a web page; however, information about the
contents of a given web page, e.g. the company's offer, is
advisable. Obviously, links to the web page should be
inserted in the email so that the person reading this short
information in his or her mailbox could easily go to its
full version on the website. What should be taken into
consideration as far as email advertising is concerned?
Protection against spam, which means checking how the
mailing list addresses were collected and whether all of
their participants agreed to receive such emails. This
information might seem trivial, but it has enormous
influence on the perception of such emails and their
sender. In extreme cases, the e-mail address of the sender
could be put on the spammers' list, which is not desirable.

Additional actions

Every owner of a web page should control both its content
and the distribution of information about its existence.
This medium should be taken into account while producing
traditional forms of advertising materials; thus, whenever
it is possible, the web page address should be included on
leaflets, company letters, business cards and rubber
stamps. Every item of such information might attract new
clients.

The marketing activities as a whole should be monitored by
means of an adequate statistical system. Information on the
effectiveness of promotion, the number of visits on our web
page and their origin is extremely useful since it
facilitates the planning of further marketing actions. That
is why one should not forget about the statistics of
visits, which should be placed on every website.

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