Don't Let Anyone Kick Sand in Your Face!

6. The press

I refuse to pay for unfocused advertising which nobody looks at, even in specialist magazines. My advice would be to call the editors up and tell them that you are doing something that nobody else is doing (in their field) and that you have included a free link to their publication as an information service on your site. Would they be interested in doing a small write-up of your site for their next issue? If you can get them to do this, you will get much better traffic generated than a standard advertisement and for free! They won't always do this for you but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

7. Reciprocal links

8. Banners

My experience says forget it - when's the last time you clicked on one.

9. Be Discrete

I belong to lots of e-mail lists and, occasionally, someone asks for help on a topic that I think my Web site would be useful for. I don't send a whole sales pitch to those lists but send in a very low key reply addressing their specific question and mentioning my URL as an additional resource. This has paid dividends and has not upset any of the list members.

10. Write an article for an opt-in list such as this one!

All publicity is good publicity and if you can help others by sharing your knowledge with them at the same time, all the better.

Happy marketing!

About the author:

Byron Hunte worked for 25 years in the Reinsurance Industry and became Vice President in the largest insurance Brokers in the world. He needed a change of direction and left the industry completely to set up his own Web business aimed at helping people get started in eCommerce. You can contact him at byron.hunte@dial.pipex.com or visit his website at www.sprant.com.

Previous: Using search engines, directories, web rings, and discussion lists

This article originally appeared in the June 1, 2000 edition of the WebReference Update Newsletter.