Ten Common Mistakes in Web Promotion
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Over the years one of the biggest challenges I have seen with people and website promotion is wanting results now. Yes that might sound fine but if they are putting the cart before the horse… well that picture really says it all.
Just yesterday I was on the phone for one hour helping someone with his website (consulting if you want to call it that) and the first 45 minutes where just spent on steps that had to be taken before he even launched into the actual promoting…. these where important steps that help ensure the promotion effort is as effective as possible.
The following guest post, from Justin Khoury of Insane Profits, covers 10 common mistakes that every webmaster or blogger will want to review and the focus is on helping to ensure your promotion efforts are as effective as possible.
Instinctively, many of us rush out into the seemingly never ending depths of the internet after launching a website, product or service and begin frantically attempting to gain some sort of exposure. In the midst of our enthusiasm and excitement however, many of us seem to commonly overlook what I have come to dub ‘the 10 deadly sins of promotion’. Without further ado, here they are.
10. Using a little too much Java script can actually hinder crawlers from catching up with and identifying your page for inclusion in the search results of top internet search engines. This means that your website will be relegated to some bottom place on the list that comes up on results of searches by engines. This also happens with indiscriminate inclusion of Flash and frames.
9. You are neglecting linking to related content on other sites. It is often surprising just how powerful including relevant articles and pieces of information from other sites or blogs can be. Besides providing a different insight into something you may have already covered, it also allows you to begin establishing a relationship with other website owners in which you may both eventually benefit off.
8. You are not subtle enough. When promoting your website or blog on forums based on similar interests, you have to take care to go about it in a subtle manner or else your target audience may actually be repulsed by your tactics.
7. You did not include relevant keywords. Keywords are what will get your website or blog listed on any search result when a user types in that keyword in the browser of a search engine. Include enough of these and you are sure to get a high listing.
6. Keywords again. You need to select keywords in which you can actually compete for. There’s no point targeting the most popular keywords because chances are you will find it extremely difficult to attain a decent ranking for them. Keywords should be selected carefully, if need be, invest in programs (like Keyword Corral) that are designed to make the process much simpler and effective. This is also covered in page 42 in Building a Business NOT a Blog.
5. You rely on SEO alone to fuel your traffic flow. Explore other methods too, like social media, social book marking, participating in forums, PPC and link baiting. This brings me to my next point.
4. You are incorrectly using social media to promote your site. The key behind using mediums like Facebook and Twitter to effectively promote your website is building relationships. Neglecting this will substantially impact on your social media promotion efforts.
3. Your content is boring. If you want word of mouth promotion by visitors, you have to supply them with content that is interesting, fresh and which the visitors can talk about.
2. There re just too many pop ups. This is something I’ve noticed with many websites lately. Get rid of pop up ads, whether your site hosts them or whether you use pop ups to promote your own site.
1. You seem too desperate in your promotion. This puts potential visitors off.
If there’s anything I’ve left out which you feel should be included, I’d definitely love to hear about it.
About the Author: Check out Justin Khoury’s blog Insane Profits where he is always delivering a wealth of prominent content to webmasters seeking assistance with monetizing or managing their online properties.
I guess my content can be a bit boring sometimes, although I try to provide useful information. Still, good information needs to be spiced with a dose of humor or something, yet that is the lesson I need to learn.
Good point about building relations, however, when is the right time to “stop” building relations (although that process never stops) and start promoting your site?
I think I am on the right path for all the other numbers…
I really don’t think there is ever a time in which you should stop building relationships, especially when many of them may yield the opportunity to deliver traffic to your website.
In my opinion, it is important to strike up a balance between direct site promotion and networking.
[...] guest post to John Chow, it appears I have also been successful with submitting my list of the top ten common mistakes in web promotion to none other but the brilliant John [...]
Nice post, thanks! Unfortunately when many get so absorbed into their site / project they forget to connect with “people”, which connecting with them was the entire point of the site in the first place… wasn’t it
I have been guilty of this myself on more than one occasion. This was a timely post for me and it’s appreciated.
I think you delivery great stuff Jason and have found myself coming back to your blog several times a week to be sure I didn’t miss out on anything. You are someone that I see teaching by example and not just words.
Thanks again and keep the posts coming
I try to make my content fun to read, I find that the best way to keep your visitors coming back for more.
I really don’t think any site can stay afloat without captivating content. It’s amazing how many people seem to overlook it these days, and I really do think that paying attention to it can provide you with a massive competitive advantage.
Nice post, thanks JC.
So basically, it takes some effort and intelligent application of the right processes, which are generally known through out the IM industry, with a bit of research. What I find interesting is how many scammy sites there are selling the “magic” system, that with no effort or brain power, it’ll make money…Clearly that is simply not true, you do need to think, plan and understand your audience.
Been learning a lot through your services JC, thanks.
JeromyS
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this is a very good post, I totally agree that we should make our content interesting in order to gain more exposure.
Thanks very much for the compliment.
It should definitey have some sort of spice to it, in order to effectively differntiate our site from the mountains of others out there in cyber space.
I make several of these common mistakes
myself because I ignore the little details.
I just go about doing my regular marketing
tactics and don’t realize some of the mistakes
that I actually make
I agree with you. Generally mistake happen in on page, not analyzing their competitors, website design fails to convince the customer and also not designing product page. Major problem is content; no unique content and keywords repeating for that site fail to marketing.
Great tips.. 3-4-5-6 I think are your “most bang for your time”.
Like to add maybe, Not focusing on Google so much.. you can build a very strong blog without google’s help.
I’ve lost count now the number of times I’ve told customers to pull their JS out into external files – only half of them ever listen.
And it doesn’t stop there.
These methods mentioned are free and will cost nothing, but time off course.
Just remember that the key to building repeat traffic is to create a website that is useful, unique and full of good content.
Good job, really appreciate your tips!
lol, that funny picture
about no. 2, i never like using pop up or pop under, today there are toolbar or sliding ads as alternate for pop up
Establishing relationships on social networking sites means that you can’t just promote yourself – you have to promote others just as much, if not more. The more you give to your community, the more you will receive, but you cannot act with direct expectation of receiving.
Looks like a good list and we’re probably all guilty of one or two of those every so often. I really need to network more
Rick
I think the 9th point is the mistakes that i have made before this. I just do not know how to find some quality articles to link out. Anyway, thanks for sharing!
Good Post, Content is very important in this industry. I have narrowed most of my marketing down to Article Marketing, Seo, Blogging, and Social Bookmarking. All four of these things go hand and hand for me. For those that do article marketing, I recommend article base. Article base allows you to use three links inside you article body, something that I have not seen with other article directories. This will help you with your page rank, especially if you link the right keywords.
To Your Success
John…
The optimum balance between a well written article/post (with the human reader in mind) and the carefully researched SEO worthy keyphrases relative to the topic is almost like an art… hence the difficult time many people have in writing non-boring content.
However, I have a suggestion, if I may… not necessarily for your personal benefit as much as in fact intended for your readers.
Mix your content wisely. Research a few good topics to become the backbone of any website and write more SEO focused type of content on them, especially in the beginning, when you build the first pages of a website/blog.
Later on, forget about SEO as your main concern… at least in the traditional way it is seen by many people.
I don’t say absolutely do not target a keyword or a few, but most important would be to write with your human reader in mind.
Think about it – what use is there to a website that pops up first in SERPs for the given keywords, if visitors will only pass by and say it’s not worth reading even the first paragraph?
Tip: If you don’t feel comfortable with that, then write the SEO optimized article first… then re-write it in a way you would like to read about the topic yourself. Re-write it again if needed. Add a bit of flavour, a bit of your soul in there…much more worthy like that!
There is no better strategy than to develop a long term relationship with your readers. Your Internet Marketing Objectives must not deny you being still a normal person with normal human feelings. Let them show up!
Steve Lorenzo SEOVirtuoso in a sharing mood…
Thanks for the really useful post. I complete agreed with No:3. without interesting content noone going to read it again. Others are well good aswell.
Regarding #10 (Javascript): What I find amazing is how some sites use Javascript even for simple, normal links. Even when it’s not needed. If you’re using it for outbound click tracking, there’s no need. There are tools to track clicks even without obscuring the links.
Regarding #9 (outbound linking): Some people are so stingy with outlinks, thinking that their precious PR “juice” will get dissipated that they don’t link out. What they don’t know is that PR is only part of the ranking equation. If you search for “lenovo removes sysrq key” you’ll find my article on that topic at #2 in Google. I link to the #1 and #5 sites, but I still outrank the #5 site (Slashdot).
Hi Justin,
Your post seems sell balanced and your 10 points are all valid in my opinion.
I’m glad that you think that keywords and SEO are important. Quite a few bloggers pay no attention to them.
I agree that just relying on those is not enough but they help a lot.
I’ll work on improving on the other points.
Vance
A great post!
There’s no point targeting the most popular keywords…so I think I need to change my keywords of my site!
thanks…….
Keywords keywords keywords, ignore them at your peril.
But also write for your visitors. When you do this and have your keywords in the back of your mind it’s surprising the amount of LSI words that fall into your writing.
I believe LSI is the way forward with onpage SEO.
Any mistakes I ever make always come down to one of the points you raised… keyword research. Sometimes we rush straight in without enough time on this essential element. Do it right and you have a great chance of raking in the cash.
Great post Jason!
Not utilizing social media would definitely be my downfall. I need to work on that for sure. It just seems to be time-consuming
I have been searching information by visiting several blogs and articles online. But this page has turned out to be the ultimate destination of my desired knowledge. This has no doubt really fulfilled my contention and for that I am thankful to the blogs owner! Regards.
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Very nice picture you find..really it’s true. thanks for giving the 10 good steps for website building.Its really very good.
Thanks for the list!
I heard some bloggers suggest you just forget about SEO and focus on doing good content.
Please post more often!