16. Develop a Free Service. It's boring to invite people, "Come to our site and learn about our business." It's quite another to say "Use the free kitchen remodeling calculator available exclusively on our site." Make no mistake, it's expensive in time and energy to develop free resources, such as our Web Marketing Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket), but it is very rewarding in increased traffic to your site. Make sure that your free service is closely related to what you are selling so the visitors you attract will be good prospects for your business. Give visitors multiple opportunities and links to cross over to the sales part of your site.

E-Mail Strategies
Don't neglect e-mail as an important way to bring people to your website. Just don't spam. That is, don't send bulk unsolicited e-mails without permission to people with whom you have no relationship. You can find lots to details and tips in The E-Mail Marketing Handbook, an e-book by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm).

17. Install a "Signature" in your E-Mail Program to help potential customers get in touch with you. Most e-mail programs such as AOL, Netscape, and Outlook allow you to designate a "signature" to appear at the end of each message you send. Limit it to 6 to 8 lines: Company name, address, phone number, URL, e-mail address, and a one-phrase description of your unique business offering. Look for examples on e-mail messages sent to you.

18. Publish an E-Mail Newsletter. While it's a big commitment in time, publishing a monthly or bi-monthly e-mail newsletter ("ezine") is one of the very best ways to keep in touch with your prospects, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. It also helps you collect e-mail addresses from those who visit your site but aren't yet ready to make a purchase. Ask for e-mail address and their first name so you can personalize the newsletter. You can distribute your newsletter using listservers such as Gammadyne Mailer (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/gammadyne.htm), Infacta GroupMail (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/groupmail.htm), Topica Email Publisher (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/topica.htm), or Constant Contact (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/roving.htm). If you're just getting started you can use a free advertising-supported newsletter from Yahoo! Groups (www.yahoogroups.com). See articles on newsletter marketing in our Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=me_Newsletter).

Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter -- Web Marketing Today® (nearly 100,000 subscribers worldwide). Just to encourage you to take this step, I'm including three free e-books that you can download and read: Making & Marketing E-Books, Web Marketing Basics, and Demystifying Viral Marketing, each worth $12 -- just for subscribing. No catch. We respect your privacy and never sell or rent our subscriber lists.


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19. Send Offers to Your Visitors and Customers. Your own list of customers and site visitors who have given you permission to contact them will be your most productive list. Send offers, coupon specials, product updates, etc. Personalizing the subject line and the message may increase the results. You'll find scores of articles on general e-mail marketing in our Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=me_Email-Gen).
20. Rent targeted e-mail lists. We abhor "spam," bulk untargeted, unsolicited e-mail, and you'll pay a very stiff price in a ruined reputation and cancelled services if you yield to temptation here. But the direct marketing industry has developed targeted e-mail lists you can rent consisting of people who have agreed to receive commercial e-mail messages. These cost $40 to $250 per thousand, 4¢ to 25¢ per name. Do a smaller test first to determine the quality of the list. Your best bet is to find an e-mail list broker to help you with this project -- you'll save money and get experienced help for no additional cost (www.wilsonweb.com/contact/listbroker.htm). You'll find many articles on opt-in e-mail marketing in our Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=me_Opt-in).

Miscellaneous Strategies
21. Promote Your Site in Mailing Lists and News Groups. The Internet offers thousands of very targeted e-mail based discussion lists and Usenet news groups made up of people with very specialized interests. Use Google Groups to find appropriate sources (http://groups.google.com). Don't bother with news groups consisting of pure "spam." Instead, find groups where a dialog is taking place. Don't use aggressive marketing and overtly plug your product or service. Rather, add to the discussion in a helpful way and let the "signature" at the end of your e-mail message do your marketing for you. People will gradually get to know and trust you, visit your site, and do business with you. You can learn more from articles in our Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=mm_Newsgroups).

22. Announce a Contest. People like getting something free. If you publicize a contest or drawing available on your site, you'll generate more traffic than normal. Make sure your sweepstakes rules are legal in all states and countries you are targeting. Prizes should be designed to attract individuals who fit a demographic profile describing your best customers. See dozens of articles on contests and incentives in our Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=ma_Incentives).

23. Ask Visitors to Bookmark Your Site. It seems so simple, but make sure you ask visitors to bookmark your site (www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/bookmark.htm) We use a graphic on the main entry page to our site. Hey, why don't you bookmark the article you're reading right now? You know you'll want to find it again soon.

24. Exchange Ads with Complementary Businesses. Banner exchange programs don't work well these days. But consider exchanging e-mail newsletter ads with complementary businesses to reach new audiences.

25. Devise Viral Marketing Promotion Techniques. So-called viral marketing uses the communication networks (and preferably the resources) of your site visitors or customers to spread the word about your site exponentially. Word-of-mouth, PR, creating "buzz," and network marketing are offline models. #12 above, "Write Articles for Others to Use in their Newsletters" is a viral approach. The classic example is the free e-mail service, hotmail.com, that includes a tagline about their service at the end of every message sent out, so friends tell friends, who tell friends. You can learn more in my e-book Demystifying Viral Marketing ($12) available for no cost when you subscribe to my free, weekly Web Marketing Today newsletter (www.wilsonweb.com/wmt/). You can find articles on viral marketing in our Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=mm_Viral).

Paid Advertising Strategies
None of the approaches described above is "free," since each takes time and energy. But if you want to grow your business more rapidly, there comes a point when you need to pay for increased traffic. Advertising is sold in one of three ways: (1) traditional CPM (cost per thousand views), (2) pay per click (PPC), and (3) pay per action, otherwise known as an affiliate program or lead generation program. Do some small tests first to determine response, and then calculate your return on investment (ROI) before spending large amounts. Here are some methods: