10 Really Dumb Ways of Promoting a Website
May 26th 2008 07:17
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We've all tried different ways to get that holy grail of websites - traffic eager to buy! Schemes come and go and leave behind them a trail of disappointed people. It's time for some group therapy as we all admit to past mistakes and the 10 really DUMB ways of promote a website. How many have you fallen for?
1. Bought traffic - average waste $100 - This is the number one dumb way to waste money launching a website. The idea that you can buy tens of thousands of website visitors is just pure nonsense. Hey, don't worry we've all fallen for this quick fix and all had the same lousy results. Zero opt-ins and zero sales. If any real visitors actually get delivered, and I suspect many are just simple scams, and then there is no way that this will actually ever work. Think about it. It's like rounding people up at random, forcing them onto a bus and driving them to your store. Are they really going to buy? Nope, not a chance.
2. Gave it to a relative to do - average waste $500 - Just because your nephew is good at video games it doesn't mean he can create wonderful website for you. It amazes me that people fall for this. Once they've asked them to do it they are trapped. If he doesn't deliver then the risk of family rifts put so much extra pressure to accept what is finally given.
3. Was sold something pretty but useless - average waste $20 every month - $240 a year - "Choose from 500 templates" is the headline that attracts so many into the website scam. These meaningless websites are easy to set up because they are empty. These quick fix websites quickly die and do absolutely nothing for you or your company. The only people that they help are the scam artists that sell you them and then charge you every month to host a dead website.
4. Used an agency - average waste $20,000 - This is a more expensive version of using a relative and is part of the same problem. You hand over ownership and control of your website to someone else. By handing over control your site stops being yours and you break what could be an incredibly profitable relationship between you and your customers.
5. Used a copy writer improperly- average waste $3000 - You should never ever exclusively use a copy writer to create copy for your website. This is expensive and created content that isn't yours - content that lacks your personality, knowledge and passion that is supposed to appeal to your customers. This won't ever work. There is a better way and that's to work with a copywriter. Create your own copy and then rework it with a copywriter or editor. This is quick, simple and much, much cheaper.
6. The bargain scam - Improve Google rankings for $xxx - average waste $100 - If these scams actually worked then they would be a lot more expensive! That's the hard truth that we all know but we seem to turn our brains off and fall for what seems to be the easy option.
If they are remotely genuine then they can do some SEO work and charge you twice the price.
7. Visitors come and go and never return - average waste $Your sales? - If you manage to get some real people visiting your site and you do nothing to capture them then they will come and then they will go and you'll never know why. Failing to capture them will destroy your sales. Capturing them can mean getting them to leave their email address or capturing their interest so that they return.
8. All links are good links - average waste $? - All links are not good links and you should resist the temptation to rush around and collect as many links as you humanly can get. The problem is that search engines such as Google love relevant content and if your links lead to irrelevant content you will suffer. This may lead to increased fees for Adwords advertising or even get you dumped out of the Google listings.
9. Knowledge is power - average waste $5000 - Do you waste money buying book after book that may be read but then forgotten? This habit can get even more expensive online with ebooks and courses - some costing thousands of dollars that is a lot in any currency!
This habit has two serious dangers. If you read without acting then you will never get anywhere as it is only through action that knowledge has any point at all. The second danger is that you will always think of yourself as a newbie or beginner and never develop further.
10. No plan - average waste $1000 - "People don't plan to fail - they fail to plan". We all know this saying and we all know its true but when it comes to launching a website our brains somehow go offline and we leap into things without planning and then we wonder why they don't work. One reason why we don't plan is that we don't know how to plan properly and what the key elements are.
That seems to cover it, I suggest keep your money in the bank, you'll be streets ahead.
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