Launching WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
| Category: Online Promotion | Date: 2002-11-13 |
** The Challenge **
WebSiteMarketingPlan.com was to be a companion site to the Marketing Plan Guide "How Much for Just the Spider?Strategic Web Site Marketing". Although the approach was relatively new - marketing plan development integrating traditional and online marketing strategies - the general "Internet Marketing" category was crowded. Additionally, I had much offline marketing experience, but zero online
credibility.
My initial challenges when launching the Web site were:
1.) to gain online credibility and
2.) to be heard in a crowded and often hype-filled category.
By February 2002 the site was nearly ready. I had fought through a FrontPage learning curve and had a 50-ish page site. I signed on for a basic hosting plan with Lexiconn and uploaded my Web site. Within days, Alexa found the site. Rank? 17 million and some change.
With the site up but largely unknown, an early focus was to get my target audience - those looking for strategic marketing and planning ideas - interested enough to visit.
Making it even more difficult (Wouldn't want to make anything easy on myself. :-) ), I had decided on a severely limited budget - no consultants and no expensive marketing tactics. Just a computer and a truckload of reference books.
** The Approach **
To gain credibility for both the marketing plan guide and for myself, I had to show that the approach explained in the guide was solid. For this reason, I developed a marketing plan for the site using the same planning process explained in the guide. When done, I had a summary page with four strategies and four to six tactics under each. The plan was to be implemented over 12 -18 months, revised as necessary
over time.
Thinking in terms of the customer acquisition stages of "awareness", "interest", "trial", and "repeat", I focused first on implementing tactics that would build "awareness"and "interest".
Here are some of the tactics implemented since February:
* Getting into Search Engines and Directories.
To gain site awareness I manually submitted the site to about a dozen search engines and directories - the large ones plus a hand full of specialty sites.
I purposely *did not* submit to Google because I had read more than once that Google rankings may be higher for sites Googlebot finds on its own. I do not know if it made a difference but Google did find the site, with cheer-invoking results.
* Publishing a Newsletter.
Early on, I began publishing a newsletter. Strategically, this is both to gain personal credibility and to have my own publishing and advertising venue. The first issue was
published in March - with five subscribers, including my Mom.
I am adamant about growing a targeted, quality subscriber list, so I have so far stayed away from mass acquisition tactics. Going with slow and targeted methods, my opt-in list now, at end of September, is around 600 and growing by 5-10 daily.
* Writing Articles.
Also to gain both personal credibility and awareness, I write and distributed articles. Mostly, I have been submitting to sites such as MakingProfit. Publishers may
reprint an article at no charge as long as the article remains intact and the resource box at the bottom is used. This creates a win-win-win situation. The publisher gets
content, the reader gets information, and I get advertising.
* Joining Organizations.
I have also become a member of a few organizations. Early on, I joined the eMarketing Association. This has become a mutually beneficial arrangement. In addition to the normal membership benefits, several of my articles have appeared in
the monthly newsletter and as article of the week.
Recently, I have intensified this tactic. I have been accepted into iCop. I have also joined the Internet Affiliate Marketing Association (iAfma) and the Internet
Warriors.
* Communicating.
Personal communication with select high-level marketers and specialists has garnered mentions as well. Tactics that have led to personal communication with several high-calibre personalities include: 1) Answering questions on bulletin
boards. 2) Publishing a guest article in my newsletter, and 3) Publishing others' material on the site (With permission, of course.).
I initiate contact by giving something of value. I do this for two reasons. 1) More likely as not, I have learned from the person through her/his writing and in my own mind it is a small payback for the free advise. 2) I am uncomfortable with "selling", so this is a way to get myself known without resorting to pushy techniques. If the relationship produces revenue, hooray! If not, refer to #1.
* Learning from Others.
The Web site and it's companion Marketing Plan Guide are "big picture", planning resources. When it comes to implementing promotional tactics, top specialists have
been a tremendous resource. I do not always take their advice, but they are indisputably more knowledgeable than I in their chosen fields. Three of my favorites are David Frey (Marketing Best Practices), Paul Myers (TalkBiz News), and
Jill Whalen (High Rankings Advisor).
** The Results **
The initial challenges - gaining credibility and attracting attention - are well on the way to being met.
As of September 2002, monthly visits are growing consistently at 10,300. Just over 8,000 of those were unique visitors.
The site has a top-5 Google ranking for both "Internet marketing plan" and "Web site marketing plan". The site is also in the top ten for "marketing plan".
While the interest level and number of visitors to the site far exceed expectations, conversion rates (which have not been a focus) are disappointing. It is time to move to the next stage of implementing the site's marketing plan -focusing on "trial" and "purchase" through increased attention to improving conversion rates.
** URLs to Mentioned Resources **
- MakingProfit: http://www.MakingProfit.com
- eMarketing Association:
http://www.emarketingassociation.com
- iCop: http://i-cop.org/cgi-bin/mem/jl.pl?1407
- iAfma: http://WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/Free/iAfma.html
- Internet Warriors:
http://WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/Website/Warriors.html
- Marketing Best Practices:
http://MarketingBestPractices.com
- TalkBiz News: http://www.TalkBizNews.com
- High Rankings Advisor:
http://www.highrankings.com/advisor.htm
About the Author.
Bobette Kyle has more than a decade of experience in Corporate Marketing; Brand and Product Marketing; Field Marketing and Sales; and Management.
She is author of the 5-Step Marketing Plan Guide "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing". Table of contents and an excerpt are at:
http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/BookExcerpt.htm?S=MakingProf
Copyright 2002 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
WSMPCaseStudy@WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
http://www.websitemarketingplan.com
WebSiteMarketingPlan.com was to be a companion site to the Marketing Plan Guide "How Much for Just the Spider?Strategic Web Site Marketing". Although the approach was relatively new - marketing plan development integrating traditional and online marketing strategies - the general "Internet Marketing" category was crowded. Additionally, I had much offline marketing experience, but zero online
credibility.
My initial challenges when launching the Web site were:
1.) to gain online credibility and
2.) to be heard in a crowded and often hype-filled category.
By February 2002 the site was nearly ready. I had fought through a FrontPage learning curve and had a 50-ish page site. I signed on for a basic hosting plan with Lexiconn and uploaded my Web site. Within days, Alexa found the site. Rank? 17 million and some change.
With the site up but largely unknown, an early focus was to get my target audience - those looking for strategic marketing and planning ideas - interested enough to visit.
Making it even more difficult (Wouldn't want to make anything easy on myself. :-) ), I had decided on a severely limited budget - no consultants and no expensive marketing tactics. Just a computer and a truckload of reference books.
** The Approach **
To gain credibility for both the marketing plan guide and for myself, I had to show that the approach explained in the guide was solid. For this reason, I developed a marketing plan for the site using the same planning process explained in the guide. When done, I had a summary page with four strategies and four to six tactics under each. The plan was to be implemented over 12 -18 months, revised as necessary
over time.
Thinking in terms of the customer acquisition stages of "awareness", "interest", "trial", and "repeat", I focused first on implementing tactics that would build "awareness"and "interest".
Here are some of the tactics implemented since February:
* Getting into Search Engines and Directories.
To gain site awareness I manually submitted the site to about a dozen search engines and directories - the large ones plus a hand full of specialty sites.
I purposely *did not* submit to Google because I had read more than once that Google rankings may be higher for sites Googlebot finds on its own. I do not know if it made a difference but Google did find the site, with cheer-invoking results.
* Publishing a Newsletter.
Early on, I began publishing a newsletter. Strategically, this is both to gain personal credibility and to have my own publishing and advertising venue. The first issue was
published in March - with five subscribers, including my Mom.
I am adamant about growing a targeted, quality subscriber list, so I have so far stayed away from mass acquisition tactics. Going with slow and targeted methods, my opt-in list now, at end of September, is around 600 and growing by 5-10 daily.
* Writing Articles.
Also to gain both personal credibility and awareness, I write and distributed articles. Mostly, I have been submitting to sites such as MakingProfit. Publishers may
reprint an article at no charge as long as the article remains intact and the resource box at the bottom is used. This creates a win-win-win situation. The publisher gets
content, the reader gets information, and I get advertising.
* Joining Organizations.
I have also become a member of a few organizations. Early on, I joined the eMarketing Association. This has become a mutually beneficial arrangement. In addition to the normal membership benefits, several of my articles have appeared in
the monthly newsletter and as article of the week.
Recently, I have intensified this tactic. I have been accepted into iCop. I have also joined the Internet Affiliate Marketing Association (iAfma) and the Internet
Warriors.
* Communicating.
Personal communication with select high-level marketers and specialists has garnered mentions as well. Tactics that have led to personal communication with several high-calibre personalities include: 1) Answering questions on bulletin
boards. 2) Publishing a guest article in my newsletter, and 3) Publishing others' material on the site (With permission, of course.).
I initiate contact by giving something of value. I do this for two reasons. 1) More likely as not, I have learned from the person through her/his writing and in my own mind it is a small payback for the free advise. 2) I am uncomfortable with "selling", so this is a way to get myself known without resorting to pushy techniques. If the relationship produces revenue, hooray! If not, refer to #1.
* Learning from Others.
The Web site and it's companion Marketing Plan Guide are "big picture", planning resources. When it comes to implementing promotional tactics, top specialists have
been a tremendous resource. I do not always take their advice, but they are indisputably more knowledgeable than I in their chosen fields. Three of my favorites are David Frey (Marketing Best Practices), Paul Myers (TalkBiz News), and
Jill Whalen (High Rankings Advisor).
** The Results **
The initial challenges - gaining credibility and attracting attention - are well on the way to being met.
As of September 2002, monthly visits are growing consistently at 10,300. Just over 8,000 of those were unique visitors.
The site has a top-5 Google ranking for both "Internet marketing plan" and "Web site marketing plan". The site is also in the top ten for "marketing plan".
While the interest level and number of visitors to the site far exceed expectations, conversion rates (which have not been a focus) are disappointing. It is time to move to the next stage of implementing the site's marketing plan -focusing on "trial" and "purchase" through increased attention to improving conversion rates.
** URLs to Mentioned Resources **
- MakingProfit: http://www.MakingProfit.com
- eMarketing Association:
http://www.emarketingassociation.com
- iCop: http://i-cop.org/cgi-bin/mem/jl.pl?1407
- iAfma: http://WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/Free/iAfma.html
- Internet Warriors:
http://WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/Website/Warriors.html
- Marketing Best Practices:
http://MarketingBestPractices.com
- TalkBiz News: http://www.TalkBizNews.com
- High Rankings Advisor:
http://www.highrankings.com/advisor.htm
About the Author.
Bobette Kyle has more than a decade of experience in Corporate Marketing; Brand and Product Marketing; Field Marketing and Sales; and Management.
She is author of the 5-Step Marketing Plan Guide "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing". Table of contents and an excerpt are at:
http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/BookExcerpt.htm?S=MakingProf
Copyright 2002 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
WSMPCaseStudy@WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
http://www.websitemarketingplan.com
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