ADLANDS' DIGEST
                  A Free subscribed Discussion List
                   on web marketing and promotion
                       Bogdan Fiedur,  Publisher
                    mailto: Bogdan@softfornet.com
                      http://www.softfornet.com
                      David Bredeweg, Moderator
                    mailto: moderator@finsave.com
                              http://finsave.com
                           Vol 1, #3,  June 2, 1998
________________________________________________
Topics in this issue:
MODERATORS' COMMENTS
LOW COST MARKETING RESPONSE
INTRO - HOW-TO MARKET
RE-ISSUE OF POLL
_________________________________________________
MODERATORS' COMMENTS:

This discussion lists is growing steadily. For your information we
have about 200 current subscribers with and average of 15 - 20 per
day joining. To the newcomers, we welcome you and invite you to
participate.
I have included the POLL in this issues also for two
reasons.
One, to let the newcomers respond
Secondly, to give the rest of you another chance to respond. So far
only 5 have responded. Let's see if we can't have a little better
representation. It will be an immense help to all of you if you have
some idea of the demographics of this list. If 5 tells me anything,
my assumptions were quite correct,
So, lets take just a few minutes, just hit the reply, fill in the
blanks and send. Nothing to it, painless.
______________________________________________________
RESPONSE: Bogdan Fiedur, SoftForNet Solutions LTD.
http://softfornet.com  commenting on post by Debra McCray

Debra,

>I've had the sites for just about a month.  I've listed with some of
>the search engines (but I'm not in the first 30 so that's probably no
>good).  In my eagerness to register with them I didn't make sure I
>had meta tags (I do now).  I'm going to register soon.

Of course it  is important to put right met tags in your pages but
this itself won't put you in first 30 on most search engines. The most
important part is design of your page . E.g. if your business relates
to collectibles, it is probably good idea to mention this word couple
times in your page. You have to remember though that composition of
your page have to justifies usage of those words, otherwise search
engines will consider them as a spam after reviewing them. Make alt
tags for your images relating to this word, and name your directories
and files which you link to containing this word. This will increase
occurrence of this word within the page without using unfair
practices. These are tricks but this is the way how others are getting
their pages in top 30. To see this try to search on some obvious
keywords like e.g. "job" and analyze pages showing in first 10.

You should also visit sites whose main purpose is to promote other
sites. They know techniques how to put your site into top 30. They
have promotion tools like at http://www.webposition.com/ which will
allow you to track your position based on your URL and keywords you
want to be found. This tool will give you reporting and hints how to
do better. Worth trying is http://www.webpromote.com/ and subscribe to
their newsletter.

Also try http://www.websitegarage.com/ for tuning up your web site so
it has professional look.This tool will give you free reporting in 7
categories. Try http://www.netfit.net/123-add-masters and subscribe
to top 30 search engines for free. And get listed on 1170 sites for
free with our newest  partner at
http://www.site-promotion.com/adlandframes.htm You find details once
you get to the site.

I would be interested what other good promotion tools some other
people on this discussion group run across and would like recommend to
entire group.

>I've splurged on some advertising ($129) with ASBA/Netextensions
>(several ads in their bulletins and mailing to Jeffrey Lant's card
>deck). The mailing doesn't happen until June 30, so I'm not sure how
>effective that will be.  I've also decided to splurge on hosting a
>contest ($19.95 a month) with ASBA.

Advertising certainly will bring you some results but tuning your web
sites and optimizing for search engines is much more cost effective
and once you understand  issues regarding it, you will always use them
to promote your site better. Positioning yourself in first 30 will
probably bring you more hits than any advertising small starting
business can afford. Spend your money better with those who can teach
you how to position your site in first 30.
Regards

Bogdan Fiedur
SoftForNet Solutions LTD.
http://softfornet.com
Adland World's Classifieds
http://softfornet.com/adland
___________________________________________________
From:   Barbara <bakyet@yahoo.com>

Let me introduce myself. My name is Barbara Knack. I have been
marketing my services on the Internet for some time now. While each of
the marketing venues are effective in their own right, I have found it
is the combination of all of them together that makes for effective
marketing.  There isn't one of them by themselves that sells better
than the other.  I have found that the marketing tool that works the
best off-line, that of exposure, works well on-line as well.  It's the
subliminal effect of repeatedly seeing something that draws
prospective customers/clients into  looking to see what you have to
offer.

The next step, and the one most often neglected, is the selling of
your benefits.  If there isn't a benefit...there is no sale.  You also
need to know who you are selling to.  If you don't know this, you
can't sell them a benefit.  You are just wasting your time and what
little money you have to invest, if you don't do these things.

It doesn't stop there either....if you have gotten a prospective
customer/client to email you for further informtion you must continue
to sell the benefits in your email responses. If you don't you'll
loose the sale.

To sum it up....You have to sell your benefit, not the product or
service, to a targeted audience. You have to advertise every place
available to you on the Internet.  And the most important thing is you
have to keep doing it. You can't just put all these things on the
Internet and stop there.  It takes constant work.

I wish you all success with your endeavors and I hope this information
has helped.

Barbara
http://members.tripod.com/~Bak8/index.html
_____________________________________________________
POLL:

To make this list beneficial, to know just where you, the readers are
situated I have set up a little poll and ask that you send in your
replies separately from any other posts. Just cut and paste the
following content into a new measage.  You can use the posting address
mailto: adland@softfornet?subject="POLL" I'll sift through them and
in a later post will give you the results.

How long have you been in business?
-- 0 - 6 months
-- 6 - 12 months
-- 1yr - 3yrs
-- longer than 3 yrs

Do you consider yourself part-time or full time?
-- full time
-- part time

How long have you been on the web with your business?
-- planning a website
-- developing a website
-- 0 - 3 months
-- 3 - 6 months
-- 6 - 12 mo
-- longer

How many employees, including yourself?
-- 1
-- 2 - 3
-- 4 - 6
-- 7 - 10
-- more than 10

If you are operating as a one-person business, do you contract out for
services you cannot perform? -- yes -- no

Do you employ the barter arrangement with others on the web to secure
services you need with those you supply? -- yes -- no

How do you use the web for your business?
-- product sales
-- service offerings
-- lead generation
-- recruitment
-- information dispenser - brochure
-- no website, email only
-- market research
-- better communication with customers, lower cost option.

What is the size of your monthly  budget online?
-- 0
--$ 1- $50
--$51 - $100
--$more than $100
-- any greater then $500

What is the amount of your monthly  budget offline?
-- 0
-- $1 - $25
-- $26 - $50
-- $51 - $100
-- more than $100
-- any greater than $500

What is the amount of your monthly revenue?
-- $0
-- $1 - $50
-- $51- $100
-- $101 - $500
-- $501 - $1000
-- more than $1000

So far, for those who have a web presence, have  marketed for a
short time, what online method has worked best for you?
-- banner exchanges - as in LE type
-- banner exchanges you initiated with other sites - reciprocal
-- classified listings - free listings
-- direct email - using opt-in lists
-- marketing via newsgroups
-- marketing via discussion lists - as this one is an example
-- marketing via email newsletters
-- paid banners on other sites
-- paid classifieds
-- contests
-- press releases
-- other ------------------?
_____________________________________________________
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Your Moderator,
David Bredeweg

David Bredeweg            NetMark Communications
Website Designer          <http://finsave.com>
Sales of Virtual Servers, hosting, internet services
Voice 561-641-9887         Fax 561-433-3979
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