1. Internet Marketing for Small Businesses Lilly Buchwitz, MBA, CEC University of New Brunswick October 1, 2001

2. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Overview Part II visibility Part I search engines Part IV everything else Part III email marketing

3. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 What you need to know about search engines 1.There are only nine search engines that matter. 2.Understanding how search engines work and how people use them will help you “get found” on them. 3.You must carefully prepare your Web site before you submit it to the search engines. 4.Submitting your pages to the search engines takes less than 10 minutes. 5.The only person who can submit your site to search engines – effectively – is you.

4. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Search engines that matter AltaVistaGoogle InktomiFast ExciteHotbot LycosNorthern Light Direct Hit

5. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Directories that matter Yahoo! Looksmart Open Directory

6. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Submitting to Yahoo!  If you’re a business you must pay to be included in the Yahoo! Directory  one-time fee of $299 (click here for link)click here for link

7. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 How search engines work database search results keyword submit URL

8. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 How directories work database search results keyword submit URL $$$$

9. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 How people search  start with broad, general terms  narrow it down by adding more specific words  not likely to search for your company name  almost never search for the words “welcome to”

10. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Preparing your site to get found (this is the hard part) Choose 10 words that describe your business, service, or products. Take your time. Think like a searcher. Let’s look at an example…

11. beer wine Toronto brew your own brew on premises make your own wine from grapes

12. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Using your keywords: html title  The html title of the page is what you see at the top of your browser when you are on that page.  It’s what displays as the link for your listing on a search engine.  Keep it under 75 characters.  Make each title relevant to the page it’s on.  Spend the most time writing the title for your home page.  Also, write a title for the starting page of each major section of your site.  For all other pages, either use the same title as the major section, or use breadcrumbs.

13. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Using your keywords: meta description  The meta description tag describes in a little more detail what’s on your page  It’s what displays below the title in your search engine listing  Keep it under 150 characters to be sure it doesn’t get cut off  Make each description relevant to the page it’s on  Try to entice potential visitors with clever copy, so they’ll click more…

14. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Using your keywords: meta description  It’s not really about ranking, it’s about describing your page to potential visitors  Not all search engines use it  Here’s how it works:

15. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001  The meta keywords tag can be the same for all the pages on your site  Not all search engines take this tag into consideration when they rank sites  Use a list of words and phrases with no commas in between (search engine spiders are programmed to read only a certain number of characters in the keyword tag if they read it at all) Using your keywords: meta keywords

16. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Here’s how it works: Using your keywords: meta keywords

17. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Using your keywords: ALT tags  every image on your Web site should have a carefully written ALT tag  the ALT text is what visitors see if they move their mouse over an image

18. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Using your keywords: file names don’t use abbrv.

19. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Using your keywords: on every page!  Work your keywords into the copy of every page on your Web site, as many times as you can without making it sound ridiculous.  This may seem obvious but it ain’t necessarily so.  Focusing on your keywords when writing the copy for your pages also helps reduce jargon.

20. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 What NOT to do  Don’t load your meta tags with irrelevant keywords.  Don’t repeat your keywords several times in a row.  Don’t hide text on your pages by making it the same colour as the background.  Don’t use a string of keywords for the title of your page.  Don’t submit exact copies of pages with different file names.  Don’t send email to search engines.

21. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Submitting your site (this is the easy part)  Bookmark the submission pages of the search engines that matter, or bookmark this pagebookmark this page  Highlight the URL of your page, press CTRL/C, then go to each submission page and paste in your URL. You can submit one page to all the search engines in less than ten minutes.  If your site is small enough, submit all your pages this way. It will be an hour well spent. If your site is large, submit the first pages of the main sections of your site — the pages with titles and descriptions.

22. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Wait… (this is also the hard part)  it can take from two weeks to four months for your site to be included in the database  it can take weeks after that before you see your site appear in the search results  every time the database is re-indexed, your ranking will change  re-submit every month and monitor your results

23. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Don’t pay someone else to do it for you  no one else understands your business as well as you  it will take more time for you to explain your business to a stranger than it will to do your search engine optimization yourself

24. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Paid placement and Paid inclusion  If you can afford it, pay to be included in Looksmart directory  Yahoo! = paid inclusion It’s worth the investment  GoTo = paid placement Save your money!!

25. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Part II visibility

26. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Link Popularity  a.k.a. “visibility”  it’s what made Yahoo! the most popular site  AltaVista, Inktomi, Hotbot, Northern Light, Excite, and Google all use it in their algorithms  quantity, quality, and relevance

27. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Determining your site’s link popularity  search for unique words/phrases on Google, AltaVista  use AV’s link search – type link:http://www.mysite.com into search field  download and install Google’s toolbar

29. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 More about visibility  Your goal is to get as many sites as possible to link to you  Make a list of every Web site that’s in your space but not a direct competitor  Find their email address and write a brief, friendly letter suggesting a link exchange  Get your partners, vendors, friends and relatives to link to your site  Submit those pages that link to you to every search engine

30. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Part III email marketing

31. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 The information strategy People come to your Web site looking for information Make sure they get it!

32. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 The newsletter strategy  A newsletter is arguably the most powerful marketing tool there is.  People who subscribe to, or pick up, a newsletter usually read all of it.  Whatever your business, you are an expert.  Give people information!

33. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 The education strategy  Present information about your product, your product category, your industry, in an objective, informational way.  Teach your prospective customers.  Give them valuable information.  They will appreciate it, and come back for more.

34. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Rules for email newsletters 1.get permission 2.frequent 3.regular 4.brief 5.include “why you’re receiving this” 6.include options for unsubscribing 7.suggest they pass it along to a friend

35. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Email marketing tools

36. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Part IV everything else

37. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Specialty directories  Search for “directory” and “search engine” on Yahoo! for a list  Search for your keywords on all the search engines, and see what you find  When you find a directory specific to your business, check it out to make sure it’s appropriate  Then (and only then) submit your site  You may have to pay for a listing — and it’s probably worth it

38. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Banner advertising  Banner ads are the first thing people think of when someone says Internet marketing  Banner ads are actually online advertising.  Like all forms of advertising, they’re expensive.  Banner advertising doesn’t fit into the marketing budget of most small businesses.

39. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Banner advertising  What about link exchange programs?  Well, you get what you pay for.  Even if you can run your banner for free, you still have to pay someone to design it for you.  So, should you buy banner ads? Maybe.  A short campaign to support a product launch might be worth the investment. Especially if you can offer a free trial. People click on ads if they feel there’s something worthwhile at the end of the click.  If you’re going to run a banner campaign, make sure your ad has a strong call to action.

40. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Sponsored content  sponsorships are static ads  relevant to content of page  think: advertising Calloway golf clubs on a golf news or golf info site

41. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Run a contest  best way to collect names and email addresses  give people something in return for subscribing  partner with another business; you both benefit

42. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Include your Web address on everything!  business cards  brochures  signs  yellow pages ad  t-shirts, hats, pens  your car or truck

43. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Measure your success  How many people (unique visitors) come to your Web site  How many times (in a month) they come  Where they are coming from (referring URLs)  Whether they subscribe to your newsletter  How many calls you get saying “I saw your Web site, and…”

44. Lilly Buchwitz University of New Brunswick E-commerce: Impacting the Way We Do Business Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2001 Resources World Wide Web Marketing, 3 rd ed., by Jim Sterne Ecommerce: Critical Success Factors That Will Make or Break Your Online Business by Nick Jones and Russell Field Web Marketing Today Internet.com iMarketing News Search Engine Watch

45. Let me know about your successes! lilly@buchwitz.com http://www.attcanada.ca/~lillyb Thank you