Put a group of advertising, public relations, and Web design people in the same room together and the debate will rage for hours over the best way to promote your Web site. While it will be generally agreed that no one media can provide the complete solution, there will be debate over what mix will give the best results. David Hellaby analyses what works, and what doesn't, in the Web site promotion game.
You want people to know about your site. But how do you get the message out there? Does television offer better results than print? Do banner ads work or can you get cheaper and better results from linking? Do loyalty and reward schemes that offer micropayments work, or do you just register with as many search engines as possible and hope for the best? And what are the dangers of viral marketing and e-mail campaigns?
Businesses are increasingly becoming bamboozled by the options available to promote their Web sites. And many are questioning whether the benefits outweigh the effects of the likely backlash from those they are targeting.
But these are questions that vex any company that needs to promote a Web site, and no one answer fits all. However, there is one important fact that emerges from any such debate: it doesn't matter where you place your ads and promotions, or how much your promotion budget is, if you don't have a compelling reason for people to visit your site in the first place. Huge spending on advertising for sites that did not have that necessary ingredient was the cause of many of the dot-com crashes and there are those who are still learning that lesson today.
What are you trying to achieve?
Industry pundits emphasise the importance of being very clear about what you're trying to achieve through promoting your Web site.
PR and ad agency Hill & Knowlton has had a lot of experience promoting major Web sites including Adidas, AIG, Bausch & Lomb, BBC, BT, GE, Gillette, Kelloggs, Motorola, and Shell. The company launched in Asia earlier this year with successful interactive campaigns for Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble in China.
Locally Hill & Knowlton has been involved in promoting Web sites for IBM Fanmail (during the Olympics), the Welsh Development Agency, and BT Global Challenge. Director of Technology & New Media at Hill & Knowlton, Claire Hosegood, advises companies that, before they choose how to promote a Web site, they need to think about the site's objectives.
-Who is the site hoping to attract? What is the profile of the potential audience? What influences them and how do you want them to respond to your site?" she asks. -Do you want to communicate with them as an individual or as a representative of their company? Are you seeking a one-off visit or ongoing relationship?
-A Web site that has no audience in mind but merely wishes to promote its design is simply a vanity site," she says.
-Once you get a firm fix on who the site is hoping to attract you can determine the most effective way of reaching them." She suggests that, as with any promotion, a combination of the marketing mixâ€"including advertising, public relations, direct (or -viral") mailâ€"may be required both on and offline.
-Offline advertising can be useful in generating awareness of a site, and there is research that suggests audio is the superior medium for the recall of URLs, so radio promotionâ€"whether paid or mentionedâ€"can be effective," Hosegood says. -But driving an offline audience to the Web requires an extra call to action. It's obviously much easier if they are already online and only a click away."
-The effectiveness of online banner ads continues to be debated but it is probably safest to view them as generators of awareness rather than click-through traffic."
However, Hosegood does offer a word of caution to businesses assessing their strategies. -Misused or untargeted online viral marketing runs the risk of being viewed as spam [junk] mail, but it can be useful for recruitment andâ€"depending on the audienceâ€"can successfully secure first visits," she says.
-Endorsement of the site by credible influencers such as the media or industry experts can attach credibility to a site among the target audience and build confidence that the site will deliver on its promise. Some sites will include links to other sites if those links can be seen as 'added value'. However, ultimately it's up to the quality of the site and interest of its content to create pleasing enough experience for the visitor to return."
Hosegood believes the best sites are those which have an organic relationship with their usersâ€"they grow and change in response to usage and so are genuinely interactive.
She also points out something that should be glaringly obvious, but which many organisations ignore: it is important to have a good address and name for your site.
