|
|
| Marketing |Information | Articles | Resources | Strategy | Research | Tip and Tool |
|
5 Ways To Entice Your Parallel Market to Trade Links
Lots of people get confounded when attempting to exchange links, you're not alone. The people who have the spot you want are competitors. The people who don't aren't worth exchanging links with. What to do? It's not necessarily the method you're using, it may be the approach. If you know anything about SEO, you know you need relevant links to your site, preferably more in than you have out. And whether you actively pursue search engine listings or not, you'll find that many surfers travel the web through the links they find, often without realizing it. So how do you achieve this without linking to the sites you are competing with? Think Parallel Markets. When most people think of this term, they are speaking from an investment standpoint. In this discussion, I'm simply referring to groups of products and services which cater to people with similiar needs. If your market is delivery or carry-out pizza, your market is fast food. But your parallel market might be frozen pizzas, Italian food store chains, or cheese, maybe even films. Pizza delivery chains offer free DVDs with a delivery order because they figure that people who eat pizza at home watch films while they eat - ordering in and watching a movie is (sadly) the new third date. To discover your parallel market, think of things that your customers have in common that brings them to your site, then eliminate things that compete. So now you know *who* to ask to link to you. But *how* do you get them to link back? Especially as a new webmaster, it helps if you think from the opposing end of your desires. Meaning that, before you ask for something, think of what you can give in return. What are the other person's needs? If you don't know, you can probably find out by subscribing to their newsletter or feed. That way, when you write to them, instead of sending the standard cookie-cutter email, you can add personalized information that lets them know that you have been to their site repeatedly, list specific issues they have stated before, and use this information to make it worth their while. Which email would you answer? The one that is obviously a copy, personalized only with your email address? Or the one that states your name and shows that the other person has actually been to your site before? So take a look at your site. Why should anyone link to you? What will they get out of the deal? Is your site a great resource? Do you have a higher Google PR? Do you do site reviews? Or maybe you'll just use whatever text they ask for? When you first start out, with no links back to your site, find other people in your parallel markets who need links too. You're both in the same boat. Help each other. Then as you see your traffic rising, you can start going after bigger and bigger fish. But again, make it worth their while. Here are some ways in which you can make a link trade a little more attractive. Method One: The Recommendation Exchange When I know of a site that sells inexpensive tools for new marketers that are ready to advance to the next level, I refer a lot of my more advanced crowd to them, and they send me their beginners. So in approaching them, I might tell them that not only have I already linked to them, but if they link back I'll also write about them in my blog and my newsletter. Costs me nothing but an extra five minutes, and I'm more likely to get a little bit more than the link trade. Method Two: The Bribe This can also increase your reputation as an expert in your field. Pick five people who are a bit more knowledgeable than you. Ask them if they'd like to be interviewed, for a collection, and offer to distribute the resulting resource for free to their audience, if they'll link to your home page, where the free ebook can be downloaded. You've got their link, they've got free publicity in a book they can - and probably will - distribute for you. Method Three: Use That Feed There are the sites that want to carry a relevant, frequently updated feed in order to get more search engine visits. So, if you have a feed, you could send that webmaster a link to your feed, and tell them how they can use tools like CARP, RSS Equalizer or RSS Digest to display your feed on their site. If you update daily, and you're willing to take the bandwidth hit, you might find that they don't even mind a one way link. Method Four: The Barter Give them a free copy of your book if they'd link to you. Offer to link back to them if they'll write a testimonial about the book. Method Five: The Testimonial This is a slight variation on the recommendation, because it sometimes ends up as more of a one-way trade. If you sincerely enjoy a service or product that you bought, go back and pull up the sales page. If the links on the page for the testimonials are live, offer your testimonial. Caution: Only offer testimonials on products you really used and benefitted from. It's fine to put your name on something controversial if you really believe in it, but if you give a testimonial just for a link back to your site, you're messing with your good name. You should also know that they may not use your testimonial on their site, unless it's really good - so and try to be as specific as possible about how their product helped you. The point is, if you think creatively, you can solve your linking problem. Copyright 2004 Tinu AbayomiPaul About The Author Tinu carries on various internet marketing related discussions in her blog at http://FreeTrafficTip.com.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Guerilla Marketing Lesson 2: Why Do People Call Me? Before we begin, I want you to think about how many times you actually sought out an advertisement. How did you know where to look for it? Why did you choose that one? Whether you know it or not, the number of times you were exposed to the message has a huge impact on you. Also, the message and how it made you feel had a large influence on your response. Spice It Up! Rib Festival Teaches Us About Product Value The Rib America Festival is a fun filled family event featuring award winning BBQ and live entertainment from national, regional and local talent. Each rib cooker features their very own special cooking strategy and recipes that make for a truly unique food festival experience. Create Free Internet Buzz with Your Workforce There are many different ways to increase your traffic on the web. Just as there are get rich quick schemes, there are get traffic quick schemes. These can backfire on you just like any other shortcut to results. How Do You Get Past The Gatekeeper? The best joint ventures are with people in your own network ? those that already know, like and trust you. However, there's nothing to stop you from partnering with "cold" contacts ? those you've never associated with before, and you would therefore need to build a relationship with. This simply means it will take a bit more time to execute the joint venture because any "cold" contact would need time to evaluate your character and your business before committing to a partnership with you. Direct Mail Marketing Done Correctly, Cannot Fail So how do you do it? Quiz: Where is Your Marketing Message? Wondering if your marketing message is dancing in the spotlight right in front of your target market or is busy cowering by the punch table nowhere near your customer base? Take this quiz and find out. Put Your Marketing To The So What? Test Want to get Better at your Marketing today? At the Speed of Light How many times has someone you've called said, "Why don't you send me some information on your company"? Direct Mail Formats: How to Choose the Right One for Your Next Mailing Which pulls the best response, a postcard, a self-mailer or a letter? The answer, you'll be irritated to know, is clear. It depends. Private Practice Marketing: A Soaking Wet Marketing Marvel Last week I took our two boys on an all guy vacation to the Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotel in Orlando. It's the only one of it's kind in the world, with two separate mini-water parks on site, with a mall in the middle. Why You Dont NEED a Marketing Plan If you pick up a copy of the November 2003 issue of Entrepreneur magazine, you'll see my Web site listed on page 10, along with a good amount of promotional copy. Online Advertising Versus Traditional Media Advertising Before I compare today's online advertising with traditional media advertising I will make an analogy. Selling To Your Affiliates While success with any internet marketing program falls on the head of the marketer, what the program offers in pay outs and products plays a big roll. What I am going to focus on is the product side of the business. The products that you sell make the difference on who is going to buy them. Either you sell to people outside your own affiliate base. You sell to people within your base. Or you try and sell to both. I believe most marketers try and sell only outside their own affiliate base. If you do this then you are missing out on your greatest customer. Your own affiliates. Seven Common Marketing Problems Solved by Marketing Operations Corporate marketing groups - especially bandwidth-challenged small-to-mid-sized departments - can be so focused on tactics and fire fighting that they jeopardize their marketing investment. There is a tendency to overreact to events, to tackle symptoms rather than underlying fundamental problems and to jump at the opportunity to please the boss. Many times, this kind of tactical knee jerking may be fatal. Writing A Marketing Strategy It is my belief that if anyone is to suceed in any type of business then the business needs to be marketed to it's target consumers in an effective manner. In order to do this effectively rather than in an ad hoc, probably expensive, manner I propose the construction of a marketing plan. This is something you can do yourself quite simply, but it will need some time for research and thought if it is to be worthwhile and achieve results. 5 Tips to Heat Up Your On-Line Marketing Using Off-Line Tactics The internet of course brings a huge arena of marketing opportunities for you. The ability to do business with people around the world has now been made readily available through a web site and email. It truly has leveled the playing field and has provided ALL of us with the opportunity of taking our business to the global level. Reinventing The Wheel Revolutionary ideas have always been the mark of mankind. It's what made us superior to animals and prove that we are the dominant species of this planet. Invention and innovation made life easier yet more complicated. Ironic as it may seem technology is making each generation culturally different. Comprehensive Marketing Details Not Found in Beginner Books If this is the first marketing article you are reading, go find some other more basic articles that I have written and then come back. This data is for the intermediate to advanced marketers. How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 3 To read the beginning of this special report, you can read part two here: http://ezinearticles.com/?id=58712 Walking Talking Advertisements So you've made a sale. Great!
|
|
|
| Home | Site Map | Salesmanship Ebook | Motivational Ebook | Job and Resume Posting| Affiliate program | |
|
| 2006 All Rights Reserved. by Mp.sg Term of use and service for the articles and information |
