Posted by: Andy on April 25th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness
Viewed: 960 times
Affiliate/Referral Programs
Affiliate programs, also known as referral programs or partnership programs, involve the use of affiliates to help market a website’s products and services in return for a payment for each sale, lead, action, or visitor generated. Amazon.com has created one of the most sophisticated and successful affiliate programs on the Internet – a program that has no doubt contributed to their high level of brand recognition online, and the significant traffic and resulting revenue their site generates.
Blogging
A blog or weblog is simply a web page that scrolls chronologically like a journal and contains links to other websites of interest. Blogs, as creative online journals, have been used by technical specialists for a number of years, but business blogs, or b-blogs are just now making inroads into the mainstream.
As an alternative, low-cost (or even free) means of electronic communication, blogs can make up a significant part of your overall marketing strategy. Although b-blogs carry an inherent marketing focus not found in creative weblogs, their casual structure provides the opportunity to connect with readers on a more immediate and personal level than traditional websites and newsletters allow.
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Posted by: Andy on April 20th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness
Viewed: 909 times
Here are two more methods to market your website.
Banner Ads
Graphical banner advertisements, pop-ups and text based ads are online ads that are placed on third-party websites that link back to your website. The ads are designed to encourage users to click through to your site to learn more and, ultimately, to buy. These ads can be set up for a fee – pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, pay-per-sale – or they can be part of a reciprocal ad exchange with an online “partner,†where you place your partner’s ad on your website in exchange for your partner doing the same.
3rd Party Publishing
Another, often overlooked, but cost-saving method of marketing your business online is by publishing editorials in third-party e-zines, e-newsletters and on information-based websites. Just as editorials in offline media can help position you as an expert in your field and drive readers to your website, providing articles written (or ghost-written) by you to targeted online media can also drive traffic to your website, often with no out-ofpocket expense. Just remember to include a short biography that outlines what you do and a link to your website at the bottom of each article you publish.
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Posted by: Andy on April 19th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness
Viewed: 1,177 times
There are many ways to market your website and over the next 5 days I’m going to list my top 10 favourites. The first two are tried and tested and have been used successfully for many years.
Email Marketing
Permission-based email marketing can be a low-cost and very effective component of your web marketing strategy. It can help to build a relationship between your business and target market, and can drive traffic back to your website. Email marketing can consist of direct email blasts and sales letters, personalized auto-responders, and/or email newsletters.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that seek to exploit pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in brand awareness, through viral processes similar to the spread of an epidemic. It is word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it harnesses the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly.
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Posted by: Andy on April 10th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness
Viewed: 933 times
Continuing with my impromptu “Never Fear†series I decided to list my 5 favourite resources for learning HTML. Although I started designing sites in 1995 (here is a link to the Internet Archive for a site I did in 1997) I still keep these 5 sites bookmarked to use as a resource when I’m asked questions about HTML.
W3 Schools Online
Tutorials and examples covering HTML plus a wide range of other technologies such as XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, XSL, ASP and SQL.
Mark Tranchant’s HTML Tutorial
An excellent, clearly and concisely written explanation of HTML with great tutorials and examples.
Rich in Style’s Guide to HTML 4.0
Starting with basic HTML and extending to concepts such as tables, scripts and forms with easy to understand tutorials throughout.
HTML Center
This tutorial rich website is a great place to learn the essentials as well as advanced technologies like CSS, JavaScript, DHTML, Photoshop and PHP.
HTML Beginners Guide
Doing things the right way and concentrating on current web standards separates this site and it’s tutorials from the others.
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Posted by: Andy on April 6th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness
Viewed: 720 times
Continuing on my theme of being a man and therefore having a disadvantage when designing websites I wanted to share my top five websites that I use for design inspiration. I know some designers that already have a clear idea of the look and feel of a website during their initial meeting with a client. I can’t do that. I need to have a look at a number of sites so that it gets my “creative juices†flowing. So here are my top 5, not in any particular order.
CSS Vault
The gallery of designs on this site is create and they focus on pure CSS designs which is becoming more and more the standard for designing websites.
Screen Spire
Ok, this websites design and layout is a little to “art-design-trendy†for my tastes however the archive is full of wonderfully designed sites.
Design Shack
Great design inspirations and you can vote on your favourites all based upon web standards and CSS.
CSS Beauty
Another showcase of CSS designs. The gallery of archives dates back to May 2004
CSS Reboot
Although it isn’t directly a showcase of web designs it is a community event for web professionals who will simultaneously launch their standard based redesigned websites on May 1st, 2006. Worth keeping an eye on!
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