"A Direct
Response Minisite Can Be A Sticky Situation!"
By Thomas Benton
Direct response minisites are designed to force
one of three responses: 1) Buy now, 2) Bookmark now, buy later,
or 3) Leave. Adding a little content can make it search engine
friendly and cause visitors to return.
You’ll find some who say that a direct
response minisite is the only way to market on the Internet. Others
say that a content rich site is the better way to go.
Proponents of direct response marketing maintain
that a minisite can be set up in a matter of hours or days whereas
a content rich site can require weeks or even months to build.
And a minisite will start producing an income long before a content
rich site can be up and running.
True.
The negative is that direct response minisites
aren’t attractive to search engines and consequently do
not rank well. This makes it virtually impossible to find in a
search. This means that all traffic must be generated via advertising
of some sort. Nothing wrong with that IF the conversion rate produces
profit.
On the other hand, a content rich site can produce
free traffic. It takes time and planning to rank well in the search
engines, but when that is accomplished they will generate free
traffic (and sales) for your site.
Of course, even a content rich site can't depend
solely on the search engines to generate all their traffic. Advertising
is an essential part of producing targeted traffic.
Why not combine the positives of both?
Build your minisite. Get your product offering
online now. Advertise in pay per click search engines and ezines.
Set up some joint venture offerings with websites and ezine editors
that cater to your target audience.
This tactic will produce instant results and
sales. Start slow. Then tweak your sales copy until you get a
decent conversion rate and return on investment.
Then gradually transform your direct response
minisite into a theme site. Add a dozen or so articles that directly
relate to your product. Exchange links with a few other sites
that fit your theme. Offering an affiliate program is a good way
to do this.
Now that you've got content and links, your site
has suddenly become attractive to search engines. Tweak your pages,
title, description and keyword meta tags to take full advantage
of search engine algorithms. Then, manually submit your site to
the popular search engines.
Add a few more articles or info pages every month
and resubmit to the search engines. It may take a few months,
but you will eventually notice an increase in traffic.
Publish an ezine and give away a freebie to new
subscribers. Advertise your ezine on every page. And/or use an
exit popup window to solicit subscribers.
Plug in one or two related affiliate products
to create multiple income streams from your site.
Then, do it all over again with another new product!
In a few years you will have developed a steady
stream of income from your Internet business.
When a product becomes stale and stops selling,
update it or replace it with another. Stick to your theme if possible.
Use the same URL to take advantage of your existing search engine
traffic.
A Word About Web Hosting:
If you're going to have separate domains for
each product (you should), you'll need a web host that allows
you to add domains to your package without paying the full price
for each one. You can get a package that allows 300MB of space
and 10 gig monthly traffic for $24.95 per month. You can add additional
domains for $5.00. And, you can sell hosting as an affiliate.
For more info visit http://www.hosting-connection.com/.
What's the *secret* of creating an Internet income?
Get started. Learn from your mistakes. Apply what you learn. Don't
quit. That's all there is to it! See you on the web! |
