Marketing Your Website or Blog

I have no spare time. Now I know why.

In trying to promote my each of my 7 blogs to generate traffic and also write content, I realized that I have no spare time -- and if I did, I'd spend it online anyway. After finding this great list of website strategies, which I have since been notified was originally written by Steven Spenser and originally posted on another blog authored by Peter Hollier. I know where my time goes, because I devote a little time each day to doing many of these activities.

Thankfully, I love blogging and writing and researching and the internet in general, but there are more important reasons for my obsession. First, it's also my career path and I'm looking for a new marketing management opportunity. I also do all this because I want to lay on the beach and go snorkeling during my next vacation in Hawaii and I'm using the money I earn through my blogs to do just that. There, I said it. Yes, I will admit that I'm trying to make some money doing something I really enjoy (aren't we all?). So, feel free to come back often, click as many links as you like, buy something, sign up for something, and who knows, maybe you'll learn something along the way?! Whatever the case, be sure to think of me as I swim with the fishes (and not in a Mafia sense ) in the clear Hawaiian waters off Maui, in the very near future.

42 Web Site Marketing Strategies

1. Most would top their list with SEO, but that’s putting the cart before the horse. You only get one opportunity to make a great first impression, so even before SEO I perform a Web-site usability analysis that examines graphic design, navigation, and whether the marketing copy is filled with the right kind of content to be effective.
2. Interesting, useful content that refreshes sufficiently to keep attracting return visits.
3. SEO and then submissions to search engines
4. Including URL and any sort of (newsworthy) offer or service in a press release; create separate social-media version and video news release
5. Disseminating the press release using wires and online distribution services (this can often generate multiple pass-along postings)
6. Cross-promoting the (newsworthy) offer & URL via pitches to traditional media: TV, radio, wire services, newspapers, consumer magazines, trade pubs–and their associated Web sites
7. Mass-media advertising that includes the URL, especially billboards & buses
8. Getting listed in expert-source directories for journalists
9. Setting up link exchanges with as many allied sites as possible
10. Securing listings on portals such as MSN and Craigslist
11. Securing listings in directories such as Yahoo, DMOZ, About.com
12. Placements in Web sites of local media (papers, TV, radio)
13. Placements in (national) city guides (CitySearch, AOL CityGuide)
14. Listings in professional-resource or association/trade directories (online and offline)
15. Generating traffic by writing contributed articles and/or online columns for other sites, as well as print media (including op-eds with URL in the bio tag) and securing TV/radio interviews
16. Generating traffic by becoming a subject-matter expert at About.com and imitators
17. Create a Wikipedia entry
18. Write and promote an e-book
19. Target news aggregators such as Mixx and social news platforms such as Newsvine
20. Secure listings in social bookmarking sites (such as Delicious) and social-recommendation sites (such as StumbleUpon)
21. Including URL in my e-mail signature
    
22. Offering value in news groups and mailing lists, where my signature will be seen
23. Secure editorial placements in topically relevant e-mail newsletters, printed newsletters and niche print pubs
24. Design and promulgate a useful (software) widget that will point users to my site for more services
25. Promote the site on MySpace, Facebook, Linked In, et. al.
26. Promote the site on microblogging channels
27. Promote the site via podcasts
28. Promote the site via blogs with RSS feeds
29. Promote via vlogs, v-casts (video podcasts) and promotional videos on YouTube and other video-sharing sites
30. Get listed in video search engines
31. Promote URL in newsletters optimized for mobile platforms
32. Create a mobile-optimized version of the regular site, formatted to display on mobile devices
33. Secure listings in mobile search directories
34. Create a logo with URL that can be downloaded as wallpaper to mobile devices
35. Create vlogs for mobile devices
36. Create video viral content for aggregators such as ViralBank and ViralMonitor
37. Purchase placements in Google’s AdSense platform for games
38. Purchase placements in virtual multiverse communities such as 2nd Life
39. Pay manufacturers for billboards inside 3-D virtual reality games
40. Pay manufacturers for promotional placements in standard computer games
41. Pay Web microcelebrities to recommend the site/service on their own blogs and videos
42. Use nontraditional advertising to reach captive audiences: Elevators, taxis, restroom stalls, dentists’ ceilings and/or video monitors, airports & other departure locations, gas-station monitors, sporting arena , ATMs, vending machines and digital reader boards.

I have a long way to go to say, 'Yes, my website marketing is hitting on all cylinders'...but, in time, all things come to those who work really hard, and have no free time.

As a side note - I want to apologize to Steven and Pete for the original oversight in not crediting them for the source of this list. I have lots of content forwarded to me by my contacts, most of whom scrape ideas, information, etc. from websites to reuse in their careers as marketing professionals. It is my intention through this blog to aggregate content and help others, not aggravate others! Again, my apologies...

About Steven Spenser:
Steven Spenser, principal of Praxis Communication in Seattle, specializes in Internet marketing, public affairs and nonprofit PR. Steven has directed corporate communications for a Redmond software company and is an award-winning former editor and writer with The Associated Press and the The Seattle Times. His clients have included the government of the Russian Federation and Seattle E.coli victims organizing against Jack in the Box. Steven can be reached at PraxisPR@comcast. View Steven Spenser's LinkedIn profile.

About Maureen McHale: Maureen McHale is a Central Florida resident seeking a marketing management career. Ms. McHale has over 13 years of traditional and internet marketing experience. Maureen has a passion for the internet, new technology and writing. For more information regarding Maureen McHale's qualifications and to see her full resume, please visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/MaureenMcHale.