Web Site Promotion
Evaluating Paid Link Web Advertising
Spring/Summer, 2003
Just a few years ago, sales of new internet domain
registrations peaked at about 60,000 new domains registered
per day. Hundreds of web sites on every imaginable topic were
appearing, and everybody was linking to everybody else.
Providing links to other sites was seen as a service to web
visitors, coupled with the potential to reap the benefits of
the network effect.
Plus, it was cheap. Even free.
Since then, the realities of the time involved in evaluating
sites worthy of a link, maintaining those links, ongoing site
expenses and the less than impressive financial rewards of web
banner ads has driven many web directories, portals and other
sites to begin charging a fee for linking to another site. In
the heyday of new site creation, your site may have been
linked, with or without your knowledge. You've now received an
email saying that if you don't pay up, your site will be
dropped from their list. What should you do?
This topic provides tips to help you evaluate paying for
a link on web directories and portals, as well as briefly
discuss the concept of link exchanging. By asking a few simple
questions, you can easily evaluate whether that fee is a
useful and valid promotion expense for your business or
organization.
Web Portals
A web portal, some times referred to as a gateway, is a web
site designed to present an overall entry point to the entire
web, or as a comprehensive starting point to a particular
topic on the web. A portal usually includes content such as
news, weather, sports, and sometimes includes a search engine,
email access or chat. Portals are usually designed and
organized for a particular type of user audience. This
audience can be as broad as general consumers, or as narrow as
marketing professionals in Wisconsin.
For example, Yahoo and AOL are national consumer-oriented
portals, each incorporating a search engine into their
offering. Yahoo also offers consumer portals in Europe, South
America and Asia, as well as some larger U.S. cities. Niche or
specialized portals can focus on a particular topic, such as
real estate at Realtor.com, or women's interests at
IVillage. Portals can also be targeted to
professionals of a particular discipline such as Creative Pro
for design and marketing professionals, to those dealing with
common health issues such as The Cancer Survivor's Network, or customers of a
particular internet provider, such as AT&T Worldnet
service.
Web Directories
Web directories are categorically organized lists and links to
web sites, which have been developed by human editors, as
opposed to the automated lists and links developed by search
engines. Web directories can be focused on lists of sites and
links for the entire web, or on a particular topic. Some
search engines use a format similar to a web directory as an
organizing principle for their information. A Web directory
may be found anywhere, including magazine sites, portals,
trade, business and professional web sites. Prior to
incorporating its portal features, Yahoo was considered the
premiere Web directory. The Open Directory Project and Looksmart are examples
of web directories that operate solely as an overall directory
of web sites.
Link Exchange Programs
Have you ever received an email from someone claiming to have
a web site that is complimentary or similar to your web site,
asking that you link to their site in return for their link to
your site from theirs? If so, you've been invited to
participate in a link exchange program.
Link exchange programs, in theory, are intended to enhance
search engine optimization, because many web search engines
gauge the quality and quantity of sites that link to your site
as part of their ranking methodology. More links to your site
indicate a higher level of popularity for your site. At least
that's the pitch you'll hear from link farmers.
Unfortunately, most search engines using this methodology also
have methods to determine credible links versus these gimmick
links, so most link exchange programs have a negative image in
the mind of professional marketers.
If you choose to exchange links with sites, select those sites
you feel have value to your web site audience, or with those
sites which may actually bring you traffic or customers,
regardless of how the link may (or may not, most likely)
impact your search engine rankings. Keep in mind that any site
that links to you creates a relationship in the user's mind
between your site and the linking site. If anything about the
linking site may have a negative impact on your image or site
content, it is wiser to forego a link from that site.
Evaluate
So what do you do if you receive a notice that a web portal or
directory in which you were originally linked for free is now
planning on charging for inclusion or your link being dropped
from their site? Evaluating paid links or inclusion is just
like evaluating paid advertising. Asking a few simple
questions will help you make this decision easily.
What is the cost?
Usually, the cost will be either a one-time, or an annual fee.
There are no set fees, but usually linking charges range from
$25.00 to $300.00. Regardless of the cost structure, ask the
following questions while making your decision.
What is the site's traffic?
All too often, obtaining quantifiable visitor statistics is
something you will have to ask about. A good analogy is buying
a newspaper or magazine ad - would you even consider it if the
publication did not provide circulation information? If the
site owner cannot, or will not provide visitor statistics,
losing your link on their site will likely have minimal effect
on your web marketing efforts.
Is this a site your prospect clients/customers use, or sponsored by a group or organization frequented by your prospect clients/customers?
In addition to the traffic a link on another site may provide,
you may be realizing some intangible benefits such as
credibility, visibility or public relations value. For
example, if many of your competitors are featured on the site,
the absence of your business or organization may inadvertently
carry a negative message to prospects. Alternately, if the
linking site is well respected in your target market, that
favorable opinion automatically extends to your business when
it is featured on that site. Take these unobservable, but
important benefits into consideration.
Is this site geographically applicable to your business?
Web portals and directories are not limited to the
internationally known destinations like Yahoo or iVillage. If
your business or organization serves a specific geographic
target, a local directory or portal can be a very useful
promotion tool. While Yahoo may be visited by over 50% of all
web users nationwide, only a very small portion of that
traffic is even applicable to your business. In comparison, a
local site may receive relatively low amounts of traffic, but
all of that traffic represents a potential client or customer
to you.
Do your site traffic reports indicate referrals from the site?
Most web site traffic reports indicate referring sites. A
referring site is the site a web user came from to get to your
site. Check your site traffic logs to see where your visitors
are coming from. If the linking site is a steady source of
traffic to your site, it indicates that your link is reaching
your targeted audience and may be a valuable prospecting
source.
Has the site brought you prospects or new business?
Review your web traffic reports, or your top entry pages to
help determine how people are coming to your site. You can
also track your web-generated prospect inquiries by asking
"how did you hear about us?' on your web response forms. This
can help you track which forms of promotion are generating new
visitors to your site. When a link on another site brings you
even a single new customer, that link is probably worth the
fee.
Following these easy tips and suggestions will help you target
your web advertising dollar to the sites that bring you
traffic or have a positive impact on your image. There is no
mystery to using the web effectively for promotion. In most
cases, creativity and a little common sense go a long way.
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