Promoting a new website

[mybreaktrip]

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Thanks for reading this thread.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I will launch my new website in a couple of months and have started thinking about the promotion/marketing piece. Does anybody know (approximately) the budget needed for Year 1 to promote a new website? The goal at the beginning is to test the concept![/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I was thinking at the range of £50K![/FONT]

 

[Wait]

Hi,

Naturally it depends on what kind of marketing campaign you are going to embark upon. There are basically three types of Internet marketing for a website:

1. Search Engines
2. Social Media
3. Email Marketing

1. Search Engine Marketing requires perhaps the most investment of time and effort and possibly money. The most expensive element will be if you decide to embark on a backlinking campaign, which can cost 1k a month or more, depending on the number of the links and the difficulty of the subject matter (as a rule of thumb gambling and adult content are the most expensive, while textbooks are the cheapest). You can also boost search engine results using content on your site such as articles and blogs. Lastly and probably most expensively, you can purchase keywords, so your results come in the top 3 search engine results as ads.

2. Social meda marketing involves firstly using social media to push your brand - this is not just advertising, but content and intereactions too. It also involves buying targeted ads. You can save money by honing in on your target audience.

3. email marketing is a great way to get results. It probably has the best money to results ratio of the three options and gets your offers and products directly to people. It's likely to cost you 1-2k per month.

 

[mybreaktrip]

Thanks for your response.

I am aware of Search Engine. I believe Google Ads would be an example.

I didn't know that email marketing had such a good ratio. How do you choose where to send your email to? How do you avoid email ending up on spam folder?

Thanks

 

[kulture]

Well I am no expert, but I would suggest that the FIRST questions to ask, before supplying any answer, is what does the web site do? What market is it in? Who are you marketing to?

Depending on your answers you could be looking at newspaper/magazine adverts as well as SEO and PPC. Personally I would avoid e-mail marketing, but that would depend on what you are marketing.

 

[mybreaktrip]

My website will be a UK specific travelling website offering a unique selling service. So our target is UK travellers 18-60+ years old interested in travelling from any location in UK to anywhere in the world.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

My website will be a UK specific travelling website offering a unique selling service. So our target is UK travellers 18-60+ years old interested in travelling from any location in UK to anywhere in the world.

Email marketing likely will work in your niche. Start by reading up on Spam Law. Basically you need to get people to Opt in to your mailing list and then you are free to market to them.

Bear in mind most people want information rather than sales pitches, so give them want they want and they'll stay with you and maybe even buy...

Another alternative is to do a JV with an existing non competitive company to send out an offer to their list. You'll have to make it worth their while, but if done well, it will give you access to a starving crowd at low cost and you might even make a profit to boot.

 

[jennifersimond]

I like to prefer both SEO and PPC

Difference between SEO & PPC is;

SEO is a slow and steady process; it requires continuous effort to achieve the goals.

PPC: Can provide quick results based on your budget.

Good Luck
Happy Marketing

 

[Nochexman]

[FONT=&quot]I will launch my new website in a couple of months and have started thinking about the promotion/marketing piece. Does anybody know (approximately) the budget needed for Year 1 to promote a new website? The goal at the beginning is to test the concept![/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]I was thinking at the range of £50K![/FONT]

Hi mybreaktrip. Usually you set the budget on the basis of your objective. When you say 'test the concept' do you have anything more specific in mind?

 

[Lucie@MightyOak]

Hi

I think £50k is a bit excessive.

I am a fully qualified in marketing and PR and would suggest the following :

1. Press release(s)
2. Social Media
3. Blogging
4. SEO and PPC
5. Email Marketing Campaign

This over the year and done continuously should get you an excellent amount of publicity.

I work for Blurr Consulting and can do all of this for you - please get in touch if you would like some assistance with your PR and Marketing

Lucie

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Specific to your business idea - a lot of people research trips and holidays online - forums like tripadvisor and lonelyplanet have thousands of potential customers. Would probably be well worth signing up and helping out where you can with people's requests, with little to no reference to your company, then when your site is up and running, add this to your signature (provided their T&Cs permit this) so every post you make is advertising you.

Although it takes a little time, there is no financial cost involved, it can often help with SEO and also provides a lot of direct promotion, as well as showing you what sort of questions people are asking about travel (and what things people complain about) so you can aim to tackle them.

Another thought - for the travel sector, if you are providing a bespoking service, your best market might actually be print media - travel mags etc. - since a lot people searching online are wanting to 'do it themselves' and avoid agencies.

 

[JonathanSEO]

My website will be a UK specific travelling website offering a unique selling service.

Hope you describe it better than that on the website No idea what you will offer, holidays?

I was thinking at the range of £50K!

Hard to say, you could be massively underfunded here just depends what the site is aiming to do.

My understanding is that it's going to be like a social networky type community site for travellers that makes money as an affiliate for various holiday destinations? If that's the case then you probably are.

A site like that is going to rely heavily on search traffic, social traffic or paid traffic so if you haven't even considered how to market this I think you need to plan this a bit more before testing the concept.

 

[PeachySEO]

Hello,

I spent 2 years in the online marketing team for Thomas Cook, as well as having worked exclusively on a website that ranks on the first page for "luxury holidays" in my time working in an agency.

I'm happy to help out and offer some advice but I'm struggling to get to grips with what your website actually does? You've said it "offers a unique selling service". What's the service you're selling?

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I'm happy to help out and offer some advice but I'm struggling to get to grips with what your website actually does? You've said it "offers a unique selling service". What's the service you're selling?

If it's unique and he says he hasn't started it yet, it would be unwise to announce details on an SEO forum

 

[PeachySEO]

If it's unique and he says he hasn't started it yet, it would be unwise to announce details on an SEO forum

Well without it it's physically impossible to offer any kind of advice whatsoever relating to the OP. It's like saying "I want a particular car. I've got 50k. Is this enough?" Well, if you want a Vauxhall Corsa then sure, but if you want a Bugatti Veyron then you're miles off.

 

[mybreaktrip]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I would have liked to provide more information but as WeblinkPlus has so wisely blogged
If it's unique and he says he hasn't started it yet, it would be unwise to announce details on an SEO forum
i can't do that.

I am happy to discuss further in a private message discussion though so please message me if you are interested.

Thanks

 

[LuckySticksHarry]

[FONT=&quot]
Thanks for reading this thread.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I will launch my new website in a couple of months and have started thinking about the promotion/marketing piece. Does anybody know (approximately) the budget needed for Year 1 to promote a new website? The goal at the beginning is to test the concept![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I was thinking at the range of £50K![/FONT]

I'm sorry, £50k to test a concept? if you have £50k to test a concept you should not be asking this question to be honest.

If I was an investor I would be pretty broke from making bad investments with a guy who does not know their way to market.

I don't mean to pick at the question but it can take someone ages to reply to such a question and it just seems bonkers from someone throwing 50k at a concept...

 

[PeachySEO]

Thanks fine, please do keep us up to date though and if you're able to reveal a bit more information I'd be happy to help.

 

[mybreaktrip]

Thanks for all your responses guys. They have been helpful

 

[Laura Chattington]

Hey there,

You don’t want to be thinking ‘marketing budget’ you want to be thinking ‘Return On Investment’. If you spent £4 and got £12 back would you ever stop doing it?

First things first you want to think about what problems you are going to be solving for your clients and put together an outline of products and services you want to provide them. Then put some ‘test offers’ together and test them… you can use any kind of marketing you want and feel comfortable… that isn’t the point… the point is whether you get a return on your investment in the short and long term.

Maybe it is Adwords, online, offline marketing (personally SEO is too unpredictable and out of your control although people like it because they can do it).. it doesn’t matter what matters is that you can provide offers, products and services and get return on your marketing spend.

If you got 3 to 1 back on any £ your spent… you would just keep spending it right?

Good luck… any more questions about what I said just ping me!

Laura


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[JonathanSEO]

How Uncomfortably Are You Sitting In The Comfort Zone of Your Business? Get Strategy, Systems & Take The Right Action… Start Now… Get Access To My FREE Webinar…RebalancedLiving.com

I am going to get this webinar. You have a very unique story, sounds like you have overcome a lot of struggles.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I am going to get this webinar. You have a very unique story, sounds like you have overcome a lot of struggles.

Well she's got another struggle. Either she's using a dodgy copy of optimizepress or her site has been hacked... Viagra ads everywhere... I'm sure that'll do a lot for credibility...!

 

[mary2222]

Your first year promotion budget is going to depend almost entirely on what sort of promotion methods you plan on using!

Do you want to dive straight in with PPC... or would you rather take the time to build up a base of free organic search traffic?

Picking between paid and free options (or a combination of both) should be your first port of call.

 

[mybreaktrip]

@Laura – we have already done that. There is a full business case and investor pitch at place. What I am trying to determine now is the promotion budget for Y1. I will check your link – thanks.


@Mary – We will go for a combination of both. I believe you need to invest funds into promotion first in order to gain organic growth later. I will have discussions with experts later but just wanted to get peoples’ opinions on that. I recently read a case study where they spent just £500 per month (via Google Ads) and managed to attract 8,000 visitors per month.

 

[babblemouth]

I see that you have both Twitter and Facebook set-up but not even a holding page on your domain. This may be an idea to get the ball-rolling?

 

[Laura Chattington]

ha ha.. i think we all overcome a lot of struggles right?

And yes I have and hopefully I learnt from a few of them too... let me know if you wanted any more ideas on the marketing... I love talking about business any time

 

[Laura Chattington]

Well she's got another struggle. Either she's using a dodgy copy of optimizepress or her site has been hacked... Viagra ads everywhere... I'm sure that'll do a lot for credibility...!

Not sure I can see any Viagra ads? Maybe they are too hard to see?... interesting comment

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Not sure I can see any Viagra ads? Maybe they are too hard to see?... interesting comment

Click on 'blog'. I get a long paragraph with many links at the top... div is named 'hiddendiv'. Maybe it's hidden from you...?

I've sent you a screenshot to your contact address.

I've seen similar to this on dodgy copies of optimize press and others, but if you have a legitimate copy, it may be some sort of hack.

 

[JonathanSEO]

Click on 'blog'. I get a long paragraph with many links at the top... div is named 'hiddendiv'. Maybe it's hidden from you...?

I've sent you a screenshot to your contact address.

I've seen similar to this on dodgy copies of optimize press and others, but if you have a legitimate copy, it may be some sort of hack.

Good spot, I've just looked on a PC for the first time.

Probably about 10 links for Cialis and Viagra.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Good spot, I've just looked on a PC for the first time.

Probably about 10 links for Cialis and Viagra.

Glad I'm not the only one that can see it!

 

[Laura Chattington]

I do have a legitimate copy of OptimizePress and I cannot see the ad's for Viagra.... I will get my technical guys to take a look...

I appreciate you pointing it out as the Viagra market is not something I want to be associated with.

Thanks!

 

[wdog5555]

I appreciate you pointing it out as the Viagra market is not something I want to be associated with.

Don't blame you, there's alot of stiff competition...........................





.........I'll get me coat

 

[NeilJohnson]

Using video is a good way to increase the SEO on your travel site. Perhaps consider making a video which you can embed on your site explaining what your site offers. The video doesn't have to be lengthy 30sec to a minute long is a good length. With video on the rise you can get one made for relatively cheap.

 

[NeilJohnson]

Wait, Do you have any insight onto how video can be used to market yourself online?

 

[cariman]

SEO + PPC - but becareful read some secrets about adwords because if you do the adwords campaign in the right way you can pay just 2 cents per click

 

[dazzletech]

You must be having your target audience in your mind. Catch up with few of them. Tell them about your website/business. You can get instant response without investment
But if the idea is new, don't try with strangers. Talk with your friends who comes in your audience range.

 

[JonathanJ]

Hi,

£50 is quite less amount in terms of promoting website.

You will not require money to launch / create social media account but further you will require a marketing budget to promote them. So, initially if you want to invest less, go for free marketing. Promote your social media pages among your friends. Try to promote it via Word of Mouth.

 

[mybreaktrip]

social media free promotion and word of mouth are great practices but they take long time to build traffic. From my experience, you need to invest £ to build traffic quickly.

 

[ajayram]

To promote a new website by
Social Media Optimization
SEO and PPC
Email Marketing

 

[JonathanJ]

Great!! you have plenty of amount for your marketing campaign. Suggest you to start putting your money in SEO tools, PPC campaign and Social Media Marketing.

 

[joinuniverse]

The amount of money you will spend on advertising depend on several factors, being the most important one: what will be your expected ROI.

I have extensive digital marketing experience working for travel sector at UK digital agency Join Universe. Do you own the travel services/products you will offer? or are you getting a commission on sales (i.e affiliate marketing)? If your income is based on affiliate commissions, you make want to think it twice before investing in any PPC scheme, as margins would be too tight - unless you are an expert (which seems you are not as this is a testing stage) you could get it terribly wrong.

If you feel your product is unique, and you have a competitive advantage in the market, you may want to invest in PR to get some stories in the mainstream media. You have a decent budget for that.

When it comes to online marketing and SEO, I would recommend you place creative content contracting sponsored articles on influential blogs. Those would be affordable yet important links for building your reputation, and may boost your social presence. Should this practise be of your interest I can provide you with authority travel blogs/bloggers' contacts.

Finally, impossible to dismiss social media presence. Make the most of it! you should also have a blog as part of your website where you publish your news, and integrate that blog with your social channels for further exposure.

Good luck!