The 3 Best Methods for Exposure

[eventdomain]

Many people struggle to even work out the best forms of exposure, so here is my run down on the best methods to incorporate.


1. Word of Mouth advertising

This is the best, mainly bcos it works off personal recommendations, and is basically a bunch of testimonials about your business. It cannot be beaten, if the masses put the word out about you.......



2. Public Relations

Ahhh, I've used this quite a lot recently, and its probably the best method for getting credibility for what you do. This can also generate significant coverage for businesses, once the media starts writing about you - but you'll need a very strong newsworthy idea as a sales plug, for it to have maximum effect.


3. Paid Text links

The good ole text link, where would we be without them? I can tell you nowhere..... the web is full of them, exists because of them and you'll need a ton of them to stand out effectively.

But the advantages are clear:

1. they can be targeted perfectly

2. they can have longevity eg: upto 12 months contract

3. the search engines follow them and index them

4. people click on them - en-mass

5. can get picked up and written about on various website types

6. are permanent fixtures, having an advantage over the cost of most PPC campaigns. Eg: 1 single link on a highly visited site £200 vs monthly PPC spend of £50 x 12 months = £600 - its no contest, website links beat PPC any day of the week.

 

[Dave Thomas]

All exposure is good exposure but to say one beats the other??? Surely if PPC is not working in one area then turn it off and turn attention to other areas...?? PPC is a Vital part of my clients businesses and as are links....how can one be better than another......what about targetting the right audiences, relevence and complete transparency?

 

[Dave Thomas]

P.S do agree on PR and WOM....;-)

 

[eventdomain]

what about targetting the right audiences, relevence

That's easy to explain, traffic coming from a general resource like Google, is not relevant until the traffic filters out into segmented groups and actually hits targeted websites.

Plus the web is too big, and a huge amount of websites will get missed by traffic flowing right past their links. How many search results are there to choose from or wade through, and every single visitor will check every single website will they - I can't see it myself.

But, if the traffic is filtered by other websites - now things get interesting..... Problem is, there's only about 10 general search engines but millions of businesses....

1. Google

2. MSN/Bing

3. Yahoo

4. AOL

5. AltaVista

6. Lycos

7. Excite

8. AlltheWeb/Fast

9. Cuil

10 ??????


The rest are made up of niche engines of one kind or another. But even with all of those, its still a crazy effort to stand out.

 

[Dave Thomas]

still cant see one better than another sorry! sponsored links can be extreemly targeted, organic listings after time also can and links too but how do you target new users immediatley....

 

[directmarketingadvice]

That's easy to explain, traffic coming from a general resource like Google, is not relevant until the traffic filters out into segmented groups and actually hits targeted websites.

Surely that happens when someone searches on a keyword.

How many search results are there to choose from or wade through, and every single visitor will check every single website will they - I can't see it myself.

And?

But, if the traffic is filtered by other websites - now things get interesting..... Problem is, there's only about 10 general search engines but millions of businesses....

And?

I really don't get your argument.

Buying a link on a website is just buying a link on a website. It may be a bargain if the website owners don't know what the link is worth - or if no-one else wants it. Otherwise you're paying a fair price the way you pay a fair price for anything else.

Steve

 

[sjr4x4]

Disagree slightly with the PPC stuff.

PPC is normally used for a specific purpose, ie a goal conversion. So the traffic will be very highly refined and targeted, and conversion rate closely monitored. A tuned PPC campaign will return you dividends. If its been used to generate traffic, then thats money down the drain!

As Dave says, they both serve different purposes.

Agree with word of mouth, thats gold dust, but I would add organic traffic as the next one for exposure, best because it's free, you can control it by creating quality content, the obvious downside, it won't happen overnight (neither will word of mouth or PR), but once it happens, you have permanent exposure.

 

[omnivore]

Telephone
Television
or
Tell a woman

 

[eventdomain]

Buying a link on a website is just buying a link on a website. It may be a bargain if the website owners don't know what the link is worth.

They'll never get that bargain and its hilarious why so many waste time kidding themselves. The free weblink ride was over as soon as the search engines started charging crazy fees, followed by all other resource websites. These are NOT normal websites, they are resource sites, with major value, some obvious value, some hidden, and quite a few yet to reveal their power.

Like you said, many just dont know what a weblink is worth, and all this does it delay the inevitable of them being forced to pay at a later time.

In other words, you either pay or you ain't getting in. The search engines are so clever, they know exactly what their doing - give them a taste, and they'll want more, except more costs, and why shouldn't it, its not the general publics website is it..... it doesn't belong to the advertiser either, its private property and you are invited to a share of the value, out of generosity - but the engines get more advantage from the deal.

The engines could all retract the free SERPS, devalue everyones SEO, remove the links totally and many businesses would crash. Too many businesses totally rely on the web for their lives, actually I'd like to see an engine do that, I think the panic would be major.

I wouldn't get too comfortable with the free SERPS if I were you.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Sorry. I only agree on the first one. but by exposure do you mean getting your product or service seen. In which case my list in order is below

Advertising and branding (TV, internet, radio)
Word of mouth or referrals (radio, TV, friends, chat rooms, family, work mates)
Desire or Usage number 3. people see an item being used and they want is. ( Mr and Mrs Jones)

This is my top three.

I dont get text links being anywhere. PPC, social media, even banners would be my next step. not text links. They are for seo purposes mostly.

 

[clairewhite]

what aboout social media - the likes of You Tube, Twitter, Facebook and Linked in are all ways to get massive worldwide expose as NOT COST! social media is the future of marketing I have no doubt about it.

 

[bdw]

I wouldn't get too comfortable with the free SERPS if I were you.

I have been self employed in this business for nine years and people have been saying that since I started. The SEs will never retract the free SERPs. If they did they would be doomed because their results would be 100% commercial and that's nopt what people want.

Actually, while I would love to see Google retracting the free SERPS it is not going to happen. If it did the next Google is lurking round the corner waiting to take all their traffic. Then we would have a bit of competition.

 

[aidan1980]

All exposure is good exposure

I wouldnt agree totally with that mate, I was checking my back links one day and found one on the MoneySavingExpert forum. Great I thought, that should get me some visitors, seo weight etc but when I looked someone had asked about my bonuses for some cheeky scamp to absolutly slate them sayng he could get better etc costing me a customer and possibly a couple more aswell

 

[sjr4x4]

I wouldnt agree totally with that mate, I was checking my back links one day and found one on the MoneySavingExpert forum....

Ahh I came a cropper on MSE. Someone was singing our praises, triggered a google alert, so logged on and thanked the person who had praised us, then got banned for soliciting and being a naughty commercial bad man, and subsequently got flamed :redface:

We live and learn...

 

[eventdomain]

The SEs will never retract the free SERPs. If they did they would be doomed because their results would be 100% commercial and that's nopt what people want.

Maybe the major engines won't, but the verticals will. The niche ones are very important:

1. Collectively, they control a large part of the marketing on the web

2. They are far cheaper than Google


but this is interesting bcos Google has already devalued certain categories of website eg: directories (a major source of weblinks), it penalises, and regularly dumps sites into its sandbox so they dont get ranked.

All they need to do is take the devaluation to a higher level or cancel any ranking/position advantage. They don't need to totally remove the free serps at all - just stop any value from it.

 

[bdw]

The niche ones are very important

Not in my opinion. I coudn't care less about niche SEs. The send me virtually no traffic.

They don't need to totally remove the free serps at all - just stop any value from it.

It amounts to the same thing. If they penalise non paying sites they devalue their results and hence their service. A search engine must display the most relevant results or they are doomed to failure.

 

[eventdomain]

Not in my opinion. I coudn't care less about niche SEs. The send me virtually no traffic.

You're listing with the wrong websites and expecting too much from sites not built for the job of promoting businesses. You're not alone.

Lack of results means one thing - too many businesses advertise on the wrong publications. Its quite painful to watch actually.

A search engine must display the most relevant results or they are doomed to failure.

Exactly, which is why I typed in Hotel in London and got back 6 pages of Booking websites. NOT what I asked for at all.

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&rlz=...aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=985a397341488743

a few hotel groups, a ton of hotel booking sites and a few directories, but alas zero sole trader hotel owners websites. That was from Google which is supposed to return the most perfect results in the whole world.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

And do tell me how people find these miraculous verticals if not via search engines

E.D. you keep banging this broken old drum about verticals taking over the world, but fail to listen to anyone else' argument.

Whether you like it or not, google IS KING of commercial web traffic, the travel verticals etc are fine, but they would die a slow lingering death if google simply removed them from their SERP's. Or do you disagree with that?

Google will take on the verticals, and will beat most of them (although there are one or two that have now reached critical mass and I would say theat Google or Microsoft will try to buy them.

One thing though, you listed a load of search engines earlier on in this thread, 9 I believe, but most of them yahoo, altavista, all the eb etc are all yahoo, so why list them?

 

[bdw]

You're listing with the wrong websites and expecting too much from sites not built for the job of promoting businesses.

Oh, do you mean Google?

 

[clairewhite]

But surely building your brand in Social Media market has an effect on your business as a whole as people like to buy from someone that they recognise - and by targeting the social media groups you are target the most influential customer base - 18-24 year old trend setters/followers - just look at the 'old spice' advert and the publicity that has snowballed from it!!

 

[bdw]

you are target the most influential customer base - 18-24 year old trend setters/followers

Not all of us want to target this group.

.

 

[clairewhite]

Yes your right there, but once the trendsetters set the trend most other social groups will follow. Maybe I am biased because I was in that bracket a short time ago ;-) still a big fan of the whole social media frenzy but will take on board that to target a broader customer base some other methods need to be used in equal amounts - thanks BDW

 

[bdw]

I was in that group ... errrm ... 37 years ago.

 

[clairewhite]

actually made me 'lol' BDW

 

[eventdomain]

Oh, do you mean Google?

Nope, not what I was getting at. Google is merely a starting point for a search, the search isn't qualified yet, not until the correct website is identified, then chances are searchers end up on the wrong website anyway or a website that wont have enough information. Now you do this 10 times, and its gotta be a bad search experience.

However, you start at a vertical, already you're instantly on a website that delivers your needs exactly, plus, you don't get all that nastly, annoying junk to wade through.

I get most of my traffic from Google, but 67% of it is useless to me, and its bcos people make mistakes when searching and clicking weblinks, its so obvious what goes on.

Google sends a ton of untargeted prospects via the free SERPS, but if that's what people want...... Search has evolved and even with 10 billion searches a day on Google, there's vertical search engines earning millions a year, with millions of hungry searchers that are hugely loyal to these new age engines and they kick some serious ass!

And I'm not talking about just one or two here, na, there's at least 200 of the buggers out there, maybe more.

Search WILL get better, but the general engines won't be the instigators of innovation.

 

I get most of my traffic from Google, but 67% of it is useless to me, and its bcos people make mistakes when searching and clicking weblinks, its so obvious what goes on.

.

Much more likely that what you are offering does not tally with what they are searching for.

Earl

 

[eventdomain]

And do tell me how people find these miraculous verticals if not via search engines

hmmmm, the media is a very powerful thing....

E.D. you keep banging this broken old drum about verticals taking over the world, but fail to listen to anyone else' argument.

I dont need to, I just look at how many thousands of visitors I get each month. My users know what they like, so I'm going to listen to them first.

Whether you like it or not, google IS KING of commercial web traffic, the travel verticals etc are fine, but they would die a slow lingering death if google simply removed them from their SERP's. Or do you disagree with that?

Yes I do, very strongly. Google is powerful, but it won't take much for a big corporate to create a better, superior engine. Now, combine this with lower advert fees and suddenly everyone jumps ship. Money is a big factor. Just look at how much Bing has grown, TV adverts and everything.

Na, you're wrong, the niche sites can easily stand on their own feet, no worries on that score. I dont think the niche portals need Google as an advert revenue generator, perhaps to be found maybe, but not for cash bcos these verticals are very well know, even the lesser niche engines are getting a large following of 100 or 200k of repeat visitors a year.

Google will take on the verticals, and will beat most of them (although there are one or two that have now reached critical mass and I would say theat Google or Microsoft will try to buy them.

Its way more than one or two. Perhaps,the big guns will likely put in offers - but will companies like Reed, Haymarket etc sell? Reed already has a turnover of 5 billion... will they all sell up?, who knows, stranger things have happened. I know very young websites that sold very early on for a lot of money eg: £100k and some were the biggest load of crap I've ever seen.

FriendsReunited sold for some crazy amount - £25 mill to Brightsolid Limited. But its only a contact site, its not a proper search engine at all, so I doubt the value of it. Yet someone saw something in it...

I could take £10'000 right now, and in six months or less, build a competitor to one of the big companies. All I need then do is link it to my group of websites, make it innovative, add a freebie...... wide promotion is not a problem.

Most corporates can do the promotion thing, but its getting that branding, and without it they won't get full control of the market. But they only need 1% to make millions, so whats the point in wasting money when they can make millions from a small slice so to speak.

You just need that good idea, and some cash. Look at Youtube, its just a video site, but Google snapped it up, who would have thought it.....

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Well after reading that post, it has all become clear!

Lions and tigers and bears Oh my plus Effalumps and Woozles

 

I dont need to, I just look at how many thousands of visitors I get each month.

Was that a Typo .?

You do mean a day surely.?:|

Earl

 

[eventdomain]

Lions and tigers and bears Oh my plus Effalumps and Woozles

Na, more like a Predator actually.

Na, you're wrong, the niche sites can easily stand on their own feet, no worries on that score.

Sounds clear enough to me.

 

[bdw]

Google is merely a starting point for a search, the search isn't qualified yet, not until the correct website is identified, then chances are searchers end up on the wrong website anyway or a website that wont have enough information.

That is just plain wrong. Google delivers the most targeted traffic you can get. You understimate the power of people nowadays to use a search engine.

Why would any sane person seek out a niche search engine when they can use Google?

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I can see how verticals are relevant in a a few markets.

For example, if I were looking for Paris hotels, I'd want to search within a Paris hotels website. (Which I'd find by searching on Google.)

Similarly, if I were looking for a job, I might search on s1jobs (Scottish site).

And I suppose Amazon could be described as a "vertical".

But for most things, Google is pretty much the only game in town.

Steve

 

[eventdomain]

You understimate the power of people nowadays to use a search engine.

Why would any sane person seek out a niche search engine when they can use Google?

That's an informed comment, but not an expert one.

What shall, we start with perhaps, what about the almighty Reed, who happen to own 80 odd portals, search engines and directories, plus industry magazines. We can begin with http://www.kellysearch.com/ and http://www.kellysearch.co.uk/

they also own the following sites:

http://www.caterer.com/

http://www.totaljobs.com/

http://www.retailchoice.com/


there's Haymarket, as their a major player too:

http://www.blueboomerang.com/ 60,000 per month

http://www.managementtodayjobs.com/

http://www.ciprjobs.co.uk/ - visits 41,072

http://citmagazine.blueboomerang.com/

and the most suprising site from your point of view is:

http://www.caravansitefinder.co.uk/


Unique users: 1,000,000 - that's a figure you cannot argue with, nobody can argue about the power of the vertical.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

the most suprising site from your point of view is:

http://www.caravansitefinder.co.uk/

Unique users: 1,000,000 - that's a figure you cannot argue with

Really? I'll have a go...

Firstly, their forum has under 5,000 registered users, which is about 7% as big as this one.

The Alexa rank is 9,661 for the UK. By comparison UKBF is 294.

Lings Cars is 5,153. So, as a site, it's much less traffic than the search-engine-driven site Earl works with.

I suspect this 1,000,000 figure is pretty dodgy. I'd guess it's, at best, about 3% of that.

Steve

 

[eventdomain]

Sorry, but what the heck has a forum member count got to do with Reed's profits and success? When you do things like this - I don't think they will be losing sleep do you:


Publishing wing for sale in major Reed shake-up

The business information group that last year sold its Harcourt Education wing for £2.5bn said the moves would accelerate growth.

Apax joined with Guardian Media Group to buy Emap's business publishing arm for £1bn last December and the pair could return for the Reed operation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ing-wing-for-sale-in-major-Reed-shake-up.html


Now that's power. I don't understand how people can say that these vertical companies aren't powerful, and that they have no bearing or threat to the search marketplace. These aren't even search engines, more like portal sites and job directories - BUT they get millions and millions of searchers every day.

So people are obviously doing the talking with their mouses.

 

[bdw]

Unique users: 1,000,000 - that's a figure you cannot argue with, nobody can argue about the power of the vertical.

I echo what Steve is saying about this. There are lies, damned lies and statistics and there is no better group for twisting these than Internet people. Here's another stat from Comscore data. Google completes 3 billion searches per day!

I think that you are defeating your own argument by telling us about these directories. If they were that important we would all know about them. You would not have to tell us.

Having said that, I have no problem with directories. Some of the better known ones can deliver some traffic but your continuous elevation of their status is very misleading. I run several sites in different niches and I can tell you from my stats that if I lost all directory traffic today I would not lose any sleep over it. Compared to the volume that I receive from search engines it is infinitesimal.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Sorry, but what the heck has a forum member count got to do with Reed's profits and success?

You gave a list of sites and how many visitors they get a month. In particular, you highlighted one site as being particularly revealing.

I then presented an argument - based on facts - that suggests that that site doesn't get more than a fraction of the number you suggested.

That's "what the heck" it has to do with your post.

I'm actually quite surprised that I need to explain this... unless, of course, your claim that it's not relevant is just a way to avoid addressing the points I made...

Steve

 

[DayTrader]

Totally disagree on PPC and buying links:
1. PPC brings you targeted visitors and you set the limits on how much you can afford to spend. If you PPC traffic is not converting that you need to work on your sales page and maybe re-define your keywords.
2. Buying links is cheap??? Gimme a break. If you'd like to buy a link from a decent website you'll have to pay at least £50 a month and no guarantee of traffic as it will appear with other 10 or so links.

If you're just starting out, you should only concentrate on free link building when it comes to SEO, there're plenty of ways: social media, article marketing, blog commenting, directory submissions (not the best but will help), PR distribution, link exchange (especially 3 way exchange). Just make sure your links come from a variety of sources.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Ok And how do people find these verticals in the first place? MOST of them are found through search engines!

I am not disagreeing with you about the power of kellysearch for example, but most people who use it have found it from google.

SO lets step back a moment and think logicvally not emotionally.

I am looking for a local taxt company, so where do I go? Google of course.

I am looking for a cheap london Hotel, and I go to???? My favourites where I have bookmarked a couple of sites I found on ..... Google of course.

it really is simple people find the verticals through search.

Now I use verticals, but they account for less than 1% of my search volume.

 

[eventdomain]

I then presented an argument - based on facts - that suggests that that site doesn't get more than a fraction of the number you suggested.

I doubt they need to lie about such things, not when they make 5 billion a year. And you would have a hard time proving Europes largest publisher is wrong