How Not to Promote Your Web Site-1999-04-13-Web scams, flimflams, and spams to avoid, and some wise steps to take-Charlie Morris

As everyone knows by now, cyberspace is lousy with shady business deals. MLMs, GRQs (get-rich-quick), chain letters, pyramid schemes, and pigeon drops are promoted by digital snake oil salesmen, flimflammers, charlatans, and mountebanks. A large percentage of these guys are targeting you, the Webmaster or Web publisher. Some want your money, while others only want to waste your time. If you're trying to promote your company's Web site or drive traffic to your commerce site, you can't afford to waste either. Although the whole story of the many ways you can get ripped off in cyberspace could fill a bookshelf, I'll just take a brief look here at some of the biggest Web marketing and promotion pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Everybody wants to promote their Web site, but no one wants to spend much money doing it. Dispensing advice to Webmasters who want to increase their traffic is big business these days and is one area rife with bad advice, questionable deals, and plain old rip-offs. Of course, it's vital to promote your site, and there are a lot of legitimate resources that can help. How do you separate the valuable from the vapid? Read on.

Bogus Site Promotion Services

Submitting your site to the major search engines is critically important and is more complicated than you might think. In fact, several newsletters (such as Search Engine Watch at www.searchenginewatch.com) are devoted to the arcane science of getting high rankings in search engine results. As with most things Internet, making a successful submission requires time, and there are 10 million cats out there willing to save you the hassle--for a fee. Some are good, some are incompetent, and some are simply scamsters.

"We'll submit your site to 400 search engines for $19.95!!" Why is that a bad deal? For starters, there aren't 400, or even 200, search engines that are worth submitting to. The top six search engines get 95 percent of the hits. Your time is much better spent figuring out how to maximize your results in the important search engines and in specialized directories. The sharpies aren't going to do that for $19.95. In fact, all they're going to do is to plug your URL into an automated program that submits it to a bevy of search engines with the click of a button. However, search engine submissions do not always take on the first attempt, and some engines deliberately exclude automated submissions. So your $19.95 is gone, and your site may have gotten into only three or four worthwhile directories, something you could have accomplished yourself in about 15 minutes.

That's not to say that all autosubmission services are bad. Submit It (www.submitit.com), Add-it (www.liquidimaging.com/submit/), and my new favorite, the shareware registration service SelfPromotion.com (www.selfpromotion.com) are all reputable setups that work well if you use them properly and don't incur the wrath of any search engines. These three are basically do-it-yourself solutions that let you enter all your information one time in one place and then keep track of the successful submissions.

Some businesspeople with less Web expertise or time may turn to a consultant to do their submitting. Yours truly offers such services (for $300 a pop). Larger price tags reflect the level of service delivered. However your site is submitted, make sure the following steps are taken.

Good marketing begins with site design. Keywords should appear often in body text, headings, page titles, and even file names. Don't go overboard--keep headings and titles readable and sensible. Pages should also include metatags that include appropriate keywords describing your site. Here's an example.

Put the most important keywords last, and don't repeat any word more than two times.

There are probably some pages--templates, experimental sections, and so on--that you don't want search engine spiders to index. Include a file called Robots.txt in the root directory of your Web site with a list of files or directories that shouldn't be indexed. It's annoying to go to a search engine and find out that your home page doesn't show up, but a bunch of out-of-context pages four levels down do. For example, Robots.txt might include: User-agent: * Disallow: /test Disallow: /temporary Disallow: /templates

A Robots.txt file can refer to specific directories or individual files. In the above example, User-agent is followed by the wild card *, which excludes all spiders from the three directories listed. You can also exclude specific spiders on this line, but you must know the name of the spider itself (not the search engine). For example, Excite's spider is called ArchitextSpider, AltaVista's is Scooter, Infoseek's is called Infoseek Sidewinder, and Lycos' is Lycos_Spider_.

Never submit your site until it's ready for visitors. "Under construction" signs are silly. Once the site has been thoroughly tested and proofread, submit it to the top 40 or so general search engines and directories. (An excellent list of the top 100 search engines and directories has been compiled by Multimedia Marketing Group at www.mmgco.com/top100.html.) Every search engine and online directory has a page where you enter your site's title, URL, description, and other information. A good autosubmitter like the ones mentioned earlier can save you time, because you only have to enter most of the information once. However, you may want to submit to each site manually, since that way your entry can be more precise. If you take this route, create a document with all the pertinent information, so you can easily copy and paste it into the various search engine forms. Seek out specialty directories that fit your site's subject matter, such as specialized travel directories, directories of online shopping sites, and so on. Think global, market global. If your site features a language other than English or serves a market outside the United States, make sure you submit your site to foreign search engines and directories, too. The major American sites, such as InfoSeek, AltaVista, Lycos, Yahoo, and Excite, all have various international versions. The search engine companies lead you to believe that if you're listed on one site's engine, then you're listed on all of its foreign variants. It's better to be safe than sorry, though. If your site has an international angle, it's wise to submit directly at each appropriate foreign search engine. There are also several directories that only list sites from a particular region, so if your site is based outside of the United States, seek them out. Self Promotion.com has a huge list of these specialized and international indexes. Most search engines will send you an e-mail confirming that your site has been cataloged. No matter who is submitting your site, make sure these confirmation messages come to you. Not only does it help you keep tabs on your paid submitter, but some confirmation messages also contain passwords that you'll need to be able to modify your data later. Any submitter worth their salt goes back to the major search engines a month after submission and makes sure the site was added. While a professional submitter can't be expected to follow up more than once or twice, the wise Webmaster will do so periodically and will resubmit when necessary. There are various automated ways to see if your site is still listed. Self Promotion.com and Submit It both offer such services.

Be especially wary of submitters who claim to have some special sneaky trick that they use to guarantee you top placement in search engines. (One company boasts of a patented process that force-feeds pages to the search engines.) Search engine companies wage a constant battle with these characters, and they may refuse your submission if they think you're trying to influence rankings unfairly.

Small-Fry Search Engines

If only the top general search engines (and some specialty directories) get any hits, why are there so many search engines, directories, free ad sites, and links pages out there? Consider them money extractors and time wasters. So how do you recognize such dead-end sites that can soak up your cash and time without driving any traffic to your site?

In the early days of the Web, many people thought that a business Web site needed some gimmick to draw traffic, such as a Web search engine. Lots of ISPs, network companies, and other early Web pioneers set up search engines on their sites. Most abandoned them when they realized how much work they involved.

Some of the remaining small-fry search engines are scams of either the money wasting or time wasting variety. The first kind offers "free" listings, which are thinly veiled excuses to try to sell you a paid listing. Many classified ad sites fall into this category as well. To get your free classified ad or directory listing, you must fill out a lengthy form detailing everything from your Web surfing habits to what toothpaste you use. (The site owner no doubt has fantasies of someday selling this demographic data to some spam list broker.) Once that's done, your Web site will be added to a huge list of links right next to get-rich- quick scams, weight-loss schemes, and other cyberflotsam. Even if people did visit this site to search for something, they'd never find your link anyway, because it would be buried in a random list of sites. Of course, if you want to poke your head above the crowd, don't worry--you'll receive an e-mail every couple of weeks for the rest of your life asking if you wouldn't like to upgrade to a great big color listing at the top of the page for only $x9.95!

Other sites are what I call "impression mills." These sites naively believe that if they can just serve up lots of page impressions, they're bound to get rich. They offer all kinds of arcane link swaps, revenue-sharing deals, banner exchanges, search engines, and awards--anything that convinces you to put a link on their site. You'll see every page of their site covered with Link Exchange, Amazon, and Cyberian banners, plus any other deals they could cook up.

Not that all link swaps and banner exchanges are bad--au contraire. The Internet Link Exchange (www.linkexchange.com) is the best-known banner exchange service, and it's a reputable and well-run outfit. The company's e-mail newsletter is also a good resource for members and nonmembers alike, with news about site promotion from around the Web, in addition to useful tips. The Hyper Banner network (www.hyperbanner.com) is a similar deal, except that it lets you target a specific site category, such as its music network, travel network, and so on.

The buying and selling of ads is another area replete with rip-offs--a subject worthy of another article. For now, check the sidebar "Mark Welch's Eight Warnings About Web Site Banner Advertising" on page 25 and Adbility's Web Publishers' Advertising site at www.Adbility.com/WPAG. This site, also by Welch, is a complete guide to all things relating to Web advertising and banner exchange programs.

To Link or Not to Link?

Exchanging links with other related sites is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your site but is only worth doing with sites that have a logical connection to yours. Human nature being what it is, the name of the game for some is getting as many links as possible to their site and squirreling the reciprocal links away on a links page that no one ever sees. It would be far more useful to have a short page of carefully selected links of keen interest to your customers. For example, a company selling cookware might have links to cookbook and epicurean sites. Another common approach is to link to sites that have favorably reviewed your products. In fact, in the crazy world o' the Web, many sites even have links to their competitors. Others shun off-site links altogether, reasoning that they induce people to leave the site and therefore reduce page impressions. I recommend a balance--it's up to you to decide whether a particular link is good or bad for your site. Of course, if you can talk other sites into giving you a link without promising to reciprocate, then good for you.

The Wages of Spam

Half the spam I get is from vendors of bulk e-mail software, offering to set me up as a spammer. Golly, if you can send an ad to 5 million addresses for $19.95, how can you lose? Well, you lose your $19.95, and you're set up to lose your ISP, half your customers, and your soul to boot!

Have you ever tried to send e-mail to 5 million people at a time? Even if your mail server could handle it, it would take hours to send out the messages. Of course, long before then, your ISP would shut you down and even cancel your account if you were unrepentant. Real spammers use roundabout ways of sending mail, forging IP addresses, and worse, so they're hard to trace and manage to stay one step ahead of the antispam patrol.

Let's say you do get out your 5 million messages. About 4 million will be sent to bad addresses, so expect to receive 4 million bounce backs. Now sort out the positive responses (there must be a few) from the bounced messages and the indignant "Take me off your list!" flames. Is this still a cost-effective marketing tool? It isn't really, especially when you consider the risks involved. If you're branded a spammer, you can be barred from sending mail to AOL, MindSpring, and other major ISPs. Sellers of bulk e-mail software cry, "Bulk e-mail works!" but it's bad news for anyone trying to build a business on the Internet. Don't be tempted.

Just because spam is evil doesn't mean that e-mail can't be a valuable marketing tool. There are several legitimate ways to use e-mail to promote your site. First, try a little "sigvertising." Set your e-mail program so that your name, e-mail address, Web address, and a short promo are automatically tacked onto the end of every message you send. You can also do this when posting to newsgroups or mailing lists. Sig vertising is considered acceptable as long as you follow proper netiquette--keep your blurb to one or two lines at the most, and never post to a list unless you have something worthwhile to add to the conversation.

Mailing lists are an even better way to promote your Web site. There are thousands of mail lists catering to every subject under the sun, and many are good, cheap ways to place ads. Mailing list ads (which are text-only) usually go for much less than banner ads on a Web site, and they often reach much more tightly targeted groups. Be selective and steer clear of lists that cater to the get-rich-quick and chain-letter crowd. Two good lists of mailing lists are Liszt (www.liszt.com) and Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists (www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/).

Participating in a mailing list can be a great way to spread the word about your site, and it costs you nothing but time. Always monitor a list for some time before posting anything, and make sure you understand the list's attitude towards commercial messages.

Newsgroups and lists run the gamut in their policies. Some allow you to post pretty much anything related to their topic, including press releases, while others prohibit any kind of advertising or marketing and will flame your pants off at the first hint of commercialism. Most lists are somewhere in between and will allow you to tout your site, as long as you're offering some useful information and not just spewing marketing hype.

Setting up your own mailing list can be an even more powerful marketing tool. You can encourage repeat business by sending customers news about new products, special offers, and more. Moderating your own mailing list will also expose you to what's going on in the market and give you a much clearer idea of what customers are thinking about. You can have an announcement list, which means you can send mail only to people on the list, or you could try a discussion list, which means that anyone on the list can send mail to the whole list. The two most popular programs for setting up lists are Listserv and Major domo. Both are free, but they're pretty complex to set up and use, and they'll require a moderate amount of geeky expertise.

Like the site promotion scene, the world of e-mail newsletters is rife with shady characters. Some will offer to sell or rent opt-in lists, which are supposedly fat lists of people who have opted to receive spam. What kind of people sign up for these junk lists? These "soft" spam lists will probably net you fewer flames than regular spam but not many more customers.

A Better Bottom Line

You want to promote your site, but you don't want to waste money and time on snake oil. The bottom line is not to be too trusting. Educate yourself about the promotion methods, products, and services that are reputable and can deliver documented results. Alas, even the process of learning about Web site promotion can be an expensive lesson for the unwary Web business person. An acquaintance of mine recently paid $19.95 to download an "incredible" Web site promotion tool, which turned out to be a list of search engine URLs. Useful information indeed, but it's free on several Web sites. Think twice before you leap for that great Web promotion deal--chances are you can do better yourself.

Charlie Morris is the managing editor of The Web Developer's Journal. He also does freelance Internet consulting work.

Mark Welch's Eight Warnings About Web Site Banner Advertising

Warning #1: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Several companies I've dealt with have defaulted on payment promises, while others have "changed their rules" with little notice. (One imposed new rules retroactively as a way of refusing to pay sites running its banner ads.)

Warning #2: Beware of strangers. Don't do business with a company that won't tell you its street address, telephone number, and the names of its principals. Check if the information you get matches the information in the company's domain name registration. (Go to the Network Solutions site at www.networksolutions.com and enter the site's URL in the box at the top of the page.) Consider carefully if you should do business with a company that's located in another country or even another state or city.

Warning #3: Carefully read and print out any Web site pages describing payment rules and policies. Some companies change their rules or don't define their policies clearly. Don't sign or otherwise accept a contract that includes unacceptable terms. If a vendor tells you the contract doesn't mean what it says, don't sign the contract until it's properly amended. Consult with an attorney when in doubt.

Warning #4: Make sure that key terms are defined. What is an "impression" or "click-through"? Many vendors count only one page request per day from a unique IP address. At least one vendor won't count a click-through unless there is subsequent activity at the advertiser's Web site. Also note that in the advertising business, CPM means cost per thousand. Thus, a rate of $10 CPM is $10 per 1,000 impressions or 1 cent per impression.

Warning #5: Don't count on payment. The entire advertising industry is famous for paying late or not at all. Don't put yourself in a position where you can't pay your Web hosting fees (or your Visa bill, or your rent) until your royalty check arrives (if it arrives).

Warning #6: Boycott spammers. Some of the companies listed on my Web site have tried to promote their networks by broadcasting unsolicited commercial e-mail. If you reward spammers by doing business with them, you will guarantee an ever-increasing flood of spam. Don't do business with companies that send junk e-mail, and tell them why!

Warning #7: Don't believe everything you read. I have not reviewed most of these programs listed on my site in any real depth. Don't rely exclusively on my comments. Ask other participants in each ad network or exchange for feedback.

Warning #8: Beware of Web page pirates who copy successful Web pages and then attempt to sign up with ad networks and exchange programs to unfairly profit from their copyright infringement. My own site has been copied five times in the past few months, and each time I have had to spend time, effort, and money to get the pirate or ISP to close down the offending Web site. Don't do business with Web pirates!

Mark Welch used to work as an attorney practicing estate planning, trust, and probate law. Currently he works as a consultant to electronic commerce vendors. He created the Adbility.Com site (www.Adbility.com/WPAG) in 1996 and can be reached at MarkWelch@adbility.com.

Promotion Resources

There are thousands of Web sites and mailing lists devoted to Web site promotion, but only a handful are worth your time. Here are some of the better ones.

Refer-It -- www.refer-it.com

This is a listing of the various banner exchange programs, where you carry a banner (or other link) on your site for a merchant, who pays you as he or she gets business from the banner. You can find similar revenue sharing programs at Associate Programs (www.associateprograms.com) and Commission Junction (www.commission-junction.com).

SelfPromotion.com -- www.selfpromotion.com

This autosubmission service works on a shareware principle. You'll find lots of good submitting tips here, too.

Submit It -- www.submitit.com

Submit It is the elder statesman of autosubmission services.

Web Marketing Today -- www.wilsonweb.com

Here you'll find lots of solid marketing advice with an e-commerce bent, plus access to all sorts of articles on marketing, promotion, and related topics.

WebPromote -- www.webpromote.com

This company sells software as well as submission services. Its e-mail newsletter WebPromote Weekly is free. --CM