Last Updated on Monday, 13 April 2009 09:01Written by a2eMonday, 13 April 2009 09:01
Seeing the wood for the trees or letting the dog see the rabbit it’s all the same thing when applied to web sites. Among the more important things that you must do is to build a brand. The more that people recognise your name the greater the chance that they will remember your site and so the more visitors you will have and the more sales that will follow because of that fact. So how do you go about doing that - building a brand for your online auction site?
I’m guessing here that paying large amounts of hard cash to a TV company for advertising is out the question?
All agreed on that then ? so how else will you get seen, you need to be creative and resourceful.
The one fact of life on the Internet is you get nout by doing nout. Much like a starving actor, to get work you need to get your face in front of as many face as possible and then hope your face is memorabilia and even more memorabilia if your (acting) skills are not up to scratch.
The best and often the worst actors were just showmen, just like a comedian often it’s not the jokes but the funny hat that makes them a living. So does your site need a funny hat ? no but it may need whats called an angle – something that makes i unique. Could be the name, in most case it might be just that but in others it could be the way the site looks or works or indeed the things it offers that other such sites don’t offer. One thing I will say here is don’t be tempted to jump right in with FREE because FREE is often over used. In my experience people, well the people worth knowing, have always been prepared to pay for something they want and pay a lot if it means they get something someone else hasn’t got. So use FREE at your own risk because it’s a one way street, it’s much easier getting people to pay for something then trying to get the same people to pay for something that was once FREE.
So what makes you online auction different from all the rest? Why would people be interested in your auction instead on another? leave free to go away now and think about that for a while, but be sure to come back when you have the answer. If you don’t have the answer make sure you popped into the manager for a loan before you come back because life for you is going to be difficult and could prove expensive.
Once you have got an idea you need then a plan to get it out there. This should be based on your budget and a time scale. Whatever timescale you use split that up into ten equal parts and insert the phase “check if it’s working and if not reassess the plan”. In your plan you should include online and offline publications that you might want to be included in. For example if your auction sells only toys or modals you might have on your list Toys Monthly etc. Once you have a decent list to start with prepare a introduction in the form of an article that includes your unique aspects. This will be used for press releases and reference for adverts and any viral marketing you may do via forums etc. Don’t be too concerned if a lot of the publications are not interested, remember at the very least you may have planted a seed in the mind of a decision maker and so next time you contact them the time might be right or you might have more to say. You aim is to get your brand out there, remember the comedian, they might not recall the jokes but they will remember the funny hat next they see it. It’s a case of timing, the timing has to be right for both them and you and with luck it will be but might take a while, keep at it, nout for doing nout.
Another way to get your brand out is writing columns or features for magazines and submitting them. If you are good at writing and what you have to say it interesting then there is a chance publications will be interested and publish you. You can also offer yourself up as an expert for free at first. You might find that this service will come in very useful for a number of publications and this will generate a large amount of exposure for you.
So you are working on getting your online auction seen in the press but there are also other ways in which you can get yourself known. Odds are you already use forums that are filled with potential clients or buffers. Buffers are people who you can bounce ideas off but your not interested in what they have to say to you, no, these are people who like to talk, people you know that will pass on most things that happen in their life to their “friends” on Facebook or Twitter. It’s a good idea to look at the Forums that are related to your auction or brand. You should always look for the ones that are the biggest and most popular at first. You should then get involved in the discussions, helping out as many people as you can. If you are seen as a valuable member you will quickly find that people are interested in you and what you do. This can get you a lot of natural links to your website but also be careful not to collect unrelated links and never give away space on your auction site to unrelated links. This will only damage your standing in most search engines.
Try the best you can to pick up genuine one way links from people that think you actually have something worthwhile. This will really help your search engine optimisation which should always be one of your aims. Being high up in the search engines is all part of building a brand and driving traffic to your site. You can supplement this with an ad campaign but you can save a lot on that budget by getting you SEO right. One good trick a hell of a lot of sites still miss in using an effective TITLE tags on pages of their site. For example if you want local traffic make sure you include your local area address in your homepage TITLE tag. Same is true for your categories, if you have a category called Flowers then that should be in your TITLE tag. So many site just have the site name in all the pages and it kills them.
Anyway back to your branding and the are lots of other things you can do to get your brand out there. Giveaways in the form of fluffy toys or T-shirts, these can also be sold if the budget is tight but wear yours when ever you can to push out your brand. Drop business cards into high traffic areas, the are even thing like leaflet drops but that tends to be really local unless your customer profile include people who hold conferences and conventions. I once did a convention, I didn’t have a ticket, couldn’t afford one and anyway they wouldn’t let me just walk around giving out leaflets. The answer was to go to the building and find an excuse to get in, use the Mens Room and place some cards in there and on all the tables and mirrors on the way there and back. You would be surprised where your leads come from, only last week I got an email from a man in Spain who had picked up my card in a bar. My daughter had been to Spain the week before ;-) yes friends and family are to be used as much as possible, squeeze them till they squeak :-)
I’m guessing here that paying large amounts of hard cash to a TV company for advertising is out the question?
not reassess the plan”. In your plan you should include online and offline publications that you might want to be included in. For example if your auction sells only toys or modals you might have on your list Toys Monthly etc. Once you have a decent list to start with prepare a introduction in the form of an article that includes your unique aspects. This will be used for press releases and reference for adverts and any viral marketing you may do via forums etc. Don’t be too concerned if a lot of the publications are not interested, remember at the very least you may have planted a seed in the mind of a decision maker and so next time you contact them the time might be right or you might have more to say. You aim is to get your brand out there, remember the comedian, they might not recall the jokes but they will remember the funny hat next they see it. It’s a case of timing, the timing has to be right for both them and you and with luck it will be but might take a while, keep at it, nout for doing nout.
