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Subject:RE: How to promote a Web site? (Long) From:"Darren Barefoot" <darren -at- capulet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 29 Mar 2004 11:08:58 -0800
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce-techwr-l-149771 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-149771 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com] On Behalf
> Of Steve Schwarzman
>
> It seems to me that the marketing raison-d'etre of a site for
> a solo professional is not to gather in cold leads, but to
> take warm leads and convert them into sales. Put your URL on
> your cards, your resumes, your e-mails, etc. so that when
> people say, "Hmm, maybe this is the writer for me?" they are
> warmly invited to get to know your work better (specialties,
> experience, samples, location, etc.) at your site. Make those
> cold calls to companies in your area that you want to sell
> to, and give them your URL so they can check you out.
>
> For this, you don't need premium placement, nor do you need
> any kind of high ranking on general search terms. Devoting
> money and even time to chasing the search engines just isn't
> the way to promote a tech writing business. Mass marketing is
> generally for products, not services, unless you have a
> national service business (like an auto body repair chain).
>
What do you mean by "mass marketing"? Many local autobody repair shop
run ads in the newspaper and on TV and radio. In Vancouver, a single
shop might be advertising to several hundred thousand potential users of
their service. Is this mass marketing to you?
Regardless, part of the value of SEO and programs like Google AdWords is
that they can be as broadly or narrowly target as you want. Let's say
that I'm a technical writer in Radar O'Reilly's hometown of Ottumwa, IA.
I buy the Google AdWords key phrase of "ottumwa technical writer" and
I'm made in the shade. That's not mass marketing--the target market is
small and very specific.
Furthermore, if I'm searching for "ottumwa technical writer" and I click
on your link or ad, odds are that I'm not just any old 'cold lead'. I'm
looking to hire a technical writer in Ottumwa, and guess what? The site
I've gotten to provides me with that possibility. After all, every
contract or employer begins as a cold lead, don't they? Can we really
afford to ignore the increasing percentage of possible clients who are
searching the Web for your services? If somebody is that employable,
then they shouldn't waste their time with a Web site at all. DB.
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