Marketing Prep-Work
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This is part 4 of 10 in the Niche Network Marketing with LAMP series.
This is going to be the shortest section of the series, but don’t assume that makes it any less valuable or important. In fact, by many accounts this is going to be some of the most beneficial information you’ll get from the Niche Network Marketing with LAMP postings because what you learn and do from here directly impacts how much targeted traffic you’ll be able to generate across your niche network later on, and lets face it–that can make or break your entire effort.
The first thing you need to do is select some platform or software for stats tracking and traffic analysis that you can use on all of your niche network sites and pages.
It should be noted that some publishing platforms you’ll be using eventually won’t permit any sort of tracking codes from 3rd party sources, and in those cases you’ll have to settle for whatever statistics they offer you. But for your web sites and the external resources that you can add tracking codes to you’ll want something that is reliable and provides good information for you.
There are 2 such resources that I use. First is Google Analytics, and the second is AddFreeStats. Both have their pros and cons, but offer quality information about your site and visitors so I’ll leave it to you to review them each and select the one you prefer–or even use both as I do to get the most data possible about your traffic.
The next thing you’re going to want to do is become familiar with Google Alerts. Google offers a great service that lets you know by email, in real time, when a URL or keyword phrase has been found by Google’s bots.
As you build your sites this will give you great information about how quickly Google is finding your pages, and you can also use them to see what others are doing with a specific phrase too. It’s easy to use and the wealth of information you can get about your own sites and competitor’s makes it a must. Think of these alerts like having an insider at Google who is willing to act as an adviser and research assistant on your behalf.
Next, join at least 6 social networking/bookmarking web sites. If you already have accounts with 2, join at least 4 more–just get involved in no less than 6.
Popular ones are StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Faves, Reddit and Propeller. There are a lot more though, and in fact many smaller niche based networks are springing up all the time and you shouldn’t overlook those if they’re related to your niche market.
Once you’ve joined at least 6, become active in each of them! I can’t stress this enough, you aren’t going to use these to promote your web sites and pages with any positive effects unless you’re a participating member of each community.
It’s not hard nor very time consuming to participate and contribute in each one on a daily basis, even if it’s just five minutes per day each, this small time investment will determine your social marketing success or failure down the road for your niche network.
If you don’t contribute to the communities on a regular basis, then just try posting your own links later on I guarantee you they won’t help. They (and you) will be viewed as spammy among the community members then become buried and lost in cyber-space. It’s that simple. You must build a reputation (and hopefully some friendly relationships) in each community now to gain any benefit from them later for your niche network.
That’s it for part 4. Like I said, it’s short but I assure you that by following the directions here, and especially by becoming an active participant in those social networks you join, you’re laying the groundwork that will enable you to guide massive amounts of quality traffic into and around your network later on.
Part 5 of the series should be available in a day or two so please check back, or better yet subscribe to my RSS newsfeed and be sure to get it as soon as it gets published.
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2 Responses to “Marketing Prep-Work”
By Lauren on Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Do you ever feel slimey from abusing social networks for your advertising schemes?
I admit that I don\’t know you or what you advertise and sell, but I hate it when people try to push their garbage at me through communities as if they\’re my friend making a suggestion.
By Scott Bannon on Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Lauren, I understand what you’re saying, but have to dispute the claim that I abuse social networks.
Every single one that I belong to I view as a community that I’m part of, and I participate in each as a non-marketer most of the time.
When I do link to or suggest a page across one of the communities as part of a marketing effort, that page is always topical, relevant and beneficial to others despite the revenue generating portion. In other words, if the advertisement or affiliate links contained in the page didn’t exist, the page would still be of interest and value.
Yes, I could publish those pages then without any revenue generating links or ads included, however I believe people’s time and knowledge have value, and that they’re entitled to provide methods to be compensated for their efforts so long as they are optional to readers.
I also believe that when care is taken to provide related and useful advertising it’s actually an added value to the readers as well. More than once I’ve had someone comment or contact me from something I published to say “thanks” for pointing them to a tool or service they didn’t know of, because it helped them. I made money from their purchase, but they thanked me for it because I took the time and care to promote something relevant and useful on my page.
If you read through my blog postings here you’ll find that I never use or suggest sales tactics that are misleading or exaggerated. I also work very hard to create informative and useful content for my pages–and view the marketing or revenue generating opportunities on them as a secondary element.
To quote myself from one of the most read posts on this blog:
From A to Z - the 7 steps of building profitable web sites
Again, while I understand where your comment is coming from and agree that some people out there may be abusing or trying to game social network traffic, I don’t believe that anything I’ve ever done–or suggested to others–could honestly be defined that way.
And since I only promote products or services that I use and believe are reputable and valuable, I’ve never felt slimy about making a recommendation for them to anyone.