The New Age of Website Marketing

Until 2007, did you really need to know how to market a website? The answer is yes and no. However, many successful internet marketers made good money without any marketing talent. On the other hand, those internet marketers who incorporated a strong marketing campaign are probably still reaping the benefits of their past efforts.

Why Link Exchanges Have Become Extinct?

Back in 2005, on a daily basis, I used to have an e-mail box full of link exchange requests. A link exchange occurs when two internet marketers decide to link to each other’s website. Back then, internet marketers by the millions exchanged links to get backlinks to their web domains. Also during that time period, a link exchange with another website was the easiest way to increase your website’s ranking on Google and on other search engines.

Towards the end of 2006, Google started to reduce the value of link exchanges. The decrease in value of link exchanges hurt the traffic of many websites including this one. However, many internet marketers continued to send numerous link exchange requests until the end of 2007. By 2008, most internet marketers realized that the link exchange business was dead. Unfortunately, I still get 5 or more link exchange requests per day.

How to Market a Website in 2009?

Now, it is tougher to make money online. But, I did not say it was impossible. You must be dedicated to marketing. Using social networks such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook can expose your website business to thousands of online visitors. In addition, you must find websites with enormous traffic to market your website properties. However, you will need to market your website on closely related websites (i.e. credit card website markets on a mortgage website); otherwise, you may not generate enough sales from your marketing investment.

Some internet marketers prefer to use Google Ads or Yahoo to advertise their web properties. Each of the search engines delivers a pay-per-click marketing model. You pay Google or Yahoo a fee when individuals click on your website’s advertisement. Remember, you pick the keywords that Google or Yahoo will advertise your website on. You may choose to bid higher than your competitors on certain keywords to drive more traffic to your website.

In recent years, some internet marketers pay more attention to their articles’ content. These internet marketers write articles for online visitors and not for search engines. Instead of writing useless webpages, these online marketers seek to provide valuable information to the online community. Eventually, the hard work of these internet marketers will pay off, for highly ranked websites are more inclined to mention a quality website in an article than to mention a website with no real content.

Analysis

Today, internet marketers cannot depend on link exchanges. To be successful, you must have a well-defined marketing strategy. The use of social networks, pay-per-click advertising and articles can increase your website traffic. Do not overlook the value of Twitter and Facebook. If you can afford a pay-per-click campaign, first do you research and then decide where to advertise and which keywords to advertise. Strive to write an article a day; it will help pay for your monthly domain charges!