FEATURE
Promoting Your Environmental Web Site For just a modest investment of time and money, opportunities abound to increase site visibility on the Internet. JOE
lthough "Web Fever" has every science and technology organization examining its commitment to cyberspace, Internet marketing consultants warn that without proper marketing and promotion, Web sites can quickly become cyberelephants. "The now cliche Web maxim 'If you build it, they will come' has lulled many online marketers into a false sense of opportunity. The truth is that Web site traffic building has its own set of public relations needs and requires its own system of aggressive, attention-getting tactics," says Charles Sayers, an Internet marketing consultant based in Acworth, Ga. Specifically, Sayers says science and technology organizations looking to maximize the Web's potential should first attempt to determine how many of their customers or clients are actually online—and how easily they can reach this market. "Don't rationalize the number. Don't inflate your projections," Sayers says. "Be conservative. And determine whether it's a number you can live with." Obviously, Sayers says, it makes no sense to invest resources in a Web page if only a minute percentage of your potential customer base actually has an Internet connection. Should you decide to make the plunge, Internet consultants advise you to take advantage of as many of the following Web site marketing and promotion strategies as possible.
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Use the pros Consider a Professional Search Engine Listing Firm: Seasoned Web users turn to search engines like Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) and Excite (www.excite.com) to 4 2 2 A • OCTOBER 1, 1999 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
DYSART
help them find specific information on the Net quickly. Essentially, they simply type in a subject area, and the search engine brings back links that they can click on for further information. Given the great power that these search engines have to steer thousands of Net cruisers to specific sites, it should come as no surprise that a number of Web-sawy firms have cropped up to help firms be among the first links that the search engines return to information seekers. The Web Hitman (www.webthemes.com) is one of those firms. For a modest fee, the firm will guarantee that any site it lists will appear in the top 10 links from one of the Net's "Big 8" search engines: Yahoo!, Excite, AltaVista, WebCrawler, HotBot, Now!, Northern Light Search, and PlanetSearch. R. E. Davis Chemical Company (www.redavis. com) is apparently no stranger to this listing strategy. When the keyword "chromatography" was entered into LocalEyes (www.LocalEyes.com), a popular business locator search engine, its site was the first link to be listed. That kind of visibility does not happen accidentally. Another winner in the listing wars on LocalEyes was WEB Research Company Mossbauer Spectroscopy (www.webres.com). Its site was first up when the keyword "spectroscopy" was entered into the search engine. Of course, top billing on one major search engine does not necessarily guarantee similar performance on another. At Excite, for example, another popular search engine, Houston Chromatography & Supply Company (www.houston-chromatography. com) was returned first when the keyword "chromatography" was entered. And the U.S. Geological © 1999 American Chemical Society
Survey Spectroscopy Lab (http://speclab.cr.usgs. gov) was the first industry-related site to be returned when "spectroscopy" was entered (see screen image on this page, top left). Linking and listing List Your Site With Hundreds of Search Engines for Free: Those who would rather not tay out hard cash just yet can still get their site listed in hundreds of search engines by visiting Virtual Promote (http:// jimworld.com/the500/), an absolutely terrific Web site devoted to the art of Web site promotion. You will find links to nearly 500 sites offering links to thousands of search engines. Included among the links are Al's Directory of 670 Free Sites for do-it-yourself promoters and 101—An Internet Promotion Service, which features a list of approximately 100 search engines to list your site.
Another option is to use a software program like Web Site Traffic Builder, by Draper, Utah-based Intelliquis (www.intelliquis.com) to simultaneously list your site with hundreds of Net search engines. Traffic Builder automatically registers more than 600 Internet search engines and will put your business in the appropriate category for each search engine. You can check your site's position on the Net's eight most popular search engines. Stay Abreast of Mega Search Engine Listing Services: Not turprisingly, mis distinctton changes nearly as often as the Net. Currently, one of the more popular listing services is "2001+ Free LINKS to Submit Your URL and Info Free" (http://web.idirect.com/ —tormall/links.html). A URL is another term for your Web site address. Create "Hook Pages": Many y site has drawn in Net cruisers by creating informational pages that in OCTOBER 1, 1999/ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 4 2 3 A
turn offer links to a commercial site, according to Craig Settles, a senior strategist for Successful Marketing Strategists, based in Berkeley, Calif., and author of Cybermarketing: Essentials for Success, published by Ziff-Davis. Glactone, a research product funded by the University System of Georgia (www.peachnet.edu), for example, has created an Internet hook page on "What Is Molecular Modeling?"—which includes a link back to Glactone's home page. And Eric. W. Weisstein, an author of online encyclopedias of math and science, has a hook page on Friedrich Wohler (see screen image on previous page, top right), originator of the first organic synthesis. Popular search engines steer Net cruisers to the D9.26
tablish a virtual press center on a site. Increasingly, journalists are turning to the Internet and the Web to search for stories and develop new ideas, and there is no reason why any company with a Web site should pass up an opportunity for free media exposure, says Settles. Examples of effectively leveraged press centers online include PE Corporation (www.pecorporation.com) and Matheson Gas Products (www.mathesongas.com). Start a Newsletter: Newsletters are an effective way to establish an ongoing relationship with current and prospective customers. A good industry model can be found at GBC Scientific Equipment (www.gbcsci.com), which features Synopsis, a newsletter that can be downloaded or received as hard copy via the mail (see screen image on previous page, bottom right). Concludes Sayers, "Combining these tactics with a relentless persistence to build your site's traffic will virtually guarantee that within a few short weeks, your access counters [a software tool used to measure visits to a Web site] will start spinning like the gallon indicator on a 1950s gas pump." Editor's Note: The Web sites menttoned in this article and information pertaining to these Web sites were correct as described at the time that this article went to press.
when they enter the key phrase "organic synthesis." After learning about Wohler, they can click on a link to Weisstein's home page (www.treasuretroves.com), which advertises the author's works. Link 'Til You Drop: Probably the easiest, least expensive, and most effective way to promote a site is to link your page with every other noncompetitive page on the Internet that shares the same interest. Brinkmann Instruments (www.brinkmann.com), for example, sports links to a variety of laboratory product and instrumentation suppliers (see screen image on previous page, bottom left). Says Settles, "Link until you drop." Being informative Establish a Virtual Press Center: Probably one of ofe Joe Dysart is an Internet businessconsultantbased in most overlooked opportunities on the Web is to es- Thousand Oaks, Calif.
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