Build a Forum

Forum is another great way to build up your website. Forum will provide you with fresh content as well as visitors that will be coming back to discuss industry related topics on your forum. Forum is very difficult to get started but once you are able to get enough members to post regularly, you will enjoy daily fresh content with no effort on your part.

There are a lot of forum platforms out there but my personal favorite is phpBB . It is easy to install and customize. You might also consider using mod_rewrite to make your forums more search engine friendly. More information on how to do that can be found at able2know.com forum .

Start a Blog

Blog has been often regarded as a backdoor to Google. Indeed, whole blog concept is very search engine friendly. Blogs are easy to crawl and they provide fresh content. There is no way you should disregard this advantage. Start your own blog right on your authority website, discuss industry related topics and make sure to post something at least on weekly basis if not on daily. Google and other search engines will reward you for fresh content by giving you better ranking.

Create Link Directory

There are several benefits in building your own link directory. First, by requiring reciprocal link during submission you will build up backlinks from other websites in your industry. Second, you will build up number of pages on your website. Each business will probably submit a description along with link and that description will most likely contain keywords related to your website. That means that you will instantly generate pages with keywords that you are interested in. One of my favorite directory scripts is Hot Links SQL . Unlike many directory scripts out there, this one generates static pages for categories as well as details pages for every website listed in your directory.

The Benefits of Search Engine Marketing

Acquire Qualified Visitors
The greatest benefit to SEM is that people you reach are ones you want, and ones who want you, because they are searching for exactly what you sell. SEM has advantage that it delivers exactly information searcher is looking for at time that they need it. As opposed to television viewers who are watching for entertainment purposes, Internet users, and searchers in particular, are searching with a purpose—they want information.

Enlarge Your Audience
In addition to bringing highly qualified visitors to your site, SEM exposes you to a much larger audience. Not only is number of people online increasing but number of people searching and buying online is also growing, dramatically. Approximately 140 million in U.S. have Internet in their homes and those who don't have it at home have access to it at work or in public places like libraries. That's better coverage than you can get through any other advertising medium.

Be Cost Efficient
Because visitors you are bringing to your site are qualified, you're not wasting marketing money on people who don't matter to you. In addition, Piper Jaffrey reports that search engine marketing is most cost effective Internet marketing technique available. At only $.45/lead, it far outweighs banner ads at $2.00/lead and direct mail at an astonishing $9.94/lead. Not only is search most cost effective technique, but it's also most profitable. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, keyword search dominates any other category (including rich media and display ads/banners), producing approximately 41% of U.S. Internet revenue for 2004.

Measure Your Results
There is a vast array of technology available, such as Omniture's SiteCatalyst, to help you track exactly what's going on. You can track such things as specific keywords that people are using to reach your site or where visitors are entering and exiting your site. This information is quantifiable and it can be gained immediately. Not many advertising firms can boast measuring and quantifying their results with that level of detail.

Revise Your Campaign (Easily)
Unlike TV commercials or magazine ads, which can both be expensive and time-consuming, especially if they fail, your Internet marketing campaign is quickly and easily revised. You rarely need to start from scratch but instead just need to do something as simple as rewrite a page or two on your website.

If you haven't jumped on Internet marketing bandwagon, it's about time you do or you'll soon find you've been left in dust. Go beyond your traditional advertising firm and consult one who can offer you Internet marketing techniques with proven, measurable results.