Build It & They Will Come

I am sure that, by now, we have all heard of the old adage, “Build it and they will come.” If this is the Internet marketing technique that you have been utilizing then you have already discovered that this will not lend anything resembling success toward your efforts! Simply building a site and placing it online will not attract the traffic, leads, exposure, or sales that you are seeking.

 

For this example, let’s think of the Internet as the physical Interstate that connects all locations throughout the U.S. to each other. A network of roads and bridges, highways and byways that allow us to get from one point to another without having to carve out our own path to get where we are going.

 

When driving on the Interstate across the U.S. – or even on short runs across your local area – you can clearly see that the companies that understand “getting the word out” have far more than just one sign visible from the Interstate. If a company, say someone like a McDonalds or a Burger King only had one sign up, then that company would be 100% dependent upon ALL of the folks they were trying to reach to physically drive by that one sign. That is – that one place they decided to place their message in the field of view of those that might happen by.

 

I think we can all agree – THAT would be a pretty bad model for marketing. It is easy to understand that they would gain FAR more exposure my doing something as simple as putting up more signs. If they were getting their word out in more locations, where the audience they are trying to reach is already driving, they would naturally gain more exposure – or – to put it in on-line vernacular, they would get more traffic exposed to what they have to offer!

 

Gaining Exposure To Your Virtual Location

 

For a super attempt at clarity, the term “location” will refer to where you would be offering your products or services for sale. Of course, in the physical world, a location is typically a building where you have set up shop. However, in the virtual world, a location is where your domain name points to. Like the words you are reading on this page are located at one of my domain names, MaxLaing.Com, descriptions of your products or services would be located on pages that exist on your website wherever you have your domain name pointing.

 

Something else to consider is that a “location” can not only be considered an individual website but specific pages within a website. Though it is obvious every domain name (YourPlaceOne.Com, YourPlaceTwo.Com, etc…) is an individual location, every page within a website can be considered a “location” as well. One URL points to Product One. Another URL points to Product Two, and so on. In short, if you only have one website but many products or services being offered, then you may wish to post many articles and/or announcements – all containing links (“signs”) back to your website.

 

 

Posting Signs To Your Website

 

So, concerning your website, what might be considered a sign? Typically a sign is something that points to a “location”. So, whether your “sign” is a simple Facebook or Twitter posting, it must contain a link “pointing” back to your website. If you are announcing a new page or product that you want others to know about then instead of building your link to bring folks to your front page, you might want to construct the link allowing them to arrive at the specific page your are announcing.

 

Other signs might be physical. It is common practice to place your domain name, more accurately called your URL, on your business cards and stationary. If you were to want to send out postcards to a specific list of individuals, you would, of course, include your URL of a size and font that is easy to read. You might know of other people that have their own websites. You might make an arrangement with them to place links to your website on theirs if you would do that same for them. And what about your “sig file”? That is short for signature file. Usually a simple text area where you keep the text that you would include at the bottom of every email that you send out but would not want to have to type every time. My sig file includes the most prominent of the websites I am affiliated with, my mail email address, my cell phone number, and how I can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

There are also many places available for you to post articles. Most folks simply won’t take the time to hammer out an article but that can be one of the best ways to really get the word out and increase the perceived value of your website in the eyes of Google! Seriously. If you are willing to try and educate the public about something, especially something that your website just so happens to offer, then why now write up an article designed to educate the reader? If he or she is learning from what you have written then you are establishing trust even before they click on the link you will include that will take them to your website. The goal of such websites that post as many articles as they can get their hands on is to grow as large as they can. They increase their value by being able to offer more and more information to their readers. Part of the agreement of giving them content is that you are allowed to include a link back to your website! A very powerful proposition, indeed. Just make sure to change your article about what you are offering or you will get nailed for duplicate content. The article sites won’t like you and neither will Google!

 

I suppose when all is said and done, the question is, “How many signs did you place today?” How many signs do you have out there for each of your websites, or for each of your products or services – and – where are those signs located? Are you depending on the individuals you are trying to reach to “happen by” the places where you have your properties listed? Or, have you actively enrolled those properties in a service that literally reaches deep into the Web exposing them to the highest number of potential leads they could ever hope to receive?

 

The answer is pretty clear. With hundreds of thousands of “exposure points” on-line, how in the world could anyone make the decision to NOT enjoy the leverage that the Web has to offer each and every one of us that is willing to participate!?!!

 

I suppose when all is said and done, the question is, “How many signs did you place today?” How many signs do you have out there for each of your listings – and – where are those signs located? Are you depending on the individuals you are trying to reach to “happen by” the places where you have your properties listed? Or, have you actively enrolled those properties in a service that literally reaches deep into the Web exposing them to the highest number of potential leads they could ever hope to receive?

 

The answer is pretty clear. With hundreds of thousands of “exposure points” on-line, how in the world could anyone make the decision to NOT enjoy the leverage that the Web has to offer with each and every one of us that is willing to participate!?!!

 

 

Sincerely and without hesitation,

 

Max

 

Be sure to check out Allowing Success to discover the KEY to unlocking your Genuine Potential and what you can do to Remove what has been holding you back…

…FOREVER!