The Value of Offline Publicity - Stand up and talk
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Give seminars (not necessarily free) on the topics that are relevant to your target market. I once participated in a seminar given on learning web design. After the designers spoke on web design (and sold HTML editing software), hand bills were given out with a web site address which the participants were encouraged to go to, where we could find information relating to web hosting.
Given that it was a small meeting (less than 50 people), we were surprised when, for the next week, there were double-digit figures every day recorded as hits by the server. This was a seminar that the only publicity done was by word of mouth. The materials used by the participants were photocopies (which they bought) and the venue used was free. The hits were in all slightly less than a hundred, but you must realize that the only reason the seminar was organized was for free publicity, not for traffic. All the people that came to the seminar registered to receive free information through e-mail.
I know those statistics are miserly, but now we have seminars every weekend, we have more publicity done for the seminars, and sometimes draw a few hundred people per seminar. All these people leave their email addresses as part of the registration procedure. These people will go out and talk about the seminars, and give out the hand bills to other people, who out of curiosity will come to the web site. With a well positioned register button, you can keep a reasonable percentage of these hits; the numbers work.
And registering subscribers offline will help you to build up a massive opt-in list in a relatively quick time, instead of just depending on your web site to build up your opt-in email. Businesses do it; they collect the email addresses of their customers, and then they send emails to them informing them of new products or product updates.
Your points of contact
Check your points of contact, your complimentary cards, your brochures, and your presentations. Is your website address printed on them? As with your flyers and your handbills, putting your web site on your points of contact increases the amount of people that see the address, and gives your site free publicity.
Write a real book
Not an ebook, but a book in print, and get it published. This is a surefire way to get hits, especially if you write a good book. It seems like a large project, but look at Robert Kiyosaki's http://www.richdad.com/. The only reason I have ever visited the site was because he offered a free download on it in his book. The site was mediocre at best, but I even registered to receive information (which I have gotten only once in three years). If only ten percent of the people that buy his book take advantage of the free offer (and people really like free offers) that's like a hundred thousand hits. If ten percent register to receive emails, that's ten thousand addresses in his opt-in database. That is a lot of leads generated off one book.
If you are an expert in your field, writing a book will only take time, and this time is well spent. A book will help in your branding process, as people start to identify you (and your website) as the unique and only solution to a particular problem. You have taken up a position in their minds that will have very profitable long-term benefits.
Next: Brand your site with yourself >>
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