| Internet marketing, believe it or not, is not just about the Internet. It is not only about tailoring the contents of your site to fit the requirements of search engines, and neither is it simply making a site that has good text content for your customers to keep reading and coming back to. It is not only about making a site that is easy to navigate, with good graphics and animation, or with good videos, software, wallpaper, and other things that are good for downloading. In fact, in this day and age where people are more conscious about the value of human communication, Internet marketing can be more about offline techniques than online techniques. People may be excited about meeting new people online, but they are thrilled no end with meeting these same people offline. There is nothing like personal interaction to get a real relationship going, so if you are planning to drive traffic to your site, you need to take a look at this dimension of human interaction as well. There are many different offline techniques that you can use to push traffic toward your site. You can create forums on your site, complete with moderators. A forum can allow your customers, potential clients, and website visitors to interact with each other. Such a forum can be a good place for people with the same interests to meet, hook up, help each other, and simply be good friends both online and offline. With the help of moderators, you can help people meet each other and give each other tips. These forums can be a start for offline meetings, which are often referred to, formally, as eye-balls, or EBs. An EB can be officially organized for your forum participants and members, and it can feature your products and services, and some free things that your participants and members might like. These free things can have your URL or your company name on them, which can turn your participants and members into instant advertisers for your company and website. Another offline method would be seminar organizing. You can organize a seminar around a topic that is related to your product, service, website, or company. This seminar can be for your forum participants, or it can be for professionals, or it can even be for government officials. Whatever the case, you need to carry out some viral marketing and get your name out there. If you think that organizing a seminar might be too much work, then you can also sponsor a seminar that is related to your website, products, services, or brand. If you do sponsor such a seminar, be sure to have things to give away, such as brochures, free product samples, or coupons. You can also have advertisements at the seminar site, such as banners, posters, or flyers. Another method is to advertise in print, such as in magazines or newsletters that are related to your website. Although this can be costly, it can be a good investment if you are investing for space in magazines or newsletters that have a wide readership. Just be sure to negotiate prices with the ad agent, and be sure to provide an ad that is attractive and uses its space efficiently. These are only a few offline methods that you can use when you are considering marketing for your website. With more technology, as well as a bigger budget on your part, you can probably have more profits in the long run. |