Internet Marketing - More than just a website
Internet Marketing - More than just a website
I have a website, that’s all I need.
We have heard that response from auctioneers hundreds of times over the last 8 years since launching the Global Auction Guide Media Group.
Over the next year we will be doing regular column here in the MSAA newsletter that will help explain what you need to do to make the most of your own website, and also how to market your upcoming sales to the most bidders online with an effective and economical marketing program.
This month we start with something that is integral to every website available today.
The Domain Name.
In the Auction business your brand is just as important today as it has always been. Perhaps even more than ever as competition increases for the limited amount of sales.
Your brand is an extension of your reputation and you need to promote your brand online.
YourCompanyNameAuctions.Com is an important place to start. For as little as 9 dollars per year you can register your brand name and make that tiny first step towards the future. Even if you do not have your own website it is perhaps just as important to start here. Protecting your brand is worth 9 dollars per year for every business. A Domain name is comparable to the sign on your business location. If you choose to move, you can take that sign with you and move to a bigger and better premise someday. There are many reputable domain companies available online such as www.GoDaddy.com or www.DomainSite.com
The first and most important rule of domain names is make sure you are the owner (Registrant). If you have someone else register it then they would own it and it will be impossible to get it back if you choose to go elsewhere. If you want to check your current domain names their is a great site at www.domaintools.com that will tell you more than you you thought you could know about your business.
A domain can be pointed anywhere you choose and changed in a matter of minutes. If you do not have your own website yet, point that domain to your sales page on Global Auction Guide, MidwestAuctions, your local newspapers website or to anywhere on the web your complete ad is available. This way you get the benefit of promoting your website address in your print advertising and potentially reducing the space used and cost of that print ad by redirecting them online for full details and photos.
Once you have YourCompanyNameAuctions.Com you need to look at some common misspellings. If your website address ends in “auction”, you always need the plural version “auctions” . If someone mistypes it they will be unhappy, and no one wants an unhappy potential client.
If there are any common misspellings of your company name then you need to register them as well. The only thing worse than a user getting an error page is when they get someone else’s website if your misspellings are purchased by a domain squatter or maybe your competitor down the street.
Advanced Strategies
If you are really interested in being aggressive in domaining, then there are a few other strategies you can use to benefit from the web. Do you own yourtownauctions.com ? How about yourstateauctions.com or yourregionauctions.com ?
Do you have a specific niche that you specialize in ? How about Moorcroftchinaauctions.com or Redwingauctions.com
These all help to make your brand rank higher in Google without having to purchase premium advertising in the search engines.
We’ll talk about Google and it’s huge influence on how you rank online in our next article.
Dwayne Leslie is founder and President of the Global Auction Guide Media Group at
www.globalauctionguide.com
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