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The Internet is a long established culture of people who crave information and are not in the habit of paying for it. It is not enough to throw out a homepage server and say this is who we are, this is what it costs, pay here. You must provide interesting content in a creative fashion. This means rethinking traditional marketing.

Every company and organization has a story. But with millions of sites on the Net, who really cares what your story is? Of course, your customers and people anxious for your product may have an immediate need to know about it today. But what about tomorrow? The challenge in Internet marketing is getting people to visit your home page again and again. A successful home page and often visited WWW site will contain content that educates and entertains, as well as information about the company's products and services. Creative rethinking is absolutely essential to bring the jaded net traveler back to revisit your home page.

It is also imperative that people be able to find your home page on the Web. With traditional advertising, a company's agency is confronted with a narrow selections of choices. With 50-60 TV channels, it is rather simple to figure where to place an advertisement. There are well documented ratings and demographic profiles available for each channel. The same is true for radio and print. Not so on the Internet.

On TV a channel flipper will eventually hit all the channels and at least get some exposure to the type of content and entertainment available. On the Internet this is highly unlikely. Unless someone knows your URL , there is very little chance they will surf by your site. The Internet is analogous to TV with millions of channels and no TV guide. Creative rethinking is absolutely essential.

Here are some basic steps to promoting any Internet presence:

1. Make certain that all your existing and future print and visual marketing materials state clearly your URL and E-mail address. Send out PR releases announcing your new Web site. Make certain that all of your employees are aware that you are now up on the Internet.
2. There are a number of catalogs and robots on the Internet that index all sites and documents. These are great search engines and you should register your URL and business description with all the engines that match your Business marketing needs. IBS has linked to a meta list of these sites at Pointers to Pointers . It was awarded the NCSA/GNN Pick of the Week and it is most likely your first stop on the Internet to promote yourself. Some heavily trafficked Internet sites like GNN, will sell you advertising and link to your home page. Beware of people selling you "yellow pages" on the Internet. There is no official yellow page guide and many people are trying to create one. Be certain you can get reliable information about the access or "hit" count on any "Mall" or "yellow page ad" before you buy.
3. As mentioned above, give people a good reason to visit your Web site. It is hard to market an empty site.
4. Find industry wide and subject related sites that will link to you. Many times it is as simple as providing a reciprocal link.
5. Buy Web advertising. Banner ads in high traffic sites are certain to bring traffic. Experiment around and find the best bang for the buck
6. Get active in several of the thousands of Internet news groups and mailing lists. Remember to participate in a "netiquette" fashion as this form of marketing can have a backlash if not done properly.
7. Make your Web site part of one or more of the many malls and special centers appearing on the Net.

IBS is a recognized agency by most of the major web sites and all of the major online services. We can place your ads at no additional cost to you. Ask to speak to the IBS marketing team. We have the rates and hit counts of the major web sites on our Internal server and can design and implement your marketing strategy.