How,Brand,Your,Web,Site,What,y marketing How To Brand Your Web Site

Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t

What's your favorite search engine?Mine used to be Infoseek. For a while Infoseek was the onlysearch engine I used, and the name "Infoseek" was fixed onmy mind as the place to go whenever I wanted to findsomething on the Internet.But I could care less about Infoseek nowadays.I never use it anymore.After Disney bought Infoseek in 1998, they changed the nameto Go.com. "Alright", you might say, "can't you take a namechange?" Well, problem is, it wasn't just a name change, itwas a total elimination of the Infoseek brand.The whole visuals of the site were changed, and what's evenworse, the Go.com site became an entertainment orientedsearch engine. It was still a search engine, but it neitherlooked nor felt the same as good old Infoseek (and thesearch results were not the same as before).Infoseek was struggling, which is why Disney bought it. Butit was still a heck of a brand name, an asset which Disneycompletely neglected. The result is that a lot of people whoused Infoseek before have now switched to other searchengines.In fact, the brand kill was so destructive that Go.comdoesn't maintain its own index anymore (it serves resultsfrom GoTo.com). Infoseek/Go.com is as good as dead, and thebrand change by Disney had without a doubt a profound rolein the failure.What can be learnt from this? Well, first point: branding isvery important. It can make or break a business venture.Second point: branding is psychological. It exists in theminds of customers and prospects. When I say, "Image isnothing. Thirst is everything", I can bet that the name of apopular fizzy lemonade will pop up in your mind. That's thepower of branding for you.And third point: repeated exposure to the brand is vital toproducing a successful brand. When the Infoseek brand wasgone, the search engine somehow lost its "meaning".And just to make it absolutely clear what Web brandingreally is, here's a short definition:The purpose of branding is to get people to recall yourcompany/product/service from memory. The ultimate aim is toget people to trust you more than the competition, and tothink of your Web site before they think of thecompetition's Web site.Branding isn't just for the big companies. It's just asimportant to the small business entrepreneur, especiallyonline business owners. With cutthroat competition on theWeb, those who don't brand will probably go out ofbusiness.Here are several hands-on branding strategies for you toapply to your own Web site, using your business name andyour own name:1. Repetition - This is very important: keep all of yourdesign elements the same from page to page. Mostimportantly, display your logo at the top of each page,consistently throughout your Web site. Your Web site musthave its own distinct "feel".2. Newsletter/Ezine - Use your mailing list to push yourdomain name and slogan (consisting of your Unique SellingProposition). If you have an ezine, create a header thatcontains your domain name and your slogan. Use this sameheader in all issues of your ezine.3. Domain name - Use your domain name as your brand. Put iton all of your stationary (letter heads, business cards,post cards, statements, etc.).4. Signature file - Implement your USP into your signaturefile, so with every email you send visitors will be furtherexposed to your brand. Check out the help file of your emailsoftware for more on setting up sig files.5. Thank you pages - If you have online forms (for visitorsto contact you, request more information, subscribe to yournewsletter etc.), you most likely have a "thank you" pagewhere you thank visitors for using your form. This is anexcellent place to position your logo and slogan. Don'tclutter with lots of banners and marketing material. Keep itplain and simple.6. Ebooks - Create free books on subjects of interest toyour visitors and allow them to re-distribute to their ownvisitors. Brand your ebook with your logo, domain name andslogan on every page of the ebook (also consider includingyour own name).7. Publish free articles - With thousands of new Web sitesand ezines popping up in Web land every month, the demandfor high quality content is immense. You can providearticles for other webmasters/editors to publish on theirWeb sites/ezines. At the end of your article put your nameand a link to your Web site, with short teaser copy to getpeople to click on your link (offer a free book,subscription to your ezine or some other enticing offer -see my resource box at the end for an example). This is freepublicity at its best - not only will you get traffic backto your Web site; you'll also add status and credibility toyour name (provided your article is of high quality). Visitthe following sites to submit your articles:- http://www.e-zinez.com/articles/index.html- http://www.ideamarketers.com/- http://www.ezinearticles.com/8. Autoresponders - These are emails that are sentautomatically to anyone who requests them (triggered bysending them an email). Autoresponders are great as theywork 24 hours a day without any intervention on your part.Use them to send visitors free reports, articles, list oflinks, etc. And add your branding copy (logo, name, slogan,USP etc.) at the top and bottom of the autorespondermessage, with a link back to your Web site. Nowadays allgood Web hosts provide their customers with freeautoresponders.If you don't brand, you'll have a hard time surviving on theWeb. If you do brand - properly - you'll have a hard timenot laughing all the way to the bank. And as shown by theabove tips, online branding is not hard to do. Justimplement the tips and you'll be well on your way. Article Tags: Domain Name