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What's your favorite search engine?
Mine used to be Infoseek. For a while Infoseek was the only
search engine I used, and the name "Infoseek" was
fixed on my mind as the place to go whenever I wanted to find
something 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 name
to Go.com. "Alright", you might say, "can't
you take a name change?" Well, problem is, it wasn't
just a name change, it was a total elimination of the Infoseek
brand.
The whole visuals of the site were changed, and what's even
worse, the Go.com site became an entertainment oriented search
engine. It was still a search engine, but it neither looked
nor felt the same as good old Infoseek (and the search results
were not the same as before).
Infoseek was struggling, which is why Disney bought it. But
it was still a heck of a brand name, an asset which Disney
completely neglected. The result is that a lot of people who
used Infoseek before have now switched to other search engines.
In fact, the brand kill was so destructive that Go.com doesn't
maintain its own index anymore (it serves results from GoTo.com).
Infoseek/Go.com is as good as dead, and the brand change by
Disney had without a doubt a profound role in the failure.
What can be learnt from this? Well, first point: branding
is very important. It can make or break a business venture.
Second point: branding is psychological. It exists in the
minds of customers and prospects. When I say, "Image
is nothing. Thirst is everything", I can bet that the
name of a popular fizzy lemonade will pop up in your mind.
That's the power of branding for you.
And third point: repeated exposure to the brand is vital
to producing a successful brand. When the Infoseek brand was
gone, the search engine somehow lost its "meaning".
And just to make it absolutely clear what Web branding really
is, here's a short definition:
The purpose of branding is to get people to recall your company/product/service
from memory. The ultimate aim is to get people to trust you
more than the competition, and to think of your Web site before
they think of the competition's Web site.
Branding isn't just for the big companies. It's just as important
to the small business entrepreneur, especially online business
owners. With cutthroat competition on the Web, those who don't
brand will probably go out of business.
Here are several hands-on branding strategies for you to
apply to your own Web site, using your business name and your
own name:
1. Repetition - This is very important: keep all of
your design elements the same from page to page. Most importantly,
display your logo at the top of each page, consistently throughout
your Web site. Your Web site must have its own distinct "feel".
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2. Newsletter/Ezine - Use your mailing list to push
your domain name and slogan (consisting of your Unique Selling
Proposition). If you have an ezine, create a header that contains
your domain name and your slogan. Use this same header in
all issues of your ezine.
3. Domain name - Use your domain name as your brand.
Put it on all of your stationary (letter heads, business cards,
post cards, statements, etc.).
4. Signature file - Implement your USP into your signature
file, so with every email you send visitors will be further
exposed to your brand. Check out the help file of your email
software for more on setting up sig files.
5. Thank you pages - If you have online forms (for
visitors to contact you, request more information, subscribe
to your newsletter etc.), you most likely have a "thank
you" page where you thank visitors for using your form.
This is an excellent place to position your logo and slogan.
Don't clutter with lots of banners and marketing material.
Keep it plain and simple.
6. Ebooks - Create free books on subjects of interest
to your visitors and allow them to re-distribute to their
own visitors. Brand your ebook with your logo, domain name
and slogan on every page of the ebook (also consider including
your own name).
7. Publish free articles - With thousands of new Web
sites and ezines popping up in Web land every month, the demand
for high quality content is immense. You can provide articles
for other webmasters/editors to publish on their Web sites/ezines.
At the end of your article put your name and a link to your
Web site, with short teaser copy to get people 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 free publicity at its best - not
only will you get traffic back to your Web site; you'll also
add status and credibility to your name (provided your article
is of high quality). Visit the 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 sent
automatically to anyone who requests them (triggered by sending
them an email). Autoresponders are great as they work 24 hours
a day without any intervention on your part. Use them to send
visitors free reports, articles, list of links, etc. And add
your branding copy (logo, name, slogan, USP etc.) at the top
and bottom of the autoresponder message, with a link back
to your Web site. Nowadays all good Web hosts provide their
customers with free autoresponders.
If you don't brand, you'll have a hard time surviving on
the Web. If you do brand - properly - you'll have a hard time
not laughing all the way to the bank. And as shown by the
above tips, online branding is not hard to do. Just implement
the tips and you'll be well on your way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Said Rouhani is the founder of
All-About-Making-Money-Online.com.
Visit now to learn how
to set up your own profitable Web site from scratch - honest
and revealing Internet business info all for FREE:
http://www.all-about-making-money-online.com/
Subscribe to
his ezine now and get a surprise bonus gift FREE:
http://www.all-about-making-money-online.com/newsletter/
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