Advertising a website

paulocon

Hi,

I have developed two websites (which I won't name here). Bascially, the two websites provide fully featured content management systems for

i) Estate Agents/Auctioneers and
ii) Sports Clubs (GAA, Soccer, Rugby etc).

So, for example - the Estate Agency one allows agents easily manage their property listings, upload photos (dymanic resizing), add news etc. and allows users subscribe for property alerts..

The sports one allows clubs easily add fixtures, results, reports, photos, news etc..

My question is if anyone has any good suggestions on how to advertise these services. I already have a couple of happy clients on both sites who will give good feedback... I'd like to steer clear from something like an email campaign..

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Novara.ie

Have you thought about promoting your sites through the search engines as part of your advertising?

A good clear mind on who your target market is and with the sites correctly optimised, the results can be very beneficial.

egan007

I would be interested in these answers too.

But i'd be looking for answers on how to bring the site into the real world through realworld advertising.

If i aske dmy mother where to buy a house online - she would tell me myhome.ie
Yet she barely uses the net.....

How does she know that one over any onther one.....

(sorry to piggyback - but i think these answers will benefit you too )

connundrum

My girlfriends little sister, who is 10, constantly asks us to register her for pigsback.com.... why?
Because a cute little foam piggy and a piggy keying arrived in the door one day, with the words "pigsback.com" printed across said piggys back.

MyHome.ie ran a very popular competition in the Evening Herald, where the prize was a brand new apartment.

I think that in order for an online site or product to become well known in the 'real' world a marketing mix needs to be set in place, comprising elements of Print, Radio and TV mediums.

Make sure you spend your money wisely, identify your target audience and place your advisements in the places they are most likely to see them.

However, search engine optimisation is a crucial part of any marketing mix these days, as an increasing number of sales and enquiry calls are being generated through a mere 'google' search.

Search Engine Optimisation is easily affordable and highly effective.

I would suggest Promote.ie? I have found them to be rather effective in the past.

Novara.ie

And just to help you even further in your quest, take a look at our Intro to Website Promotion. It just gives you details on what is involved in getting your site ranked really well on the search engines.

http://support.novara.ie/kb/Promotion/Intro_To_Web_Promotion.htm

paulocon

Thanks for the replies.

Sites I have are pretty specific in their target clients so maybe getting into partnership with some regulatory body may be an option - anyone know any publication circulated within the estate agency sector?

growler

paulocon, you're trying to target (a) IT managers in the estate agents and (b) PR people within the sports clubs ....I'd imagine? Is this Ireland only or everywhere?

I'd imagine most estate agents have their sites up and running, is there a benefit you can offer to them that would make them change to your service? If yes, the simplest way to suss out what packages they are currently using (problems they have etc) would be to get out the yellow pages and start calliig , if not you'll need to find new estate agencies / letting agents etc. that are starting up, which might be a bit difficult to do, economically.

Sports clubs : it would also be relatively easy to find who would be in charge of their PR / communications,, call them up, but be aware that many clubs will be able to call upon the free / low cost option of someone's brother / sister etc. who can often do a simple site for them.

With such a clear target audience I would think that any form of advertising you do would be largely wasted, unless you can find GAA IT Magazine or Estate Agents Webmaster Monthly.

If you have the time and budget I'd research the sports clubs in your target area (or pick a county), make calls to find out who has a website and who the PR person is and develop a direct mail piece that focuses on what they need.

For the estate agencies I would suggest a similar approach, look for the smaller agencies, make calls to find out the relevant person and get a salesperson to make the calls.

If you have other target markets, with lots of budget, outside the two you mention ( which seems likely) then it may be worthwhile looking at adwords promotions, but you will be competing against some big brands with big budgets.

SEO is a must.

For the sports clubs etc. maybe get in touch with the governing bodies for vaarious sports and offer them a special offer ( free hosting for X months, free SEO etc) for any of the affiliate members who needed a site, if they see a benefit then they should be able to give you the contact details of their member clubs.

A lot depends on how much you have to spend on promoting your service and what resources you have available to make them happen.

Obelisk29

paulocon wrote:

I have developed two websites (which I won't name here). Bascially, the two websites provide fully featured content management systems for ....

Surely the best way to advertise them is to name them!

paulocon

growler,

thank's very much for the excellent reply. Loads of great ideas there to work with and very much appreciated.

Obelisk29, I could name the sites but surely it is against the forum rules?

fintan

Why don't you knock on the door of a local estate agent and sports club, offer to set them for free and all the training / tweaks they need.

iron out all the wrinkles for two months, and then use the experience and recomendations to get paying customers on board?

SlitheryImp

For web advertising you can't beat Google Adwords (https://adwords.google.ie/). I'm currently working on an Irish Advertising resource website, but it's not going to help you much yet. I hope that it will be fully functional within a month or so.

millie2508

The only thing i can think of is doing your tags so that they show up on search engines so as google, yahoo etc.

Is its a .com as that may generate more traffic than a .co.uk.

millie2508

The only thing i can think of is doing your tags so that they show up on search engines so as google, yahoo etc.

Is its a .com as that may generate more traffic than a .co.uk.

millie2508

The only thing i can think of is doing your tags so that they show up on search engines so as google, yahoo etc.

Is its a .com as that may generate more traffic than a .co.uk.