It's the Marketing that Matters

Social Networking December 23, 2007

I'm sure there are plenty of neat websites out there with some nifty functionality, however basic or complex. But it's not about what you have, it's about how you get it known. Marketing your website is the real hurtle once you've created your project.

In the sea of popular 2.0 sites, many are at the core a very simple foundation. The first version of Facebook was quite simple and easily coded. Digg.com is simply a collection of links with ratings. Popular networking sites don't necessarily have to be complex to be popular - the key is just hitting the tipping point so everyone knows about it.

It's reasonable to assume that any decent piece of functionality you can make that's useful for you is also useful for hundreds of other people. But what does it take to reach those people to make them aware? How can you leverage the quick networking capabilities of the Internet to popularize your site?

Step 1 : Know Your Audience

If you're going to go market your product, you darn well want to ensure you're targeting the right group of people! If your site is geared towards college kids, don't go marketing it to business people.

Step 2 : Find the Venue

There are a lot of website that help you promote your ideas. Some people make videos on YouTube that take off. Others post something on Digg. More rely on getting featured on popular blog sites with high traffic. Seek out the sites that you think would help promote yours and be aggressive at getting featured! Off the web, there are newspapers and magazines. Journalists are always looking for stories and if you have an "in" with one, compose a rough article about your site and persuade the journalist why it calls for an article.

Step 3: Promotion

Getting featured on something isn't enough. It helps, but the progress can still be slow. So now that the name is out there, you need to ensure that you create the best experience for the users that trickle to your site.

It's like opening a new restaurant. You get a few customers the first couple days and you want to make sure they have the best experience possible so they go and tell their friends. Word of mouth is a big deal, so don't let people go away with the wrong impression.

Step 4: Be Open For Change

If you're getting many users to your site, collect feedback! Find out what people like and what they don't and be open for change. If something continually detracts from their experience, fix it! If there's a crucial feature you're missing, add it!

One of the things that helps make tipping points happen is the availability and willingness of site developers to adapt as more users visit. If people see that a site is in progress and the right changes are being made, they will stay with you.

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Of course, this isn't a perfect algorithm to getting a perfect site, but it does serve as a general guideline. You can't always rely on your perfect functionality to get the traffic you need.

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