Definition

The act of supplying a URL to a search engine in an attempt to make a search engine aware of a site or page.

Information

At a minimum, submitting to a search engine involves adding the URL of the site or page that will be under consideration. Search engines sometimes ask for additional contact information, including name and/or email address.

Policies for adding URLs vary among various search engines. Some search engines only ask for the main URL of a site, claiming that the rest of the site will be spidery; others require the submission of individual pages. Variation also exists with regard to how often URLs may be added, as some engines have tried to discourage bulk submissions in an attempt to minimize spamming.

Submitting sites/pages can be done manually or in an automated manner. Manual submission involves going to each of the “Add URL” pages and filling out the form fields individually. Automatic submission involves filling out information only one time; the necessary information is then used by a software program to submit to many search engines.

Confusing search engine submission with search engine optimization is a common mistake. The mere act of submitting does nothing to optimize the pages in question and achieve higher rankings. In fact, submitting poorly-optimized pages can do more harm than good.

• Nothing beats a good punch line. A catchy phrase can go a long way. It should be just a few words that sparks the interest .
• Make it visually interesting. There needs to be an eye catcher on the first screen that will grab the viewer’s attention. Don’t resort to a bunch of annoying animation or tasteless irrelevant images. Flickering, blinking or flashing ads and intrusive fake desktop warnings only aggravate viewers. They’ve even caused web surfers to develop “banner blindness” (the tendency to consciously or unconsciously ignore any type of banner). Also, keep font size in mind. Lots of tiny text will only cause the viewer to ignore the ad.
• Give the viewer direction. That’s right, tell them what to do! Use action words like “Click here”, “Enter”, “Go”, “Get”, etc.
• Use the word “FREE” in your banner. I don’t think this needs any explanation.
• Choose your fonts and colors carefully. Avoid crazy fonts. Use basic, but interesting bold fonts in standard web colors if possible.
• Use subtle animation. When creating a flash banner, many designers make the mistake of getting carried away. While animation can be a great way to catch a viewer’s eye, it can also have the opposite effect. Make the animation clever, but simple and short. If your animation takes too much time to load — never mind, you’ve already lost that click!
• Keep the kb down. File size is a very important factor on getting a click. A viewer’s attention span is very limited; therefore, you want your banner ad to load before the main content of the website loads. This grabs the viewer’s attention immediately. Yet, smaller file size obviously has its trade-offs, such as less animation length, number of colors and detail.

Banner Design Tips: Here are the key elements to make a banner effective

COPY – Keep the wording short and to the point. Less is more. The copy should be informative (What is is?), make them feel something (excited, happy, laugh), and make them do something.

RELEVANCY – Make the message angle be centered around something of genuine interest to the reader. Make the message relevant to them.

SIZES – Ideal banner file size is 10 kb or less. You want the banner to be able to load quickly for the viewer. By compressing the graphics, they will load more quickly.

ANIMATION – Typically animated banners generate a higher response than static ones do. By using flash or an animated gif you can increase your conversion rate.

WEBSITE – Since banners are for online use, it’s important to include your website address on the banner.

TIMELESS MESSAGE – Try to eliminate phrases that would quickly outdate the banner like “new and improved”.

CALL TO ACTION – ask the viewer to call, click here, visit the website. Just make sure that they are requested to take the next step. Additionally blue underlined text like “click here” can grab the attention of the viewer and get them to take action.

SENSE OF URGENCY – Something like a time limited offer, coupon, limited quantity available, or a free giveaway can entice visitors to click now, rather than delay till later and then forget.

Banner design conclusion

Well there you have it, the five most important banner design tips to remember when designing banners. I’d normally end an article like this now but before we end I want to talk about targeting your banner.

Always always place your banner on sites that cater for your target audience (ie – the people most likely to buy your product). There’s no point putting a banner for a new golf club you sell on a site dedicated to software, visitors to the site simply aren’t going to be interested and you’re just wasting your money. You should be aiming to place the golf banner on golf related websites, this way you’re much more likely to make money. If you’re not exposing your banner to your target audience none of the above tips and tricks can save you.

“The buying of time or space is not the taking out of a hunting license on someone else’s private preserve but is the renting of a stage on which we may perform.”

- Howard Gossage, quoted in Randall Rothenberg, Where the Suckers Moon: An Advertising Story (1994), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, p. 188.

The Web Site Marketing Group excels at developing and executing custom e-Marketing programs that meet your challenges and solve your problems.

We’ll examine many possible approaches and consider many tactics and strategies to identify the best possible plan. Plans are based on sound research and a strategic planning process aimed at helping you make the right marketing decisions. We’ll help you find ways to reach new customers and find strategies to help you build sales from existing customers. We’ll meet their needs…and watch revenue explode.

Campaigns can include diverse marketing and communications disciplines and a variety of media to achieve maximum results.

Areas of focus include:

• Advertising Campaign Management
• Opt-In or House E-mail Campaigns
• Keyword Advertising campaigns
• Banner Ad Campaigns
• Co-Registration Campaigns
• CPM, PPC, CPA Campaigns

Search Engine Marketing:

• Search Engine Submissions
• Directory Submissions
• Link Campaigns
• SEO campaign

E-Commerce tactics:

• Tracking Systems
• Digital Wallets
• CRM Tactics
• Online Merchandising
• Business Development

Times are tight, business is lousy, right? We can’t be bothered worrying about long term image building when we are worried about our next order, if there is to be one, can we? While there is much to be said for surviving this downturn, there is also much to be said about starting to plan for the next upturn, as well.

Why should I think about marketing, when what I need is sales? Many companies use the term marketing interchangeably with the term sales. Nothing could be further from reality.

Their focus is totally different in many ways. Sales is concerned with the here and now. Next order, next inquiry, next quotation, next sales call. Marketing is aimed at the long term. Marketing is aimed at building the company image, building the basis for sustainable competitive advantage for the long term.

In his book, It’s not Rocket Science, Mitch Gooze points out the considerable differences between sales and marketing. His goal is to help companies build their sustainable competitive advantages over time so the companies will survive and prosper. In so doing, he emphasizes the importance of marketing for all companies. Example: In Cincinnati in 1837, there were 18 companies that made soap and candles. One survived: Proctor and Gamble. Why? Because they followed a course of action that differentiated themselves from the others.

They developed sustainable competitive advantages which brought the public to buy P & G products, like Ivory Soap. Ivory Soap was a good product, but a good product without the sustained effort of building an effective image would not/will not sell as well as one that has the image in the market place. Ivory was differentiated by the ad campaign we have all seen: “99 and 44/100 per cent pure. And it floats.” Those two slogans helped build P & G into a giant. They gave the company an image of quality and an image of innovation. Image can be made up of small things, not just large, expensive ones. Example: One paper boy noticed that a lot of people would cross the street to purchase a paper from him, when there were other paper vendors more conveniently located. One day he asked one woman why she bought from him instead of the others, and she answered, ” Because you always say ‘Thank you.’”

What is marketing? Peter Drucker, the guru of modern business management, has described marketing as much broader than selling, that it encompasses the entire business as seen from the customer’s point of view.

To envision your company from your customer’s point of view, you need to take a huge step outside of your four walls and put yourself in your customer’s place. This is definitely not an easy task, because you are faced with myriad challenges. You have competitors who want to court and woo away your best customers. You have new technologies, new products or services coming on the market every day. You have competitors who want to enter your market place that have never been in it before today. You have changing personnel at your customers businesses who may have relationships with other suppliers. All of these challenges, and more, await you when you seek to look at yourself from the outside. But, to be more effective in the market place, you really need to gain the perspective that this will provide for you.

Marketing is really the process of helping others to perceive value in what you do for them. The challenge is to persuade your customers and potential customers that you really do provide value in what you do for them.

In marketing, one must take the long view. We need to build up our image, our reputation, a perceived value we bring to each transaction over time, so that it will be sustainable over time. Example: Johnson & Johnson. A number of years ago Johnson & Johnson made a commitment to their market places that they would behave according to a predetermined set of values.

They codified this in their Mission Statement. When they were subjected to the brutal attacks on their credibility with people lacing their product Tylenol with arsenic, they acted upon those stated values, pulled all of the product off the shelves, instituted new safety procedures and, when they reintroduced the same product in safe packaging, the public rewarded them with confidence in the product and reliance on the integrity of the company. Because they had built up a long term image for reliability and quality through effective long term marketing of those qualities, and because they reacted exactly as the public expected, with total honesty and integrity, they got through the crisis with no long term damage, and, essentially, an enhanced image. Had they not built this image over time through effective marketing of their image, it well could have ruined the company. An extreme case, but well worth considering how effective this long term, long view process was for them.

What is included in the marketing effort? Actually a surprising number of factors should be included in the marketing endeavor. You should be starting with the simple things that leave a lasting impression on the customer. For example, we suggest you try calling your own company. Judge how friendly and helpful your initial contact is with your company. First of all, does a person answer or does a machine answer?

There is no right or wrong selection, here, but you should be sure from the very start of the interaction there is an obvious and easy way for a caller to reach a human. There are many people who simply do not relate well to a machine answering their phone calls. Once your caller is able to reach a real human, does that person project the image and feeling you want projected to your customers and prospects? Does the first person who answers have the ability to direct the caller to the correct department or person to help the caller?

Does she or he come across as knowing how to assist the caller? Too many times, we have seen the point of initial contact with customers and prospective customers left to the least experienced and least trained personnel in the company. The result can be that a poor impression is left in the mind of the person initiating the contact, and this can have the consequence of fewer sales and less confidence in your company’s ability to handle whatever brought the prospect to contact you in the first place.

It is important for all parts of the company to realize they are a part of the process of satisfying the customer. If the initial contact goes well, the inquiry is promptly and accurately handled, the order is well taken and handled, but shipping goofs and sends the wrong materials or ships to the wrong address, the good done by the rest of the company is lost on the customer, because the outcome is not correct in the eyes of the customer. Everyone must contribute consistently to have the overall effect desired.

Another factor could be your hours of operation. Are you available when your customers want to contact you? I visited a service-oriented company recently, and noted that their hours of operation were from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. My first question of the management was to ask when their customers were at work? Do your hours of operation make it easy for them to contact you without having to take time away from their work? Their reaction: they had never thought about how convenient their hours were. They had always had those hours, and had never thought of changing.

Next, do your people follow through on their commitments to outside contacts? When your customer service department tells a customer that they will have an answer by a certain time or date, do they consistently get back to the customer on time or early with the complete answer? Or do they miss deadlines, lack understanding of the customers’ needs, and not follow through on commitments?

The interesting thing about this discussion is that, so far, we have not suggested that any significant investment will be required to bring your levels of service and communication up to a higher level. These are potentially easy fixes, the result of which will be a broad-based impression that your company cares about doing business with each contact, knows what it is talking about, and follows through with the commitments made by each area within the company. Even if these factors don’t result in immediate orders, the groundwork has been laid for the up-coming improvement in the economy. When business picks up, the fact that your company cared enough about its customers to improve communication and to follow up on commitments, on time and with complete information should lead to better sales.

What next? What relatively inexpensive things can we do to improve our image in the market place over time? Good question, and the answers here get a little less obvious and a little more difficult. One area to start with might be our sales force. Yes, earlier we said that the focus of selling is immediate and short term, and the focus of marketing is longer term. But, any sales person worth his/her salt has to realize that an investment in a longer-term strategy of positive image will eventually pay off for their immediate goals of more orders. Example: When I was in the machinery business, during the “depression” of 1980-81, we required our sales force to continue to make sales calls on all their customers and prospects. The purpose of this was, of course, to ask for orders.

The second purpose (not secondary) was to be sure that our customers and prospects knew we were interested in serving them for the long term, in good times and in bad times, and that we were willing to make the effort and investment in contacting them, even if there was no immediate business to be had. Our competitors were sitting in their offices, waiting for the telephone to ring, while we were out, face to face, with our prospects. Who do you think got the phone calls when business started to improve? We did, and we reaped the benefit from this effort for a number of years after the recovery began.

If you are not already doing so, start to do some networking with your peers and your best customers. Talk with customers to find out whom else might need your products or services. Get referrals from satisfied customers. A referral from a satisfied customer is often one of the quickest ways to get the attention of new prospects. Talk to former customers to find ways to get them back. Tell them what you are doing better, and ask questions to determine how you might be able to lure them back.

What about longer term goals for marketing? The classic elements of marketing are very important, too. But, you must be able to afford them, or to figure ways around the obstacle of cost. Example: Knowledge of your customers is a key to knowing what they will need in the future. Market research can be expensive, but there are some ways around some of the expense. One possibility is to have a local business school do some research for your company. Sponsoring a graduate business school student will often help both parties. It will also provide you with some positive publicity, and the results should be helpful in your overall marketing approach.

Knowledge of your competition is also important. There are some inexpensive ways to gain some knowledge of your competitors. Call your competitor and ask for general information.

The purpose is to see if you can determine how well inquiries are handled. Also, you will be able to see how nicely telephone contacts are managed, and how courteous or abrupt the initial contact is. Attend trade shows and conventions, and shop your competitors. Look up your competitors in the leading directories for your industry to see what they are advertising, and what they are not advertising. The internet is a good tool for research. Spend some time in your competitors’ websites. You can learn a lot from what they are telling their public. Talk to their competitors. It can be surprising how much you might learn from one competitor about another. All of these are relatively inexpensive and can be quite enlightening.

What role does advertising play in marketing? Obviously, if people don’t know about you and what you have to sell, it will be most difficult to sell them anything. So you do need to get your name out there and keep it in front of your public. While the traditional press in some form is an appropriate vehicle for advertising, the ultimate tool for most companies can be advertising on the internet. In addition to the internet, if you can afford it, you should do typical trade advertising. You may want to advertise in local papers, local magazines, the regional trade press or even national trade magazines. These can be expensive, but depending on your market areas, may well be necessary. But there also are a large number of no or low cost things you can do which will keep your name out in front of the public. Volunteer for local charities and other activities.

Send birthday and anniversary greetings to your customers and prospects. Send personal notes to people who get recognition in local papers and trade journals. Be ingenious. Watch how other similar businesses advertise, and learn what works and what does not. Do some cold calling, but do it right. Just calling prospects out of the blue may yield some results, but calling them after doing some homework could lead to more effective outcomes.

One principle that should be remembered is to smile while making the call. Sounds funny, but the smile usually comes through the phone to the prospect, even though the caller can’t be seen. Another tip is to write out a script and to practice it until you are comfortable with it. If there are words or phrases that you are not comfortable with, change them until you are comfortable. When you make the actual calls, don’t read from the script. It will usually come across as stilted and uncomfortable, and will not be as effective as your natural conversation. Your script should include a brief introduction and the purpose of your call. Don’t try to sell something on the first call, rather try to learn what your prospect’s needs are and how you might best serve them.

Obviously this is not a complete treatise on marketing, but it is a good selection of ideas that can help you understand your customers’ needs and preferences. Included are a number of ideas which are no cost or low cost, but which will possibly help you gain insight into ways to better approach the task of marketing. The goal is to build your image so that when your customers need your products or services, you are the first one they think of. Marketing should help you learn your best approaches to your prospects and could help lead to improved results for your business.

When developing or updating a marketing plan, knowing where to start is often a challenge. To better develop effective marketing strategies, begin by gathering information about both your business and the larger business environment (competition, trends, statistics, etc.).

Internally, the amount of information you gather about your own business will depend on your company size. Information can include business strategies and plans; company marketing plans; pricing; and income statements. Employee knowledge is also a valuable resource. As you gather information, if you at first turn to internal sources then expand your understanding through external resources you will do fine.

External information about the business environment often takes the form of existing research, articles, competitive information, and industry news. While these are often available in both print and digital, the focus here is finding information online.

Gathering Information Online – Getting Started

The numerous news sources and billion or so Web pages available on the Internet make finding information much easier than in pre-Internet days. Before the Internet, gathering information meant trips to the library, purchasing expensive publications and reports, and commissioning your own primary research. Now, it is a matter of knowing where to search.

You can start searching the Internet by looking in each of the general areas below. Organize useful material as you find it. Purchase, bookmark, or file each resource so you can draw upon it during marketing plan development.

These external resources, together with your internal company information, will be your initial knowledge base as you develop your Marketing Plan. As you progress along the planning process and the specific information you need become clearer, these initial resources are likely to be jumping-off points for gathering more specific information.

Businesses are growing more aware of the need to understand and implement at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). But if you read a variety of blogs and websites, you’ll quickly see that there’s a lot of uncertainty over what makes up “the basics.” Without access to high-level consulting and without a lot of experience knowing what SEO resources can be trusted, there’s also a lot of misinformation about SEO strategies and tactics.

1. Monitor where you stand. You won’t know if your SEO efforts are working unless you monitor your search standings. MarketingVox suggests that you keep an eye on your page rank with tools like Alexa and the Google toolbar. It’s also important to check your referrer log regularly to track where your visitors are coming from and the search terms they’re using to find your site, according to PC World.
2. Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the tactics that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment.
3. Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online.
4. Ask a lot of questions when hiring an SEO company. It’s your job to know what kind of tactics the company uses. Ask for specifics. Ask if there are any risks involved. Then get online yourself and do your own research—about the company, about the tactics they discussed, and so forth.
5. Become a student of SEO. If you’re taking the do-it-yourself route, you’ll have to become a student of SEO and learn as much as you can. Luckily for you, there are plenty of great web resources (like Search Engine Land) and several terrific books you can read. (Yes, actual printed books!) See our What Is SEO page for a variety of articles, books and resources.
6. Have web analytics in place at the start. You should have clearly defined goals for your SEO efforts, and you’ll need web analytics software in place so you can track what’s working and what’s not.
7. Keywords, keywords, keywords! You should be conscious of placing appropriate keywords throughout every aspect of your site: your titles, content, URLs, and image names. Think about your keywords as search terms — how would someone looking for information on this topic search for it?
8. Build a great web site. I’m sure you want to show up on the first page of results. Ask yourself, “Is my site really one of the 10 best sites in the world on this topic?” Be honest. If it’s not, make it better.
9. Link back to yourself. There is probably no more basic strategy for SEO than the integration of internal links into your site — it is an easy way to boost traffic to individual pages, SEO Consult says. You should make it standard to link back to your archives frequently when creating new content. MarketingVox advises that you also make the anchor text search-engine-friendly: “The more relevant words point to a page, the more likely that page is to appear in search results when users run a query with those terms.”
10. Create a sitemap. Adding a site map — a page listing and linking to all the other major pages on your site — makes it easier for spiders to search your site.
11. Make SEO-friendly URLs. Use keywords in your URLs and file names, such as yourdomain.com/red-widgets.html. Don’t overdo it, though. A file with 3+ hyphens tends to look spammy and users may be hesitant to click on it. Related bonus tip: Use hyphens in URLs and file names, not underscores. Hyphens are treated as a “space,” while underscores are not.
12. Search-friendly URLs. Make your URLs more search-engine-friendly by naming them with clear keywords
13. Write for users first. Google, Yahoo, etc., have pretty powerful bots crawling the web, but to my knowledge these bots have never bought anything online, signed up for a newsletter, or picked up the phone to call about your services. Humans do those things, so write your page copy with humans in mind. Yes, you need keywords in the text, but don’t stuff each page like a Thanksgiving turkey. Keep it readable.
14. Avoid Flash. Flash might look pretty, but it does nothing for your SEO. According to the Search Engine Journal, “Frames, Flash and AJAX all share a common problem – you can’t link to a single page… Don’t use Frames at all and use Flash and AJAX sparingly for best SEO results.”
15. Image Description. Spiders can only search text, not text in your images — which is why you need to make the words associated with your images as descriptive as possible. Start with your image names: adding an “ALT” tag allows you to include a keyword-rich description for every image on your site. Perfect Optimization explains an easy way to do this.
16. Content. SEO or search engine optimized content, is one of the most important factors in determining who finds your website and what information they take away after they have landed there.
17. Social media distribution. Social media acts as a distribution conduit for content marketers. By distributing content via social media, the distributor potentially has access to millions of eyes that may comment, share, consume and/or evangelize the content.

• Poor design: the design is fundamental, we must first know what you need to display and then design the database correctly. I personally have found very basic initial designs have then been patching and making drastic changes to conform to a model that was the same since the beginning of the application.
• Ignoring the normalization: the normalization is critical for good performance and simple programming.
• Non-standard nomenclature, the names should mean something to be simple to understand at a glance. In addition, the nomenclature must be consistent throughout the design.
• Lack of documentation: this is a constant in the world of programming, and databases will not be less. That you know it means a table or a field, does not mean that another person entering the project will know as easily as you.
• A table that brings together many: a normal error is thinking that a design with many tables is more complex, and it is better put everything in a single table.
• Using a unique identifier as primary key, is not always correct only using a sequential numeric identifier as primary key unique.

Do not use SQL features to protect the integrity of the data: we must take into account the rules for null fields, field sizes and secondary keys in the design for better data integrity.

Do not use stored procedures to obtain data: a way to separate the layer of the database user layer. Provide security, encapsulation, maintainability and speed. I would also add the use of views.

Lack of evidence: something for me very important is to stress tests to see if the database will hold the volume of data that need implementation. Check runtime statements to add indexes, etc …

You can see all these points very well explained and extensively in the original article.

On these evaluations, you know, for example:

• have reached what keywords drive traffic to you
• are on what external links are links, go to the visitors to you
• what are the most common entry pages
• which sub-pages are accessed most often, which are least likely to
• which path a visitor took through your pages
• what browser and operating system your visitors use
• coming from each city and country your visitors
• which sites could not be displayed, for example, because of a bad link

These statistics you can use it to optimize your site on, for example, the following approaches:

• You discover new keywords that allow you to find, the best source of this sub-pages you can target to improve
• If you notice that a particular base from outside, eg a forum link, you can start to take this opportunity to improve that page for additional content.
• On the most popular entry pages, you can check immediately whether you will cope as a new visitor. You can put there deliberately and internal links to additional offers.
• In pages that are invoked only rarely, you can improve the content, or “push” through better internal linking.
• incorrect pages or links will be caught soon and can be corrected quickly

Software Tip log file analysis

An excellent program to analyze log files is the Funnel Web Analyzer from Quest Software. Originally developed as a purchase program, it is now available as freeware. The tool offers comprehensive recruitment and evaluation options:

• FTP download of log files
• Analysis of traffic volume, server errors, and exit pages, directories, downloads, file types, visitors (including on-line time and recovery), domains, countries, referrers, keywords, multimedia, robots, browsers, operating systems and more
• DNS lookup for the regional assignment
• extensive filtering capabilities (eg, by date, URL, file extension, user agent, referrer, virtual host, cookie, user name)
• formatting of the report templates (eg, HTML / RTF / PDF / Excel, language, GIF / JPG / PNG, colors)
• Scheduler (for automated processing schedule)
• Zip and upload reports

For a good Google ranking factors are exactly four important!

Call it the COLT principle:

COLT  on the first Google hit targets with

• C ONTENTS (content)

Your site needs good, that is worth reading and linking content!

• O ptimization (optimization)

Your website search engine must be programmed and user-friendly!

• L eft (link)

Your site must be well integrated into the network, ie, be linked well!

• T ime (time)

A good ranking will take time. It is just like real life: who is young is not being taken seriously. Google’s trust (and thus the ranking) increases with age. This applies to your domain for your website and for all links!

Each individual component will contribute to the improvement of the Google rankings. For a very good ranking you need at least three of them – but best of everything.

The time factor can outsmart you do not, here you just have to have patience.
So, use the waiting time to do your homework!

Here are some tips for a successful contest, ie drain Qualified Contacts:

1 – Determine your goal and target Contest

- Is it to advertise a product or service
- Is recruit qualified prospects in the marketing (a specific target …)
- Do reward your current customers
- …

Especially set a major goal to achieve and the objectives (criteria for measuring success).

Ex: My goal is to collect email addresses for marketing professionals to send my newsletter marketing. My goal is to recruit 500 emails (with 60% valid).

If your goal is to make the traffic on your site, do not bother asking to fill out a questionnaire and detailed …

By cons, if you want to recruit prospects in your best interest to properly target your contacts (purchasing files) and to propose a question about his intentions of equipment (and agrees to be contacted by your sales team).

2 – Determine your budget and the media

To help you, feel free to calculate what is the value of a customer (= the average sum of all revenue a customer generates at home with his purchases combined).

Depending on your budget you will have access to certain media:

- On your website: almost free.
…

Nb: The renters files are very numerous, Sos Files, compuBase, CD propective (Bis Media), Infobel …

We must also take into account the time available: count 3-4 days to print a flyer, a half day for emailing, 1 day to a simple Web form, and several days for a real website for a contest.

3 – Set the contents of your contest

- The game itself

Is this a survey? Is it simply a draw? Is it restricted to all? Is it reserved for guests only?
Depending on your choice, you will help the impulsive action (lottery, scratch …), or reflection (QCM) or the multiple visits (questionaire in several parts), visiting your site (a matter on your products) .. .

Warning: There is no “contest” under the Act.

- It is a game (the chance comes, for example via a lottery), it must be FREE with the reimbursement of fees, and there is no obligation to buy (separate form for a possible purchase command).
- It is a contest (you rely on the knowledge of the players), without recourse to chance. You can alloir make its participation in a purchase.

- Depreciation:

Always a big batch and then 2 other interesting lots. It is generally acknowledged to offer then the following 7 lots, but you can of course offer more to increase your turnout.
If you do not have enough budget, hire a co-branded partner for the event and offer a portion of appropriations (a logo on the right of participation = 10% of the amount of the campaign).
Prizes must be related to the target: no question of offering a skateboard board for a target of retired …

Tricks: a lot that works well is the gourmet basket homemade with a selection of products you have purchased in a supermarket, another way to get visibility at a trade show is to give stickers that participants can stick around (mind having to remove then …).

Otherwise you can fall back on the boxes Weekendesk with good quality / price ratio, USB sticks, DVDs …
If you want to look more pro, I advise you to appeal to sellers of advertising items to mark your items with your logo (USB, key chain …). Expect long delays, sometimes 3 weeks, because they are often made in Asia.

Nb: it is forbidden to offer coupons on your products … but you can offer gift certificates!

- Imprint
Clearly explain how to participate in your game, the deadline, the method of drawing, how to get the rules for free, your name, SCR, Tel, value retail price of lots, the nature of game / contest, the repayment terms participation fees, how sophisticated its winners … but at the end of the questionnaire so as not to alienate participants.

Warning:

- You must deposit your payment to a bailiff, remember to do so under penalty of stiff fines from the DGCCRF.
- If you distribute papers on public roads add the words “Do not litter the public highway”

4 – Define where and how to store the records of the participants.

If you intend to use the data, always keep a computer file . I also advise you to keep the entries for a few months (to avoid claims …).

If you use paper coupons are planning a ballot box (a box, a cardboard box covered with a paper … elegant or your logo will do), especially the dozens of pens. Also consider the time of the draw will be notified and how the winners.

Nb: The seizure of the coupons on paper is a tedious job (they are often illegible, and they must type on a computer operating …) but you should plan this budget to maximize your time share.

5 – Promote your contest

Advertise everywhere “Great contest” with the magic words like “Free,” “win” … followed by “Click” (nearly 30% of clicks more with this simple word).
The grip is essential to ensure success, therefore treat it up! Then add lots of pictures to encourage your target to participate.
By cons do not make a contest too long or tedious risks alienating the participants …

Nb: if you are emailing a care that your email will not be considered as SPAM (unwanted email). Indeed filters antipam of hotmail, Caramail … analyze email filters and those they felt were “suspicious” (with the words free, millions …). So add some text describing your competition.