Banner ads?

Print ads?

Spam mail?

Sorry, none of the above! The most effective method of generating Web site traffic is "Search Engine Submissions," followed closely by "Solicited or Opt-In Email".

The following scale demonstrates how each Web marketer rated the over-all effectiveness of the following methods on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most effective.

Search Engine Submissions 3.35

Solicited or Opt-In Email 3.34

Offline Advertising 3.04

Press Release 3.00

Banner Advertising 2.85

Discussion Forums 2.83

Sponsorships 2.61

Newsgroups 2.46

Strategic Linking 2.44

Spam 1.83

As anyone reading this newsletter already knows, "submitting" to search engines, by itself, is just NOT effective. That is only the first part of an effective search engine strategy. You must achieve good search positions for anyone to "find" your listing. This is the real secret to producing the most cost-effective advertising available on the Web. This knowledge will separate you from the vast majority of businesses on the Web who do doing to improve their positions.

Another important highlight of the study demonstrates that Opt-in E-mail is also very effective -- a close second to search engine promotion. If you're looking to expand your business, find a very TARGETED e-mail list or newsletter and negotiate a good rate.

I am happy to see that spam e-mail ranks at the bottom of their effectiveness list. Sending spam can do terrible damage to your reputation and business. Despite all the wonderful claims made by sellers of bulk e-mail software, I still recommend you avoid this method at all cost. Look at targeted, opt-in lists, or collect e-mail addresses on your own site by offering a newsletter or an information package of some kind.

Note that the survey has two parts. Rather than simply rating how to generate traffic, it also rates the most effective methods for generating sales as perceived by the Web marketer. Search engines are close to the top of this chart, but opt-in mailing lists rate a little higher in this category. This I feel is because sales associated with a specific mass e-mailing are more easily tracked than sales from search engine traffic unless special software is used.

Search engine promotion offers an advantage over most other advertising because you can get effective results without having to spend hard earned money. Unlike acquiring mailing lists or buying banner ad impressions from other sites, search engine submission and positioning is FREE. The trick to making a big profit is simply knowing the secrets of doing it properly and having the tools to automate some of the work.

Special thanks goes to WebPromote (http://www.webpromote.com) who recently highlighted this study in their newsletter, and who use WebPosition Analyzer in their own business. We normally try to print news that has not been published elsewhere but I thought many of you would be interested in seeing the results of the WebCMO study.

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