Online Business


The Hispanic Small Business' Guide To Monetizing A Web Site  part 2 for part 1 click here

IV. Wikipedia: More than Colaboración

Many people think of Wikipedia simply as an online encyclopedia; a place for the kids to do their homework. Turns out it is much more than that: it could be one of your best online marketing tools. Why? because Wikipedia is not “owned” by any one individual editor and this means that provided you have somewhat of a brand or story behind your company or its owners, there is an opportunity to let this great tool tell the world about it.

Let’s take for example the now famous Homies figurines. Now, I love the Homies, but I would say that they are hardly in the same category as Cesar Chavez or Einstein (both extensively written up in Wikipedia). But sure enough there is a complete entry in Wikipedia about the Homies, complete with a hyperlink to the product’s official web site.

Now, I am not sure who actually added the entry. All I can I say is that searches for Jarritos, Goya Foods and Fernando Espuelas all returned comprehensive write ups. Now, a word of caution, “vanity” Wikipedia entries are not allowed and so this tactic may not be appropriate for every company and entrepreneur out there. But provided that your company has an up and coming brand or you are an up and coming entrepreneur, then this may be the right thing for you.

To get started, simply create a Wikipedia account (it is free) and start familiarizing yourself with this fascinating collaboration tool and all it has to offer.

V. Build Traffic the Cheapo Way

Ah … the million dollar question: so, how do I build great, sustainable traffic to my site .. without spending tons of money? Well, by now you probably know that it is not easy, unless you happen to be sitting on the next mega-viral, social networking site. The good news is that it is possible. However much like building your business, it will take some work and some time. Also keep in mind that that the most effective tactics will do no good unless your product and or content are any good. But assuming that there’s a market / audience for your goods, here are some tactics that could bring you incremental traffic and business to your site:

• Search. We all want to be on that top search results spot in Google and Yahoo!. But the truth is that it is not that easy and in fact an entire industry has blossomed around helping companies get a top search engine ranking. However there are a couple of things you can do to help your search position. First, be sure to re-submit your site at least 2-3 times a year. Search engines are constantly changing the algorithms that assign a site its ranking and so it is a good practice to re-submit your site every now and then.

Another good practice is to reach out to those few that have the top rankings in the search results page and request a link from their site to yours. Here’s a great example: as of November 2006 a Google search for “hispanic small businesses” yielded the smallbusinessnotes.com site as the top result. This is the position I have always wanted for my site but in lieu of getting this spot we managed to get a hyperlink from that site to ours thus getting some nice “flow through” traffic.

Curious about paid search? Assuming that you have a budget, I will say that it works and that its performance based model is better than conventional banner advertising. If you want to try it out, both Yahoo! and Google offer trial promotions that will reward you up to $75 in clicks in exchange for a one time $5 set up-fee. This is a super bargain and a great way to “test drive” paid search. I sometimes post the addresses to these offers in the HispanicSMB.com Blog.

• Foros. Consumers love forums. They love posting, replying and generating controversy. Forums are where a good part of the Word of Mouth takes place in the Internet. They are also a great, free way to drive highly targeted traffic to your site. Simply sign up for one of the major portals, select the most appropriate forum dealing with your product or service and simply post a short friendly comment about your offering with a hyperlink to your site. Please keep in mind two things: a) some forums have restrictions on inclusion of hyperlinks to 3rd party sites and b) if you post on a high traffic site your posting will rapidly disappear under newer topics and so you must do this periodically and consistently in order for the clicks to sustain.

• Links Exchange. This is a highly effective, yet time consuming, tactic for increasing traffic to your site. In addition to delivering incremental traffic to your site, incoming links are important because they improve your search engine ranking. Search Engine Marketing experts will tell you that one of the key variables in search engines’ algorithms is “popularity” as measured by the number and importance of the sites that link to your site. And so getting others (sites and Blogs alike) to link to your site is well worth it. Please remember that whenever requesting a link to your site, the other party will invariably ask that you do in kind and so if you do not have one already, be sure to set up a ‘links’ page on your site (provided it does not ruin its aesthetics). Lastly, please stay away from link exchange networks: they rarely ever deliver quality traffic.

• PR. Used to be that in order to get your name out there in front of the world you had hire a top notch PR agency. And while this is still true if you want to be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or La Opinión, there are some tactics that work very well for the business owner on a budget. First, pick a subject for your press release. It could be a new product, geographic expansion or maybe even a new star hire. Next, write the press release. Here you may need some help, but if you go online and read a few of them you may just be able to hack it yourself. Next, is the key part: distribution. One of the best options is PRweb.com which for well under $100 will distribute your press release around the country, regionally or locally (your choice) through Google News and Yahoo! News amongst others. Because so many sites syndicate Google and Yahoo! news you will find that coverage can be quite good. PRWeb.com will naturally also include your press release in their site and so you can use the unique address (URL) of your press release and forward it to local or regional media who may pick up the story.

Juan Silvera is considered one of the foremost authorities in Hispanic online marketing and eCommerce emerging trends. Since 1995 he has worked closely with countless Global 1,000 companies to help them conceive effective online strategies. He was a founding executive of Fusive (later sold to SAIC) where he was responsible for the firm’s Latin American practice. Subsequently he was Managing Partner of Connetation GmbH, an Austrian interactive agency servicing clients in central Europe. More recently he was a partner in LATINTHRE3, the largest independent interactive agency in the Hispanic and Latin American markets. In addition to publishing http://www.hispanicsmb.com, Juan is the Director of eCommerce Emerging Trends and Analysis at one of the largest banks in the U.S. He currently lives in Charlotte, NC.

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