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How much does it cost to promote my Web site?
It is very difficult
to give accurate costs associated with specific Web site promotional activities. However, as a very rough guide, the following figures give approximate costs for many
of the advertising and marketing activities described above.
Sharing costs - If you are a member of an affiliate partnership, the overall costs of
promoting your company can be greatly reduced, particularly if you decide on a television or radio advertising campaign which will undoubtedly incur higher marketing
costs. Each partner could contribute a smaller budget to meet the overall costs for such media. Remember, however, that many online marketing activities are either
free or involve very little financial outlay.
Software applications - Most Web log file analysis applications are available
in various “flavours” depending on your specific requirements, e.g., Enterprise solutions, Application Service Provider solutions, SME solutions, etc. You can expect
to pay a few hundred pounds for the simplest package that offers basic analysis facilities and features. At the other extreme, an Enterprise solution that offers
strategic e-business intelligence information, using data obtained from several corporate-wide Web sites, will cost somewhere in the region of $30,000+.
Radio/Television/Press - PressRadio is one of the more expensive promotional options, but can reach a wide Scottish audience. An
eight-week campaign consisting of 15 x 30-second adverts per week will cost in the region of £45,000.
Using the press to promote your Web site will cost
approximately £100,000 for an 8-week period consisting of one insert in the main Scottish daily newspapers and one of the Sunday newspapers.
For television the
figure jumps dramatically, and you can expect prices in the region of £200,000 for 14 x 30-second adverts for 8 weeks.
Internet journals/Magazines - Most Internet magazine publishers offer two advertising and marketing channels. The first is the hard copy of their magazine, and the
second is the Web site equivalent of their magazine.
Advertising costs for the hard copy version will depend on a number of factors, such as the colour you use
(full, spot or mono), whether you run the advert as a one-off or across several magazines, whether you want the advert to appear in the front half of the magazine,
whether the advert appears on the cover of the magazine, etc. On this basis you can expect to pay between £1,000 and £4,000 for a 12-issue advertising run.
Advertising costs for the equivalent Web site version are based on a ‘Cost Per Thousand’ (CPM) impression figure. An ‘impression’ is defined as a single Web page
retrieved from the relevant Web server. Hence, a CPM figure of £100 means that it will cost you £100 for every 1000 Web page impressions.
In general, the CPM
rate is on a decreasing sliding scale depending on the number of impressions you purchase. For example, for 50,000 impressions the CPM figure may be £30 (i.e., £1500
total); for 100,000 impressions the CPM might drop to £28 (£2800 total); and the figure for 500,000 impressions might be £20 (£10,000 total).
Banner advertisements - A banner ad is a link on a third-party Web site which, when clicked, takes the user through to your own Web
site. These banner ads are normally located on the more popular portal sites that have many thousands of visitors (why have a banner ad on a site that no-one ever
visits!), and can be a simple textual hyperlink or a more advanced animated graphic.
Again, the cost depends on the specific portal site(s) you use, and where
the banner ad is actually placed on the site, but on average you can expect a CPM rate of between £10 and £50. The cost for a simple textual banner ad will be cheaper
than an elaborate graphical banner advert.
Some portals may also offer a ‘Cost Per Million’ rate, which could be anywhere between £10,000 and £13,000. You may
also have the option of 'purchasing' keywords from some of the search engine portal sites. Again, costs vary depending on the actual keywords, but the most requested
search words may be available for £150 per CPM, with lesser used words costing between £60 and £150 per word.
Search engines/Web directories - Submitting
your Web site to a search engine does not normally incur any fees or charges. This is also the case for most of the Web directories. Some, however, offer additional
services such as a registration 'fast stream' in which your Web site is guaranteed (if suitable) to be included in the Web directory within, say, 48 working hours.
This might not seem like a worthwhile option, but remember that it can sometimes take weeks, even months, for your Web site to be included in particular Web
directories because all registrations (and there are thousands per day) are checked manually before inclusion in the directory.
Other portal sites may not offer
this 'fast stream' facility, but instead charge a flat rate for your site to be included in their directory. You should assess on an individual basis the target
audience of these Web directories and whether or not your company would benefit from being listed.
New domain names -
Registering a new domain will cost from £10-£50, and can even be done online in a matter of minutes at some Web developer sites (be sure to have your credit card
handy!). Remember that you may wish to register the new domain name in several top-level domains such as ".com", ". co.uk", ".ltd.uk",
".plc.uk", ".uk.com", etc.
Usenet groups - The only costs associated with promoting your Web site in
the Usenet groups will be in the time and resources required within your company. You will need access to the relevant newsgroups (speak to your own Internet Service
Provider to see what groups they actually carry), and you should then:
- identify and target the most relevant group(s);
- try to obtain a copy of the Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQs) for that group to get an idea of the type of postings that are/are not allowed, i.e., understand its 'netiquette';
- perhaps 'lurk' for a while in the newsgroup
(i.e., only read articles posted by others, but do not post any of your own);
- when ready, and if acceptable to that group,
post a suitable article that describes the services, products, goods, information and other facilities available at your site, and describe why it's an essential
resource to newsgroup members;
- assess the effectiveness of your posting and monitor the replies to your message.
If you are not familiar with Usenet groups, or feel uncomfortable posting articles, then you may wish to
employ a marketing consultant to do the work for you and to review the results.
Reciprocal links - There should be no costs associated with setting up
'general' reciprocal links with other Web sites, other than ensuring that your own company Web site has its own link back into the reciprocating site. Such links are
normally set up on a common interest basis, and are included as a courtesy to the other company.
Do not confuse these 'free' reciprocal links with the paid-for
service available with some of the business Web directories. These are not free services, but demand an initial registration fee which may need annual renewal.
Affiliate partnerships - The partnerships you set up with other organisations can range in formality and extent depending on the
nature of the partnership. For example, it may be as simple as each interested party including a hyperlink to all other sites involved in the partnership, and that's
where this partnership begins and ends.
At the other extreme, the partnership may well be more formal (even to the point of exchanging contracts) in which
detailed information is kept on the traffic sent to particular sites, the visitor purchases made at each site, the commission attached to each purchase, etc.
Are there any other online resources?
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