200 Marketing Ideas for Your Website - Henriette Martel-Lawson

In a nutshell, 200 Marketing Ideas For Your Website (available also in ebook format) is an excellent, engaging read and I would highly recommend it to people new to the world of ecommerce and web marketing. Even seasoned site owners and marketers can pick up some very valuable ideas from Henriette's book.

200 Marketing Ideas For Your Website isn't complex or filled with hype and buzzwords as so many other publications on the subject of web marketing can tend to be. The book contains over 200 pages of intelligent ideas and strategies; in a logical sequence and in bite sized format.

You'll learn how to:

Attract visitors and keep your site "sticky"
Portray confidence and competence to your visitors
Properly present your products for online sales
Up-sell and cross-sell to increase profitability
Gather information from your visitors for marketing purposes
Gain and utilize feedback effectively
Create a community of users
Provide excellent customer support
Protect your business
Create content that engages your potential clients
Turn visitors into buyers

One of the other problems I've struck with similar books is that they have a tendency to contain 10% good ideas and 90% filler text. Henriette doesn't waste the readers time - she launches straight into the how, why, when and where of each strategy, giving you exactly what you need to know.

As you'll see by the table of contents from the book I've reproduced below; there's more to the effective marketing of a site than just a handful of strategies. There are so many ways that you can draw, hold and convert traffic and this book covers all the strategies that I can think of - and then some! In a corporate environment, this book would make an excellent reference for marketing meetings to inspire productive brainstorming sessions.

200 Marketing Ideas for Your Website - Table of Contents

A practical guide containing marketing ideas gathered from successful websites reviewed especially for this book.

Introduction

PART 1 Product Information

Visuals & Sound

1. Product 'in context'
2. Multiple angles
3. Tangible clues for quality
4. Individual versus group shots
5. Thumbnails
6. Product composition
7. Product colours
8. Unique attributes
9. 'Feel'
10. Location shots
11. Lifestyle photos
12. Meaningful pictures
13. 'Service' shot
14. Sound
15. Audio introduction

Product Details

16. Benefits & features
17. Target market
18. Substantiation
19. Graphs & charts
20. Exclusivity & customisation

Information Structure

21. Hierarchy of information
22. Product groupings
23. Categories
24. One-page information
25. Product ranking
26. Comparison shopping
27. Backup information
28. Mouseovers
29. Problem & solution

Supplementary Information

30. Product use
31. Product in action
32. Product history
33. Product applications
34. Virtual tour
35. Fun facts & curios

PART 2 Editorial & Tools

Editorial Information

36. Blog
37. Tutorials
38. Articles
39. White papers
40. Webinars
41. Step-by-step guides
42. Glossary
43. Library
44. Interviews
45. Reviews
46. Elsewhere
47. Useful links
48. Directory

Self-service Tools

49. Buyer's guides
50. Product content tools
51. Calculators
52. Self-assessment tools
53. Design tools
54. Virtual models

PART 3 Credentials

55. Testimonials
56. Experts & customers reviews
57. Portfolio
58. Case studies
59. Client list
60. Story selling
61. Makeovers
62. Endorsement seal
63. Expert endorsement
64. Celebrity endorsement
65. Product awards

PART 4 Sales Strategies

Selling Approaches

66. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
67. Pricing
68. Packaging
69. Bundling
70. Solution & prevention
71. Projects supply
72. Ask the expert
73. Fear
74. Worthy cause
75. Pre-selling

Cross-selling

76. Complementary products
77. Target products
78. Accessories
79. Affiliate program

Sales Promotion

80. Top sellers
81. Web exclusives
82. Coupons
83. Hot prices
84. Free offers
85. Free samples
86. Bonus packs
87. Joint vouchers
88. Volume discounts
89. Cumulative discounts
90. Purchase plans
91. Rebates on next purchase
92. Loyalty programs
93. Last minute deals
94. Clearance outlet
95. Chance to win

Gift Ideas

96. Types of gift certificates
97. Gift giving solution
98. Gift advisor
99. Gift wrapping
100. Gift search options
101. Gift plans
102. Corporate gift certificates
103. Gift registry

PART 5 Database Builders

104. Product registration
105. Event registration
106. Registration incentives
107. E-newsletter
108. Daily tips delivery
109. Daily audio tips
110. Memberships
111. Tracking trade w/customers
112. Email notifications
113. Free e-course
114. Series
115. Contests

PART 6 Community

116. Art gallery
117. Community photo gallery
118. Forums
119. Community product reviews
120. Community news & articles
121. Favourite links
122. Production involvement
123. Free personal webpages
124. Classified ads
125. Networking
126. Tributes
127. Calendar
128. Guest books
129. Event sponsorship
130. Community contest
131. Charity contest

PART 7 Freebies & Games

Fun & Freebies

132. Cartoons
133. Daily quotes, facts & tips
134. Freebies
135. Desktop calendars/ wallpapers
136. Greeting e-cards & postcards

Competitions

137. Scavenger hunt
138. Joint scavenger hunt
139. Competitions

Games

140. Sliding puzzles
141. Memory games
142. Word search games
143. Hangman
144. Daily games
145. Quizzes
146. Crossword puzzles

PART 8 Customer Service

Customer Support

147. Technical support
148. FAQs
149. User manuals

Communication

150. Discontinued product alert
151. Reminder messages
152. Wish list

Cross-channel Services

153. Catalogue
154. Offline & online traffic
155. Offline classes
156. Print documentation

Policies

157. Security
158. Privacy
159. Internet security options
160. Guarantees

E-commerce Functions

161. Niche inventory
162. Catalogue quick shop
163. Order form
164. Currency converter
165. Shipping & delivery
166. Shipping options
167. Tracking system

PART 9 About Us

Who You Are

168. Your team
169. Your organisation
170. Business history
171. Awards
172. Partnerships & alliances
173. Featured employee

Recruitment of Staff

174. Job opportunities
175. Employee benefits
176. Premises virtual tour

Public Relations (PR)

177. Media corner

Investor Relations (IR)

178. Investors corner

PART 10 Contact Us

179. Contact details
180. Contact forms
181. Email address
182. Real-time help
183. Store locator (for offline stores)
184. Map

PART 11 Navigation Tools

185. Internal links
186. Menus
187. Site index
188. Site search engine
189. Site map
190. Breadcrumbs
191. Virtual tour
192. What's New
193. Logo as a navigation tool

PART 12 Marketing Tools

Feedback

194. Feedback

Surveys & polls

195. Surveys
196. Instant polls

Site Promotion

197. Tell a friend
198. Bookmark this page
199. Link to Us
200. Make this home

Conclusion

Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: URLs of Example

Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources