What's your favorite search engine?
Mine used to be Infoseek. For a while Infoseek was the only
search engine I used, and the name "Infoseek" was fixed on
my mind as the place to go whenever I wanted to find
something on the Internet.
But I could care less about Infoseek nowadays.
I never use it anymore.
After Disney bought Infoseek in 1998, they changed the name
to Go.com. "Alright", you might say, "can't you take a name
change?" Well, problem is, it wasn't just a name change, it
was a total elimination of the Infoseek brand.
The whole visuals of the site were changed, and what's even
worse, the Go.com site became an entertainment oriented
search engine. It was still a search engine, but it neither
looked nor felt the same as good old Infoseek (and the
search results were not the same as before).
Infoseek was struggling, which is why Disney bought it. But
it was still a heck of a brand name, an asset which Disney
completely neglected. The result is that a lot of people who
used Infoseek before have now switched to other search
engines.
In fact, the brand kill was so destructive that Go.com
doesn't maintain its own index anymore (it serves results
from GoTo.com). Infoseek/Go.com is as good as dead, and the
brand change by Disney had without a doubt a profound role
in the failure.
What can be learnt from this? Well, first point: branding is
very important. It can make or break a business venture.
Second point: branding is psychological. It exists in the
minds of customers and prospects. When I say, "Image is
nothing. Thirst is everything", I can bet that the name of a
popular fizzy lemonade will pop up in your mind. That's the
power of branding for you.
And third point: repeated exposure to the brand is vital to
producing a successful brand. When the Infoseek brand was
gone, the search engine somehow lost its "meaning".
And just to make it absolutely clear what Web branding
really is, here's a short definition:
The purpose of branding is to get people to recall your
company/product/service from memory. The ultimate aim is to
get people to trust you more than the competition, and to
think of your Web site before they think of the
competition's Web site.
Branding isn't just for the big companies. It's just as
important to the small business entrepreneur, especially
online business owners. With cutthroat competition on the
Web, those who don't brand will probably go out of
business.
Here are several hands-on branding strategies for you to
apply to your own Web site, using your business name and
your own name:
1. Repetition - This is very important: keep all of your
design elements the same from page to page. Most
importantly, display your logo at the top of each page,
consistently throughout your Web site. Your Web site must
have its own distinct "feel".
2. Newsletter/Ezine - Use your mailing list to push your
domain name and slogan (consisting of your Unique Selling
Proposition). If you have an ezine, create a header that
contains your domain name and your slogan. Use this same
header in all issues of your ezine.
3. Domain name - Use your domain name as your brand. Put it
on all of your stationary (letter heads, business cards,
post cards, statements, etc.).
4. Signature file - Implement your USP into your signature
file, so with every email you send visitors will be further
exposed to your brand. Check out the help file of your email
software for more on setting up sig files.
5. Thank you pages - If you have online forms (for visitors
to contact you, request more information, subscribe to your
newsletter etc.), you most likely have a "thank you" page
where you thank visitors for using your form. This is an
excellent place to position your logo and slogan. Don't
clutter with lots of banners and marketing material. Keep it
plain and simple.
6. Ebooks - Create free books on subjects of interest to
your visitors and allow them to re-distribute to their own
visitors. Brand your ebook with your logo, domain name and
slogan on every page of the ebook (also consider including
your own name).
7. Publish free articles - With thousands of new Web sites
and ezines popping up in Web land every month, the demand
for high quality content is immense. You can provide
articles for other webmasters/editors to publish on their
Web sites/ezines. At the end of your article put your name
and a link to your Web site, with short teaser copy to get
people to click on your link (offer a free book,
subscription to your ezine or some other enticing offer -
see my resource box at the end for an example). This is free
publicity at its best - not only will you get traffic back
to your Web site; you'll also add status and credibility to
your name (provided your article is of high quality). Visit
the following sites to submit your articles:
- http://www.e-zinez.com/articles/index.html
- http://www.ideamarketers.com/
- http://www.ezinearticles.com/
8. Autoresponders - These are emails that are sent
automatically to anyone who requests them (triggered by
sending them an email). Autoresponders are great as they
work 24 hours a day without any intervention on your part.
Use them to send visitors free reports, articles, list of
links, etc. And add your branding copy (logo, name, slogan,
USP etc.) at the top and bottom of the autoresponder
message, with a link back to your Web site. Nowadays all
good Web hosts provide their customers with free
autoresponders.
If you don't brand, you'll have a hard time surviving on the
Web. If you do brand - properly - you'll have a hard time
not laughing all the way to the bank. And as shown by the
above tips, online branding is not hard to do. Just
implement the tips and you'll be well on your way.
About the Author
Said Rouhani is the owner of
All-About-Making-Money-Online.com - a free resource showing
you exactly how to make money online, without the hype:
http://www.all-about-making-money-online.com/
Subscribe to his newsletter and get a FREE home biz ebook:
http://www.all-about-making-money-online.com/newsletter/