You might’ve read somewhere about sneeze pages, which are single pages where you guide your website or blog readers to find a cluster of information on one specific topic. Darren Rowse has a great post about the different types of sneeze pages, and why they can drive readers deeper into your blog, but I wanted to get past that a little, and talk about developing a process with how to create them.

The thing about sneeze pages is that they can really target a specific group of readers on your site. I’m going to talk about the pages I’m planning on creating here on the Anubis Marketing blog, but you can create them for any kind, on any topic.

One of the first things you might want to do is get yourself set up with an analytics program so that you can see what’s already bringing readers to your site. I use 103bees, because it not only tracks search queries, but it shows you exact questions (”How do I…?”) so that you can better target future posts, or see where your blog is getting the most attention. One of the most popular posts on this site is one I wrote ages ago when someone forwarded me information on a plagiarism checker website.

Now what this tells me is that there are people who are concerned about one of two things. Either they’re worried that people are plagiarizing their stuff, or they want to repost something and see if and where it’s already posted (common with sites that use article repositories to get content - something I’m not too fond of, but that’s another story).

Since I don’t condone the use of article repositories, I’m going to go with encouraging users to check their own content to see if anyone else is ripping it. Now, I have to think about what kind of bloggers would be concerned with that. It’s likely NOT big corporations, because many of those either don’t care, or aren’t aware of it as a potential issue. It’s probably going to be smaller businesses where there is only one or two proprietors, and they’re writing their hearts out to help customers (past and future) and to display their authority on the subject at hand.

So what else would those kinds of bloggers be interested in?

Maybe they’d want to know about ways to protect their copyright.

In that case, I’ll write a post about tools online that can help you protect your copyright, and maybe another post about the confusing laws when it comes to the internet. Ignorance is not innocence, and I’m telling you that people WILL rip your content when you have a blog. Wouldn’t you want to know what you can do about it?

So there are already 2-3 posts for my sneeze page. Notice, I don’t have a title for it yet, because I want to make sure I’m on the right train with things first.

Now I’ll keep running with this process, coming up with ideas on what might be of major interest to these small business bloggers. How about a post on ways to get more readers? Or one about what your job as a blogger means, as opposed to your “regular job” in your small business? I can keep going on this, but I don’t want THIS to turn into a sneeze page! I’ll be creating some of these soon, so you’ll find more examples there. *wink*

So you’ve got a good bunch of ideas for a themed sneeze page. Now you’ve got to come up with a title that’s going to attract that targeted audience. You don’t want to be overly creative here, because people looking for information are looking for it NOW. Get creative with post titles, but point people to your sneeze page with direct language.

“Important Tips for Small Business Bloggers”
“Are You a Small Business Blogger?”
“Small Business Blog Resources”

All of these titles will work, and you need to maintain the natural tone of language in your blog, so you can avoid looking like what you’ve compiled is out of place.

Now, there are many different kinds of sneeze pages, but this is one type. The point with this kind is to build it up and THEN come up with a title. Sometimes when you’re writing a post, it’s the opposite, but in this case, you need to collect the info, possibly write MORE on the topic, and then create the compiled list of resources. If you’re writing something like Darren’s 31 Days to Building a Better Blog, you’ll want to announce the project and then proceed with the posts, updating the sneeze page as you go.

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This is a question I get all the time: What does adding functionality to a web site mean?

Basically the conversation gets to this point when I start talking to people about how their sites need to be designed for their visitors, and not for the search engines or for rankings or what have you. Adding functionality to your site means that you’re giving it ease of usability and helping your visitors perform the tasks they’ve set out to perform when visiting your site. Regardless of what those tasks are.

For example: Your site is optimized for the phrase “blue widgets” because that’s one of your company’s most popular products. So when a visitor comes to your site after searching for “blue widgets”, they’re clearly looking for one of two things: a) They’re looking to buy blue widgets, or b) They’re looking for more information about blue widgets.

Adding functionality to the web site would mean to do some or all of the following:

• The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have a page for selling blue widgets (via a shopping cart system - if you’re not donig this yet, stop right now and get on it!), and a few pages about blue widgets. What do they do? Why are they better (or worse) than green widgets? Etcetera.
• Have a good navigation system. The functionality comes in when you provide links to all of these information pages from your sales page, AND from each other. Make the links stand out by putting them under a “Related information:” type header.
• Give your site visitors the chance to do a search for “blue widgets” from YOUR site. Give them the option of either searching just your site, or searching the web. More on Adding Search Functionality to Your Web Site.
• Allow your site visitors to share their stories about their experiences, or ask questions about blue widgets right on your site. This can best be achieved by either offering a “comments” section on your articles, or at the very least, asking for feedback and offering a contact form where they can submit their responses directly to you. Or both!
• Depending on your site’s back end, it can be very simple and easy to add photos in a unique way and further intrique and catch the interest of your site visitors. People want to see what they’re buying, and they want to see it in action. Create slideshows and not just thumbnails, and your visitors might just find themselves surfing your site’s other products just to see the pictures!
• Polls. Contests. Giveaways. Be it the color of your next big widget or just what else they’d like to see on the web site. People LOVE to give their input, as much as they love the chance to get something for free, so any way you can give them this opportunity, they’ll take it.
• Create a section of your site for “members only” access. Include “premium” articles, discount offers, and so on. This not only provides your users with a feeling of being important to you, but it also allows you to collect email addresses from people who are clearly interested in your company’s offerings, for sending newsletters or special announcements later on.
• Offer real time industry news feeds, live on your site. Again, people are coming to you seeking information - the more you give, the more they’ll remember you, and the higher the chance they’ll come back.

This list is by no means exhaustive. But the bottom line is that “brochure sites” are just a huge waste of time and resources these days. They bore people, and they don’t ever stand out to give the visitor any reason on Earth to remember you or come back. Gone are the days of simple one- or three-pages sites just to say “Hey, here we are.” Web sites like that have long fallen by the wayside, and have absolutely no hopes of ever coming back, thank goodness!

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Wikipedia says the following about Internet marketing:

Internet marketing is the use of the Internet to advertise and sell goods and services. Internet Marketing includes pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, interactive advertising, search engine marketing (including search engine optimization), blog marketing, and article marketing.

This is essentially how I’ve always viewed Internet marketing in terms of what I do for a living. However it seems that lately there’s been a change in the way that phrase is used. I see lots of “Internet marketers” out there - but for the most part, they are individuals selling e-book courses and using what are called “squeeze pages” to do the majority of their marketing. They use phrases like “list building” and “joint ventures”, and charge you anywhere from $19.95 to several hundred dollars, sometimes over a thousand, to “teach you the secrets of success”.

While I don’t have a huge problem with these types of “businesses”, I’m kind of feeling a little like they’ve ripped a phrase that’s been used for years to define one type of business, and are twisting it around to be something completely different.

Can an individual learn to market their business online, by themself? Sure they can. Will one of those e-book courses teach them? Not necessarily - I think it would depend on the business. If you’re selling an e-book, and that alone is your business, then yes, you could probably learn something. But if you’ve got a bricks and mortar store, or a company that offers services as opposed to tangible goods, then you’re going to need a little more than just learning how to write a good sales pitch or find people to sign up for a joint venture, or how to build a list of subscribers to your email newsletter.

Some of the individual things I do as an Internet marketer for my clients are far beyond the realm of what’s written in these books. Some of those things, I don’t do at all, because they either don’t fit the scope of what the client’s needs are, or I don’t feel that they’re worth the effort, and would rather use the time more wisely. Part of being able to run a successful Internet marketing business is the fact that I’ve got over five years of experience doing this, and I’ve spent that time watching and learning about what works and what doesn’t. Does Mr. Businessowner have that amount of time to spend, in lieu of the money he’s spending on those e-book courses and emails subscriptions? I think not. I do what I do so that the business owner can focus on what he or she knows best, the business.

In the end, I guess those types of courses and sessions have their place - but it bothers me that there’s too much potential for confusion between what they teach, and what companies like Anubis Marketing do. REAL Internet marketing doesn’t involve a website (or worse, a single page) chock full of keyword-rich articles and affiliate links and Google ads to make money. It’s not something that happens overnight, and it’s not for those seeking a “get rich quick” opportunity. It should be an accompaniment to all other classic, standard forms of advertising for a full-fledged business.

What do you think of the phrase “Internet marketing”? Do you agree that it’s being misused at times, or do you feel that it’s a broad enough phrase to cover both kinds of approaches? Let us know in the comments.

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