New Article from Corey Perlman - Hurl Your Url!

Hurl Your URL
Build Your Online Presence with Offline Strategies

I'm an Internet marketer by trade and have been studying the topic for over ten years. I recently attended a great seminar where my friend and colleague, Tony Rubleski from Mind Capture Group, was speaking on the benefits of marketing. It was such a pleasure to hear one great strategy after another and not hear one word about Google, Yahoo or MSN. He wasn't discounting the importance of online marketing; he was just reminding us that implementing smart, cost-effective offline marketing strategies is still a very effective way to promote your products and services. It was a refreshing reminder that the most successful marketers of the world have a variety of tools to choose from and determine the best offline or online strategy based on one simple question: who is the audience that they are marketing to?

So in honor of my good friend Tony, this article will focus on three offline strategies that you can use to promote your Website (aka Hurl Your URL). Your mission is to get as many eyeballs as you can to see your URL (for you non-techies out there, that's your Website address) and then make it memorable or appealing enough so they run to a computer and get to your homepage.

Strategy #1: Your Business Card!

So for some of you, this was an easy one as you calmly pulled out your business card, saw your Website address on it and gave yourself a nice pat on the back. Others got that not-so-good feeling in their gut as they were figuring out how many cards they need to blow through until it's time for a reprint and they can finally save face. If you are one of those people who are in need of a reprint, don't worry, you're not alone. I'd say it's usually about half the audience in my seminars and workshops who need to get their URL on their business cards. But the other half who thought they were safe are not out of the woods yet either.

You see, simply having your URL on your cards is good, but giving the person a great call to action is the ticket to having a higher rate of response. So I look (most of the time on the back of the business card) for some type of offer or enticement for me to stop the seminar or workshop I'm conducting and go straight to their Website. I think I may have had two in the past five years that were good enough to make me do that.

So whether you are starting with no URL or a URL with no call to action, you have some work to do prior to your next print run. Give an article a way with great tips, or an awesome coupon for your product or service, something that drives people to your Website and motivates them to take action.

Strategy #2 Your Receipts!

You may have noticed lately that the large chains are starting to catch on to Hurling their URL on your purchase receipts AND giving a great call to action. The idea here is to get the customer to your Website and then to ask them to leave their name and email in exchange for something of value (i.e. coupon, free article, entry into a giveaway). Then, you can send them periodic emails with more great offers and timely coupons. It's a true win-win for you and your customers.

Strategy #3 Your marketing materials (including flyers, pens, water bottles, postcards, your CAR!, pamphlets, CDs, etc)

I have a file where I keep all marketing materials I find without the company's Website address. I plan to one day have a bonfire at my house and have a No URL marketing material burning party. You must Hurl Your URL on every piece of paraphernalia that your company sends out. And then you must create, yep, you guessed it, an intriguing call to action that makes them press pause on their Tivo episode of The Biggest Loser and jump online to get to your Website.

Speaking of call to action, I have an eNewsletter that I send out once a month with strategies and tips to increase your Google ranking and drive more traffic to your Website. If that doesn't entice you enough, I also give out my personal recommended resources for keyword suggestion sites, hosting sites, enewsletter and blogging sites, etc. If you could use more leads coming through the doors of your Website, don't wait, go sign up for it. By the way, it's completely free. No strings. The Web address is in my bio below.

Ok, decent example of a call to action? Now it's your turn! Good luck!

Corey Perlman has been studying Internet marketing for the last ten years. He teaches courses and seminars where he provides small business owners techniques and strategies to dominate the search engines. His book, eBoot Camp, is being published by Wiley Publishing and is due in stores in January, 2009. Go to http://www.theebootcamp.com for more information on his seminars and to reserve your copy of his book. You can also visit his blog and register for his free eNewsletter at http://www.coreyperlman.com.