Please give us a short description of the work that you do through your Web site, Promotion World.

At Promotion World I try to help all levels of Webmasters, from beginner to advanced, promote their Web sites more effectively. I do this by presenting articles, tutorials, reviews, and interviews in an easy to understand way.

I also run a companion newsletter that offers even more ideas on a regular basis. Judging by some of the emails I receive each day, my tips are much appreciated.

But, as I am sure you have already learned from looking around WebWord.com, promotion is absolutely pointless if you don't have your Web site looking its best. You are really just wasting your time.

One of my favorite quotes, (I can't recall who first said it, I may have even made it up myself for all I know), is "don't invite the dinner guests over until the dining room is built".

It is the same with promotion. If you don't adequately prepare, your guests will not feel welcome and will probably not ever come back. It is also a waste of your time.


Why is Web site promotion necessary?

Without promoting your Web site, you won't receive many visitors to your Web site. If you are trying to sell a product, you won't sell very many units if nobody ever sees your sales material. If you are trying to sell advertising, not many people will view your ads if nobody visits your site. And if you have a personal home page, well, you still want people to come by and see all those pictures of you!


What are some effective free and paid promotion techniques for Web sites?

There are many, many ideas and methods in use out there. There are also many different ways to use those ideas and methods.  But the main, most basic free ways to promote your site are to:

• Optimize your site for the search engines, and work to achieve a good listing.
  
• Trade links with other sites on a similar topic.
  
• Win some awards. There are a number of large Web sites out there that give out "best of the web awards" that can bring in traffic.

There are a many other free promotion ideas, but it would take up too much space to talk about them all here. Instead I recommend that you read my in depth promotion tutorial.

If you want more heavy hitting, faster results promotion, you may have to fork over some money. These are some of the most effective ideas:

• Buy some banner advertising. You can get your banner seen by hundreds of people!
  
• Purchase advertising in email based newsletters. You can get some great deals using this advertising method!
  
• Start an affiliate program. This is where you get other web site owners to resell your product, and you give them a commission on all they sell. Good ideas can be found at several Web sites. I recommend AssociatePrograms.com.

Again, this is not an all inclusive list, but it covers some of the basic, most popular ideas.


What are the short and long term benefits of promotion?

It depends. There are some people that work for many months at promoting their sites before they see any significant increase in their site's traffic. There are others that discover the key right at the beginning and hit it off really well.

I know that for myself when I got Promotion World listed in Yahoo, I had a sudden surge of traffic. I received over 600 visitors in one day to my Web site. It has since quieted down, but I still receive over 150 visitors a day from them. That's a large portion of my daily traffic.

Some things, however, such as a banner exchange service might only give short term results.

Getting listed in the search engines is a good example of something that gives long term results. As it can take months to get listed on the search engines, you should take
the time now to get listed properly. Don't just do a slap up job of it, take the time to do it right. Make sure your site, keywords and Meta Tags are they best they can be before you submit. Remember, if you make a mistake it can take months to fix it.


Are banner programs effective? Do associate programs work?

Wow, these are big questions. I could go on for pages on just the first question... in fact, I have! If you are interested, see my article on banner programs. 

Affiliate programs? In a lot of cases, no, they don't work. But I am seeing a growing number of well thought out programs (usability here!) where the owner listens to user feedback, and makes a good worthwhile program for all involved.

I have never run one myself, but I know many people that do. And when done right, they can be very profitable for all involved. I have made a large amount of money from affiliate/associate programs in the past.

For more information, I would again urge you to visit the most comprehensive site on the Internet about associate programs.


Provide us with your thoughts on this statement: 'A Web site with poor usability should NOT be promoted.'

I would again like to quote my favorite quote, "don't invite the dinner guests over until the dining room is built".

However, everyone has to start somewhere, and you are never going to get perfect usability on your Web site the first time around.

I would say, get it to where you and everyone you know think it works well, and then promote it. However, be ready to make major changes to the site as soon as you receive feedback. It's the only way to really stay on top of it these days.


Do you have any final comments?

Make sure that your Web site is the best that you can make it before you start promoting, and when you do start promoting it, make sure you react to visitor feedback quickly.

Thank you Mr. Reimer for your time and valuable ideas.

(This interview was conducted via email by John S. Rhodes)