Some online strategy guidelines that can help you as you draft your Web marketing plan

1. Build brand awareness
The more people are awareof your company and the products and services it has to offer, the more likely they will be to buy. To increase awareness of your website, and your company, you will want to funnel in visitors from as many relevant sources as possible. That means establishing "hyperlinks" with other sites that share your target audience, as well as listing your company on hot search engines such as Google, Lycos , Yahoo! or Vinaseek. Remember that the online world is a series of interconnected "communities," so keep this in mind as you develop awareness strategies.

It is also important to advertise and solicit public relations attention to your site. Advertising can be expensive, but it works, and you can control the message. Public relations can also be effective, but you have much less control over the message and how your company is presented. Contact those media journalists-- both online and off-- who are most likely to cover your industry or company. Make a list of target media contacts and send them a press release or drop an email message inviting them to visit your site. Give them a specific reason to come, and make sure your site can deliver what you promise.

2. Direct response
in addition to building awareness, many marketers want to stimulate direct action. Direct-response techniques encourage consumers to order products, request more information, receive a sales call, and otherwise "get involved." Direct marketing also allows for efficient tracking and testing of various sales messages and the ability to generate immediate revenues-- today!

Tactically, you could provide visitors with a simple order form along with a secure means of payment. Or you could develop promotional giveaways or contests to generate excitement while capturing valuable customer information for future marketing initiatives.

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