Your Yahoo Marketing Plan - the complete business guide to getting the most out of Yahoo

by Melissa Brewer

Yahoo is the largest website in the world, and there is a reason for it. It's pretty much the first live web community combined with search engine technology. Millions of people use it for many purposes on a daily basis. When marketing to search engines, especially a monster like Yahoo, it's pretty much impossible to know where to start your promotions. You can always add your website to Yahoo results for a flat fee or bid on keywords using Overture. The truth is, there are many amazing free services that Yahoo offers which can add credibility, and linkability, to your business.

First things first: Make sure you have a Yahoo profile filled out with keywords and a professional description. Your Yahoo profile can talk about your business and link to your websites. Make sure you fill it out completely and use it to link to where you have a presence online - your website, blog, or social networking profiles. Explain what your business does, upload a few pictures, and keep it professional. Simple enough, right? You can get your profile at www.yahoo.com.

Here's a rundown of all the ways you can use to gain more visibility from this marketing giant.

Free Yahoo Marketing Tools:

These are all of the free tools Yahoo offers to help you grow your business.

1. Explore, submit and manage your website listings, free with Yahoo Site Explorer. Yes, that's right - it's free . Yahoo requires some authentication with this, but you can add your website and upload a small text file to your server to verify ownership. You can also track multiple websites (without confirmation) so you can keep an eye on the competition - including how many pages are indexed and who's linking to them. Yahoo also lets you submit your RSS, blog, and other feeds in this section - all free. Check the Yahoo Site Explorer Blog to find out how you can submit your entire site map to Yahoo, free.
2. Add your multimedia to Yahoo. It's free and easy - any RSS technology your business uses will be included in the Yahoo search engines.
   
3. Become a Widget Builder. Distribute an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news widget if you have a blog or website that publishes articles or news. You'll be featured in the Widget Gallery and anyone who is interested in your topic can download your feed widget any time they want. That means you'll be on their desktop whenever you post. (If you don't know how to make one, here's an excellent article for technical guidance on RSS widget creation. Yahoo also has some information in their help section about Widget creation as well as forums for developers to help each other out.
4. Join Yahoo Answers and answer questions in the industry you're involved in. There are questions in pretty much any category - law, fashion, art, entertainment, movies... You get the idea. Every time you answer a question, your profile gets linked to. You can also establish yourself as an expert if you have some time on your hands to answer a ton of questions. Otherwise, it may be best to set your sights on answering one question a day. Don't want to use a photo in Yahoo Answers? You can create your own free avatar on Yahoo easily and add it to your profiles and your Yahoo Answers account.
5. Create a Yahoo Group or at least join a few on the topic of your business. There are thousands of fan and expertise groups that interact regularly by sending out a newsletter or answering questions from group members. Make sure you fill out all of the information on your group and add your links to the group directory, if allowed.(You'll also want to remember to use your signature and tag lines when you post.)
   
6. Create a basic free web page in Geocities. Link to all of your important places on the web. You'll be included in Geocities search results. Add your Geocities page link to your Yahoo profile while you're at it.
   
7. Use Yahoo Web Calendar to publicly post your calendar and events online. You can also set it up to repeat events on a specific day of the month. It's great for sales or meetings that take place once or twice a month.
   
8. Yahoo Classifieds are free for selling a specific item or service. They are a little spammy, though - make sure you don't contribute to the spam by being specific and honest in your ad.
   
9. Yahoo Message Boards are available on any topic. Post all you want on your topic (but don't violate the terms of service) - they are pretty much unmoderated.
10. My Web 2.0 is Yahoo's new social bookmarking service - use it. Add your business links, articles, and affiliate websites with appropriate keyword tags to increase link popularity. (And keep your bookmarks in place.)
    
11. Add photos at Yahoo Photos. This allows your business to share your photos with the world. It's perfect for event promotion and particularly good images of your products. (Or, your business in action...Such as giving a massage or building a house.)
    
12. Add a Podcast to Yahoo. Yahoo allows your business to create and distribute a podcast, and has a search feature based on keyword. Podcasting is pretty popular. Not sure what your podcast should be about? If you are a business catering to consumers, make it fun. (For example, if you sell high-end clothing, you can do a daily podcast on celebrities and the clothes they wear...) If you cater to businesses, do a podcast that sells your expertise (and interview others to get their expertise, too..) If you already have a podcast, submission is free and will be picked up when you send them the link on the podcast page. They also give away a nifty button for you to use to promote your feed.
    
13. Make some money by becoming a Yahoo Publisher. Similar to Google, Yahoo displays content-relevant ads on your website, and you get a check every month. They have strict guidelines so you should have unique, relevant content on your website.
    
14. Add your events to Yahoo's Upcoming, a location-specific site that people actually subscribe to when they want to keep up with local events. It's free and you can even track how many people plan on attending, so make sure to announce it to your newsletter subscribers and website visitors so they can RSVP. If you plan on going to a specific networking event that isn't listed, you can let the world know that you'll be there or join/create a group that meets in real life at events. (Such as the "Web Conference Junkies") Yahoo recently acquired Upcoming, so you will need to register with Upcoming as well.
    

Cheap Marketing Tools at Yahoo

1. Get listed in Yahoo Local. They've syndicated the results so you can be found in more places. Prices start at 25.00/month - and right now, at least, the first month is free. Each listing includes a free five-page web site, which you can customize with your own text, logo, and links using a simple online wizard. Set up your web site after you enter your listing details.
2. Submit your products to Yahoo. You pay based on performance and set a budget like you would with Google Adwords. Whenever somebody ends up in Yahoo shopping, they'll be able to find specific products.
3. Basic search submit to Yahoo is affordable and prices start at $49/year and gets new websites listed faster. You can submit up to 5 URL's. Use it to list your business, blog, and other sites where you do business. You'll still need SEO optimization and incoming links to garner attention and decent placement.
4. Yahoo Campaigner is available to businesses that need an email list. Pricing starts at $10 a month, with the first month free. You can also use their list-building services by buying from InfoUsa.
   

Other Business Tools at Yahoo

1. Yahoo Messenger is pretty much universal, and now it is web-based. Sign up for the new Yahoo web messenger and give it to your prospects and customers so they can get in touch with you more quickly
2. Add Y!Q to your website. It embeds related search results intuitively based on keywords and context. It's still in beta mode, but the search results are pretty straight-forward. It's more search-friendly than the Google boxes.
3. Create a Yahoo Briefcase and allow users to store files and documents online. If you sign up for premium service, it's about $3 a month and you can share your files publicly. Businesses can use it to store contracts and marketing material.
4. Protect your computer, personal life, and passwords with Yahoo Security. They offer a free online viruses scan by partnering with Symantec.

And finally, keep up with what Yahoo is doing by visiting and bookmarking Yahoo Next, the blog that announces features that are new, upcoming, or soon to be nixed. And bookmark this page in case we update it. :-)

This is the first in a series of marketing articles by Melissa Brewer, Creative Director at Capital Creative Marketing and Copywriting. Capital Creative specializes in Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing and caters to business clients (economically!) on a global scale. Please feel free to add us to your network at Linked In or any other networking or business website using yourfreelanceneeds @ gmail.com.