Hi I'm new to these forums. I sell DIY tools and my site is: http://www.pttools.co.uk/. I will ask some specific questions about marketing and in exchange will give tips that I have learned so far. I don't claim to be an expert on marketing but these are things that have worked for me so far. I would like other retailers to post (according to their experience) as well as other experts. But please no marketing sales or posts with 'email me and I'll help you out (for a fee)' in them because I'm not interested. These are free discussions preferably with free or low cost solutions or moneymaking solutions.

My question is:
1. Out of Affiliated, Directory, or Banner exchange links, which is the most successful in raising your profile and increasing your rating?
2. If you want to strike a balance between what is user friendly and what is search engine friendly (you don't want your site to look like a Christmas tree), which affiliate, directories, banner exchanges would you recommend in your top ten/five and why? It could be for reasons of their coverage but equally because of the type of links they offer.

Tips:
1. Search engines work on the basis of locations (physical or otherwise), queries (stuff after ? in the url) are not locations so many search engines ignore them and cache only the page itself (once). I found this out the hard way I'm not ashamed to admit. I should have known better since I'm a programmer. It is important, if you sell something, that a search engine not only caches your index but your catalogue too. Ways round this is to get your server to recognise other symbols in place of ? such as / and then parse them before your script gets hold of them. You can use modules within the scripting language itself such as PEAR php. Or simply create physical locations that provide the parameters for your queries within them and then include the pages you want to query. This makes the most sense since there is little point in storing parameters in permanent links save this for form field searches, etc.

2. If someone turns up claiming to be a marketing wizkid ask for references, and make sure you get realistic quotes to compare with others before you make a move. Ask whether he/she has a true marketing background rather than just a computing background. Preferably you want both.

3. Search engine optimisation does not do branding!! Branding is the thing that sells the most goods. Search engines work on the basis of keywords. Humans work on the basis of language. Brands need to be etched into human vocabulary before they are any use as keywords. So you need to figure out your market and brand yourself accordingly. Then you need to get recognised. It is a mistake to assume this is only to do with the Internet. Any method that would be appropriate use; leafleting, conventions and expos, articles and news releases. Product keywords are separate from brand keywords. Product keywords on their own only produce random sales if any. Brand keywords can produce repeat sales and brand loyalty as soon as that link between the brand and the market has been established. It might not be an applicable to you but it is not uncommon for established companies to complete ignore rating because search engine optimisation would ruin their brand. Therefore they advertise on TV, glossy magazine or pay $$$ for sponsored links. just look at www.habitat.co.uk. The site is entirely flash this is consistent with their sleek designer brand.

4. However these (above) are still a minority (note habitat don’t do transactions online). If you are selling online the general rule of thumb is simple front end (interface, page), powerful back end (scripting, database).

Just my two pence.