Reader Question: I have a question about microsites. If you make a microsite for a certain promotion, what do you generally do with it once that promotion is over? How long do you keep that site up? For a few weeks after? Do you then direct people who type in the URL to a main web page instead? – Alexandra Habeeb
Alexandra poses a great question, here’s your answer:
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How to stop advertising and sell more: The Attraction Model. Once you’ve committed to The Attraction Model, which is also referred to as content marketing and custom publishing, the very first step is to establish your objectives, which of course are different from strategies. While this may seem a bit business-101-y, it’s often missed or done incorrectly by companies looking to jump right in and “do” before they “plan” – a surefire way to fail and waste resources. Here are the key steps for developing successful online marketing and sales objective:
Summary: This should be the year you stop spending money interrupting strangers in their homes, cars, and walks down the street with messages they largely ignore. Instead, to grow your sales in 2011 – while saving money – you should focus on creating compelling, information-rich content that naturally attracts buyers; builds relationships with them; converts them into customers; keeps them happy; and encourages them to tell others. Here’s how:
Many companies attempt to improve their Google rankings by hiring outside consultants or bring Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts in house. 
Every wonder if they’re any good?
Obviously, you can tell by page rank. If your site ranks higher for important keywords or phrases in your industry, that’s good. But many times, your expert is starting from square one, so pretty much anyone can achieve an initial bounce.
Also making it challenging to judge the quality of your expert is your own lack of expertise, naturally. As with any typical subject matter expert – lawyers come to mind – a consultant will tend to speak in jargon and techno-babble that makes the person sound smart but really doesn’t prove she’s smart.
The best lessons from this year’s Super Bowl advertising can be found by studying Volkswagen’s “Punch Dub” campaign. 
The strategy: Use ancient and modern-day marketing techniques to reintroduce Volkswagen and its growing product line (13 models total) to millions of Americans; engage them; and begin to build relationships with those who demonstrate interest.
Mission accomplished.
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