Your
masterpiece Web site is now online, the content is killer, the design
is superb, it's the best on the Net. You are prepared for a tidal
wave of hungry visitors. But it's not that easy.
Everybody wants to promote his or her Web site. Nobody wants to spend
much money doing it. Here are 10 tips to help bring visitors to your
site.
"Let us submit your site to 100,000 search engines for only ....
" You've seen it before and possibly you've been tempted but
why is this a really bad deal? For starters, there aren't 100,000,
or even 100, sites that are worth submitting to. The top 20 Search
Engine sites get about 98% of the hits and most of the so-called search
engines out there get zero. Be warned - if you go ahead with one of
these services, be prepared to be inundated with junk emails for everything
from get-rich-quick schemes and timeshare offers to porn site invitations.
Submitting your site to the major search engines is of critical importance
and there is more to it than meets the eye. Seek out specialised directories
that are appropriate for your site (travel, investment, shopping,
country-specific, etc.). As with most things, however, doing your
submissions properly requires an investment of time, so there are
many out there offering to do it for you for a fee. Some are good,
some are incompetent and some are simply scam artists.
No they won't. It's amazing how many companies spend good money
to build a Web site, then balk at the cost of letting people know
it exists. Your Web site address should be on every piece of company
media from letterheads to coffee cups, invoices to fax cover sheets,
press advertising to telephone book inserts - a mention on any piece
of media material will increase the amount of exposure your site gets.
We've even seen web addresses written on car number plates. Usually
whatever you see written on the number plate is boring. Occasionally,
it entertains you. Either way, it's got your attention.
Most email packages allow you to set up a signature to add to the
bottom of your email messages. Include your web site address, a short
description, phone number and address, if relevant. Click-through
rates from email signatures can be astonishingly high. These powerful
little messages can make the difference between communicating with
prospects and just sending out a bland email.
Let your contacts know what you do and how they can see it. Here's
an example:
Customer Support
Red Rhino Web Design
w: http://www.redrhino.co.uk
e: mailto:info@redrhino.co.uk
t: 0845 266 4178
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By the way, the "http://" and "mailto:"
should be in your URL and email address if you want them to be clickable
all email programs.
Look in your email program. Find the button to set up a signature
file. Do it today.
Use only email addresses that are part of your site's domain. Don't
use email address that include your Internet Service Provider's
name, like bill@thestore.freeservices.com. It doesn't look professional
and you are only advertising for them. Also, your contacts won't
be able to email you at that address if you ever stop using them.
Messages can still be forwarded to any other address using your
'normal' email alias without the sender ever knowing, but make sure
your official addresses is '@yourcompany.com'. If you haven't already
done so, change your default email address in your email program
without delay.
Request links on Industry related sites. You may belong
to various trade associations that feature member sites. Ask for
a link. Even if you have to pay something for a link, it may bring
you the kind of targeted traffic you crave. Watch out, though, if
you include a link on your site to some other site that you aren't
inviting site visitors to prematurely leave!
It's very important that you have a newsletter or mailing list.
Newsletters work wonders for sites that use them well. Give an incentive
and a reason for someone to join your newsletter. People are not
willing to just hand over their email address with no idea what
they will be getting in return. The newsletter should always carry
relevant, useful content and not just blatant advertising. As long
as it is useful, people will appreciate it and pass it on to several
friends. Again, remember to actively ask them to pass it on. If
you don't ask them to pass it on, even if they are willing to do
so, they may just forget or not even think about it.
Some wise man said, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage
it." Be sure to keep your web visitor reports safe, analyse
them (or get someone to do this for you) and act on what they say.
These reports can really help you boost your traffic by telling
you how many visits are coming from each search engine, where other
visitors are coming from and what keywords people are searching
on to reach your site.
A good business plan requires that every avenue of publicity be
exploited if a business is to thrive. One of the best things you
can do is take out sponsorship to publicise your web site's address.
You may not have considered this in the past. Look at your target
market and it might surprise you how little you might have to pay
for some excellent exposure.
Hopefully you have your own domain name but why have only one? Do
you own both the '.com' and '.co.uk' version of your web address?
Spend a bit of money registering several more appropriate domains
and set them up to refer people to your web site. Properly set-up,
they will improve your chances of being found in search engines
and will increase the chances of anyone finding you who guesses
your web address. It also stops your competitors from registering
your company or brand name!
Once the promotional process is started don't stop - keep up the
good work. Repeated exposure of web site's address will keep traffic
flowing to your site. Do not expect traffic to jump immediately.
Remember, if no one knows where you live, no one will come and see
you!
Here's the only plug on this page - we would be delighted to hear
from you if you think we could help promote your site.
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