Rolling out a new website is much the same as opening a traditional storefront for the first time. You have to get the word out to as many people as possible so they can come see what you have to offer. When promoting your website, you will want to use a combination of web-only and traditional marketing methods. Here are a few tips to consider for promoting your site in the best manner possible.
Don’t forget the traditional methods of advertising your website. Businesses for years have used traditional methods to get the word out to the consumer public. These are methods like flyers, business cards, bumper stickers, and window decals. All should have the URL to your website prominently displayed.
Use social networking sites to get the word out to a select group. The social network craze of late is popular because it is not only free but it allows you to find those with interest in what you have to offer and within your own geographical area. They are great for focusing on your target market.
Give away a free software tool. You may have a talent for creating customized software or you may be able to contract a freelance programmer to help you with this. However, there are many creative ideas you can come up with for offering a free software download that could help a patron to your website do his job easier. People like free items and this is a powerful promotion tool.
Offer a free ebook for download. This is also a popular promotion item because it is informative and free. Write an ebook to give helpful information to your site patrons and they will naturally want to see what else you have to offer.
Keep everyone current on your blog. Keeping your blog current builds credibility for your site. You should also respond to reader posts if you allow them because it shows you are actively engaged in your business.
Create a free newsletter. This is a great way to keep everyone informed about the latest offerings and promotions on your website. Give visitors the opportunity to subscribe to it and then send it periodically to their email address. Free newsletters are also good for getting repeat traffic to your site.
Perform effective SEO on your website. By doing this, you will make your website prominent in the search engines. The goal is to appear in the first one or two pages of search results when using your target keywords in a query. Keep in mind that effective SEO takes time and anyone promising quick results may be using unethical methods.
Pay for SEO results. The major search engines get numerous requests each day to index websites. On top of this, there are those who run automatic submission software to quickly make batches of requests. The search engines try to discourage this simply because they cannot handle the volume. If you want to get indexed fast, check out some of the paid submission directories. While it might be expensive, it could later pay off.
Create your website content in a helpful multi-part series. This motivates your visitors to come back for subsequent visits. Also, make sure the content is current.
Make your website pleasant and easy-to-use. Make sure it loads fast and has intuitive navigation. This is not only good from your visitors’ perspective but it creates less work for a search engine indexing crawler thus increasing the chances of ranking faster in search engines.
