Marketing Your Website

Market my website? Why should I have to spend time and money marketing my website? It's supposed to be marketing my business!!!

That's how so many business owners feel, they spend a bit of money on their website design and then sit, doing nothing, waiting in vain for it to start paying dividends and bringing in the customers.

It's very simple really, nobody is going to come to your new site if they don't know about it - if they don't see mention of it, a link to it or aren't recommended it.

So how can you get your website noticed? Here's a list of the common methods you can use:

• Traditional Ads & Marketing
• Search Engines
• Online Directories
• Links Development Campaign
• Participation in Online Discussion Forums
• Article Submission
• Pay Per Click
• Banner Ads

Traditional Marketing

Magazine & newspaper ads, Yellow Pages, PR articles, leaflets & door drops, business cards, email signatures, company stationary, company vehicles, the front of your store. These and many more are places you can and should advertise your website's URL.

Search Engines

Getting to the top of a keyword search on the major search engines - Google, Yahoo etc. - is high on the wish list of most website owners. Unfortunately it's not something that will happen straightaway. It can take many months of adding content, getting links from other sites and optimising your content for keywords to get a high listing.

Online Directories

Directories are collections of website addresses that are collated by human beings. Most will charge a fee for inclusion, DMOZ/ODP is the one everyone wants to get listed in - it's free and will have a great effect on your search engine ranking, but expect to wait months if not years for a listing.

Links Development

This is one of the most powerful ways of promoting your site. It means getting other (hopefully related) sites to include links to yours. To get a link simply email the site owners and ask for one. Often you'll have to reciprocate the kindness i.e. link to their site as well but some will be happy to list your URL for nothing.

If you're a member of local business groups then don't forget to include your web address on their sites. What about all your suppliers, can you get a listing on theirs?

Not only will you get people visiting your site via all these links, you'll also improve your position on search engine listings (search engines algorithms take the number of links to your site to be an indication of its importance).

Discussion Forums

Another way you can attract attention is by participating in online discussion forums (to do with your area of expertise of course!). Most will allow you to include a website link in your signature, i.e. a link to your site in every post you make.

Article Submission

This is a brilliant way of getting noticed. If you don't have any problems writing essays then get your pen out! There are many sites that allow you to submit your articles for free and they should all allow you to include a resource section on yourself or company with a link back to your site.

Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click (PPC) is a very good way of driving traffic to a site in the short term. Google's Adwords is one of the best known PPC systems around, Overture provide another.

When somebody searches for keywords in Google you get a list of 'sponsored links' on the right hand column (go to Google and search for 'catering work' and see the sponsored links on the right). The owners of the sites don't pay anything unless the person browsing clicks through to their site.

Banner Ads

It might be worth putting up a Banner Ads on sites you know your prospective clients are likely to visit. The ads, which will be made to click through to your website, come in GIF format or, increasingly, are created in Flash for a more striking and memorable ad.

Pricing is often Cost Per Click (CPC) but most common is Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM). CPM is related to how many people see your ad.

As you can see, there are many ways of building up traffic to your site. If you've got products, services or content that people want and you're willing to put some effort into some of these methods then you will soon start to see a rise in visitors.

Trevor Lewis has over 10 years in the Software Industry. He is currently a Senior Consultant at EMNM. EMNM offer a range of new media design services including multimedia presentations and website design.

---

Advertising Approach For The First-time Webmaster

For the first time internet entrepreneur [newbie] the best ways... Read More

Web Site Promotion: 10 Super Charged Secrets To Suck Up Orders Like A Vacuum Cleaner

If your website is not generating a lot of sales... Read More

The Ultimate Search Engine Strategy

Search engine optimisation is big business. Ezines and websites litter... Read More

About Testimonials and Customer Focused Sites

Think about it, when you browse any web site, you... Read More

Cheap Website Promotion in Birmingham

People are always wanting to attract more visitors to their... Read More

A Successful Link Exchange

Interested in boosting your link popularity, raising your Google PR,... Read More

Ten Day Plan to Online Sales

Recently one of my students asked a great question: We... Read More

How to Write Effective Web Copy

Writing effective web copy begins with an understanding of what... Read More

Web Site Advertising: 5 Innovative Ideas To Advertise Your Web Site For Higher Profitability

Hundreds of millions of people have spent thousands of dollars... Read More

4 Steps to a Robot?s Tea Party

Creating a new website is only the first stage in... Read More

Three Cost Effective Ways to Get Bumper-to-Bumper Traffic Using Your Vehicle

The following traffic generating ideas do not require costly set-up... Read More

5 Reasons Why Link Swapping Is Killing Your Website

I created my first website in 1995 - it was... Read More

Does Your Site Have Link Value?

Link Value is the perceived value another site will derive... Read More

How to Write Great Testimonials and Why it Can Increase Your Profits Incredibly!

Everyone likes to read or get a referral about something... Read More

What Can You Do To Beat Your Competition?

In many cases when you start a new website you... Read More

Why You Need Submit Articles To E-zines

Ezine publishes have large amount of loyal subscribers. If you... Read More

12 Ways To Promote Your Website Offline

So you have your website and you've done everything right... Read More

Culture and Website Localization

Culture and Website Localization With the rise... Read More

Freebie Promotions - How Giving Away Free Stuff Can Boost Your Business

Everybody Loves A Freebie!It's true! Who doesn't like to get... Read More

Hunting For Online Directories - The In depth Strategy

Directory marketing can help boost your companies performance a great... Read More

Reciprocal Link Exchanges - A Foolproof Technique That Will Never Die

On the Internet, links are very important for websites to... Read More

1 Seldom Discussed Method Of Web Promotion

So you've made the perfect web site (in your eyes... Read More

The 5 Key Steps To Promoting Your Website

Promoting your website can seem like a daunting, complicated task.... Read More

Power Training for your website

You have permission to publish this article electronically or... Read More

5 Successful Tips For Marketing Your Website

This could be the most amazing article to ever be... Read More

(3) Three Traffic Boosting Strategies for Your Website!

Every day, on line marketers are dreaming up new ways... Read More

Whats The First Thing Your Prospects See When They Visit Your Website?

I just reviewed a new website and I'm in shock.... Read More

Promote Your Website Using Articles

Promote your website using articles - Internet is all about... Read More

DMOZ - Is it Still Worth the Submission Time?

DMOZ is known all over the internet as being the... Read More

Criteria For Selecting Good Directories!

Directories are the best means for getting related links and... Read More

5 Innovative Ways To Advertise Your Web Site

1. Directory Linking Create a directory of web sites on... Read More

The Top 10 Most Ludicrous Things You Can Do on Your Web Site

We have a running joke in our office that one... Read More

How to Test a Keyword for Success!

Finding the successful keywords is crucial in order to get... Read More