Web Site Promotion

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Tips & Advice to help you make your decision on Web Site Promotion

The internet is a vital part of everyday life for many people and businesses. It is a way to connect with one another, to shop and seek information. A well designed website that is regularly updated and maintained can be the key to business success or failure. In order for customers to return to your regularly, the website must be well laid out, easy to navigate and there must be new content for them to view.

In addition to building and maintaining the site, the next most important thing is website promotion. This is letting the world know your site exists and making them believe they have to visit it. This can take plenty of effort. If you don't have the time or know how, your website will suffer and so will your business. If you find yourself in this position, you may want to consider hiring the services of a website promoter.

Finding a good promoter can be like finding a needle in a haystack. They all promise to do a good job, to increase your site visits and ultimately to increase your business volume. You will have to check out the promoters carefully. Use the list of resources provided by Business.com to help you get stated choosing a company to handle your web site promotion.

Improving Your Web Site Visibility

Whew! So you've just created the world's best Web site, and now you can just sit back and wait for the customers to come clicking, right? Wrong! Having a killer Web site is useless if no one knows about it. To get your site into the spotlight, you can use a variety of marketing and promotion tactics. Improving your site's visibility can:

Increase traffic
Increase sales
Build brand awareness
Add to your company's credibility
Increase your advertising rates if you accept ads

Use search engine optimization (SEO)

When your Web site ranks higher in search engine results for important keyword phrases, it's easier for your target market to find your site. Higher rankings generally translate into higher visibility and dramatically increased traffic. Provide quality, unique, keyword-rich content on your Web site, and you'll naturally attract higher rankings. Remember to pay attention to META tags — keywords, page titles and page descriptions.
Try:

Research the best keyword phrases at Overture. Submit your URLs to Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Build incoming links

Having popular Web sites link to your site improves visibility, builds traffic and improves your search engine rankings. The more popular and relevant the site providing the link is, the better the results you'll receive.
Try:

Find out how to request incoming links from relevant sites. Consider requesting an incoming link from a popular site like the homepage of Digg or Slashdot (most valuable for technology-related sites) or a popular site in your niche.

Purchase search engine advertising

The most effective advertising option for increasing Web site visibility may be online, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Sign up for PPC programs that will display your ads on content-based sites and search results.
Try:

The most popular PPC advertising program is Google AdWords. Discuss advertising and promo methods that do and don't work with your peers on the community forums at Internet Marketing for Newbies. If you sell business-to-business, Business.com is the top choice.

Use offline promotion methods

Just because you're promoting a Web site doesn't mean you can only promote online. Make sure to include your URL everywhere possible.
Try:

When you work with a promotional printing company, such as VistaPrint, you can include your URL on all of your identity materials, including your letterhead and business cards. You can also print your URL on promotional products, available from companies such as Branders and ePromos.

Include your URL at the end of every email you send in your signature.
Also include a signature with your URL in forum posts when permitted.
Send press releases with your URL to newswires every time your company does something newsworthy.
Send email newsletters to promote your site's content, products or services.