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Website Promotion
You're lovely and live. Time to get the word out. Back in
the 'net's early days, all you needed was a couple of META
tags to get a decent search engine ranking and you were good
to go. These days it takes a combination of strategies to
get noticed:
- Search engine & directory listings
- Issue a press release
- Announce in news groups and e-mail lists
- Link to and from other sites
- Run a banner campaign
- Run site events (contests, sweepstakes, etc.)
- Publish a newsletter
- Integrate traditional marketing programs
- Win awards
- Review site data logs to measure marketing efforts
There is no magic "one thing" that will get you
noticed. You'll have to use all of these strategies to draw
traffic to your website. It's the only way for small businesses
to compete with the big guys & gals, and the thousands
of other small businesses on the web that are competing with
you.
As you can see, there's a lot to be done. It doesn't take
a rocket scientist to accomplish these things but it does
take a good deal of time. If budget allows and you can find
a reputable firm that offers a money-back guarantee, you can
hire a marketing firm to do this for you. But for small businesses
who just can't afford it, this article will walk you through
the basics of website promotion so you can do it yourself.
Search Engine & Directory Listings
Search engines are a valuable resource for small businesses
when people know your name. If you have a unique name that
no one else has and someone does a search for your name, you
should be first in the search results. This means that traditional
advertising is the key to your website promotion. You
must get your name out there so people will search on your
NAME and be able to find you. (This is another important reason
why your business name and your domain name should be the
same.)
The problem with search engines is, if someone does a search
for the type of business you're in or the products/services
that you offer, you will probably not be ranked in the top
ten, or even the top 100 if your pages aren't optimized. Search
engines tend to list the largest, most popular sites first
but with optimized pages you can move yourself closer to the
top of the list.
Before a site is submitted to search engines and directories,
your webpages might need an overhaul to optimize them for
ranking. If Genesis Box built your webpages this has already
been done. All that's left is to submit your site to search
engines and directories so they know you are there and can
list you.
Submitting Your Site
Submissions are tedious. Personally, I just list with the
most popular engines and directories and let the small fries
pick up the site from them. Crawlers will do the rest, and
pick up the site from the title and META tags on their own.
Search engines and directories will ask you to fill out a
form when you submit your site. They all ask for the same
information so here's a tip to make it easier: Make a text
document so you can copy & paste, rather than having to
retype for each submission form. This document can be in MS
Word, or whatever word processing software is convenient for
you. Make a list of the following:
- URL
- Site name
- Short description: 75 characters or less, including spaces
and punctuation. Use the META "description" from
the site.
- Long description (250 characters or less, including spaces
and punctuation).
Next, Make a list of search engines you'd like to list with.
Here are a few to get you started:
Directories are lists of sites categorized by site type.
A mall site is an example of a directory. Select directories
that are related to your business or profession.
Directory Guide
Both search engines and directories should have a link marked
something like, "list with us", or "submit
your site". Navigate to their submission form and use
the copy & paste page you made to fill out the online
forms.
If the search engines and directories accept your site, it
may take up to two months before you are listed. You should
submit your site every month or so, so the engines and directories
will keep you on their list.
Issue a Press Release
A press release announces your site as "news",
so you'll need to coordinate the launch of your site with
your press release. You can distribute via newspaper, fax,
bulk mail, or any other form of traditional media that carries
"news", and is appropriate to your subject matter.
Hunt down editors who may be interested in distributing your
announcement and format the release for each distribution
method.
Your entire release should be 200 words or less and should
read very much like a newspaper article, composed of a "lead"
and 5 short paragraphs that describe details.
The lead paragraph should state your point in 40 words or
less and tell a complete, condensed story. For a model, listen
to the evening news lead-ins and read the first paragraph
of a newspaper story. Your lead should be similar, relating
an entire story within a sentence or two.
Details should consist of 5 short paragraphs with the headings:
"Who? What? Where? When? Why?" Write two or three
short sentences for each of the paragraphs.
News Groups and E-mail Lists
This is tricky. You want to advertise and get the word out
but you'll need to be careful not to "spam". The
key is to shift your perspective, from what you want to what
the public might want. So, instead of distributing an announcement
of your business and URL, offer some useful information and
subtly include a link to your website. Instead of advertising,
offer service and contribution instead.
A newsgroup is an electronic bulletin board where people
with shared interests can communicate. Search for newsgroups
that are associated with your product or service. Monitor
the postings and responses for a while to get a feel for what
is acceptable or not. If you decide to post, provide useful
advice or information, not an advertisement. Be specific and
keep it short. You can end with a mention that your site has
useful information on the topic you are posting. If possible,
become a known participant by posting frequently with both
advice and questions. Include your URL in the signature of
your posts.
E-mail lists are even trickier. They are much like newsgroups
but instead of posting to a board, your message will go directly
to a participant's inbox. So to avoid "spamming",
you'll need to exercise even more caution in writing the content
of your message.
For both newsgroups and e-mail lists, if the moderator decides
that you are spamming rather than being a valuable contributor
to the group, you will be ousted.
Of course, to provide a link to your site you'll need some
contributing information to lead them to. So include a page
on your website that is not necessary to sell your product
or service, but exists to be useful and of service. For instance,
if you sell candles, put up a page about how to decorate with
candles, or about the safe use of candles with fire safety
tips.
Learn The Net (about newsgroups and how to find one)
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks are important to search engine ranking. Search
engines tend to list sites that link to other sites closer
to the top of the search results.
And of course, a link to your page from another site is a
direct and valuable way to get people to your site. Look for
sites that might have a reason to link to yours and ask the
webmaster for a link. If you provide useful information that
is related to the webmaster's site, the webmaster may want
to point to you as a service to their own visitors.
For instance, if you sell car insurance, include a page on
your website that contains driving safety tips -- how to steer
out of a spin, for example. Or include instructions on how
to change a tire and jump-start a battery. When your page
is in place, seek out websites that would consider this information
useful to their visitors and offer the URL to your page.
Sources for links can include online malls, vendors, suppliers
and providers of complimentary products.
Banners
The verdict is still out on whether banner campaigns are
effective or not. It seems to depend on the skill level of
the user. If a user is new to the net they may click on a
banner out of ignorance, not knowing that it's an ad, or they
may click on it out of curiosity. Seasoned surfers, however,
have learned to tune banners out, much like they screen their
mail box -- read the good stuff and toss the rest.
If you want to try a banner campaign, contact a reputable
graphic designer to make a banner for you then make a list
of sites that might give you a good click rate. Check their
media kits to see what their "cost per click" rates
are and weigh their traffic statistics against the cost of
advertising on the site.
Site Events
Running events on your site is an excellent way to draw new
visitors and encourage repeat traffic. You can announce the
event in any of the online methods on this page and in traditional
media such as newspapers and magazines. Events can include
contests, sweepstakes, games, and interviews or chat sessions
with subject-matter experts.
Newsletters
For a newsletter to be successful, it must be useful. A newsletter
should not be merely an advertisement. It should offer useful
news, links to useful information appropriate to your business,
and should include articles that your customers will find
useful. And of course, include a link to your website within
the text where appropriate, and at the bottom of the newsletter.
Include your readers in the development of the newsletter
so that they feel like a part of it. For instance, if a reader
has sent you information that might be useful to other customers,
add it to the newsletter and include their name (get permission
to use their name first). Ask your readers for suggestions
too. Ask them how you may improve the newsletter so that it
will be of service to them, and ask for suggestions on article
subjects.
Your newsletter should be "opt-in". Offer the newsletter
from your website and let people sign up for it. Do not send
your newsletter to people who have not asked for it! Unsolicited
e-mail is called, "spam". If you send bulk spam
your server will kick you off their system.
Integrate with Traditional Marketing
Link all of your strategies together. For instance, if you
plan to run a sales event you'll want to announce it both
online and off-line at once, via a press release, newsgroups,
banner ads, your newsletter, newspapers, magazines and flyers.
Your event should be a "media sweep", that catches
your potential customer's attention from a variety of platforms.
Some examples of integration:
- Announce a new newsletter article in a newspaper ad. Include
your URL and a few impressive awards in the ad.
- Include your URL in radio spots.
- If you are a subject-matter expert in your profession
or even better, you have a hobby that does not relate to
your business, offer your expertise to online magazines
or your small local paper. Ask them to include a link to
your website in return for your time.
- Offer your product at the local swapmeet and put a flyer
containing your URL in the bag along with the receipt.
- Add your URL to sales receipts.
- ... you get the idea.
And don't forget to include your URL in your traditional
media, such as business cards, letterhead, billboards &
newspaper ads, and brochures.
Awards
If you have a slam-bang gorgeous or very useful website,
submit it for awards. Award sites will link to your site,
which increases search engine ranking, and potential customers
will be impressed by the awards you've listed on your website's
"press and awards" page.
How to Win Awards
Website Statistics
Once you have all of your strategies implemented, measure
the results. Find out where your traffic is coming from and
what pages are being visited by monitoring your website's
raw data logs. Improve or eliminate what isn't working and
expand the strategies that generate traffic for you.
More info on the Resources
page, in the "E-Commerce & Marketing" column.
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