You are very excited!! You have finally created your own
website!! But the trouble is customers aren’t knocking on your
website door. Why? The most probable answer is that your
customers don’t know about your website. There is no magic
Internet fairy who will knock on people’s door to announce your
website’s arrival. The task is up to you. To get your website
marketing off the ground you either need to spend time learning
and doing it or spend money and get somebody else to do it.
If you are like many small business owners, you have most likely
spent the majority of your website budget on creating the site,
but have allowed very little money to actually promote it.
Don’t despair, below are some great ways to promote your website
and business for free.
1. Email Marketing
Your first step should be to send an email to your existing
clients announcing the arrival of your website. If you are
starting a new business and don’t have any customers, send an
email to people you know who may be interested in your offer.
Under no circumstance should you EVER send unsolicited email
(spam) to people you either don’t know or who have not requested
to receive your information.
2. Search Engines & Directories
A search engine is a searchable database of websites collected
by a computer program (called a crawler, robot or spider). When
you enter a keyword, the search engine looks for keywords in its
database, and any relevant records are displayed. Currently
there are thousands of search engines and directories on the
internet. Some of the main ones include: Google, Altavista,
Yahoo, Excite, AllSearchEngines, Northern Light, DogPile,
AllTheWeb, Lycos
To submit your website to the search engines, you can go directly
to the search engine’s website and add your URL (website
address). Search engines try to list sites that contain good
content, so you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best
describe your service and products. To find out what keywords
your customers may be searching on go to:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Once you decide on the keywords, use them in:
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags – Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics
3. Link & Banner Exchanges
Find websites whose business complements yours and add their
website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company
and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding
dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding
cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.
4. Email Signature
Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is
text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email
message. You can include your name, business name, email
address, street or postal address, website details, phone
number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company
and its products/services. You can set up different signatures
for different purposes. If you are unsure how to set it up,
check out your email program’s help index.
5. Feedback and testimonials
When you come across a great product or service on or off the
internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her
how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business
owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will
most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place
a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner
by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this
testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.
6. Autoresponders
Email autoresponders work like a fax-on-demand system. If you
send an email to an autoresponder address, you’ll get back a
pre-written message. Once you set up your email messages,
everything gets done automatically. As soon as a prospect sends
an email to your autoresponder, the system keeps working over
and over again, like a tireless robot making sure no prospect
ever slips through the cracks. Most autoresponder systems now
handle your whole mailing list, so you are not having to
manually manage your prospects.
Because the vast majority of customers will not buy from you on
their first visit to your website, it is extremely important
that you have an automated way to follow up with them several
times to entice them back. You can use autoresponders to
cross-promote various products and services your business
offers.
Many webhosting companies will provide you with free
autoresponders as part of your webhosting package.
7. Newsgroups
A newsgroup is a message board on the internet where users come
to discuss topics of mutual interest. As a user you can start
a thread (topic), post messages and respond to other postings.
There are tens of thousands of Newsgroups on every possible
subject. The best way to find a suitable newsgroup is to use
Google Search. Go to http://www.google.com. Then click on the
“Groups” tag. Run a search using a keyword related to your
on-line business that you would like to promote from the groups
search page. You can use Newsgroups for conducting market
surveys, get new clients, promote your site, get answers to
your questions, make friends.
8. Office Stationery & Merchandising Materials
It is extremely important that your website is included on ALL
your office stationery so that customers can see it over and
over again. Consider adding your details to:
- Letterheads
- Business Cards
- Flyers
- Brochures
- Labels
- Packaging
- Merchandise bags
- Catalogs
- Invoices
- Fax headers
- Display units
9. Visitor Exchanges
There are many websites popping up on the net that are known as
Traffic or Visitor Exchanges. People become members of these
sites with the goal of generating free traffic to their site.
The way it works is quite clever.
You visit another member's website and in exchange someone
visits the website of your choice. Most of these programs work
on a 2:1 ratio. This means that for every two sites that you
visit, someone else in that same Start Page program will visit
your site. Simple concept, isn't it?
For more information go to:
http://www.web4business.com.au/FreeVisitors.htm
10. Articles
Writing articles is an excellent way for you to get free
publicity. The publicity you receive by having your article
published in a newspaper, magazine or website can be worth
thousands of dollars in equivalent advertising space. Well
written articles yield better results than advertisements and
earn you respect from customers, who see you as an expert in
your field.
The best articles are “tips” or expert pieces. People are
looking for guidance and will purchase from the experts who
show them how to solve their problems.
For a listing of on-line magazines (e-zines), visit:
http://www.ezine-dir.com. You can then contact the editor
of each magazine and offer them your article.
11. Webrings
One of the more interesting ways to add some targeted traffic to
your site is to join webrings. A webring allows visitors to surf
through sites that are related in one way or another. They are
free of charge to the owners, members and visitors.
Webrings deliver targeted traffic day after day and once they are
set up they tend to stay set up with little further maintenance.
Each webring is created and maintained by a person known as a
ringmaster. This person accepts site submissions and validates
that the site meets the topic of the webring. For more
information visit: http://www.webring.org
12. Media Releases
Having a story written about you and your business will not
only bring you lots of new customers, but will also provide you
massive credibility. Stories about you in the media are far
more believable, powerful and attractive than any ads you could
possibly run. People will trust and respect you instantly.
A media release should provide enough details to be informative,
but it should leave out just enough information to be tantalizing
that the media person calls you to find out more.
There are many excellent ebooks on internet marketing. I would
recommend you pick up at least one and start reading. For more
info visit:
http://www.web4business.com.au/BusinessTools.htm
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