M5Media, Inc. –

Tag: website marketing

9 Ways to Promote Your Website

by on Mar.26, 2009, under Website Promotion

In this industry I see business owners often making this same mistake over and over again.  They use up their entire budget on building a decent site, then they forget to promote it!  We usually hear something like the following:

You mean people won’t just visit it because it’s there?

Back in the first month the internet was born this was realistic, some people just surfed the web to see what they could find, and your site would pop up in the rudimentary search engines of the day because there was virtually no competition – sorry but those days are long gone!

To help promote your site, here are some tried and true ways to build traffic to your site through the online community.  Remember, todays online browser can be tomorrow’s customer if you do your homework.

SEO – strategies for getting better results from search engines

  1. Write a page title – this is the first thing that search engines look at when viewing your page, it’s also what appears in the top left of your browser window, don’t forget it!
  2. Include your keywords in the header (h1, h2, h3) – Browsers interpret these tags as having more importance than regular text (hence the ‘h1′ which means ‘header 1′).  Use these tags to not only grab attention for what’s to come, but to impress search engines as well.
  3. Use keywords in hyperlinks – Google especially puts emphasis on the words used in a link (what is blue or underlined).  This is seen as a ‘gateway’ to another page or location and the text used describes that location, hence making it more important to the search engine.
  4. Promote your local business using google – This is a must do!  It amazes me how many people don’t realize the business potential in this.  Every time people look at a Google Map or search an area on a map Google shows what it thinks are relevant businesses.  If your listed in that area, you get one of those balloons with your name, address, and phone number.  Google will send you a postcard in the mail which you have to mail back to them to verify that you are a local business.  This service is FREE (minus the cost of the stamp and 3 minutes of your time).
  5. Business Blog – On the internet content is king as the old axiom goes.  What better way of building solid online content about your business can you think of than blogging about it?  Press releases, new projects, industry developments are all great ways to build content.  It also helps a lot in keeping a site fresh, downside is you have to be semi-diligent about it.  Nobody wants to read a blog whose last post was in 1999.
  6. Submit site to key directories – This helps build traffic in two ways:
  • It builds ‘real’ traffic to your site through click-throughs from directories in your field.  Directory listings often show up in searches and this can be a great way to build traffic.
  • It also builds ‘votes’ for your website.  The way this works is fairly easy to understand, when someone links to your site they are in essence ‘voting’ that your site is a desirable destination on the internet.  Google’s and other search engine algorithms see this and positively consider it when ranking your site.

Old School – traditional marketing tactics

  1. Include your URL on all company media – This is a no-brainer and the best and easiest way to promote the online component of your business.  Radio commercials, TV ads, your company vehicle, pencils, pens, business cards (especially those!) and stationary should all have your web address.
  2. Develop something for free – Everybody wants something for free, especially on the internet it seems.  Develop a part of your site that offers free stuff.  Maybe a free example floor plan if your an interior designer, a free quote service if your a contractor, the always popular free newsletter subscription.  These services are technically free, but they help to bring you business which more than makes up for the effort and cost you expend to create them.

Email – marketing techniques for emailing your customer base

  • Email Marketing – Get the Word Out… but not through SPAM!  Everybody hates SPAM but there are legitmate and effective ways to build business through email marketing.
  • Traditional Mail or Electronic? – We Vote Electronic!  It’s cheaper, faster, and much easier to implement. M5Media has a newsletter system that comes with a custom template that matches your website and marketing material!  Email newsletter marketing is an industry in itself so look to this site in the future for more information and future articles about this subject.
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