Marketing Your Web Site
So you've got your web site up and running. Feels wonderful,
doesn't it?
The masses should be arriving any moment now.
Well, don't hold your breath. As of April 2007, there are now
more than 113,658,000 sites on the Internet! Google crossed the 8 billion pages
indexed level in 2005. The masses aren't coming because they can't find you.
You need to market your website and market continously. This
page contains numerous methods for marketing a website. You need to discover
the methods that work best for you.
E-mail Marketing Techniques
Although commonly overlooked and discounted by most individuals
and businesses, e-mail is the most effective and cost efficient way to drive
traffic to a website.
E-mail Address - First and
foremeost, your e-mail address should include your product, industry, or
company name. Personal names and intials are for personal e-mail from friends
and family. Signature Files - Configure your
e-mail software to use a signature file or tagline. Create a 4-5 line ad for
your site which gets attention, gives a reason to visit and provides the
web address. Mailing Lists - Locate and join
1-2 two large e-mail discussion lists that your target market also subscribes
to. You can locate lists at
CataList. Autoresponders - Automate customer
inqueries. Use autoresponders to instantly mail out catalogs, price lists,
sales materials to visitors. Bulk E-mail - Use your customer
database to email all your customers with email addresses monthly. Products like
Campaign make the process easy. Check with your e-mail service first as
they may have a policy or limitations against bulk e-mail.
World Wide Web Marketing Techniques
In addition to e-mail, there are several web marketing techniques
that are highly effective. While time consuming, take the time to register
with search engines and develop recipricol links.
Content - Put some real content
on your site. Most commercial sites are "brochureware." Give visitors
value-added information and lots of it! They'll come back and refer their
friends. Meta Tags - Ensure that all
webpages include two <META> tags and a descriptive <TITLE> tag.
One meta tag should include a list of keywords. The second meta tag should
contain a keyword-loaded page description. Include keywords in the webpage
title. The Arkansas SBDC offers a free Internet
Marketing / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tool. The SEO Tool performa a
detailed analysis and reports both the results and recommendations. Search Engines - Register your
site with the major search engines and directories, such as
Google and
Open Directory. Don't forget
MSN. Visit each site personally. Don't rely on submission websites. Recipricol Links - Contact the
webmaster at sites that you would like to link to yours. Offer to put a link to
their site on your pages in exchange for a link from them to your pages. Banner Exchanges - Join a banner
exchange.
Click4Click is one of the largest. You must agree to display other
peoples banners on your website; in exchange, they agree to display your banners.
Most exchanges will let you purchase additional banner displays. Webrings - Join or create a
WebRing. Webrings unite sites by a common
theme and refer visitor traffic between member sites. Post Cards - Add a virtual post
card feature to your website. Your visitors will market your website for you
everytime the send a friend a card from your site! Web Logs (Blogs) - Add a blog feature to your
website. each short blog entry generates an new page for inclusion in search
engines. Some businesses have managed to get their customers to generate content
for their blogs. The Arkansas SBDC offers a 3-hour Business Blogging seminar.
Off-line Marketing Techniques
Lastly, use every opportunity to market your website in your
day-to-day operations.
Stationery - Put your e-mail and
web addresses on all your printed materials: business cards, brochures,
envelopes, boxes, bags, etc. Fax cover sheets - Put your
e-mail and web addresses on your fax cover sheets. In fact, put an offer to
buy your product or service on your fax cover sheet with the web address of
your order page! Answering machines - Don't forget
to mention your website and/or email address in your answering machine or
voicemail welcome message. Let your customer know that while you are unavailable,
the information they are seeking is on your website. Paid Advertising - You paid good
money for those newspaper and magazine ads. Put your web site in them. The same
goes for Yellow Pages, radio, and television.
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The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center is funded in part
through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration through
a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business
and other institutions of higher education. All opinions, conclusions, or
recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the SBA. UALR is committed to the policy of providing equal
opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate in employment, admissions,
programs, or any other educational functions and services on the basis of sex,
age, disability, race, and national origin, color or religion.
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