Promote Your Web Site
If you are a large
corporation, you probably have an advertising department with a budget
just for promotion. Many of us, however, are on limited budgets, so we
will explore some free or low-cost promotional activities.
To help get visitors to
your web site, you need a good mix of search engine promotion, good use
of keywords, and traditional print and media marketing.
In the January 2004
issue of Equestrian Retailer, we suggested that you need good web site
content rich in keywords. In the November 2003 issue we talked about
how you generate those keywords and how they should be placed in the
programming code of your site using metatags.
Search Engines
Your site should be
submitted periodically to the top search engines. If you hire a web
master, submissions should be part of the maintenance package they
provide. There are also a number of for-hire web site promotion
services available on the internet. There are “pay-per-click” and
pay-for-placement programs and affiliate programs that may be of value
to some readers. The key is to find reputable companies and popular
placement locations to maximize your advertising dollars.
Free Tools
There are also a number
of free search engine submission tools. You can (and should) submit
manually to many of the most important search engines. Google, at the
time of this writing, has about 70% of the search engine market. That
means most people will use Google when they search for something on the
internet.
If you search for your
most important search term or keyword and your site does not come up in
the top thirty listings on a search engine, look for topic-related
directories that do. Then submit listings to each of those that will
take free submissions.
A number of related web
sites also have “links” pages where they will list your site as a
courtesy to aid their visitors. Some will require reciprocal links on
your site. There are some benefits in having a links page on your own
site, but adding new sites to it is time consuming, so you may not want
to pay a web master to do it. If you maintain your own site and have
the time, a links page is something to think about. Popularity (being
listed on other web sites) is a criterion for ranking in some search
engines.
Submit your ezines, articles or newsletters
to related websites that accept free content to help build your link
popularity. Newsletters, popular productive discussion forums,
FAQ's, blogs and tips on your subject are
all means to inform your visitors and bring in new traffic to your
website.
Printed Material
Put your web site
address on every piece of printed material you generate: business
cards, stationary, checks, invoices, and ads. How about adding it to
the message on your answering machine and voice mail? Put it on your
business signs and office windows and business vehicle. Display the
address in bold letters that are easy to read. The present generally
recognized format for display is www.yoursitename.com.
Traditional media
advertising, including print ads,
brochures, posters, magazine articles and radio and TV
advertising, all displaying your web site address are still important.
Today’s Buying Public
The present day buying
public is becoming “web savvy.” (Web site oriented.) By the end of
2004, 30% of the population of the United States will buy online,
purchasing $65 billion in products. Many more will research the
products they buy offline on the internet before they make a purchase.
They look for web addresses in order both to learn more about products
and to buy them online. Your web site is like a quickly updateable
brochure where potential customers can learn what they need to know
about your product and be convinced that they should buy it. You need
to provide that tool. Customers have gone from asking for a paper
brochure to asking if you have a web site. Those of you who do not have
a web site are losing a large segment of today’s buying public.
by Lee Raine
A version of this article appeared in the May 2004 edition of
Equestrian Retailer Magazine. |
