Web Design & Development

Web Site Promotion

Web Site promotion can be very complex. It matters where on the page certain words are found, how often they are used, and what they are. There is everything from specialized directories for specific industries, to webrings, to generic search engines to promote your web site with. Web marketing has evolved to a very specific field closely tied to the design of your web site. If you commission a web site it's important to know that we're experts in optimizing for search engines too.. In fact if you're not sure what you're doing, it's very easy to have a huge negative impact on your search engine position, and possibly even get your site banned from search engines altogether. It's happened. An amateur does the site, uses all the bad information he's heard and before long your site is delegated to the bottom of the pile - never to be heard from again. When had a professional done the site, it would have risen slowly and predictably to a visible position.

Finding the search engines, directories and specialized lists to promote your site to has become quite an art. There is no one place to find a list. Directory providers change their criteria for listing often, and timing can be everything. Web marketing no longer means having a few meta tags (specialized coding with specific keywords) on your site. Nowadays, that is only one tiny portion of what needs to be done to help you get found.

However, while your SEO (Search Engine Optimizing) professional is doing the optimizing of your web site, there are a number of activities you can do to help. These are things that we can't do - but you can!

• Ask distributors, partners and friendly sites to link to yours

• Submit your site to Internet directories

• Write articles for Internet directory sites about your area of expertise

• Get involved in relevant newsgroups and mailing lists

• Add a signature to all your postings and e-mail

• Put a bumper sticker on your automobile with your website on it

• Use your website in your printed advertisements

• Always tell potential customers you HAVE a website, and where to find it

How it works...

Word of mouth, is a great tool in business - but it's also helpful on the web. The more sites you have linking to yours, the more chance somebody will find you and your web marketing strategy will work. Most search engines rankings are based on other sites linking to your site. This boost is increased if the site is similar to yours, and if the link to your site is very descriptive.

Spend some time searching on the various search engines for sites that are in a similar market but are not competitors. If you find an appropriate site, contact them and suggest that you would like to add a link to their site from your own. Suggest in return that they may want to link back to your site. Ask your search engine consultant to suggest what the link should say, and which page it should link to.

Try to get your site listed in various Internet directories that specialize in your field. If possible think about writing an article for one of these sites - nothing will give you expert status faster. Not only will it show people that you are an expert in your field, but will also provide a link back to your site where readers can find out more about the author.

Get involved in newsgroups and mailing lists devoted to your area of business. An newsgroup is a service where people post questions for others to answer. If you can help people with their questions they will feel that you're an expert in the subject, and next time they need the product or service you offer, they are more likely to come to you directly.

Don't ignore Pay Per Click and other forms of marketing such as Google's Adwords.  These are highly effective and if you are willing to pay, can give you top rankings.

Make sure that you add a unique signature to all of your posts. Don't just sign your name - include your web site and e-mail address. Include a little statement about your company or your slogan. Use this for all of your postings and e-mail.