Promoting Your Business Online
by Jane McLain
There are many different ways to promote your business online, so try several to find out which work best for you.
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If you think the old saying "If you build it, they will come" applies to your new website, you're in for a major disappointment. You can't really expect people to visit your website if they don't even know it exists! That's why you will need to constantly promote your business in a variety of ways. That means informing potential customers about what you're offering and motivating them to visit your site to find out more.
A successful marketing program must take into account the unique nature of the Web. Simply stated, the Web is a global network of linked information. Nobody "just happens by" your place of business in the online world. They only visit your website because they've read about it, heard about it, sought it out, followed a link from a website or ezine or had your site recommended to them by a friend or colleague.
That's why you can't afford to passively wait for people to come to your website -you must get attention and attract traffic through promotional efforts. It's up to you to get the word out as often as possible and make people take notice. And the more ways you find to get the word out about your website, the more potential customers you will attract. Here are some possibilities:
Affiliate program: By creating an affiliate program you'll give other webmasters an incentive to promote your products, website and/or ezine, since they earn a commission for doing so. You can publicize your affiliate program by registering with some of the websites set up for that purpose and then advertising it on your website and in your ezine.
Announcement lists: Announcing your new website is one of the first steps you can take to get the word out. There are many announcement lists as well as websites that accept announcements and it won't cost you anything but your time.
Articles: Write informative articles and offer them to other webmasters to use in their ezines, websites, and e-books for free as long as they provide a link to your site. Include a short "resource box" at the end of the article with your name, a short description of your website and the URL.
Banner exchanges and ad swaps: If you don't have funds available to buy ad space, try to arrange an ad swap with another webmaster -you run their ad and they run yours. Approach webmasters who have the same target market as yours but are not direct competitors.
Contests: Running a contest is another attention-getter and a good way to get people to visit your website. Offer a prize that is related to your product line and would appeal to your target market.
Directories: In addition to search engines, do some research to find out whether there are any online directories that would give you a free listing and bring you targeted traffic. They might be focused on specific industries, geographic areas, product lines or special interests.
E-books: Write an electronic book that covers topics of interest to your prospects, demonstrates your expertise, and establishes your credibility. Include some ads promoting your website and distribute it for free. Let other webmasters distribute it from their websites, as well.
Email campaigns: Purchase a list of likely prospects and send them a marketing email(s). Just make sure the list comes from a reputable source and the people on it have given their permission to be included.
Your email signature file: Turn your outgoing email's "sig file" (attached signature file) into an ad and promote your business every time you send an email or post to a discussion list. Keep it brief and say something catchy about your site, a special offer or contest you're running, or your affiliate program.
An ezine or e-newsletter: Offering a free email newsletter or ezine is a great way to build a relationship with your customers and site visitors and bring them back to your site. Just make sure you're offering your subscribers useful information and advice and not just a marketing pitch.
Forums and discussion lists: Posting to forums, discussion lists, and newsgroups gives you a chance to get your name and website address in front of potential customers and build your reputation as an "expert" in your field. Post useful information or resources or answer questions submitted by others. If the list rules allow you to post specials and contests, or introduce yourself briefly when you join the list, by all means take advantage of the opportunity to promote your business.
Freebies and giveaways: "Free" is a magic word when it comes to getting attention, so offering "freebies" will certainly get you noticed. You could give away free samples, a free e-book, a free email course by autoresponder, promotional items with your logo, or just about anything. You can list your free offer with a number of freebie websites and announcement lists.
Link popularity: Getting other webmasters to link from their site to yours is a great way to generate traffic. You could just ask them for a one-way link to your site, or you could participate in a "link exchange" where you also provide a link from your site to theirs. Not only will these links bring you new visitors, but achieving "link popularity" will help you get better search engine listings.
Paid advertising: You can pay other webmasters' to advertise your website in their ezines, e-books and websites. Banner ads are one option, of course, but text links and other formats can be more effective. If you're really strapped for cash, you could offer to barter with other webmasters for ad space.
Press releases: A press release can get you lots of free publicity, but you'll have to have something newsworthy to say and have to target editors who would be interested in it. There are several websites and announcement lists that accept press releases, but you'll have the most success if you contact promising publications directly.
Search engine positioning: Getting a favorable search engine listing is the key to getting found by potential customers. Search engines can bring a steady string of targeted traffic to your site. The competition for the top positions is intense, though, so you'll either need to devote some time and energy to optimizing your site for the major search engines or hire a professional to help you with it. Besides the major search engines, try to get listed in smaller and specialized search engines.
Syndicating original content: Attract visitors to your site by letting other webmasters and ezine publishers use your content in exchange for providing a link back to your site. Set up a syndicate "feed" so your articles, tips, tutorials, etc. can be displayed and updated automatically on their site without any additional effort on their part.
Viral marketing: Viral marketing (otherwise known as word-of-mouth advertising) happens when visitors to your site like what they see and tell their friends and colleagues about it. People are more likely to visit your site after a friend has recommended it, plus the invitation is naturally targeted to those most likely to be interested. Best of all, it's free. To encourage viral marketing, add a "tell a friend" script to your website.
Webrings: Webrings aren't as popular as they used to be, but they're still worth considering as a form collaborative marketing. Webrings let Net surfers visit a series of similar or related websites, clicking from one to another. If you can't find a suitable webring, start one yourself and invite other webmasters to join.
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