Many people are new to the web and
there seems to be a shortfall
in basic information aimed at helping the beginner.
Site promotion is the key to successfully building up your
business on the Internet and here are some tips for newcomers
that don't cost any money and which took me a considerable time
to formulate.
1. Submit site to search engines. Here I have learned to avoid
autosubmit software programs and that best results are
obtained by submitting *manually* to the top 10 engines. This
way you can accommodate each one's quirks and foibles. It is
time consuming but worth it.
2. Submit site to Directories These are different to search
engines in that they have their own categories within which
enquirers can find a listing of the sites that interest them
without necessarily using a search button. In my view, this is
the way Joe public will look for his information in the future
and, in my opinion, directories will soon outstrip engines in
terms of usage. Pay attention to getting your site listed on as
many directories as possible, especially the Open Directory
Project http://www.dmoz.org as their
database is used by many of
the top search engines and directories.
3. Web Rings These are associations of web sites with similar
focus. If you join one, you will get a web ring logo at the
bottom of your site that will allow your visitor to move on to
browse all other sites within the ring. Similarly, this will
allow visitors to other sites within the ring to find your site
and increase your traffic. Some of these rings are huge and
others quite tiny. It depends on what sphere you are operating
in but, either way, it is another good way to gain additional
traffic for your site.
4. E-mail discussion lists I started one for people interested
in starting their own web business (which is what my company
does) and which can be joined from my site. This is rigorously
kept spam free by me (anyone posting ads to it is ejected
without trial) and allows venture capitalists, angels,
incubators and entrepreneurs to find each other and discuss
common experiences and solutions. Sig files are allowed on my
list and I have had good hits from my own, especially as the
members of the list are, by definition, my target audience.
5. Word of mouth I have told everybody I know what I am doing
and there are rafts of redundancies occurring in my former
industry. These are all bright people with a pocket full of
money. They look at my site and like what they see - they tell
their friends.
6. The press I refuse to pay for unfocused advertising, which
nobody looks at, even in specialist magazines. My advice would
be to call the editors up and tell them that you are doing
something that nobody else is doing (in their field) and that
you have included a free link to their publication as an
information service on your site. Would they be interested in
doing a small write-up of your site for their next issue? If you
can get them to do this, you will get much better traffic
generated than a standard advert and for free! They won't always
do this for you but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
7. Reciprocal links I offer a lot of links to other sites on my
own pages and I have called them all personally to ask if they
would include a link back to me. Normally webmasters are quite
good at this and will try and accommodate you. This is
especially advantageous if the site you link to has high
traffic. Information sources are amongst the best of these -
find a high traffic site that covers your area of commerce and
link to it/get reciprocal links.
8. Banners My experience tells me to forget it - when's the last
time you clicked on one.
9. Be Discrete I belong to lots of e-mail lists and
occasionally, someone asks for help on a topic that I think my
website would be useful for. I don't send a whole sales pitch in
to those lists but send in a very low key reply addressing their
specific question and mentioning my URL as an additional
resource. This has paid dividends and has not upset any of the
list members.
10. Write an article for an opt-in list such as this one! All
publicity is good publicity and if you can help others by
sharing your knowledge with them at the same time, all the
better.
About the author:
Byron Hunte Sprant Limited - Insurance and Resources for UK
eCommerce Startups http://www.sprant.com