I've got my website up, but where are my
hits?
By
Shery Ma Belle Arrieta
It's not enough that you've built a great-looking website for
your products or services if you aren't getting any visitors or
hits. Your website will be like a very dressed-up store but with
no one coming in to buy, and worse, not one even tries to windowshop.
Once you get your site up, don't ever assume that people will
stop and flock by the hundreds just to look at your site. With
over three million websites on the Internet today, don't expect
that you'll get noticed right away without doing anything.
The Internet is referred to as the Information Superhighway. How
accurate this truly is. Think for a moment about your website
and the products and services you're selling there. You're on
this highway, as well as three million other websites.
People are constantly surfing, zipping by. They pass by your website
for the simple reason that they don't know your website exists.
You don't get hits because people don't know you have a web presence.
You may have the page that's the envy of every webmaster on the
planet yet after three months, you're still to make a single sale.
Yes, you're there, but is there a sign anywhere on the Internet
that says, "Hey, I'm here! Here's my product. Come and get
it!" or any other attention-grabbing things?
There are several effective things you can do to get your website
at the forefront of the Information Superhighway: Using Active
Promotional Tools, such as Search Engines.
Here are effective promotional tools you can use depending on
what product or service you're promoting. It is always best to
keep in mind that while one tool will work for you, it may not
be effective for another person. Make use of these tools to select
from for the best mix to reach your target audience:
1 : Youre very own ezine.
Notice how more and more people are starting their own ezine?
Ezines or email newsletters make very good promotional tools.
By combining content and articles with advertisements and announcements
of your products, you'll be able to drive traffic to your site.
If you are in the business of web design, you can write short
articles and tips on effective web designs. If people read that
you are an "expert" in your business, they will come
to you for your services. If you have limited time, as most business
people do, you might consider hiring an e-zine editor.
2 : The powerful sig file.
Use your email signature. From now on, attach a four-line description
and the URL of your site everytime you send out email. If you're
like other people who likes to forward emails to your friends
and families, you might as well take advantage of this. Add your
signature line at the bottom of each email you send out. Chances
are, when they forward your email to people they know, your sig
file will still be there. If you are in discussion lists, be talky.
Dive in the discussion. Offer good feedback and make sure people
on the list see your signature.
3 : Link up with similar sites.
Research on sites that are similar to yours. If you have products
for horses, then look for related sites. Visit those sites and
look around to see if they have link pages.
4 : Web Rings.
A web ring is a step further the simple idea of linking with another
site. Web rings are like "networks" of related sites.
If you join a web ring, you will be added to the ring. You will
have to include a small code in your site especially for this.
On another person's site, when a visitor clicks on a random link
in the web ring, that visitor will be taken to the site that is
queued in the ring. By joining a web ring, you'll be able to get
some hits. Make sure the ring you join is consistent with the
image you want to promote.
5 : Banner Exchanges.
Again, this is another form of linking up. This works by displaying
banners of other people in exchange for them displaying your banner
on their site. However, banner exchanges such as Link Exchange
are like web rings. You will have to paste a code on your page
and it will generate random banners of sites who are in the banner
exchange. Again, make sure the exchange you join is consistent
with the image you want to promote.
6 : Place ads on newsletters.
Write attention-grabbing and interesting ads and submit these
to newsletters. If you already publish an ezine, it is a good
idea to look for ezines that are related to yours. Once you do,
write to the owners and ask if they do adswaps -- you'll advertise
their ezine on your newsletter if they advertise yours on theirs.
There are also sites that let you submit your ads for free. Be
wary of these Free For Alls (FFAs) and Classifieds. The only people
who go to these things are people posting sites and people looking
for e-mail addresses to spam.
7 : Join announcement lists.
There are numerous announcement lists you can sign up and announce
your web site for free. Do a search on Onelist or Topica on announcement
lists. By joining these lists, you'll not be accused of spamming
and you can promote your site to your heart's content -- of course,
based on the rules of the announcement list you joined.
8 : Offer something free and promote it.
People just love anything that is free. Offer free stuff on your
web site. Or offer them an incentive such as a gift if they sign
up to your newsletter or visit your site.
9 : Search Engines.
Simply submitting to search engines will not bring you that much-desired
traffic, unless you're a search engine expert or you hire one.
Most people who submit their sites to search engines end up on
page fifteen of the search engine results. Very few people are
going to find your site that way. Even if you hire a web marketer
to help you with your search rankings, this alone will not bring
you your hits potential. You have to do more than just announce
your site to search engines.
One thing you can do to improve your search engine ranking is
to design your site around search engine indexing techniques.
However, DO NOT make your site look like it was made for search
engines. There are many good resources on the Internet on what
search engines look for when they index your page.
Also, your search engine results are only as good as the keywords
potential customers will use to find you. And having your own
domain name brings you higher search engine rankings, not to mention
more prestige.
You can also hire a specialist to give you advice or propose slight
changes in your page that will bring the people you're looking
for to your page through search engines.
WebMarketingSpecialists.com specializes in search engine ranking,
Web consumer targetting, and promotional campaign consulting.
By hiring a marketing specialist, you're assured that all of your
promotions form a consistent campaign and will give people the
image of your business or company that you want them to have.
Don't waste a lot of money promoting your site to people who are
not your target audience. By using the services of WebMarketingSpecialists.com,
you'll be able to develop the right campaign and company image
that you can promote to your target audience using the best channels
to reach them.
These are only some of the ways you can promote your web site,
your products and your services. Always remember, "No promotion,
no traffic!" And, when in doubt, get advice from experienced
people in your field and marketing specialists.