10 Effective Ways to Promote Your Website
It takes more than just a web site to gain maximum visibility in today's competitive online marketplace.
Effective online marketing involves researching sources your customers use and enhancing your company profile within these listings. Acquiring a broader online presence gives you opportunities to increase your brand awareness, message and offers to your target audience.
Get listed in directories
Online directories add more channels to target your audience. Directories are a keen favourite for the average user because it gives them more concise choice by filtering information. Your website optimisation can also benefit from relative back links with free and paid inclusion. Certain directories will also power other websites content so you may find you're gaining more links to your website than expected.
Email Marketing
Email marketing can deliver your message directly to the inboxes of prospective customers. They are a great way to announce new products and services. Offering downloads and promotions is a good way to promote referral and minimise users unsubscribing.
Publish articles online
Positioning your company as experts in your industry by developing relationships with sites writing and publishing informative articles.
Place banner advertisements
Online banners offer branding and lead generation opportunities. Ensure your ads are appropriate placed on websites. A firm understanding of the online behaviour of your target audience is required to place banner ads across a network of relevant sites.
Join trade associations
Associations typically list members providing links back to your web site. Some will allow you to submit your logo, which helps increase brand visibility for your company. Make sure the link back to your Web site goes to a relevant page — it might be your home page, but it also might be a deeper, more specific page depending on your online marketing strategy.
Compose online marketing campaigns effectively
Most of us have used keyword search ads to some degree, driving traffic to your Web site. If you use keyword ads, choose phrases rather than the most popular search terms (for example, “Web Design Devon” instead of “web design”). Narrowing your search phrases to specific target markets will increase the success of your campaign.
Participate in online discussions through Blogs and Forums
Interactive social media such as blogs and online discussion groups devoted to your industry are excellent ways to get your name out there. Remember to post comments with care — anything you write can be seen by many people and is a direct reflection of your company.
Always remember SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the key to gaining increased traffic to your company's web pages by improving the overall site content and structure. Introduce SEO into your marketing strategy without compromising other resources in your day to day business.
Social Media
The term "social media" includes commonly known websites such as Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook. Social media is a good example of an affordable way to promote your business to your target audience. 2009 saw more companies paying attention to social media and the benefits it can bring their business so it makes sense to gain a better understanding so you can effectively use it in the near future.
As a business it's important to ensure you are maintaining a comprehensive online presence helping you get your message across to work professionals, resulting in increased exposure for your products and services.
Pay per Click Advertising (PPC)
PPC advertising takes a lot of studying to be accomplished, and can cost a lot of time and money, but if your site is well designed and converts your users well, it can be a very powerful marketing tool. PPC can be used in variety of ways prior to any marketing campaign to guage the reaction from your target audience. You could use PPC for testing the effectiveness of a keyword conversion prior to embarking on a full blown search engine campaign and PPC can be used to promote an event, special offer or product.
Here are the big three marketing tools available:
adwords.google.com
searchmarketing.yahoo.com
adCenter.Microsoft.com
