If you've decided that having a web site is right for your business, what can you do to ensure your target audience discovers it and comes back again and again? (If you're still unsure about whether your business should have a site, read Is Your Business Ready for a Website? and Planning Your Business Web Site.)
Start With a Great Web Site... and Stay On Top of It.
Developing your web site, just as with other promotional campaigns,
requires careful planning. Produce
an up-to-date, aesthetically pleasing site with valuable content
for your target audience. It's important to have accurate and timely
information - don't let your site become stale. Updating your
content frequently will encourage repeat visits.
Some experts believe that a good way to assess the effectiveness of your site is to build it slowly, testing different features and asking for feedback from your site's visitors as you go. Regardless of the value of the feedback, if an online visitor takes the time to send you an email message, send an email response to thank them for the suggestion. This creates the impression that you listen to customers. If you plan to incorporate the suggestion in your site, say so - you will probably get a repeat visitor. In fact, the online visitor might tell others to view your site to see how their suggestion is used.
Evaluate Your Competition
Regularly visit the web sites of your competitors...and even the
sites of non-competing organizations your target audience might
visit. Learn from what these sites do well - and from what they
could improve upon.
Register Your Site with Search Engines
Search engines direct users to web sites that are relevant to keywords
or concepts they have entered. If you register your site properly
with search engines, users who are unaware of your site will still
find it when they search for the information your site contains.
For example, if you manufacture a unique line of pet accessories,
someone using a search engine to find information on cat supplies
should be directed to your site.
Visit the home pages of major search engines - especially those you want to be picked up by - and research their Help or General Search Tips hotlinks to understand what they search for and how they display results. Then carefully determine what your key words and phrases should be and modify your HTML files accordingly so your site will be placed high in search listings. It's surprising and important to know that keywords on graphics will NOT be recognized by a search engine; again, be sure they are included in the code. Search engines might look in a variety of places for your keywords - in your HTML Title, Metatags, Alternate Text, and the first few sentences of your Body.
Expect that there will be a delay in having your registration go into effect with the search engines. Some search engines take days, others take weeks, to update their catalogues. Some crawl around nightly but don't update what they find until their catalogues are updated.
The process of submitting and verifying listings can be very time-consuming and frustrating when they are submitted to dozens or hundreds of search engines. There are search engine submission sites that charge you a fee to submit your site to various search engines. If you decide to go this route, look carefully at what search engines they are submitting to. Submitting your site to numerous obscure search engines that have little traffic themselves will not be helpful.
Keep up with your listing. Strange things can happen. Sometimes pages disappear and links are incorrect. Resubmit information if you identify a problem.
Advertisements and Sponsorships
Before investing in online "clickable" ads or sponsorship
of popular sites, make sure you investigate the rates thoroughly.
(Clickable ads are typically small graphics that, when clicked on
with a mouse, lead the viewer to a larger ad or more information
about a product or company.) Perform a cost-benefit analysis comparing
WWW ad rates to rates for other types of ads. In other words, your
advertising dollars may be best spent in another media,
but only you can determine that.
One of the most popular ways to economically advertise is to place small ads on relevant pages of search engines. An example of this type of advertising is Google Adwords, where you target customers actively searching for what you sell.
Other Promotional Tools
Promote your web site through various public relations and marketing
methods online and off-line. Some suggestions include:
Print your web site and email addresses on all of your marketing materials, including business cards, letterhead, brochures, advertisements, and product packaging.
Include a hotlink to your web site in your email signature file along with your name, address, and the name of your business. (A signature file is a closing which automatically appears at the bottom of an email message. In effect, it's an "electronic letterhead.") If your email software doesn't support hotlinks in signature files, be sure that your URL is at least spelled out.
Participate in discussion groups. In discussion groups, you can promote your image by contributing suitable and useful information to discussions. It's bad form, however, to blatantly advertise your web site, company or product in these forums.
Create Web Site Links
You can link your web site to other sites and develop cross-promotional
relationships online. Before approaching another web site owner, make a list of benefits
for both parties. How will the relationship be mutually beneficial?
