EIGHT QUICK, EASY AND FREE STEPS TO PROMOTE YOUR WEBSITE

By Jeremy C. Reed
(c) June 3, 1998

Hundreds of thousands of individuals, organizations and companies have made the recent jump to the World Wide Web most expecting instant publicity or profit. They sit waiting for their website to draw in the hoards of internet users. Their site just sits. The counters slowly grow showing when a wandering random user visits the site.

There is no guarantee that any site will have thousands of visits. But several quick and easy, low-budget or no-budget steps can help individuals and organizations boost their website's traffic.

Content

Why would anyone want to visit your site in the first place? Unless you are selling web or graphic design services, most likely people aren't going to swarm to your website just for its look. Internet users want free information or easier ways for doing things.

First, consider your current audience or clients: how can the website make their dealings with you quicker and easier? Can they quickly view your products? Can they read in-depth information about your services? Is the ordering process quick and easy? Can your clients find out the current status of their project?

Why would any new people want to visit your site? Thousands of similar sites compete against each other. Just as a huge metropolitan yellow pages phone directory may contain hundreds of listings for one category, the internet can contain thousands of pages. Your website needs to offer information that is useful, free and frequently updated. A lot of sites just link away from their site to someone else's useful, free info. Keep your visitors at your site. Consider building a library or archive of information at your website by adding articles or reports that you (or other members of your organization) have written about your field or business. Keep your website growing and changing with new content at least once a month. If your specialty involves up-to-date knowledge or news, consider updating your site several times each day.

When placing your content at your website, follow Sun Microsystems engineer Jakob Nielsen's ideas: keep your writing short (roughly 50 percent shorter than a print version), make it easy to scan by using bold face, bullets, subheads, italics to highlight key points, and don't use "marketing-speak." To find out more about his research on how people read on the web, visit http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html.

Build mailing lists

Sending mass mail over the internet often brings negative attention to your site. Many internet users consider junk mail (or spam as it is called on the net) unprofessional, and you may be flamed finding your email box cluttered with complaints. In some situations, disgruntled recipients may spam you back with thousands of emails, crashing your email system and possibly your server.

To wisely build your mailing list, encourage your site's visitors to send their email address. Ideas include: offer a weekly email newsletter, send news about website additions and updates or allow free use to password-protected webpages. The weekly newsletter can be short and simple; maybe just summarize the previous week's news in your field and share a calendar of upcoming events.

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson of Wilson Internet Services (http://www.wilsonweb.com) had 200 subscribers in November 1995 to his free email newsletter, Web Marketing Today. Growing by 250 subscribers a week, he built his mailing list to over 39,000 addresses. At the end of each of his newsletters, Dr. Wilson shares a "A Gentle Plug for Our E-Commerce Consulting Business."

Don't send long sales pitches to your mailing list: offer useful information and links back to your site. Keep sales messages brief and place them near the end of your letters. Make your website sell your product or services. Give your visitors a reason to return.

Listen to feedback

Also, to keep your visitors coming back, ask them for their comments and suggestions. Word these so you get the response you need: "What should we change or add to the website that will make it easier or more beneficial to you?"

You may know what you like or want to see, but you also should consider meeting your audience's needs and desires. Listen to their feedback, implement the ideas that are feasible, and respond. Send a message out to your mailing list about the new changes.

For more information, read Scott Kirsner's "Listen Up" at the CIO WebBusiness Magazine (http://www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/040198_main.html).

Put your website address on other promotional materials

Take a look at all the non-internet materials you send or give out. Do you list your phone number or address on them? Why not add your email and web-site addresses? Put your website address on notepads, receipts, coffee mugs, hats, shirts, coats, boxes, shipping materials, envelopes, letterheads, media releases, magazine covers, bulletin boards and business cards. Put it on everything.

Submit to search engines and directories

As mentioned earlier, the internet can have thousands of websites serving similar interests. In a search for a "pet store," Infoseek found 5,647 websites in its database, and AltaVista found 9,321 matches. Make sure your web-pages contain the "keywords" that users would use when searching for a site such as yours. Submitting your sites is often simple: just go to the various search engines, and click on "Add URL" (often located at the bottom). Then just fill in your website address and submit it. (Some may also ask for your email address.) Some search engines add pages to their database within the day; others may take weeks.

To add your sites manually, a good starting place is http://www.mmgco.com/4-star.html, which lists 100 of the best search engines. Several sites help automate your search engine submissions for free. To save time try out: http://www.123addit.com, http://www.submit-it.com or http://www.broadcaster.co.uk.

Ask other sites to link

Take advantage of other Internet sites with similar interests to promote your site. Since other websites can't be total information sources, they often offer links to other sites to help people find what they are looking for. Use several search engines to find similar sites by using common search terms that you would use to find your own site. Then just email to the webmasters a short message briefly describing your site and asking them to link to you.

Newsgroups

Just like spamming, using newsgroups to promote your website can be dangerous. To keep from being flamed, keep your posts to same subjects currently being discussed. Share information and resist from advertising. John Blower from 1st Steps Marketing and Design Daily, a newsletter for the World Wide Web professional, says "the key is 'added-value.'" Before posting to any newsgroups, be sure to follow them for a few days to find out what they are currently discussing and to find out what is acceptable.

At the end of your emails, place business card-type information, called a signature, to let people know who you are, how to contact you and to promote your website. Keep your signature short, about four to six lines. For more detailed information, consider reading web marketing consultant Rick E. Bruner's "Promoting via online communities (without spam)" articles at ClickZ Today (http://www.clickz.com/1998/040898.html and http://www.clickz.com/1998/041598.html).

Link exchange

A link exchange can increase your exposure through trading banner displays with other sites. Usually you can target your ad to sites with similar interests or audiences. You display ads for other members, and in return, they display ads for you. Typically, your banner is displayed once for every two times you display another banner. Check out: http://www.linkexchange.com, http://www.clicktrade.com and http://www.exchange-it.com.

Some link exchange networks with a common theme are linked together in a circle. Because the rings are organized by theme, people surfing the ring are likely to be interested in your site. Http://www.webring.org has over 20,000 free active rings.