Website promotion doesn’t have to be as difficult as some people make it out to be. Here are three website promotion strategies to help you get started.
Directories.
Directories are essentially libraries of websites. They’re generally organized by broad category like sports and then by more specific categories like baseball which is then broken down into micro categories like amateur, youth, video games, instruction, movies and so on.
The benefit to listing your website with a directory is they send traffic to your website and they help increase search engine ranking. The caveat is that there are literally thousands of website directories. Best advice, because manually submitting takes time, is to submit to a handful as time permits. For example when your website is up and running submitting to http://www.dmoz.org is a great idea. Additionally, you can submit to a couple more. Then plan on submitting to another five or so the next quarter. By the end of the year, you will have submitted to 20 directories and can reevaluate your plan and how much traffic has come from those directories.
Search engine submission.
One of the first things many people do once they’ve created a business website is to submit it to the search engines. This is a very straight forward process and many website hosts offer this service as part of their hosting package. The obvious search engines to submit your site to are Google, MSN, and Yahoo however there are a number of smaller search engines for which it can benefit your business to become a part of. They include:
o MetaCrawler,
o AltaVista,
o Live Search,
o Ask.com,
o About,
o MIVA,
o LookSmart
There are actually hundreds of search engines however these seven plus the three listed earlier are a great start. To list your website with a search engine manually, that is without a submission service, simply visit the website. Generally they explain the process in their FAQs or in their 'submit a site' tab. For Google the process is straight forward, simply visit http://www.google.com/addurl/ and add your URL per the instructions.
Press and publicity.
Press releases are a great way to spread the word about your business and the benefits your company offers. Online press release websites like prweb.com are an excellent resource. They offer tutorials on how to write a press release and also offer various degrees of service ranging from manual and broad scope submission to professional submission to targeted publications, regions, or industries. One well written press release can generate a ton of website traffic, increase awareness of your company and present you and your business with new opportunities.
Website promotion is a continual process and part of an ongoing marketing strategy. As website traffic and awareness build, promotion strategies will naturally evolve. Submitting to directories and search engines will no longer be necessary and press releases and more sophisticated marketing campaigns will take over. However, to attain that level of success, take the time to implement those initial promotion steps; submit to a few major directories and search engines to get the ball rolling.
Niche Markets and How They Affect Adwords Campaigns
Not everyone is a potential customer for a given product or service. Smart business owners know their niche – the particular, well-defined segment of the population that will have interest in what is being sold.
In order to be effective, adwords campaigns must address the advertiser’s niche. This requires an in-depth understanding of who comprises the market and why they buy, and a tightly focused keyword list.
• Who is buying the product or service? Successful advertisers develop a profile of their typical customer. Keywords, titles, and descriptions must appeal to this person. A health-conscious person would be more likely to click thru an ad for “organic meatless recipes”, for example, than “delicious hamburger recipes”.
Reaching the right market – the niche – is necessary to avoid the cost associated with clicks by people who are not likely to buy. Advertisers should strive to avoid viewers who will click but not buy, because they will pay a higher CPC without attaining sales to balance the expense. Low conversion rates are one way to recognize that ads are reaching too broad a market.
• Why do they buy? Marketing experts suggest that purchasing decisions are made for one of three reasons: to fulfill a basic need, to solve a problem, or to create positive feelings about the self. Adwords campaigns should communicate specifically what need will be satisfied, problem solved, or self-image achieved through the purchase.
Viewers are given pages of hits when they enter a search. They need a compelling reason to choose one ad over another. Effective ad titles will increase click-thru rates. The result of these two steps is a lower CPC and a better qualified lead.
To zero in more closely on the niche market, advertisers can employ negative keywords. These are the words that, when included in a viewer’s search, will cause the ad NOT to appear. Developing an accurate list of negative keywords involves several steps. First, using a keyword research tool, enter the keywords chosen for the advertiser’s website. A list of phrases commonly searched that contain those words will be produced. An advertiser selling tulips, for instance, might find that the search phrase “pictures of tulips” is frequently used. The negative keyword “pictures” would then prevent the ad from showing when a viewer wants an image instead of the real thing.
Use keyword phrase matching to further ensure the ad will reach the right viewers. Variations in spelling, common misspellings, interchanged words, and the use of singular and plural forms of keywords allow the maximum number of potential customers to receive the ad in response to a search.
Knowing one’s niche and reaching that segment of the market can enhance an advertiser’s success with Adwords campaigns.
In order to be effective, adwords campaigns must address the advertiser’s niche. This requires an in-depth understanding of who comprises the market and why they buy, and a tightly focused keyword list.
• Who is buying the product or service? Successful advertisers develop a profile of their typical customer. Keywords, titles, and descriptions must appeal to this person. A health-conscious person would be more likely to click thru an ad for “organic meatless recipes”, for example, than “delicious hamburger recipes”.
Reaching the right market – the niche – is necessary to avoid the cost associated with clicks by people who are not likely to buy. Advertisers should strive to avoid viewers who will click but not buy, because they will pay a higher CPC without attaining sales to balance the expense. Low conversion rates are one way to recognize that ads are reaching too broad a market.
• Why do they buy? Marketing experts suggest that purchasing decisions are made for one of three reasons: to fulfill a basic need, to solve a problem, or to create positive feelings about the self. Adwords campaigns should communicate specifically what need will be satisfied, problem solved, or self-image achieved through the purchase.
Viewers are given pages of hits when they enter a search. They need a compelling reason to choose one ad over another. Effective ad titles will increase click-thru rates. The result of these two steps is a lower CPC and a better qualified lead.
To zero in more closely on the niche market, advertisers can employ negative keywords. These are the words that, when included in a viewer’s search, will cause the ad NOT to appear. Developing an accurate list of negative keywords involves several steps. First, using a keyword research tool, enter the keywords chosen for the advertiser’s website. A list of phrases commonly searched that contain those words will be produced. An advertiser selling tulips, for instance, might find that the search phrase “pictures of tulips” is frequently used. The negative keyword “pictures” would then prevent the ad from showing when a viewer wants an image instead of the real thing.
Use keyword phrase matching to further ensure the ad will reach the right viewers. Variations in spelling, common misspellings, interchanged words, and the use of singular and plural forms of keywords allow the maximum number of potential customers to receive the ad in response to a search.
Knowing one’s niche and reaching that segment of the market can enhance an advertiser’s success with Adwords campaigns.
Sunday 29 June 2008
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