domain namessite promotion
marketing strategy
site promotion
Making your web site better known makes your business better known and lets you communicate with more prospective and existing customers. Your web site needs to be made visible to those who are interested in your products and services but don't yet know your web address. Let's call it 'Web Visible Marketing'.
Visitors to your site will be a mixture of those who know of your business already, those who have found you via links or ads from other sites, and those who have arrived as a result of using a search engine either via the 'natural' search results or search engine ads.
Most businesses become Web Visible through a combination of online and off-line approaches taking account of the different ways customers may find you.
- Off-line promotion of your web address more...
- Search engine submission more...
- Web page optimisation more...
- Online advertising campaigns more...
- Specialist web directory listings more...
- Encouraging external links to your site more...
- Using electronic communication footers more...
Off-line promotion of your web address
Off-line promotion of your web address is very much like promoting your business name via traditional methods. Your advertisements, buildings, vehicles, directory entries, press releases, leaflets, catalogues, promotional items and business cards should all carry your web and email addresses as well as other contact details wherever possible. They play a particularly important role when you have direct contact with customers, providing both an introduction to your business and a highly visible reminder. back...
Search engine submission
When web users know what kind of information they are looking for but don't know where to find it, they often turn to an Internet search engine. It suggests a list of suitable web sites to match words entered by a web user.
For someone to find your site within that list of results requires that the site be known to the search engine, understood by it and very importantly, well ranked for words relevant to your business. You want to be high up on the list.
To make your site known to a search engine, first it must be submitted. It can then be indexed using sophisticated techniques to understand what the pages are about. High profile search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN provide the foundation.
It's generally best to only have your site registered with the highest profile, quality Internet search engines. Firstly, they are the most widely used, secondly, they are usually the best designed and thirdly they have clearer policies in place regarding the reuse of your business contact information for marketing purposes. Getting your site listed where it helps your business is the aim. back...
Web page optimisation
To achieve better search engine results rankings, your site's pages should be fine-tuned to ensure all the page text elements are harmonised making them understandable to search engines. This improves the indexing of your site's pages and so increases the chances of a relevant match being made against given search words. back...
Online advertising campaigns
Just as with newspapers and TV, through the Internet you can run marketing campaigns, coordinating your advertising for a particular purpose. Your online campaign might focus on the launch of your newest product, or generate new business at a particular time of year or create more general awareness about your business.
What's really interesting about running online ads to boost your exposure is that these need only appear to interested web users. Highly targeted web based ads invite prospective customers to visit your site and you only pay when they do. These ads provide a taster, driving traffic to your web site which is ready to provide the detail. back...
Specialist web directory listings
In some circumstances, it can be beneficial to register with industry sector specific or geographic online directories.
Geographic directories of the type 'mylocaltown.co.uk' can provide useful visibility when much of your market is local. Care must be taken however, as some receive very few visitors and their policies regarding the resale of your business contact information may be unclear.
Industry sector specific directories can be useful when your product or service is quite specialised especially when your business holds approvals or certifications within the industry. back...
Encouraging external links to your site
Encouraging other web sites to provide a link to yours can be another useful approach. To obtain relevant web traffic at your site requires that the external site has some relevant association with what you do but is probably not directly competitive. back...
Industry associations, special interest groups, expert product users, suppliers, agents, specialist publications and enthusiast clubs may sometimes provide links to you on request. In return they may sometimes expect a reciprocal link on your site back to them. back...
Using electronic communication footers
Providing contact details at the bottom of emails or newsgroup messages is not only considerate but also reminds others of your web presence well into the future. Many people keep email messages for years and newsgroup messages are generally not deleted at all.
A concise footer including a contact name, company name, email address link, web address link, telephone number and possibly a physical address can be added to each email message. Newsgroup messages generally use a shortened version using just contact name, email and web address. back...
July 2002 (revised February 2005) - S.B.