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10 Ways to market your web site - and have it market YOU.

Small Business Website Design - How To Get Professional Results On A Shoestring Budget
Just because you are a small business with an even smaller website design budget, does not mean that you cannot have a professional looking .....
Once your web site is done, it does you little good to have it

sitting static on the net waiting for those visitor clicks.

High numbers of visits to your site from potential customers or

clients rarely happen by accident. They are a result of a well

designed internet marketing plan.



When our company pitches the benefits of having a web site, we

emphasize that a web site is not a form of advertising. An

advertisement is owned by the vendor who sells it to you. It

runs for a specified amount of time and then is gone. Its a one

Web Hosting Woes For Beginners
Every individual when it starts surfing the net for choosing its hosting partner get confused .....
time shot to make an impression. A web site is a marketing tool

that is up 24 - 7, specifically used for communication. It is

owned by you forever, and you use it to communicate with the

outside world and through it, the outside world can communicate

with you.



Other communication tools used by companies are telephones, fax

machines, snail mail and personal contact. You can sell and

advertise with these tools, but their benefits are far more

versatile as are the benefits of your web site. And just as you

have to pay your phone bill, though you own the phone and fax,

you must pay the web hosting bill but the phone, the fax

machine and the web site are your property and part of your

companys assets.



Once your web is launched, it's time to start marketing with it.

Most web designers will offer to do this marketing piece for you

for a fee, but we encourage our clients to assign a person in

house to do the marketing piece. Why? Because web marketing is

not difficult if you have a plan. It's an ongoing process. The

Internet is constantly changing, and someone inside the company

should be familiar with the status of the web site and its

growth and how its adapting to the changing cyber world. It can

take as little as one hour a week, and a person on the inside is

naturally going to have more zeal for seeing that your page rank

is climbing and your visitor traffic increasing.



Here are our companys Ten Suggestions to Marketing Your Web

Site.



1. Check your web stats daily if possible.Pay close attention to

number of clicks by unique visitors and the referring site.

These fields indicate how many individuals are visiting your

site and where they came from. It will also show which search

engines brought visitors to your site.



Most servers provide traffic analysis tools. There are also

commercial programs that will give an abundance of web traffic

information and analysis. One good web based traffic analyzer

that has a good FREE version can be found at www.statcounter.com.



2. Scan the major Search Engines for your company.



Run a search using your companys name in the major search

engines (Google, AOL, Yahoo, MSN, alltheweb). Wherever your

company shows up, check with that website to see if they will

include your URL where your name is listed. It is best to call

personally, and then follow up with an email.



3. Search your competitors.



Run searches on your competitors with the major search engines

to see where they are listed. See about getting your link listed

on these sites or similar sites.



4. Check your area Chambers of Commerce.



If your area Chambers have web sites that list URLs of members,

it may be worth your while to buy a membership with that Chamber

especially if that particular Chambers web site gets a lot of

hits.



A Chamber advertisement is good for a whole year of membership.

When you break it down to a monthly cost of having your link on

their site, is generally is affordable. If your chamber has a

high page rank, having your site listed there could boost your

rank.



5. Put your web address everywhere.



Be sure to include your web address on ALL advertising materials

(business cards, newspaper ads, web ads, flyers, brochures,

stationary). A good rule of thumb if you put your company

name on it, put your web site address on it as well.



Does your company make deliveries? If so, put the web address on

the delivery vehicle. Even a small magnetic sign on a car can be

affective.



6. Scan the web for Directories that list similar companies.



Look for web directories and web listing services that list

businesses such as yours as a service to internet users (i.e.

realtor.com, Hotel / Motel Restaurant Assoc., expedia.com). They

will more than likely be glad to include your link.



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There are hundreds and thousands of websites on the internet today being bought and .....
For fee based conglomerates, weigh out the cost of having your

listing with them against two factors will the traffic they

bring to your site be targeted towards your specific service?

Will a link on their site boost your page rank thus elevating

your position in the search engine results?



7. Link with Government Offices.



If your local Town / County Government or County Tourism Office

has a website, ask to be included on their site if its

appropriate to their content.



New-comers to a Town and those considering relocating to your

area, often check these sites to familiarize themselves with

what services are available.



8. Search the web for other businesses that have complimentary

(not competitive) services to yours. Consider whether a link on

their website would be beneficial, and then approach them about

linking to your site.



For example, we are a marketing and promotion company that does

web sites. When clients want brochures or business cards printed

we deal with a particular local printer. We send that printer

business and the printing company put a link to our company on

their site.



This is particularly effective for any business that you partner

with for clients or services. (NOTE: when considering reciprocal

links, remember that you dont want to drive traffic from your

site to another. Be certain that the web master adding the links

to your site assigns the link to open in a new window. Also be

careful not to link to a site that could steal away any of your

clients.)



9. Use your email for marketing.



Start an email list of potential customers and add to it as

often as you can. Ask clients and customers for their email

addresses, and collect email addresses from potential clients

any way you can.



Owning Your Own Web Site Is A Must
Owning your own website is a must if you are doing business
on the Internet.

There are so many factors involved in creating a web site .....
Once a month send out an ezine (email newsletter) to your email

list with news about your company. Include content

(non-advertising) that will be interesting to your clients.



For example, a real estate agency may include a short piece on

home improvements. Always give the ezine receiver an opt out

link at the bottom of the email. Be sure to include links

throughout your ezine that will drive viewers to your web site.

Add a link on your web site to subscribe to this monthly ezine.



Be certain to have all staff include an email signature on every

email sent out that lists your web address.



10. Change the Content of your web site frequently. We find

that clients who have a rotating page that is a page that is

designed to be updated daily, weekly or monthly have more

traffic and keep their ranking in the search engines.



Rotating content keeps your site "sticky" - that is, it gives

users a reason to return a reason to bookmark your site. Some

suggestions for rotating content are a monthly specials page,

featured product or service page or a monthly article

pertinent to your industry.



We have a "featured partner page" that changes monthly. It

highlights a client in our network. We use that monthly change

as a header in our ezine. Rotating content will keep your web

site from become static and create a reason for visitors to

return.



Be sure to establish a good working relationship with your web

developer, if they will be serving as your webmaster. Keep the

lines of communication open, ask questions, and make them aware

of your needs. Web developers are generally good people that

want to make their clients happy. The success of the web site

often hinges on the success of the developer / client

relationship. When the relationship is good the synergy created

between the two can do wonders for your company and your

customers.



About the author:

Mindie Burgoyne is an Organizational Development Consultant and

owner of Lowershore.net, a Maryland Business Development

Company. She lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.