Attracting visitors to your Web site is the ultimate goal of every site owner out there, with millions of Web sites all fighting for the same visitors. But many Web sites fail to attract visitors, not because of the site’s content or general appearance, but because the site’s owners have failed to promote the Web site effectively.
We often refer to the Internet as being similar to a vast library with millions upon million of books (or Web sites). Now imagine trying to find one particular book that was not indexed (Search Engines) or promoted (Search Engine & links) at all. Impossible you would say, but that's exactly what many Web site owners do.
So how should you promote your Web site? Why do some Web sites appear higher up in the search engine results list? How do you attract visitors? Follow my "Ten Golden Rules" and you'll learn the basics of how many Web site owners promote their Web sites:
Step One - Have a little patience now, it can pay off a hundred fold later on. As you will be entering your details in to many databases, it pays to make sure that you have everything just right, since many databases seem to be rarely updated, and you might have to live with these results for years to come. Practicing a little patience now always pays off.
Step Two - Explore the Internet; go out and look around the Internet, learn about your competitors and what they are doing, learn how to use search engines, decide upon your linking strategies – perhaps giving reciprocal links. More than anything else, practice begging, groveling and generally being nice – because by helping others, you will ultimately help yourself.
Step Three - When you think you have an understanding of the Internet, the next thing to do is to review your own Web site. Does it have META tags? Are all your chosen keywords correct? Are you using the title tag correctly? Have you put up any mirror pages? Are all your image’s ALT tags used correctly? And so on...
Only when you are completely satisfied with this should you proceed.
Step Four - It's now time to gather together the basic information required to promote your site into a PRK or Promotional Resource Kit. No two kits are ever truly the same as no two Web sites are ever the same. This is what we suggest you include in your basic promotional resource kit:
- One 468 x 60 banner as used by many banner exchange programs.
- One 88 x 31 button as used on the left hand side of many sites.
- One logo of any reasonable size.
- A list of all your Web site’s pages along with their corresponding URLs and page titles that you wish to have indexed by the major search engines.
- A list of keywords pertaining to your site, arranged in order of importance (with the most important ones first). When selecting keywords, try adding a few spelling mistakes as most people are terrible at spelling.
- A description of your Web site which should be concise and attractive to potential visitors; at least two descriptions are required, one with no more than twenty five words and one with around fifty words or so.
- Your contact details: typically your name, company name, contact person, email address, telephone number, fax number, etc.
- The category under which your Web site should be listed under in directories such as Google.
- A description of the target audience for the Web site.
- Lastly, but most importantly, you need some means of keeping track of your Web site promotions. I use a notepad and pencil, others use a text editor. Use whatever you feel comfortable with.
Step Five - Recheck everything. This is your last chance to check that everything is just right, and to make those last minute changes. After this, take a break and get to know your family, it'll be awhile before you see them again.
In my conclusion, we’ll roll up our sleeves and get to work, using your new Promotional Resource Kit to increase
