|
||
| HOME PORTFOLIO MAINTENANCE FLASH RATES ABOUT ME TESTIMONIALS CONTACT | ||
|
Promotion Many people assume that once they have a web site, thousands of people will be visiting it on a daily basis. This is usually not the case. With literally millions of web pages out there, very few people will stumble upon your site unless they already know about you. If you are a startup with a small website, without promotion, you can expect 10 to 12 visitors a day. With a site of over 20 pages you might get around 20 to 40 visitors a day. Businesses with a well established name and client base will bring in a lot more visitors - people will be looking for you and they will find you. Can my site do well in the search engines? Some sites are promotable in the search engines and some are not. First, to be promotable, you must have something people are looking for. If your business is well known, they will be looking for you. But if you have a new invention people won't be looking for it, so you will have to advertise. Second, you have to have a niche market - you just can't compete on the keywords like 'diamonds', but you can compete on 'diamonds in Pelican Rapids' or 'Huichol Indian Jewelry'. I would be happy to tell you in advance whether your site is 'promotable' in the search engines. How do I get my site to perform well in the search engines? The search engines take the following factors into account: 1. Content - the more pages the better - the more quality content the better 2. Incoming links - If someone has a link to your site the search engines counts it as a vote for your site. Ask all your friends to include a link to your site on their website. Also, I offer a link exchange. 3. Keyword optimization - You need to have your keywords in appropriate places like the page title, headings, etc. I do this as I set up the site. 4. Type of code - Straight HTML sites do best - excessive javascript for rolling menus etc. only confuses the search engines. Flash sites are the worst. 5. Age of site - The search engines like old sites better. 6. Hosting - The jury is still out but it might be best to host on a dedicated IP. 7. Domain Name - If you domain name has the keywords in it, that is a big help. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): If you are in a competitive field and want to do well in the search engines you might want to hire an SEO who is a specialist in this field. They run about $200 a month. I can recommend one for you. Be careful about SEOs who say "I can get you number 1 in the search engines". Not everyone can be number 1. Ask them "Which serach engines? What keywords?" Also ask them if they stick to 'white hat' SEO. Some SEOS use unscrupulous methods that can get you banned from the search engines. Online Advertising I recommend is Google Adwords. These are pay-per-click advertising plans where you can specify a daily amount (say $3) and they will show your ad near the top as a sponsored link. The cost per click can go from 5 cents to over a dollar depending on how competative the terms are. I really recommend this for people whose sites are not promotable, or don't have the time to promote them. Another plus is they start up right away. If you want to try this, I will help you set up an account. (Setup fee $50). Email Campaigns and Mailing Lists Another advertising option is an email campaign. I don't like junk mail myself, so I don't involve myself in this, but certainly you can inform your customers and friends of any new developments via a mailing list that they sign up for. Other Advertising Websites offer an exceptional backup to traditional advertising. Put a small ad in a paper or magazine with you web page address on it and people can go directly to your site for more information. You may also give speaches, give an interview to a local paper or radio station or go on Ophra! Also, include your web site address on your business cards and all emails that you send out. One of my customers makes a good living on telephone sales, selling advertising on his website. Salespeople Salespeople will of course try to sell you things. They deal in generalities rather than specifics and will often promise more than they can deliver. First, when you think about search engines, only think of the big 3: Google, MSN and Yahoo. They deliver 99% of the traffic. If someone offers to put you on 600 search engines I wouldn't bother because the other 597 will not bring you much traffic. Second, if people will tell you they can bring in alot of traffic to you site, ask them how! There are no magic bullets - This article has already told you what you need to know about promotion. To get to the top of the search engines you need (a) content (b) incoming links and (c) have the keywords in your titles, headings and text. This is a slow process and there are no guarantees. Be specific: Ask them can you guarantee that I will be on the first page for the term 'Hawaiian Wedding" in Google. If they answer yes, they are lying, because no one can make these guarantees. However, a good SEO will be able to improve your rankings and help bring in more traffic but it is a slow, expensive process. There are many packages for sale. I like the ones with free trial periods. It seems to me you can't go wrong with these. Free Resources Webmaster World This has everything you have ever wanted to know about SEO (search engine optimization) and you will also see how bitterly disappointed many webmasters are about Google these days. It it kind of on the technical side but a must for anyone serious about SEO. The Wordtracker Click on trial. This site tells you how many times people search for particular keywords. This is a must to decide which keywords to target. Google Toolbar Download the Google Toolbar. This toolbar is a must if you are exchanging links. It tells the Google ranking for each site, the backlinks and more. Google Adwords Here is where you sign up for or learn more about Google Adwords. |  |
|