Website Promotion Crash Course

Advertising

If your company advertises in print media, then it's essential that you get that URL incorporated into your artwork. Remember:

• The good old yellow pages
• Leaflets and mailshots
• Posters and billboards
• Newspapers and magazines

You get the idea!

Your site can act as the perfect extension to your existing advertising efforts and open an immediate window into your business. If someone is interested in your ad, chances are that a professional Website with plenty of good quality content will tip the balance over 'Your Competition and Sons, Pty Ltd', who list only their physical address.

The Shop-Front

If you have one, it needn't break the bank to let passers by know that you can now be found online as well. Your local print shop can probably knock up some posters for you, and if there's a signwriter near you, get a quote to add your URL to the shop sign.

Promoting Your Site by Telephone

Using the phone to promote your site can be extremely effective if you can get all your staff to sing from the same hymn sheet. Here's a few things to consider if you make or receive more than a few calls a day.

Keep Useful URLs Handy

Keep a list of useful URLs for your 'front desk' staff. When customers ask 'can I get information on x, y or z' point them to an appropriate page. Better still, email them the link.

Got an On-Hold Message?

Tailor your 'on-hold' message to promote your site. Go on, be a devil: ditch 'Green Sleeves' and create a snappy ad for your Website!

Write an F.A.Q.

Write and maintain an FAQ. As with the above, offer to email a link to callers that ask questions that appear on your FAQs list. Check out this howto from the HTML Writers Guild.

Run a Website-Only Promotion

Create weekly/monthly promotions that are only to be found on your site. This gives you a great reason to tell callers the site URL, and of course if they visit with the intention of checking out the offer, they'll also be exposed to all your other sales initiatives.

Note that not all your callers will be online and some of them may object to being redirected. They took time out to call you, so do them the courtesy of responding via the same medium and send them a link to your more detailed online information. There, now everybody's happy!

Keep Promoting Your Site

Right, so you've spent a serious amount of time, effort and money on the integration of your new site into your small business. You've plastered the URL over everything that moves, beaten anyone not using their company email address with a big stick, and you're feeling pretty pleased with the results. So what now? Sit back and take it easy? Fat chance.

Here's where the real work begins. Having built a Website and attracted some traffic to it, your objective now is to gain repeat visits and referrals.

As I said in the beginning, I won't try to cover search engines here (if I did I'd never get this article finished). If you'd like to start reading up on the subject though, start here...

What else can you use? The areas we'll look at are:

• Repeat traffic
• Viral marketing
• Going the extra mile