Website Promotion Crash Course

If, after my last article, you've gone out and paid good money for a company Website, be it to a professional design firm or not, the next stage is to make sure that people know where it is, and why they should visit.

Many small-medium sized companies make little or no effort to actually use and maintain their Websites once they've been built. In fact, the majority of small business Websites that I come across in the course of my work do far more harm than good for that very reason. It's sad, but true. With a little effort though, that 'online business card' can become the valuable asset you've always known it could be.

This article is intended to give both site owners and site designers a checklist for the smooth launch and integration of a Website into any 'bricks and mortar' small business. It does not cover search engines. There are hundreds of articles on this subject, and this is not one of them.

Okay, let's get started....

Launch Your Website

Hopefully you're very proud of your new site and presumably that means you'd like to tell people about it. There are several rather obvious ways that anyone can do this:

• eMail
• Telephone
• Word of mouth
• Snail mail

Yes I know -- it's hardly rocket science but it's always helpful to start with the basics, and telling all your customers and friends about your new site is a good way to begin.

Let's look at each of these points in a little more detail:

Email

Email everybody in your address book, and if possible and appropriate, ensure that everyone in your company does the same thing. But be careful! This kind of email can easily be considered spam. Bear these two important points in mind:

1. K.I.S.S. Keep It Short and Simple. 4-5 lines including the URL will be quite sufficient.


2. Send plain text. Don't be tempted to send html email, as many will object to it and some won't even open it. Besides, most email clients will render the URL as a link anyway.

Telephone

We'll focus here on how you might approach your customers (your friends will probably be delighted to hear from you and excited by your new site, so calling them to tell them won't be a big deal).

In my humble opinion (which means that it's not even remotely humble!), there are two rules to promote your site by phone without causing annoyance:

1. Call to inform your customers of a genuine benefit to them regarding your new Website.


2. Tell them about it when you next speak to them in the course of business -- don't call them solely to tell them about your site.

For example, you may wish to tell all of your customers where they can now find important information, or perhaps take advantage of a special 'Website-only' offer. More on this later. And remember to tell whoever answers the phones in your business to mention the new site in each call as well.

Word of Mouth

This doesn't really warrant much explanation, other than to point out that when you tell someone about your new site, your recommendation will have a greater impact if you can hand them a business card that shows the URL (or at least write it down for them).

Your efforts here will again have far greater results if the people that you talk to perceive some benefit in visiting you site, such as special offers and relevant information on products and services.

Snail Mail

The rules here are pretty much the same as for email. The best way is to either write a short mailshot that details a specific benefit to be found on your site, or include a small note/paragraph in your regular correspondence to clients.

A friend of mine at qexo.com also suggested using postcards. You can't fail to miss the URL, as the message isn't hidden inside an envelope, and there's only room for small message -- keeping everybody happy!