PML Web Creations WEBrief

How to Promote Your Website

January 11th, 2010

This note contains three major things that you might want to consider when attempting  to promote your website on the Internet.  It will be very brief and explains what can be done in the areas of Website Development, Search Engines, and Online Advertising.  If you are pressed for time, please take note of the major headings.

Website Development

• Use the Services of a Web Developer. You may have heard about the many website development tools endorsing the possibility that “anyone can create a website” with their software. Relatives, friends, volunteers, and current employees might be able to do this for your business.  However, t here are many other tasks that are done by professional web developers and designers to make your website truly effective in terms of design and your connection on the Internet.  These tasks are briefly explained below.
• Use Standards Compliant Code. My clients’ websites are coded using “hard-coded” HTML.  What this means is that I do all the coding without using website building software (e.g., FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Microsoft Office).  This gives your website a greater chance of working in all the web browsers even when they change their code.  These browsers include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Chrome.
• Keep Your Layout Simple. In most cases, your website has only seconds to keep the attention of an Internet user.  It needs to represent your business identity, be attractive, contain simple content, and be easy to navigate.

Search Engines

• No One Really Knows How They Work. Yes, it is a secret and they change the algorithms that are used to find websites based on keyword searches.  The major search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  If someone tells you they can get you ranked on the first page of a major search engine, they are lying.  Maybe they can do this in the short-term by using some kind of “coding trick,” but the search engines will eventually “catch it” and your website could get eliminated from their rankings, possibly indefinitely.
• Use Proper Coding. In addition to the above mentioned standards compliance and simple layout information, there are certain tags in your code that need to be set up correctly.  These include your website’s Title, META Tags, and HTML coding in your content.  The Title is the most important, but all the other tags and coding need to be related.  It is easier for the search engines to find your information if your website is properly coded.
• Submit to Search Engines. My clients’ websites, if not already ranked by the search engines,  get submitted to the major engines.  They only need to be submitted once and can be resubmitted when major changes occur.
• Be Patient. It can take weeks or even months for your website to show up in the major search engines.  Also, I periodically review my clients’ websites to see how they’re doing in the engine rankings;  I then do the things mentioned in this note.

Online Advertising

• Hire an Internet Marketer. Or, I can do this for you at my current hourly fee.  This could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars with a major marketing consultant.  At this time, I do not have a referral for a reputable consultant and hesitate to make any recommendations to my clients.  If you were a large company or organization I would not offer my services to you.
• Business-Related Directories. Get listed in current website directories pertaining to your business.  For example, if you are a restaurant, you might want to get listed in www.restaurant.com.
• Online Phone Directories. Ensure that you are properly listed in the online phone directories.  That is, if someone does a search on your business type in your area, your business will appear in their listing.
• Have Other Websites Link to Yours. Find other websites that will link to your website.  Offer to link to their website.  This is one of the top methods that can be used to drive traffic to your website.
• Use Google AdWords and/or the Yahoo Sponsored Search. With Google AdWords your business would be listed next to the search results based on keywords that you define.  Yahoo Sponsored Search also lists your business above and next to search results based on predefined keywords.  Both of these can be costly, with the Yahoo service being more expensive.
• Social Networking. Create your business presence in the “social networking” arena.  This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (major networking blogs/websites/forums).  Yes, they are essentially gigantic weblogs (blogs).  Also, it is very important to link your business between these networks.

I hope the above is helpful to you and therefore to your business.  If I can be of assistance, please contact me.

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