1.
Submit site to search engines
Here I have learned to avoid autosubmit software programmes and that
best results are obtained by submitting *manually* to the top 10
engines. This way you can accommodate each one's quirks and foibles.
Some engines, for instance, will only allow you a certain amount of
characters when listing your site description and/or key words. If you
had gone over this limit using an autosubmitter, your site would have
been rejected out of hand. Even worse, you would not know it had been
rejected and may wait in frustration for your listing to appear. Worse
still, you might not feel comfortable resubmitting your site as some
search engines consider multiple applications to be 'spam' which may
lead to your site being permanently rejected from that engine's
database. Manual submission is time consuming but definitely worth
it.
A page I found particularly useful is
http://www.tiac.net/users/seeker/searchenginesub.html where links to
the submission pages of 28 major search engines are listed.
2.
Submit site to Directories
These are different to search engines in that they have their own
categories within which enquirers can find a listing of the sites that
interest them without necessarily using a search button. In my view,
this is the way Joe public will look for his information in the future
and, in my opinion, directories will soon outstrip engines in terms of
usage. Pay attention to getting your site listed on as many directories
as possible, especially the
Open Directory Project
as their database is used by many of the top search engines and
directories.
3.
Web Rings
These are associations of web sites with similar focus. If you join
one, you will get a web ring logo at the bottom of your site which will
allow your visitor to move on to browse all other sites within the ring.
Similarly, this will allow visitors to other sites within the ring to
find your site and increase your traffic. Some of these rings are huge
and others quite tiny. It depends on what sphere you are operating in
but, either way, it is another good way to gain additional traffic for
your site. You can find the right webring for your site by visiting
http://dir.webring.yahoo.com/rw
4.
E-mail discussion lists
I started one for people interested in starting their own web business
(which is what my company does) and which can be joined from my site.
This is rigorously kept spam free by me (anyone posting ads to it is
ejected without trial) and allows venture capitalists, angels, incubators and entrepreneurs to find each other and discuss common experiences and solutions. Sig files are allowed on my list and I have had good hits from my own, especially as the members of the list are,
by definition, my target audience. (Sig files are signatures that your
emailer can automatically add to the bottom of any email you send -
this normally consists of your name, business name, one line description of
product and website address but can be any size you want.)
5.
Word of mouth
I have told everybody I know what I am doing and there are an enormous
number of redundancies occurring in my former industry (and everybody
else's). These are all bright people with pockets full of money.
They look at my site and if they like what they see - they tell their
friends.
Don't feel shy about spreading the word, after all you have something
good to offer, right? Lose no opportunity to let others know about
it. Take your business cards everywhere and give one to everyone you meet.
Leave them everywhere you go - even in the cloakrooms at sports games
or bars. Drop some on the counter in public libraries (with permission
of course).
6.
The press
I prefer to steer clear of unfocused advertising, even in specialist
publications. Why don't you try calling the editors and letting them
know you are doing something that nobody else is doing (in their
field) and that you have included a free link to their publication as an
information service on your site. Would they be interested in doing a
small write-up of your site for their next issue? If you can get them
to do this, you will get much better traffic generated than a standard
advert and for free! They won't always do this for you but, as they
say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
7.
Reciprocal links
I offer a lot of links to other sites on my own pages and I have
called them all personally to ask if they would include a link back to me.
Normally webmasters are quite good at this and will try and
accommodate you. This is especially advantageous if the site you link to has high
traffic. Information sources are amongst the best of these - find a
high traffic site that covers your area of commerce and link to it/get
reciprocal links.
8.
Banners
My experience says forget it - when's the last time you clicked on
one?
9.
Be Discrete
I belong to lots of e-mail lists and, occasionally, someone asks for
help on a topic that I think my website would be useful for. I don't
send a whole sales pitch in to those lists but send in a very low key
reply addressing their specific question and mentioning my URL as an
additional resource. This has paid dividends and has not upset any of
the list members.
10.
Write an article for an ezine like this one!
All publicity is good publicity and if you can help others by sharing
your knowledge with them at the same time, all the better.
Happy marketing!
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