 |
|
|
10 Ways to Market your Website
Your website is up and running and you check your website logs daily. In stead of 50,000 hits, you only have 5 and they are probably your visits, as you test your website. What went wrong? Marketing on the Internet is like playing a game with very big numbers. There are tens, maybe hundreds of millions of websites. Yours is just one of them. So, how do you get customers to notice and visit your website? Your Internet marketing strategy should also focus on getting customers to visit and then return to your website. Listing with search engines is just one part of that process. You should use a combination of on- and off-line methods to market your business. Here are ten ways to do that:
|
|
Notes from Kim @ 4 Site:
If you are hosting your website with us,
then you can get website statistics for free! Click here to email us and we’ll activate your
statistics account ASAP. |
|
Add your website's URL (domain name) on every piece of business correspondence, including business cards, letterhead, invoices - everything that you use to communicate with customers. |
|
|
|
Submit your website to search engines on a regular basis. This keeps your website at the top of the search engine results listings and customers will find your website first. Use an automated service to simplify this process and to reach the largest possible number of search engines. |
|
|
|
Produce an email newsletter and place a subscription box for it on your home page. You get subscriber's name and email address, you communicate with them regularly and you can drive them to your website from the newsletter. They receive useful information that they can use and share with their friends. Remember to send your newsletter on time. |
|
If you are interested in starting a newsletter, we can help you design it and add a subscription box to your website. |
|
Link to other websites that your customers visit. Research other businesses that provide complementary products and services. Offer a link to their website if they will link to yours. This will exponentially increase traffic to your website. |
|
|
|
Offer a value proposition. Offer discounts, combine services and give away free information so that customers receive value from visiting your website. So, give them a reason to return. Don't just sell a product or service, tell customers how to use it, inform them about other product or service options, give them information that they can share with their customers and business associates. A small handout containing useful information that they can print out and share with others allows them to market your business for you. |
|
|
|
Recognize your customers regularly. Feature your customers on your website. Showcase their accomplishments and success stories. Everyone loves attention; recognize your customers and they will reward you with their business. |
|
A "testimonials" page is a great way to feature customers on your website.
|
|
Reward frequent visitors and referrals. Repeat customers are what you're after because they know your business and will refer you. Remember that it costs less to keep an old customer than it does to get a new one. Offer special incentives to repeat customers and to customers who refer new customers to you. |
|
|
|
Don't pass up on any opportunities to advertise and promote your website. Every customer you work with, provide services to, everyone who uses your products, is a potential candidate for a website link. It may not always be appropriate or possible, but it doesn't hurt to ask. |
|
|
|
Participate in chat rooms and discussion boards. While you should not actively promote your business in these forums, you can participate in discussions, contribute some of your expertise and them point any interested participants to your website. |
|
|
|
Talk your talk. Are you an expert on a particular subject area? Can you provide information that people would like to hear about? Offer to give seminars for your local chamber of commerce members, to speak at organization and association events and work with local business centers to provide your expertise and to promote your business and your website. Get them to visit your website by offering a coupon for a discount for seminar attendance. You can also provide on-line courses, chat sessions and teleconferences for your clients. This is a marketing tactic that promotes your expertise and your business to a wide audience. |
|
We can easily setup a private chat room right on your website if you are interested in providing chat sessions for your clients. |
|
What is your competition doing? What does this have to do with your marketing strategy? Plenty. With so many websites on the Internet, you will have many competitors in your market. How are they marketing their products and services and who are they marketing to? Visit their websites regularly and note what promotions they are running and what else they are doing to market their businesses. If they're smart, they're watching you too. |
|
|
|
Finally, remember that email is not a customer service strategy. Use email sparingly. Don't inundate your customers with email as they are probably receiving hundreds of spam messages every day. Only send email to customers who want to receive email from you and keep your submissions to a minimum. If your customers have a problem, they will want to contact you by phone. So, give them that opportunity and they will reward you with repeat business. Remember to treat your customers with the courtesy that they deserve or they will take their business to your competition. |
|
Check out our new website add-on: LiveHelp. LiveHelp is a live customer support & sales software for your site that enables visitors to communicate with you in real time through web based chat. Click here for more info! |
