How to promote your website

Taurus Graphics concentrates on building search engine friendly websites, but once your website is completed its promotion is ongoing. Below is an article outlining some simple steps that you can take to promote your website.

Seven simple ways to promote your website

by Steve M Nash
© Steve M Nash – All rights reserved
www.howipromotemywebsite.com

Back to basics

At times, website promotion can seem confusingly complicated. There seem to be so many, sure-fire new ways to get thousands of hits to your site. Whilst some of these methods work, most just waste your time.

So, welcome back to the basics of website promotion – seven simple, effective, ways to promote your site. Learn something new, or just remind yourself of an 'old favourite'.

1. Submit your site to search engines and directories

Submit your site to all the major search engines and directories. Right now, that means Yahoo!, Google, and MSN for search engines, and Yahoo! and the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) for directories. There are a few other important directories, too.

Learn more here
– www.howipromotemywebsite.com/site-submit
– www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php

2. Use a signature file

A signature file (sigfile) is a block of text that can be appended to the end of each email message sent by your email software. Use it in your email, or whenever you participate in discussion groups relevant to your services or products (see below).

Learn more here
– www.siglets.com/addasig.php

3. Post to a newsgroup (or forum) discussion

Somewhere, there's a newsgroup or forum involved in discussions relevant to your site. You can find a great variety of newsgroups at Google Groups, which allows you to search all of the Usenet newsgroups for a particular term or phrase.

Post a message to a suitable newsgroup using Outlook Express (or other newsreader software), or via Google's news-group site, or via the forum itself. Do follow the newsgroup guidelines - but it is usually okay to use a signature file with each of your posts.

4. Run an affiliate programme

Affiliate programmes are a win-win opportunity for you and your potential partners (affiliates or associates). Apart from the instant sales force you develop, which tries to generate leads or sales for your business, you can create lots of links back to your site. And your affiliates gain from adding products or services to sell on their site.

Learn more here
– www.affiliateprogramadvice.com

5. Publish an e-zine

An e-zine (or newsletter) allows you to stay in touch with your visitors. You can educate your visitors with how-to articles (and so build trust in you and your organisation), let them know about new offers, or just inform them about site improvements.

Readers of your newsletter can become regular visitors to your site, and good customers too. And running a newsletter can cost little or nothing!

Learn more here
– www.howipromotemywebsite.com/publish-news

6. Run a competition

Competitions are a great way of promoting your website, and finding out more about your site's visitors in the process. Offer a prize related to your website, and get people to fill out an entry form (or even join your newsletter).

When it comes time to announce the winners, send an email to everyone with the winner's name, and add items of interest about your services and opportunities too.

Even better, there are sites that will actually promote your online competition, giving your site even more exposure!

7. Write a press release

Press releases (news releases) are one of the most effective ways to generate traffic to your site. If written well, they can produce startling results.

There are sites that give advice on how to write a press release, and sites that will compose and distribute your press release for you too.

Learn more here
– www.howipromotemywebsite.com/press-release

So there you are: seven simple ways that you can promote
your website. All that's left to do now is to get out there
and do some promotin'. (So, what are you waiting for?)

Website promotion.
Get the basics right. © Copyright 2002-2009 Steve M Nash. All rights reserved.

© Taurus Graphics Ltd 2000–