Marketing Your Website

Market my website? Why should I have to spend time and money marketing my website? It's supposed to be marketing my business!!!

That's how so many business owners feel, they spend a bit of money on their website design and then sit, doing nothing, waiting in vain for it to start paying dividends and bringing in the customers.

It's very simple really, nobody is going to come to your new site if they don't know about it - if they don't see mention of it, a link to it or aren't recommended it.

So how can you get your website noticed? Here's a list of the common methods you can use:

Traditional Ads & Marketing

Search Engines

Online Directories

Links Development Campaign

Participation in Online Discussion Forums

Article Submission

Pay Per Click

Banner Ads

Traditional Marketing

Magazine & newspaper ads, Yellow Pages, PR articles, leaflets & door drops, business cards, email signatures, company stationary, company vehicles, the front of your store. These and many more are places you can and should advertise your website's URL.

Search Engines

Getting to the top of a keyword search on the major search engines - Google, Yahoo etc. - is high on the wish list of most website owners. Unfortunately it's not something that will happen straightaway. It can take many months of adding content, getting links from other sites and optimising your content for keywords to get a high listing.

Online Directories

Directories are collections of website addresses that are collated by human beings. Most will charge a fee for inclusion, dmoz/odp is the one everyone wants to get listed in - it's free and will have a great effect on your search engine ranking, but expect to wait months if not years for a listing.

Links Development

This is one of the most powerful ways of promoting your site. It means getting other (hopefully related) sites to include links to yours. To get a link simply email the site owners and ask for one. Often you'll have to reciprocate the kindness i.e. link to their site as well but some will be happy to list your URL for nothing.

If you're a member of local business groups then don't forget to include your web address on their sites. What about all your suppliers, can you get a listing on theirs?

Not only will you get people visiting your site via all these links, you'll also improve your position on search engine listings (search engines algorithms take the number of links to your site to be an indication of its importance).

Discussion Forums

Another way you can attract attention is by participating in online discussion forums (to do with your area of expertise of course!). Most will allow you to include a website link in your signature, i.e. a link to your site in every post you make.

Article Submission

This is a brilliant way of getting noticed. If you don't have any problems writing essays then get your pen out! There are many sites that allow you to submit your articles for free and they should all allow you to include a resource section on yourself or company with a link back to your site.

Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click (PPC) is a very good way of driving traffic to a site in the short term. Google's dmoz/odp is one of the best known PPC systems around, dmoz/odp provide another.

When somebody searches for keywords in Google you get a list of 'sponsored links' on the right hand column (go to Google and search for 'catering work' and see the sponsored links on the right). The owners of the sites don't pay anything unless the person browsing clicks through to their site.

Banner Ads

It might be worth putting up a Banner Ads on sites you know your prospective clients are likely to visit. The ads, which will be made to click through to your website, come in GIF format or, increasingly, are created in Flash for a more striking and memorable ad.

Pricing is often Cost Per Click (CPC) but most common is Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM). CPM is related to how many people see your ad.

As you can see, there are many ways of building up traffic to your site. If you've got products, services or content that people want and you're willing to put some effort into some of these methods then you will soon start to see a rise in visitors.

Trevor Lewis has over 10 years in the Software Industry. He is currently a Senior Consultant at dmoz/odp. EMNM offer a range of new media design services including dmoz/odp and website design.

professional maid services Highland Park ...

In The News:

Your VPN may quietly drop protection when switching between airport Wi-Fi and hotel Wi-Fi. Key settings like auto-connect and kill switch help.

A South Carolina caregiver allegedly gained power of attorney over a 75-year-old with Parkinson's, then transferred his home via quitclaim deed for $5.

Joby Aviation flew its eVTOL air taxi into DFW Airport's busy airspace as Texas launches Project Nexus, a three-year advanced air mobility program.

Federal prosecutors say criminals bought sponsored search ads mimicking real banks, capturing over 5,000 login credentials and draining accounts.

The Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric truck targets 621 miles per charge on a 28,000-mile round-the-world journey through over 30 countries.

A viral video shows roughly a dozen Coco Robotics delivery robots swarming a Chicago sidewalk near Lincoln Park, raising wheelchair access concerns.

NewTree Social founder Maddy O'Connor built a community events app to help people discover local gatherings, wellness events and run clubs nearby.

DoppelCart's 119,000 fake shopping domains steal credit card details at checkout, mimicking over 44,000 real brands with convincing cloned sites.

Hurricane charity scams use data brokers and people search sites to target victims before storms even hit, exploiting personal information..

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Autonomous race cars hit Laguna Seca and Imola Circuit at speeds topping 157 mph, but the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League faces a fan problem.

A LinkedIn romance scam cost Gaby close to $1 million after a scammer returned her first payment to build trust, then escalated requests over two years.

Safari's Notify Me can monitor websites for price changes and restocks, while new AI photo tools let you reframe and extend shots in iOS 27.

FLHSMV traced the Florida DMV breach to credentials from a Plant City Police Department user, but ShinyHunters claims over 200,000 driver records.

Tesla's Cybercab launched in Austin with no steering wheel or pedals, but hidden details about age limits and missing safety features may shock riders.

Moderna and Merck's Phase 3 melanoma vaccine trial showed positive results, but full data and FDA approval are still pending for the mRNA therapy.

Malwarebytes data reveals scam texts peak around noon ET with 874% higher volume than overnight, and Fridays bring roughly 50% more messages.

Over 5,400 legitimate websites now serve fake CAPTCHA scams that trick users into pasting malware commands into Windows Run via ClickFix attacks.

Tuya Smart's Doova AI home robot rolls to seniors who call for help and connects family via live video, but key privacy questions remain unanswered.

Jevon Martinez livestreamed himself removing 10 Flock Safety cameras in Bernalillo County, but authorities say eight belonged to neighborhood associations.

A dark web service called Nexus claimed to hold over 153 million driver's license records, and the FBI confirms it is now looking into the incident.

Asking Siri to call American Express connected an 82-year-old woman to a bogus number that nearly drained $100,000 from her Bank of America account.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

iPhone Duo opens to a 7.6-inch foldable display starting at $1,999, but Siri Recap's ambient listening on Apple Watch may spark privacy concerns.

Homeowners' association meeting minutes and membership lists can expose names, addresses and emails that scammers use to craft convincing phishing scams.

Marketing Your Website

Web Site Promotion