You have a website, but no one seems to know about it. Traffic is light, and sales are non-existent. How can you make people aware of you and your website and start attracting customers?
There are online advertising programs, such as Google AdWords, that will put your advertisement in front of searchers looking for keywords you choose. Paid search brings visitors to your Web site, sometimes within minutes of setting up the ad. Of course, that traffic comes at a price. You pay each time someone clicks on your ad. Costs per click can range from a few cents to $100 or more, depending on your keywords. Pay per click advertising can be a way to get visitors and customers quickly, or it can be a way to burn through a lot of cash with no results to show for it.
Whether you are looking for an online marketing method to use instead of or in addition to paid advertising, the ideas here will bring targeted visitors to you. Best of all, they take no money and little time.
Put press releases online. Write press releases and post them to online distribution services, such as Free-Press-Release and PRZoom.com. Both offer free press release distribution as well as paid services. Don’t forget to add the release to the media room of your website. Fresh content is good for your search engine rankings.
Post articles online. Add original content to your website, and encourage others to link to it. Have a reprint policy to let visitors know how they can use your articles on their sites or in their newsletters. Your policy should always require that they include your brief author bio and a link to your site. Offer your articles to non-competing sites in your niche. Post them to online article directories, such as EzineArticles.com. Articles put you in front of lots of new customers, and the links you get from having your articles all over the Internet will help your search engine rankings.
Participate in online forums. Answer a question raised by another member, post a link to a resource on your site, or offer a list of tips. Most blogs allow you to post comments, so add helpful comments to blogs in your field, too. Always include a brief signature with a link to your website when posting to forums.
Create social media accounts–and use them. Sign up for accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites. Make your profile as complete as you can. The more you put in your profile, the easier it will be for interested persons (e.g., potential customers) to find you and connect with you. Be active by posting to your accounts. You do not have to spend all day on social media sites, but taking a few minutes now and then to update your status and post an interesting link puts you in front of a lot of people.
Offer testimonials. When you find a product or service you love, send a testimonial. Ask that your name, company or product name and website URL be shown with the testimonial. You can find companies soliciting testimonials by searching for “submit testimonial.” Of course, only recommend products and services you have used and can honestly recommend to others.
Each of these techniques takes only minutes but can bring results immediately and for years to come. Repeat them often to multiply your results.
