You spend hours making last minute tweaks to your website code. You agonize over the spread and layout of your newly designed website. But what good is all of your effort without an audience to share it with?
We know you have valuable information to share with the world, and we want you to learn what it takes to market your website effectively so you can share that information with others. It’s no longer enough to have quality and engaging content on your site. In this age of web overload, you must also understand how to diversify your work from the thousands of others with similar properties.
Luckily, we know a good many tips to help your site stand out and help viewers tune in.
Choose a well thought-out domain name. – Domain names that are confusing, difficult to spell, or irrelevant to your content will dissuade your readers.
Upload your photos to image sharing sites. – If someone likes a photo that you posted on Flickr or Shutterfly, they will be more inclined to view additional content by linking back to your whole website.
Utilize social bookmarking sites. – Sites such as Reddit and Digg draw in a massive amount of viewers who decide which posts get the most attention.
Contribute articles to other mediums. – Sharing articles to certain marketing sites will guarantee attention from those with similar goals and interests.
Clean up your coding. – Your coding needs to be clean and well aligned with web standards. But what’s more, your code should be well-tuned for search engines.
Give out freebies. – People go gaga over free downloads or resources, and they love to share them with their friends.
Buy advertising. – Specifically buy on sites or newsletters that your target audience is likely to visit.
Create a speedy connection. – If viewers have to wait more than 5 seconds for a page to load, they’ll generally become frustrated and less likely to explore your site. Pingdom is helpful for understanding how fast your site connection is.
Focus on keywords. – Include keywords throughout your site or blog, but specifically in your title, headline, subheadline, and metadata.
Hold a contest revolving around your site. – Whoever spreads the most awareness of your site gets a prize of your choosing.
Start an affiliate program. – You provide them with commissions and they include ads that direct back to your website.
Don’t fall prey to traffic sellers. – These groups charge money to make it appear that your viewer rates are increasing, while they really just send proxies at your site, take your money, and don’t deliver sustainable and promising results.
Produce and publish videos. – This is a fun way to direct traffic back to your site, and platforms like YouTube and Vimeo would probably have the greatest outreach.
Go offline. – If your target audience can be reached offline, try spreading small business cards around or hanging posters.
Publish press releases. – When something important happens in your business, share it with the online community.
Create something people will want to see. – Make sure that your content is unique and serves a purpose on the Internet, people will be much more likely to visit your site if it’s the only place they can go to for credible information on a certain area.
Participate in communities and forums. – If your ideal audience frequents certain corners of the internet, actively engage them and link them back to your site.
Don’t neglect site design. – One of the simplest ways of retaining customers and guaranteeing the presence of new ones is to have a clear and navigable website that is designed with the user in mind.
Configure an XML sitemap to search engines. – This will be effective whenever you update your site.
Publish regularly. – Even if your blog posts are the most astounding things to ever grace the internet, if you don’t publish them regularly you can’t hold a consistent viewer base.
Write reviews. – Bump up your credibility and get your name out there by reviewing books, products, or other sites.
Have a strong Facebook and Twitter presence. – It’s not just enough to post content through these social media sites, they are also great tools for advertising.
Research your keywords. – Find out how your current audience got drawn to your site (what words they searched to arrive there) and try to incorporate them naturally throughout any future postings.
Pin to Pinterest. – Pin content to various Pinterest boards as another way to expose your audience to the content you provide.
Fix up your site. – Be on the lookout for any broken links or errors that your site may contain. Google Webmaster Tools is a great service that can help you through this process.
Interact with others. – Create relationships with your current visitors by responding to comments and reaching out for their input; this will encourage them to share your site with friends.
Host web-based interviews with notable figures. – This will boost your credibility and reach out to audiences who already follow your guest.
Get published. – Being recognized by credible industry magazines, newspapers, or other media outlets will be a boon to your website traffic.
Stick to one major theme. – Blogs or websites that try to do too many things at once often get over looked. Rather, focus on one major topic and contribute well to it.
Involve yourself in the online community. – Visit sites similar to yours and connect with others who share your interests; they’ll probably take a liking to your site.
By taking advantage of all these tips and tricks, you’ll find yourself with a host of new visitors and a site traffic number that just keeps increasing. If you have any questions on any of the items on the list, contact us! We’re here to help.
Do you have any other ideas on how to promote your website? Let us know and share your insights with us in the comments below, or join the conversation in Facebook or follow and tweet us at @gtechdesigns
GTECH Designs is a Baltimore-based web marketing firm that is committed to helping impact-makers spend more time doing good. For more information, contact us at 410-775-4100, email us at [email protected], or visit our website at www.gtechdesigns.com.
