Marketing Your Web Site
 by: Lynn Holter

Congratulations! Your Web Site is finished! Now what? Your first instinct is to submit to every search engine possible and leave it up to them to bring traffic to your site. Despite what you may have been told, it doesn’t happen quite that way. Yes, you will need to submit to the search engines, and they will eventually bring traffic your site. It will take anywhere from 3 – 6 months for a search engine to even get you listed. After that another year or so to make it to the top of the listings, that is, if you are extremely diligent in promoting to them monthly and following all the different rules for each search engine.

There are several ways to market your web site yourself. Your marketing efforts will yield more results than any other form of marketing.

Include your URL on the following…

• Business Cards – I cannot stress enough the importance of putting your URL on your business cards!

• Letterhead – also on envelopes.

• Anything your company uses such as statements, invoices, order forms, etc.

• Anything that your company publishes or advertises.

• Anything your company prints and sends out to people such as fax cover sheets.

• Include a plug with your Phone Message Service like: “visit our web site at yourwebsite.com.”

• Window stickers and Bumper stickers.

Basically put your web site address on anything you would put your company name on.

Check your Chamber of Commerce. Find out if they have a web site you can add your URL to. Find out if your town has a Visitors Information center. Find out if you can list your business with them. Also find out if you can leave brochures or business cards at the center for people to browse when they visit.

Include your web site URL in your email signature. This way your site URL is being sent to everyone who receives an email from you or anyone in your company.

Keep the lines of communication open with your web designer. Remember it will take a joint effort to make your web site successful. Be willing to provide information your designer will need in the creation of your site.