Copyright (c) 2008 Paul Hata
So, you've got your website up and running but you're not making any money yet. Why? Because you need traffic. And in order to get traffic to your site, you have to promote it. Here are some ways that you can promote your website:
1. Article Writing - One way to bring traffic to your site is to write articles relevant to your niche and submit them to online article directories and e-zines. Articles are an inexpensive, easy way to reach your target audience and generate more traffic. Your articles should be search engine optimized, which will give you a good Google ranking and therefore more viewers. The articles should be informative, not sales-y. An article should not sound like an ad, or it will turn people off. The word count should be between 450 and 1,000. To submit your articles to online directories, you can use article submission and distribution services. Just be sure you submit your article to the correct category, or it could be banned from the site.
2. Banner Advertising - A web banner or banner ad is a graphic displayed on a webpage that links to the advertiser's website. The size is usually 468x60 pixels. Using banner ads is a great way to bring potential customers to your site. You can also track the ads, so you know how many people the ad reached.
3. Blogging - A blog is a website that has regular entries of commentary and descriptions of events. Originally, it was a platform for people to record their thoughts, but it has turned into something more. Now people use blogs to promote products and services and increase traffic to their websites. Blogging is a great way to advertise because the pages are frequently updated which results in more attention from the search engines.It's a good idea to use blog submission services to submit your blogs to online blog directories. This will increase your blog's page rank with the search engine.
4. Classified Ads - Online classified ads are better than newspaper classifieds because they can reach more viewers. It's inexpensive and sometimes even free. These ads are indexed by search engines and are a good way to generate more traffic. Online ads tend to be longer than newspaper ads because they do not charge by the line. Some of them also target local audiences as well. Craigslist is an example of a free online classified ad site that sorts the ads into localities.
5. Content - To guarantee high page ranking with Google, it's important that you offer quality, relevant content on your site. It's important that your content be search engine optimized. Your keywords should make up 1-2% of the total word count on the webpage. You can get free content from an article directory such as ezinearticles.com. RSS feeds can also be used.
6. Directories - Online directories provide web users with links to various websites that are categorized by topic. Getting links to your site also helps your page rank with the search engines. One of the most popular directories is Yahoo. Some directories allow you to submit your site for free while others charge a fee. You should submit to directories that cater to your niche. It's better to submit your site manually than to use an automatic directory submission service.
7. Email Marketing - Email marketing is another form of online direct marketing. Email messages are used to advertise to potential customers.Opt-in lists" are used to generate leads. These lists are comprised of email addresses of people who signed up for an offer or newsletter. Using opt-in lists for email marketing has a 3-5% success rate.
8. One-Way Links - One-way links, or non-reciprocal links, are when the link to your site is displayed on another website, but you do not display that website's link on your site. Getting one-way links will improve your site's ranking and traffic. One way to get one-way links is by one-way link submissions, which is submitting your URL to online directories that have a high page rank. There are automated directory submission services, but they do charge a fee and they don't guarantee how many one-way links you'll get.
9. Search Engine Submission - Search engines are websites that index other websites and display those sites when users type in relevant keywords to search for information. Search engines use programs to scan the web for new and updated pages. Every website on the Internet is listed on a search engine. The sites are listed on the search results in order of page rank. Each search engine uses its own criteria to determine rank. The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN. Start by submitting your website to these three and then you can begin submitting to smaller search engines such as AltaVista and AllTheWeb. It is better to submit your website to the major search engines manually rather that using automated search engine submission software.
10. Social Bookmarking - Bookmarks are stored webpages for the user to view at a later date. Social bookmarking allows Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata. The bookmarks may be made public, so that everyone can see them, or they can be private, meaning only the person who saved them can see them. Or, they can be shared only with a specified group of friends. Use social bookmarking submission to bring your website to your targeted market. To submit your site, post the link on forums, blogs and message boards of various social networking sites like Digg. You'll have to do this manually but it is worth the time and effort you put into it.
So, you've got your website up and running but you're not making any money yet. Why? Because you need traffic. And in order to get traffic to your site, you have to promote it. Here are some ways that you can promote your website:
1. Article Writing - One way to bring traffic to your site is to write articles relevant to your niche and submit them to online article directories and e-zines. Articles are an inexpensive, easy way to reach your target audience and generate more traffic. Your articles should be search engine optimized, which will give you a good Google ranking and therefore more viewers. The articles should be informative, not sales-y. An article should not sound like an ad, or it will turn people off. The word count should be between 450 and 1,000. To submit your articles to online directories, you can use article submission and distribution services. Just be sure you submit your article to the correct category, or it could be banned from the site.
2. Banner Advertising - A web banner or banner ad is a graphic displayed on a webpage that links to the advertiser's website. The size is usually 468x60 pixels. Using banner ads is a great way to bring potential customers to your site. You can also track the ads, so you know how many people the ad reached.
3. Blogging - A blog is a website that has regular entries of commentary and descriptions of events. Originally, it was a platform for people to record their thoughts, but it has turned into something more. Now people use blogs to promote products and services and increase traffic to their websites. Blogging is a great way to advertise because the pages are frequently updated which results in more attention from the search engines.It's a good idea to use blog submission services to submit your blogs to online blog directories. This will increase your blog's page rank with the search engine.
4. Classified Ads - Online classified ads are better than newspaper classifieds because they can reach more viewers. It's inexpensive and sometimes even free. These ads are indexed by search engines and are a good way to generate more traffic. Online ads tend to be longer than newspaper ads because they do not charge by the line. Some of them also target local audiences as well. Craigslist is an example of a free online classified ad site that sorts the ads into localities.
5. Content - To guarantee high page ranking with Google, it's important that you offer quality, relevant content on your site. It's important that your content be search engine optimized. Your keywords should make up 1-2% of the total word count on the webpage. You can get free content from an article directory such as ezinearticles.com. RSS feeds can also be used.
6. Directories - Online directories provide web users with links to various websites that are categorized by topic. Getting links to your site also helps your page rank with the search engines. One of the most popular directories is Yahoo. Some directories allow you to submit your site for free while others charge a fee. You should submit to directories that cater to your niche. It's better to submit your site manually than to use an automatic directory submission service.
7. Email Marketing - Email marketing is another form of online direct marketing. Email messages are used to advertise to potential customers.Opt-in lists" are used to generate leads. These lists are comprised of email addresses of people who signed up for an offer or newsletter. Using opt-in lists for email marketing has a 3-5% success rate.
8. One-Way Links - One-way links, or non-reciprocal links, are when the link to your site is displayed on another website, but you do not display that website's link on your site. Getting one-way links will improve your site's ranking and traffic. One way to get one-way links is by one-way link submissions, which is submitting your URL to online directories that have a high page rank. There are automated directory submission services, but they do charge a fee and they don't guarantee how many one-way links you'll get.
9. Search Engine Submission - Search engines are websites that index other websites and display those sites when users type in relevant keywords to search for information. Search engines use programs to scan the web for new and updated pages. Every website on the Internet is listed on a search engine. The sites are listed on the search results in order of page rank. Each search engine uses its own criteria to determine rank. The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN. Start by submitting your website to these three and then you can begin submitting to smaller search engines such as AltaVista and AllTheWeb. It is better to submit your website to the major search engines manually rather that using automated search engine submission software.
10. Social Bookmarking - Bookmarks are stored webpages for the user to view at a later date. Social bookmarking allows Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata. The bookmarks may be made public, so that everyone can see them, or they can be private, meaning only the person who saved them can see them. Or, they can be shared only with a specified group of friends. Use social bookmarking submission to bring your website to your targeted market. To submit your site, post the link on forums, blogs and message boards of various social networking sites like Digg. You'll have to do this manually but it is worth the time and effort you put into it.
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