Your website may be the cornerstone of your business, but if nobody knows its out there then what good is it? I quit counting the number of people I have spoken with over the years who were convinced that simply having a site somehow guaranteed them instant traffic and endless sales. After waiting for something to happen some of these folks eventually saw the light and took steps to rectify their situation, and others unfortunately were rooted in their belief and as far as I know their websites are still sitting out there in cyberspace unvisited and underutilized. My purpose is to educate you how to avoid this trap and at least give your site a fighting chance.
We already know the Web is the most cost-effective way for a small business owner to reach the largest number of potential customers. Internet advertising is becoming big business, but you can benefit from it as well. There are many do-it-yourself techniques advertising techniques for the online entrepreneur who has a fledgling business on a tight budget. Usually, the more effort you put into attracting attention to your business, the more visits you receive. So roll up your sleeves and let’s get ready to work.
Build Your Brand
In case you haven’t figured it out by now, half the battle with running a successful online business is developing a plan for what you want to do. The next step is to get noticed.
Online marketing and advertising is ideal for a number of reasons. Web users tend to be fixate on their computer screens while they browse, so you have a captive audience. Because most Web surfers sit only a foot or two away from their screens that means your site can easily get a user’s undivided attention…that is if your content is compelling enough. Users like to interact with Web pages in a way that they never do with television, so do not be reluctant to encourage interaction by giving them links to click, a few images to view, and the like.
Don’t rely on your website alone to spread your name. Make use of the whole Internet. These days you have countless options, such as the following, to get the word out about your online business:
Article marketing: Are you an expert on what your website is about? Why not put that expertise into words in the form of some articles. I have found this tactic to be highly effective in getting the exposure I want. Not sure if you are author material? That’s okay because there are any number of freelance writers just waiting to do the writing for you for a lot less than you think. I have had high quality, topically relevant, 500-plus word articles written for less than $25.00 each. What you do with the article once it is written is a topic for another article later.
Blogging: Find a blog or blogs related to you area of interest and become a member. Become involved in the discussions enough without blatantly advertising your site. I use this method and have discovered once I have made a few helpful, relevant posts that I am often offered enhanced memberships that allow me to put links back to my business website. When this happens it is like finding a gold nugget. You can use the links to direct other blog visitors, as well as search engine spiders, to your site to have a look.
Where do you find blogs related to the topic of your site? The easiest way I have found is to use FastBlogFinder. It’s a neat tool that quickly locates blogs in your niche.
!! Blogging Tip !! :When you submit a comment on other people’s blog, you are usually asked to provide your name, email address, URL and comment text itself. When your comment is posted, your URL is attached to the text you entered in the “Name” field. The key is to use your keyword anchor text as your name. And… be sure to write something useful in the comment section, so it doesn’t look like 100% spam. Post a comment only if you have something of value to add to the discussion and not just to get links. Your comment will be pending for approval and blog owners are much more likely to approve your comment if it is relevant. Remember, the only cost of your new backlink is a comment. So, take a few moments to write a meaningful comment. Most webmasters understand that people make their “name” something relevant to their site and they do not begrudge them a link if their comment adds to the content and’or discussion on their site.
Partnerships: Find businesses whose goods and services complement yours and ask for permission to swap links. Call me old fashioned, but I still do this by hand. I simply look for related sites that get spidered by the search engines frequently. This lets me know the site is adding enough fresh content to keep the search engines interested.
As time passes, and your site matures, you will likely start getting link swap requests. Do not delete these out of hand because they appear to be machine generated. First I look to see if they sent their link in HTML code making it easy for me to copy and paste it into my site. If they don’t send their link information this way I stop right there and delete their message. I then visit each site that asks for a link swap. I look to see if their site is relevant without directly competing. I look at the page they tell me my link will reside.(If there are more than 30 links on that page I stop right there and delete their request from my Inbox). If it all looks okay then I’ll swap links.
Some of you reading this might be saying “How rude! I would never delete someone’s link swap request out of hand.” That’s up to you, but from experience I can tell you that if you chose to be the nice guy and swap links with every site that asks you may see yourself spending half your productive time doing nothing else. Be picky.
Newsletters: You can generate a lot of traffic and hopefully sales by distributing an e-mail newsletter.
PPC advertising: This is not for the faint of heart. I only recommend this if you have deep pockets and want to use PPC initially to get your site some exposure. Google AdWords is where most people go to buy traffic. I could write a book about how to do PPC the smart way, but for now I suggest you learn everything you can about it by going Google’s AdWords Center and taking advantage of their free lessons.
There you have my short list of ways to get your e-commerce site out there and making it sell. Get your marketing and advertising plan together before you venture forth. Take your time; experiment a bit; drop what isn’t working and keep what does; above all have fun.
