How to market a new website

Okay, so you want to go online, and you are working on the web site. Maybe you have your web site already up, and the traffic just isn’t what you expected? Well, would you have a wedding by just buying the dress? Maybe a Vegas Wedding is your style, but for a real wedding, there is a lot of planning. With your site, you must market it not just design it. There really is no guarantee that you will be crashing the server by doing a little marketing, but it can’t hurt to do more for your site.

Depending on how much time you plan on spending on your site promotion, you can do more to get some traffic in there. Before you can really come off as a professional, you have to do the same thing you would do if you opened a store on the busiest street in your town. Don’t assume that you have “time” to improve your online presence, because once you make your online impression, it may be harder than you think to turn it around. Think of any bad experiences that you have had shopping during the Holidays, and the impression of the store after you left. That bad impression may cost you a client or more a day! A client that will not return to your site. I could spend hours explaining in detail each of the things on this list, and in the future, I will, but for now, maybe you can research a little on your own, or wait for the articles to come.

Signature

Before you send off that email, do you have a signature? Signatures are so important, no matter WHO you are e-mailing. Not everyone you email will read your signature, but a lot of people do. They say it takes around six times for someone to see your company name to do business with you. Online, it is estimated around 25 times. SO, instead of just letting each email go by with out your free plug, would be a waste of free billboard space on the web. Keep it small and under six lines. So not to be obvious.

Meta tags

You’ve read them before, but forgot to include them. Meta Tags. ARRRRGH! Now those search engines will scoff at your submissions, or possibly totally ignore you! There isn’t anything I can stress harder than the importance of these little words. But, make sure to not repeat yourself, and to use commas. Keep them under 200 words. And don’t try tricking the search engine spiders. They are much smarter than they look.

Spelling

Personally, I am a horrid speller, and you may call me a hypocrite by telling you how important spelling is on a site. Hopefully, you won’t find any on this site. Slang doesn’t count, but even if this site isn’t a serious one, we still shouldn’t have any errors! Corporate sites shoot themselves in the foot when they spell something wrong. Not because they seem ignorant, but because they overlooked the small things. It is very important to make it clear to your potential client that you pay attention to detail, and a spelling error, can really make a difference. Some people may tell you about it, others may not. Everyone does it, but if you can get a spell checker on your site. Do it.

Let’s say you do get an inquiry, and you send them back a message. You should have a few “canned” messages prepared. Instead of writing a quick note to a potential client, why not prepare a formal letter, describing each of your services in great detail, thanking them ever-so-nicely and giving detailed instructions on how to contact you for the next step, blah blah blah. That material is something they requested. It is EXPECTED that you ramble on. You have a chance to give the whole sales pitch so DO IT.