So, you have launched your website? Next, you would search for it in major search engines, but you‘re shocked to see that your site does not appear in any of the search engines like Google, yahoo or any other directory. There are so many services to help you with this, but you may find them expensive. Social media is a great way to promote your site but still you may not have enough time. What else can be thought to promote your website without investing more time or money? Following are some simple ways to promote your website without having you to struggle anymore.
Search engine submission
Submitting your website to search engines is the most crucial for the promotion of your website. To make people aware of your site’s existence, you should manually submit it to the search engines. Thousands of search engines survive on the internet but you need to focus on the major ones such as Alta Vista, Yahoo, Excite, Hotbot, Infoseek, etc and when it comes to smaller search engines you can use free tools like SUBMITPLUS which automatically submits your site to these search engines. Search engines drive traffic to your site.
Participate in social media
There are many social media platforms that help you in promotion of your website. Social communities help you to interact with other members in the community by sharing relevant links from their sites. With platforms like Facebook and Myspace, you can create pages with information related to your products and services. You can create some game-based apps, offer giveaways or share information about your extended network. But never attempt to directly sell your products to people on your friend’s list. Another thing with social networks is not to spam. This would put all your efforts on establishing relationship to a waste. So, start with discussions, prove your honesty and your clients will spread the word about your brand.
Distribute promotional products
You may add the URL on your return address of letters you mail as well as on business cards. You can also print your brand logos on T-shirts, hats and other material and distribute them as complimentary gifts to your valued customers. Refrigerator magnets carrying your website names remind your potential clients of your brand whenever they move around the fridge. Also, you can place banners that contain your business address and URL in highly visible areas within your locality.
Write an article
Writing articles can help you in promoting your site online. It also helps in increasing traffic to your site. All you need to do is choose a topic that people are interested in, write about it, include a link of your website and then submit it to reputed directories such as e-zinearticles.com or submityourarticle.com. Share your knowledge on your favorite topic with others. This will make people think that you are an expert in your field.
Email signature
In your emails, add your signature at the bottom. You need not necessarily add a photo but if you do so, it would help your clients to see who they are exactly dealing with. In this signature, you can include your website URL and any other contact details or even a discount or gift you may have to offer. If you need some help about adding signature you can use popular apps such as outlook express, entourage, Mac’s Mail, Gmail and so on.
Yellow Pages Directory
Yellowpages.com lists your website for free for up to one year. This is a great option to promote your site and is fast and easy.
Tell friends and family
Inform everybody in your circles about your new website. Also, request them to visit your site regularly. Inform them of your free incentives if they spread a word about your site with others. For example, it could be displaying their ad for free on your site.
Exchange links
Exchange text links or banner ads with websites that have the same target audience as you do. But make sure that these sites are not directly competing with you.