30 Ways to Promote Your Website on a Shoestring Budget ( Part 1)

 

You are very excited!! You have finally created your own website!! But the trouble is customers aren’t knocking on your website door. Why? What should you do?

The most probable answer is that your customers don’t know about your website. Creating a website is like building a house. If you don’t tell your friends they won’t know you’ve built a house. Even if they do know you’ve been building it, if you don’t tell them your address they’ll never find you.

And the same goes for your website. There is no magic internet fairy who will knock on people’s door to announce your website’s arrival. The task is up to you. To get your website marketing off the ground you either need to spend time learning and doing it or spend money and get somebody else to do it.

There are hundreds of ways to promote your business. You can do it on line or off line or a combination of both. Much will depend on your budget and the time you have available. Choose as many options below as your time and budget allows. Test as many methods of marketing as you can and see what brings you best results. Website marketing is not a one off exercise. You need to constantly work on it, fine-tune it, discard methods that are not working and implement new ones.

1. Email Marketing

Your first step should be to send an email to your existing clients announcing the arrival of your website. In your message, you can even ask them to forward your email onto their friends, family and colleagues.

If you are starting a new business and don’t have any customers, send an email to people you know who may be interested in your offer.

The next step should be to send your announcement to an opt-in email list. Opt-in email lists contain people or businesses who have requested to receive information about a certain topic(s). There are many companies who can provide you with these lists. For more information visit:

www.prospectshop.com.au/email_lists.html
www.4webmarketing.biz/email.htm
www.ezemail.biz/list_power.html
www.ezemail.biz/list_consumer.html
www.webfirm.com.au/email-marketing-australia/

Under no circumstance should you EVER send unsolicited email (spam) to people you either don’t know or who have not requested to receive your information.

2. Leads

There are many companies who will provide leads or prospects for your business. For a fee, they will display your advertisement (similar to a classified ad) and when someone clicks on it, they will be taken to your website. The great thing about these targeted leads is that you are only paying for the people who want to know about your business and products. If you work out the cost of a lead versus regular advertising, you will no doubt come out on top. Generally the cost per lead is between $0.50 - $1.00. If on the other hand you advertise in a newspaper or a magazine and pay $200 for the advertisement from which you get 20 enquiries, the cost per lead is $10.

Check out:
http://leadfactory.com/leads/
www.getresponse.com

3. Search Engines & Directories

A search engine is a searchable database of websites collected by a computer program (called a crawler, robot or spider). When you enter a keyword, the search engine looks for keywords in its database, and any relevant records are displayed. Currently there are thousands of search engines and directories on the internet. Some of the main ones include:

Google - www.google.com
Altavista - www.altavista.com
Yahoo – www.yahoo.com
Excite – www.excite.com
AllSearchEngines - www.allsearchengines.com
Northern Light - www.northernlight.com
DogPile – www.dogpile.com
AllTheWeb – www.alltheweb.com
Lycos - www.lycos.com

When submitting your website to the search engines, you can either do it manually by going to the search engine website and adding your URL (website address) or you can employ the services of a Search Engine Submission company, who will do it for you.

www.submitexpress.com
www.wpromote.com
www.website-submission.com

Search engines try to list sites that contain good content, so you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best describe your service and products. For example, if you are a florist, use the words such as florist, online florist, virtual florist, wedding florist, florist in Sydney, florist on line, flowers, floral, bouquets, floral arrangements etc as many times as possible to ensure high search engine ranking. To find out what keywords your customers may be searching on ask your family and friends or go to:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.wordtracker.com

Once you decide on the keywords, use them in
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page – This is displayed in the top bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags – Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics

Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it is also important you use them only if they are relevant and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords you may be penalised or even banned by some search engines.

If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the services of a Search engine optimization company, who will make your website’s content more search engine friendly to make it rank higher.

www.websight.net.au
www.bmcoptimise.com.au
www.e-channel.com.au

4. Link Exchanges

Find websites whose business complements yours and add their website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.

By doing this your website will become a valuable resource for your visitors, as it will provide information they need. They may return to your site over and over to find more information.

On the other hand, you will have visitors coming to your website when they following a link from your link partners.

Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.

If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:

http://www.linkexchanged.com http://www.powerlinks.com http://www.links-pal.com

5. Banner Advertising

Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.

To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:

http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com

6. Email Signature

Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.

To set up your signature using Outlook Express:

Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.
Step 2: Click "Signatures".
Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"
Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:
Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:
Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".

7. Feedback and testimonials

When you come across a great product or service on or off the internet, send an email to the business owner telling him/her how the product/service helped you. Like you, most business owners appreciate receiving positive feedback and they will most likely feature your testimonial on their website and place a link back to your site! You may even suggest it to the owner by saying something like “you have my permission to feature this testimonial in your promotional material and/or on your website”.

8. Giveaways

Offering free giveaways to prospects and clients is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. If your business is service orientated, you can “give away” a free consultation. Your prospects will get to test your business risk-free. Hopefully they will get “hooked” on your service and won’t be able to live without it.

By providing someone with a “favour”, people generally feel a natural obligation to return the favour by giving you repeat business.

For product based businesses, you may consider a “buy 1 get 1 free” or “buy one and get second one at a discount” or give something totally unrelated, for example ”Buy a pair of children’s shoes and receive a colouring book for free”.

Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can give at a low cost to you.

9. Trade shows

Trade shows are a very powerful marketing medium because they generally take place at a single location, have short runs (usually one to three days), and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers.

Common reasons for exhibiting include: Generating sales leads and actual sales at the show, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, personally meeting your customers, competitors and suppliers, prospecting for new customers,. introducing new products and services, demonstrating your product in ways not possible using other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers, educating your target audience.

There are probably several trade shows in your industry worth visiting, and a select few worthy of a company booth. Start by researching which shows to attend. Identify the locations and dates of all the trade shows related to your industry. Request media kits on each show, which should tell you about its size, target market and typical exhibitors. If your direct competitors are likely to exhibit, your company may be conspicuous if absent.

It's a good idea to exhibit at least once a year just to get your name out there, especially if you're an early stage startup looking for publicity — or funding.

Once the show space specifics have been established, then you can move on to deciding what to take and how you can ‘show your stuff’.

The following are just a few ideas to help you get ready for that all important trade show.

a) If the trade show display table you have does not include a tablecloth, be sure to get one that complements your display and represents your company’s image and colour

b) Erect a stand-alone presentation board. On the board, you can show how clients can benefit by using your products/services. Be creative and make it stand out. Include pictures, if possible, and be sure your company name and logo are more than obvious.

c) Arrange your trade show display table in levels. Put the larger items at the rear, shorter items in front of those, and even shorter items in front of those.

d) Develop a PowerPoint presentation to display on your table. You can make it on your desktop computer and transfer it to a laptop, which you can rent or borrow if you don’t already have one. Your visitors will find this visually appealing and it will draw in their attention.

e) Have plenty of trade show giveaways, such as business cards, brochures, pens, magnets, and anything else that has your company name and/or logo on it.

f) Offer something a little different as a trade show giveaway… FOOD. Package your food in a way that will allow you to have your company contact information on it.

g) Offer Gift Certificates for some of your services as a trade show giveaway.

h) Have a draw for a prize. Offer a prize that in some way complements your business if possible, and appeals to anyone. Have visitors and entrants sign a guestbook, fill in a ticket, or drop their business cards into a fish bowl or gift bag. The great thing about this trade show giveaway is that you can then use this information at a later date to make a follow up contact.

i) Have a portfolio of your work available as part of your trade show display. Print off some of your best projects, put them into plastic sheet protectors, and arrange them in a binder.

10. Classified Ads

Classified ads are one of the most inexpensive ways to advertise your products or service. Unfortunately many people misuse classified ads. They try to sell a product directly from the ad. The best way to use a classified ad is as a two step process.

1. You place a classified ad in your local newspaper/magazine. The ad should be simple and straight to the point. It should then direct readers to call a phone number of your answering machine.

2. Your customer will dial the number where they will hear a powerful sales message and at the end customers are directed to send an order to the address you give on the tape or they can leave their contact details.

An example of such classified ad would be:

“Double your mail order business’ profits. Incredible recorded message tells secrets. Call 1234 5678 24hours or visit www.yourcompany.com”

People read classified ads for a purpose. They are specifically looking for products, services and information that appeals to them.

The selection of words you use is the most important aspect of classified ad copy. You need to choose precisely but don’t skimp on words to save the cost in the ad.

The best way to prepare copy is to first write about your products/services at length. List all the major benefits and features. Choose a powerful heading that points out the most significant aspect of your product. Follow up with a few words or details and finish with a request to contact for more information.

For more information about writing effective classified ads, you may wish to download a free copy of “Classified Ads Secrets” Ebook from: http://www.web4business.com.au/ClassifiedAdSecrets.htm

11. Domain Name

Your domain name represents one of the most important decisions you have to make in going online. The purpose of a domain name is similar to that of a street address or telephone number. The domain name directs customers to you on the Internet. The most popular domain names in Australia are “.com.au” and “.com”.

Ideally your domain name should be rich in keywords (words relating to your business) to ensure on-line success, especially with search engines.

If for example, you are a florist based in Sydney, it would be preferable for you to have one of the following domain names:

www.sydneyflorist.com.au
www.florist.com.au
www.sydneyflowers.com.au

You will, however, find that generic names such as the above are already taken. In that case, register something like:

www.cindysflowers.com.au
www.sydneyflowersandgifts.com.au

If your business name is for example “Jim & Sons”, ensure you include a description of what you actually do, eg.

www.jimandsonscarpetcleaning.com.au or www.jimscarpetcleaning.com.au

12. Affiliate programs

Affiliate programs also known as reseller programs are an agreement in which a website owner displays an ad for another company in exchange for a commission on the resulting sales and/or leads.

There are two ways you can start your own affiliate program.

1. You can have a service bureau take care of nearly everything for you. They’ll handle the recruiting and administrative functions like sending out payments, tracking, reporting etc. A good example of a service bureau is Commission Junction – www.cj.com

2. Set up an affiliate program yourself, using on-line services. Some you may wish to check out include:

www.synergyx.com
www.marketerschoice.com
www.assoctrac.com

Tips for setting up successful affiliate programs:

1. Should be free to join.

2. Offer real time statistics so that affiliates can check their sales and commission without having to contact you.

3. You should provide your affiliates with proven tools they can use to sell your products (eg. Sales letters, endorsement letters, banners, ezine articles, ezine ads)

4. Technical support 24/7

5. Stay in touch with your affiliates to keep them motivated

6. Give your affiliates the highest commission you can.

13. Autoresponders

Email autoresponders work like a fax-on-demand system. If you send an email to an autoresponder address, you’ll get back a pre-written message. Autoresponders have come a long way in the last couple of years. Not only are you able to send HTML messages with graphics, but you can set up a whole sequence of autoresponder messages going out on any day or at any time you choose.

Once you set up your email messages, everything gets done automatically. As soon as a prospect sends an email to your autoresponder, the system keeps working over and over again, like a tireless robot making sure no prospect ever slips through the cracks. Most autoresponders systems now handle your whole mailing list, so you are not having to manually manage your prospects.

Because the vast majority of customers will not buy from you on their first visit to your website, it is extremely important that you have an automated way to follow up with them several times to entice them back. You can use autoresponders to cross-promote various products and services your business offers.

Follow these tips and you can’t go wrong:

1. Make time sensitive offers in your email follow up.

2. Build extra incentives into each follow up, until your prospect can’t resist any more. Offer free reports, free ebooks, freeware programs, mini-courses etc

3. Include a survey as part of your autoresponder sequence, so you can find out what your customers like about your messages, what they dislike and what other information they want.

Some great autoresponders include:

www.getresponse.com
www.aweber.com

14. Bonuses

We all love freebies and your customers are no exception. Ideally you should pile on the bonuses to get people excited. Sometimes they will buy the main product only to get the bonuses. The easiest and least expensive are informational products – reports, articles, ebooks. You can find literally thousands of these on the internet. Simply go to your search engine and find one that would appeal to your target audience. For example, if you sell wedding cakes, you may wish to give away ebooks or reports on planning a wedding. If you sell children’s clothing, you may wish to give away tips on parenting or ebook which features activities to do with your children.

15. Newsgroups

A newsgroup is a message board on the internet where users come to discuss topics of mutual interest. As a user you can start a thread (topic), post messages and respond to other postings. There are tens of thousands of Newsgroups on every possible subject. The best way to find a suitable newsgroup is to use Google Search. Go to www.google.com. Then click on the “Groups” tag. Run a search using a keyword related to your on-line business that you would like to promote from the groups search page. For really worthwhile information use moderated groups.

You can use Newsgroups for conducting market surveys, get new clients, promote your site, get answers to your questions, make friends.

The idea of newsgroups is to make a valuable contribution and by doing so promoting your business. Please do not post commercials, ads or press releases and never post unrelated messages as this will be considered spamming.