Every day, several thousand new websites are launched to add to the hundreds of millions already on the web. Against this vast mass of existing competition, you need to work hard to ensure that your website gets noticed by your target visitors. As well as telling your traditional contacts including press, and existing and potential customers, you need to consider all the specialist sections of the net, such as the online search engines that help users find information on the web.
In fact, the key to a successful launch is largely down to the time you spend promoting its profile with the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. Once you’ve attracted visitors, the site will live or die by its content. Here’s a checklist of the marketing tasks you’ll have to carry out to ensure that your site gets noticed:
- prepare your web pages by including indexing information for search engines
- submit your site to the main search engines
- submit your site to the major online review and what’s new sites
- ask relevant trade organisations if they will include a link to you from their site
- use search tools and your access logs to find and ask related websites for reciprocal links
- ask local Government-sponsored business sites for a reciprocal link
- make sure that the new site address is on company advertising and stationary
- modify any email or newsgroup signatures to show your new web address
- research banner advertising to increase exposure
- keep newspapers, magazines, and agencies informed with a press-release
- inform key customers and distributors and keep them informed with a regular newsletter
- identify and monitor relevant newsgroups and post low-key informational replies
- monitor relevant mailing lists and post low-key informational messages
- look at using targeted email lists for direct publicity to increase visitors
The aim of good website promotion is to ensure that your website is always crowded with visitors – once they are on the site, they can decide if they like it, if it’s useful or worth revisiting or bookmarking. Use the following pages to ensure that your site has good coverage and gets off to a great start. If you are re-launching or re-designing your site, you should use the same basic steps. But don’t do any of this till your site is ready to accept visitors – if they flock onto to a construction site, they’re unlikely to return.
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SEO