Web Site Promotion Takes Time

Almost before any web site has been completed and uploaded, the site owner is asking the webmaster about web site promotion. With every search of the Internet returning millions of potential pages and popular search engine company Google claiming to be scanning approximately four and a half billion web pages, getting a single site to the top of the search engines is, to put it mildly, something of a crap shoot. Unless the site owner has a very generous marketing budget, they are most probably facing a long uphill battle.

Most web professionals agree that for your target audience the best web site promotion still exists in distributing media in the physical world bearing the address of your site. This means not only items like business cards and the letterhead of stationery but also painting the web address on your storefront or service vehicles. In fact, any item that goes out of your place of business – boxes, bags, invoices – should all be a part of this physical web site promotion by being emblazoned with the address of your web site.

In addition, use your own electronic correspondence to promote your website. Learn how to attach a “signature,” a block of information (usually name, contact information, and web address) to the bottom of every email you send. The game is all about getting the address of your site as visible as possible.

Of course there are things that can be done in the building of the site itself that effects promotion. Codes known as meta tags exist in the background structure of your site. These meta tags should include keywords – terms you think people will use in searching for a site like yours. It was, at one time, considered to be a good idea to repeat the same word or phrase hundreds of times in the meta tags. Now search engines tend to reject pages that employ this device. Instead it is better to add as many variations of key words and phrases as you can imagine and to have those included in your meta tags.

There are more things that you can do instead of simply employing these background words and phrases as part of your strategy for promotion. Codes, while useful, do not replace some well-conceived content that is heavily salted with the same key words and phrases you believe people will use in looking for your site. The text on each page of your site should be carefully crafted to include as many of these words and phrases as possible.

Cross linking is also an important aspect of web site promotion. Look for sites that are related to but not in direct competition with your endeavor and offer to trade links. It is not at all uncommon for people to find a site via an intermediary. You want these links to do more than say “click here.” Try, as much as is possible, to have the links worded with those ever important key words and phrases.

Above all, give yourself and your site some time. Web site promotion, in the absence of paid for positioning, takes some time. Certainly monitor the traffic on your site, but don’t be discouraged if it does not grow by leaps and bounds at first.

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