Even the best designed website is worthless if it doesn’t have any quality traffic. Therefore it’s very important that you factor in a marketing & promotion strategy into your overall website/business plan.
Solely depending on Search Engine traffic isn’t enough… Sure, it’s wonderful when traffic magically appears from the search engines, but it’s often times too little, too late. Plus, search engines are fickle. One day they can send you tons of traffic and a week later you’re lucky to get a handful of visitors.
Be proactive in your website marketing and promotion
There are many ways to market, promote, and drive traffic to your website. And, most of them are free or almost free.
Pick 3 or 4 of the methods listed below and run with them. Avoid the temptation to try them all at once. Pick a couple methods, use them for a couple months and measure their results. If it’s working, keep doing it. If it isn’t as successful as you were hoping, tweak it it or move on to another method.
And now for the big ole list…
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- XML Sitemaps / Ping
- Maintain Web 2.0 websites
- Feeder sites
- Lead Generation sites
- Social Media / Friends / Networking
- Social Bookmarking
- Blog Commenting
- Article Marketing
- Forum Marketing
- Classified Ad Sites
- Answers Websites
- Promote Link Bait
- Website Directories
- Press Releases
- Auction Sites
- Video Marketing
- Opt-in lists
- Podcasting
- Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Sell through Affiliate Networks
- Set up your own Affiliate Program
- Link Exchange Networks
- Distribute gadgets/software/themes/utilities/etc
- Public Speaking
- Get Interviewed
- Word of Mouth
- Interview people with a following/list
- JV/Partner with a business
- Wikis
- Shopping Sites
- Coupon Sites
- Job/Project Sites
- Contest Sites
- Kindle / Amazon Marketplace
- Bulletin Boards at gas stations, grocery stores, etc
- Yahoo Groups
- eZine Directories
- PDF Directories
- eCourse Directories
- Blog / RSS Directories
- Google Gadgets
- Software Directories
- Create a DVD course
- Subscribe to your own feeds
- Give Stuff Away
- Stop in face-to-face
- Become an author
- Create a local group
- Tradeshows
- Toll Free voicemail info line
- Testimonials
- Magazine and newspapers ads
Have other marketing, promoting and traffic generating ideas? Want to share some of your experiences? Please leave your comments/questions below.
