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Site Promotion - Web Site Promotion and
Resources
Site Promotion is the process of making your web
site and its address known to those who might be interested in what your site
has to offer. Web sites can be promoted "online" or "offline".
Costs: Depends on the type of service. There is usually a one-time charge
for submission to search engines, for example, $119 for submission to 600.000
sites, while directories may charge a small monthly fee ($9.95 per month, for
example).
Issues:
If you located a business next to an interstate where there are no exits, don't
post any signs, and don't advertise its address, you shouldn't expect many customers.
Likewise, you shouldn't expect many visitors to your web site unless you promote
it. The information on your web site is useless to people who don't know it
exists.
One way of promoting your site online is by establishing connections ("links")
with other web sites. This is what puts the "web" in the World Wide Web. The
most common services which will provide links to your web site are submission
to search engines (for a one-time charge), directories appropriate for your
site's content (for a small ongoing charge), and banner advertising (with costs
based on the number of times an advertisement is displayed).
If your web site is generating revenue, from subscriptions or sales for example,
a good way to encourage other sites to link to your site is to have an affiliate
program which gives them a small percentage of the income from users they directed
to your site. There are several companies which can manage affiliate programs
for you.
The highest-activity search and directory sites, also known as "portals," index
a large number of web sites, and the results, especially in searches that return
a large number of "hits," are often not relevant. For example, if your business
happends to be located in an area called "South Park", the results of your customers
searches for "South Park" will mostly be sites that are related to the television
program, not the location. If the links to your web site are not listed on the
first few pages of results, it is unlikely that it will be found.
General-purpose directories are usually organized by subject, contain fewer
entries for each subject, and change less frequently. Because links are manually
placed in a subject category, they typically provide results that are more relevant
to the user, making it easier to use and more likely that your site will be
found.
Single-purpose directories related to your site's content are among the best
places to promote your web site. Since their users are already interested in
a particular type of content, it is more likely that they will also be interested
in your site's content. Plus, since there are fewer listings, users will be
able to find your site's listing more easily.
Another good method of online promotion is to allow users to sign up for an
e-mail mailing list, and remind them occasionally with notices such as announcements
of important changes to your site. However, unsolicited e-mail is generally
considered an abuse of web site resources, and may result in a site being shut
down by the hosting provider.
Your web address can be included on business cards, mailings, signage, etc.
to promote your site "offline" at no additional cost, or you can purchase newspaper,
radio, or television advertising.
Many sites display banner advertisements at the top of each web page. Banner
ads can be purchased from some sites directly, from banner advertising companies,
or obtained through a banner exchange program, where your ad is displayed on
other sites in return for your displaying ads supplied by the program.
Recommendations:
When selecting a hosting provider or content developer, consider whether or
not they also have relationships with other sites, especially directories, that
are related to the content your web site.
Include your web site address on your business cards and with any mailings you
send out. If you can easily add letters to your outdoor signs, add your web
site address (without the "http://" part, if necessary); otherwise add your
complete web site address to your signs whenever they are repainted or replaced.
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