Advertise your website – for FREE! Tip #2
In the second of this series, I’m going to look at how you can market your website using techniques that are usually only spoken about when discussing search engine optimisation (SEO) but which have many benefits for your website makreting as well.
Whenever someone new to SEO asks a forum how they can increase their ranking in Google there are usually four common responses:
- Write articles or press releases and submit them to press release and article websites
- Comment on blogs
- Submit your website to internet directories
- Contribute to web forums
It’s good advice, although the quality of return can be variable, but instead of looking at it through the eyes of an SEO, why not consider how these methods can also be used to effectively market your website?
Articles and Press Releases
Firstly, if you regularly write press releases that are aimed at getting coverage in newspapers and publications, make sure that you at least have a link to your website. Unbeliveably many press releases don’t have a link to the company website – a massive oversight.
Even if you only write articles and press releases to try to get a few extra links to your website, you should assume that SOMEONE is going to read it and try to get them to come to your website as well.
What you want to do is give people a reason to come to your website. So instead of having a plain old link at the bottom of the page, provide an incentive to come to your website.
For example:
“For more information on our free office security review, visit our website at http://www……”
or, bearing in mind that local newspapers love great photographs:
“For dynamic imagery of our Management Committee, visit our website at ….”
What’s “dynamic imagery”? I’ve no idea, but I’d go to website to see what it is.
The point is, as well linking to your website, you also need to ensure that you are giving people a reason to click the link. You might even find that if the incentive to click is good enough (free stuff is always good) then you’ll have more success in getting the press release published in the newspapers. We did this by offering a free website review (now discontinued!) and ended up with a full page story in the newspaper, a video interview on the website and a link to our own website from their website!
Comments on Blogs
Blog commenting is a pretty spammy SEO technique – it does work but I wouldn’t recommend it as a single SEO technique. However, if you approach it in the correct frame of mind then you can drive some traffic to your website and position yourself as an expert at the same time.
If you’re reading a blog post and have a point of view that you would like to share then leave a comment but make sure that you link to your website (not necessarily in the body of the comment, unless you have a valid reason, but enter your website in the URL field). If your insight is good enough then people will come and check out your website.
I know, it seems unlikely. But it works. Even if no other readers of the blog come to your website, you can pretty much guarantee that the blog owner/author will come and check you out because we’re all big headed egomaniacs and we want to learn a bit more about our readers!
So don’t go nuts, spamming blogs all over the place with useless comments. But if you have a relevant insight to add to a post that is related to your website, the leave a comment. You’ll start to build a reputation as a but of an expert into the bargain as well.
Contribute to Web Forums
The principle here is the same as blog commenting. If you participate in a forum then make sure that you have a website in your profile, and if possible, have a link in your signature as well (see #1 about email signatures – try to optimise it!).
Again, you’ll position yourself as an expert and build a following. The more you post, the more people will want to learn about you and check up on you, which will naturaly drive people to your website.
If you have an option to create a profile on your forum then use that as an opportunity to market your website. When writing about yourself, give people a reason to come and visit your website (more free stuff!).
Internet Directories
Yet another easy way to get links, but steer clear of those really spammy directories full of porn sites and poker websites!
If you register with a few high quality web directories (DMOZ, FreeIndex, BT Tradespace, Scoot, Yell) then they actually drive traffic to your site. Make sure that you’re giving people a reason to click through to your website. If you’re the cheapest at what you do, or the highest quality, or the best, or you give away loads of free stuff then make sure you tell people about it.
What else
There are four easy ways to get links to your site but also drive traffic to your site. Whenever you have an opportunity to publicise yourself or your business then make sure that you include your website address and then look at how you can include a message to get people to click that link!
Do you have any other ways that you publicise your website? Leave a comment (including your website and a reason why we should visit it!) and let us know what other things we can do!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Thanks to being so smart, I figured out all of this stuff for myself. However, it’d have been great to read your well thought-out post first so I could have saved a few brain cells … This is a really useful post and I hope plenty of people have read it.