Website Promotion

Website Promotion

"If you build it they will come" does not apply to web sites!

Once your website is created, it must be registered with all the major search engines (and the minor ones, too, just to be on the safe side!) Without search engine registration and other promotional techniques, your website may not produce the results you expect.

SOS takes great care to assure that your website is "search engine friendly", which means appropriate methods are employed in the back end design, such as "meta tags" and "alt tags", which assist the Search Engine spiders in ranking and classifying your site.

Upon completion your website should be submitted to all of the major search engines. In the past it was necessary to resubmit your website address to the Search Engines regularly. Now we assist the Search Engines in indexing all the pages of your site by creating a site map which is submitted as needed, depending on how frequently your page content changes. This offers a quick turnaround response for Search Engines to update your page info.

No one can guarantee where your website will be ranked in the Search Engines, but we will run an analysis on the keywords in your site and make changes as necessary to maximize your potential for high placement.

For maximum impact, you may choose to pay for listings in such important search engines as Yahoo. You can also subscribe to click-through ad listings on Google, Yahoo, and others..

Promotional ideas:

• Publication and Banner Ads

  Publish Yellow Page or Magazine Ads in less space by simply listing your web site address. With minimal display inches, your content and sales pitch will actually grow! Even static, paper ads will always be current. Banner ads, the online equivalent to display ads, allow a direct hot link to your web site. Place banner ads in strategic locations where your target audience roams.

• Direct Marketing (paper or electronic)

  Targeted distribution of newsletters, mailers, and post cards lead customers into your web site to hear your full sales message. But, always keep your audience specific. Don't inundate people with information they don't need. Everything you send reflects your company; sending teenagers information on retirement savings wastes everyone's time.

• Business Cards, Letterhead, Company Vehicles, and Signs

  Showcase your web site address next to your physical address and phone number, directing your customers toward your full, online sales pitch.

• Consider Your Website a "Second Office"

  Include your website address in your answering machine message. Your website can answer many questions, such as directions to your office, hours your business is open, your specialties, qualifications, and other questions a potential client might want answered.

• Email Signature

  Include a web site link on your email signature to make it easy for customers to click into your site.

• Press Releases

  Public Relations is an often forgotten form of promotion. Submit a press release announcing the opening of your new web site to local newspapers, business associations, alumni publications, industry specific magazines, or national wires such as PR Newswire or Business Wire. Publicize business milestones in trade journals.

• Article Submission

  Promote your new web site by writing and submitting articles for electronic or paper publications. Require inclusion of your final credit paragraph that lists your web site address. If your article is published online, you'll receive a hot link directly back to your site, not only increasing your traffic, but also improving your search engine rankings. Although considered a passive marketing tool, articles strengthen your credibility in the industry and can lead to buyer interest.

• Giveaways

  Print your web site address on giveaways like pens, hats, stickers, and post-it pads. Wherever your company giveaways go, so does your sales pitch!

• Generate an Opt-in Email List

  Place a sign-up book in your shop and/or a sign-up button on your web site for customers interested in future promotions or news. Send newsletters, promotions, or noteworthy accomplishments to this list to generate web site traffic and repeat business. Your web site address is a quick, one-line sales message. Instead of spending thousands on printing for small, frequently updated fliers, print generic pieces directing people to your web site. This is specifically beneficial to organizations with small, promotional mail runs.

• Exchange Links with Similar Websites

  Major search engines consider link popularlarity when ranking websites. The more websites that link to yours, the more popular the search engines view your site. However, links to unrelated sites could be viewed just the opposite and actually lower your search engine ranking.

• Use Social Media Sites like Facebook and Twitter

  Social media provides a way to communicate to the masses, it means that you can expose your business to people that you wouldn't ever have had the ability to communicate and market to. It means that marketing your business all of a sudden becomes so much easier.