how to promote your website

Your website will not be effective unless people visit it and, as more and more of your customers are using the Internet regularly, it's important to make sure they see your part of it.

Unfortunately, web marketing can be expensive. Many companies complain that they see no results for the time or money they spend on it and are often reluctant to invest in it in the future. Poorly executed web marketing could mean you're paying for very few visitors or high volumes of useless leads.

If you select the right web marketing for your business, you should benefit from a steady growth in traffic and an increase in sales or qualified leads. And the most effective long-term strategies are often very cost-effective.

The first thing to know is that there are no 'quick fix' in web marketing. Companies that promise 'guaranteed' positions in search engines are rarely able to sustain long-term success, which means the (often considerable) charges you pay them will only deliver an increase in traffic for a short time.

There are also no easy solutions. All of the truly effective web marketing tools require a certain amount of effort and patience to set them up, monitor their success and improve their performance.

Your best guide through the options will be a reputable web designer or a web marketing agency. There are three methods they are likely to recommend...

Website Optimisation

This is the most fundamental of web marketing methods. 'Optimisation' is the process of refining a website's text content, images, structure and hidden code to ensure it gives search engines an accurate picture of what your company is all about.

Essentially, it helps to get your website associated with the most relevant keywords and phrases, so you will be found when someone searches for them.

A web designer will typically charge a standard daily or hourly rate to optimise your website, so the cost will depend on the size of your site and how well optimised it already is. Get them to detail the work they will be charging for so that you can decide if their price is fair.

Our WebPlan service will allow you to spread the cost of optimisation over a number of months.

Search Engines & Web Directories

The majority of people that are looking online for what you sell are likely to use a search engine, such as Google, MSN or Yahoo. When they type in a search term, the search engine will show a list of websites that are relevant to that subject.

A website's position in the listings is determined partly by its relevance to the specified keywords - which is why optimisation is so important - but that isn't the only factor.

Search engines also record the number of other websites and directories that link to yours. The more 'inbound links' you have, the more important your site is deemed to be and the higher your position will be in search results.

Regular effort is required to increase the number of inbound links to a website and you may be able to pay a designer or web marketing agency each month to manage this for you. Make sure they provide evidence of the work they have done and report on the results.

Our Web Marketing service can be used to improve your presence in websites and web directories across the Internet

Pay-Per-Click

This is one of the most effective methods of driving traffic to a website, but if not properly managed it can be very costly.

A number of search engines offer 'pay-per-click' advertising, where your advert is displayed when someone searches for a relevant keyword and you only pay if they click on it and visit your site.

You specify how much you will pay for each click you receive (typically a few cents) and set a maximum daily/monthly budget. This way, you're in total control of your costs.

The secret of a successful pay-per-click campaign is selecting the right keywords to target and regularly reviewing the success of your adverts.

It may be advisable to pay for an experienced professional to manage a campaign for you, or at least to nurture it at the start. Your designer or web marketing agency will be able to help you work out which keywords to target. They should also be effective at measuring the success of your adverts and knowing how to improve them.

Our Web Marketing service can be used to manage an effective pay-per-click campaign through Google Adwords.

The purpose of web marketing is not only to increase traffic, but to increase sales. The promotion of your website is essential to its success and you should have a budget to cover it.

Make sure you measure the effectiveness of any promotion you do and try to improve it over time to generate long-term success. If you are spending money on web marketing, but not seeing any visible results, then you should find ways to make it more effective or turn your attention to the website itself to see if the problem lies within.

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