4. Build your business website: marketing11 April 2005
Marketing your website needn't be difficult - getting a few key things right straight away will save you time and effort later.
Most web surfers start their sessions at a search engine or a web directory. There are a number of different methods you can use to capture their traffic and drive it to your site:
1. Stick to the big names: The two largest directories: Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) and the Open Project Directory (http://www.dmoz.org), and the two largest search engines: Google (http://www.google.com ) and Inktomi (used by MSN search (http://www.msn.com) and AOL (http://www.aol.com)) are likely to deliver 80% of your traffic, so concentrate on those and don't spend too much time on anybody else.
2. Yahoo and the Open Project Directory are administered by people, so an editor will inspect your site before it's added. Due to the number of submissions, it can take months before your site is reviewed.
3. Google and Inktomi use 'robot' software that 'crawls' over millions of sites on the web, and adds them to their index. That's why it is not absolutely necessary to manually submit your site to a search engine, since they may find your site and add it automatically.
4. You don't need to submit all the pages on your site. Once the search engine finds your main page, it will find the other ones by following links. To improve the chances of your secondary pages being found, create a link called 'site map' in your homepage, and have it point to a page that is nothing but a collection of links to all the pages on your site. This way, the search engine will follow the link and take in all your pages.
5. Your site will stand a better chance of appearing at the top of the search results list if you choose keywords that are as specific as possible. For example, a flower shop that specialises in orchids (keywords: orchids, flowers) has a better chance of showing up in a prime position than an all-encompassing flower shop (keywords: flowers).
6. Try contacting the webmasters of leading websites for the keywords of your choice and try to get them to link to your site. You can offer a link exchange or place a paid link on their pages.
Although search engines are a good way to drive traffic to your site, remember they aren't the only way to generate traffic to your site. Try different approaches, like writing articles and posting them in discussion groups and newsgroups.
Also, don't overlook traditional techniques such as distributing business cards with your website address, or advertising in traditional media. It is a combination of all these things - and a compelling online presence - that will make your site popular.
