Promote Your Web Site, e-Style! 5 simple yet effective strategies to drive traffic to your Web site
By Pankaj Arora
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
You've put the finishing touches on your fancy new Web site.You've picked a snazzy domain name, you have a groovy pagedesign, and you're ready to take on the world.
Not (quite) so fast. You stare at your hit counter, and itisn't moving! Looks like you need some promotion, e-style!
There are essentially two ways to drive traffic to your site:Surfers can get pulled in themselves, or you can try to push themthrough the virtual door. To run a successful site, it's a goodidea to implement both strategies. In the end, though, the mostsuccessful sites build a strong, perpetual "pull" force,sometimes through initial "push" strategies. Here aresome of their secrets:
Most search engines are increasingly making use of a technologyknown as "Web spiders," computer programs that followlinks to find and index new Web sites. A web spider surfs the Webjust like a person, using Web sites contained in the search enginedatabase as a starting point. The spider then follows linkscontained on the sites and surfs from site to site, adding new Websites it finds to the database.
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3. Advertise, but not just on the Web. Flashy ads maycatch attention, but that doesn't always translate into hits.Try incorporating your Web site address into everything: businesscards, ads, fliers and letterhead. Spark an interest in yourproducts and services, and direct people to your Web site to obtainmore information on what you're selling. Make them want tovisit the Web site. That's a good push strategy.
4. Run Web promotions. Drive traffic to your site byrunning promotions, such as "codes" found on ads thatusers can enter in your site to get access to special features andinformation. These codes are essentially promotional gimmicks toattract attention and drive traffic, and they often work well.
Keep in mind that the goal is to drive sales as well. Use thesepromotional tactics as a fun way to provide information about yourproducts and services while keeping users engaged. Perhaps even anonline game that informs surfers of your products and serviceswould be appropriate.
5. Use mailing lists. As long as you're not spamminganyone, mailing lists are a great way to "re-advertise"to old users, providing them with Web site updates and currentproduct information. Create and manage a friendly mailing list thatallows users to subscribe and opt out on demand.
In the end, the key is to spread the word while also making theWeb site easy for surfers to find. Combining a well-designed Website with a variety of different promotional techniques will helpkeep the hit counter rolling.
