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Setting Up Your Own WebsiteGetting Traffic -- the Basics |
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Setting Up Your Own WebsiteGetting Traffic -- the Basics |
There are people who make their living doing Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short. Here are some basics you can do yourself.
Before you start submitting your site to search engines and directories, make sure your pages are search engine friendly. You need to make sure the <head> of each page has a title tag and metatags for description and keywords. Metatags are tags embedded in web pages, not visible to the visitor, that some search engines use to categorize your site. Not all search engines use these metatags, but enough do to make it worth your while. Here's a brief tutorial on creating metatags. For help generating metatags go to Meta Tag Help at Scrub the Web.
Then make sure your pages really talk about what you want to be listed under. For example, this site is about setting up a website. The phrase appears several times on the home page -- not in a spammy way, just embedded in the text. A good, free tool for testing how well your page is optimized is instantposition.com. SEO Chat, Scrub the Web and IWebTool have free keyword density analyzer tools that show you how often a word or phrase appears on your page. Once you have your site up and running, you can check how your site measures up in the 3 biggest search engines with this free tool.
If you find you need help in accomplishing this and other SEO tasks, you may wish to sign up with a Search Engine Optimization Firm
A sitemap can be a simple web page listing links to each your pages. It's not only helpful for visitors, it also helps search engines find all the pages on your site. There's a free tool to generate a sitemap in the format Google wants it at xml-sitemaps.com
Social sites are sites where people communicate with one another. Facebook is a good example. Most of these social sites allow you to create a profile page from which you can link to your website.
In the last year or so, all kinds of social sites have become very popular. People are sharing their favorite websites in lists on the web. There's no charge to join these social sites. They provide a free link, and you may enjoy browsing through other people's choices. My favorite is Stumble. You install their toolbar on your browser, indicate your interests, and then you can spend hours looking at neat websites. Just make sure to add your own to the list. Other social sites you can join are: Furl and Del.icio.
Often, blogs allow comments with embedded links. Although these links are frequently not followed by search engines, if it's a popular blog, like the Huffington Post, for example, the exposure can get you some attention.
If you are a local brick and mortar business, you can get a free Business Owner's Account on Yelp and
get your own page pointing to your websites. CityGrid Media also offers local online marketing for small business.
, both free and paid. Encourage your customers to write reviews of your business.
You don't have to submit your site to the major search engines like Google. They'll find your site if you do everything else right. In fact, you can be deleted from a search engine by using some of the "we'll submit you every minute to 9000 search engines" companies out there. Search engines don't like to be bombarded any more than you do. Several such submissions will get you classified as a spammer.
There are several directories that are human-administered. You DO have to submit to these. The most important ones are the Open Directory Project (known as DMOZ), which is used by many other search engines and Skaffe. Some others are Pegasus Directory, My Green Corner, Anoox, Josh's Sanctum, Illumirate, Net-crawler, The Poddys Directory and JoeAnt. They're all free, but since they're run by humans, it will take a while to get your site approved. Hedir (short for Human Edited Directory) is free but they're fussy about which sites they list. They are GREAT for helping get the kinks out of a site, but don't expect the process to be easy! If you're really ambitious, Top Web Site Tips has a list of over 500 directories to which you can submit your site.
Commercial sites should submit
to Jayde and Thomas
Regional. A rising comer is a social-type site caled Yelp which will give you free promotion for your Business. Yelp is a listing of local businesses that people can write reviews about. A real no-brainer, since it's a free link with no strings attached.
It costs money, but you may find it worthwhile to submit your site to Business Directory Advertising. You can get $50 off your listing by clicking on this link.. It's a business to business website with articles on online promotion and a directory of businesses.
Gimpsy has a free submission option, but charge $40 to list you within 72 hours. Yahoo has a directory that charges $299 a year for a listing. Surprisingly, this is the one paid link Google actually values, so you may wish to invest in a link there.
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There are hundreds of search engines that will list you in return for a reciprocal link, such as Homerweb Search and SurfGopher. Some search engines, like Arielis charge you to be listed. Google does not look kindly on paid directories. They may actually hurt your standing. |
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A new or revamped website is a good excuse to send a mailing to customers and prospects. Mail out a postcard or flyer announcing your URL. Offer special incentives to people who go to the site.
Or offer a free item, such as a pen or a Tshirt to people who visit the site.
Let people know it's there. Frequently, it's easier to remember a URL than a phone number. Tell people they can find your address or phone number on the website (and make sure it's there!) Use it in your ads. Instead of repeating your phone number three times and hoping people listening to your radio ad will memorize it, give your URL.
For as little as $1 a day, Google will put your ad in the right hand column of their search results. It takes a bit of effort to learn how to set up an ad campaign, but they provide online help and you can refine as you go along. You set your daily budget and the amount you are willing to pay for each "click" (PPC), that is, each time a visitor to Google actually clicks on your ad. The hardest part is writing the ad -- they allow you only 95 characters for the whole ad (not counting your URL.)
Google isn't the only search engine that sells ads. Because they have less of the search engine market share, Yahoo! can actually place your ad higher up in their search results for the same money as Google. Sign up and get a $25 credit. .
Another and perhaps less expensive pay-per-click alternative is AdShare, which places ads on the websites you choose from their list of resellers. Google also offers that alternative, and generally, those ads are less expensive than the ones that appear in search engine results.
A different form of advertising is to sign up affiliates. You join a site like shareasale.com. On it, you offer a commission to people who will put your ads on their websites. That way, you only pay when someone actually buys something from your website.
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There are techniques called viral marketing that enable you to use the web-like features of the internet to get friends to refer friends or webmasters to refer visitors. For example, you can join forums. Most permit you to put a link to another website into the body of messages you post. (Just click on the little link symbol. It should walk you through it.) Not only is it a free link, but if the forum is related to your site, people may follow the link to visit your site. You can also write articles related to the subject of your website. Article sites allow links in the article, and if it's a good piece, other webmasters will put it on their websites. For example, take a look at this excellent article on viral marketing which was copied from a site that offers articles for inclusion in websites. |
Forums and blogs that allow comments are a great way of getting free links. For example, TheFreeAdForum.com! is specifically built to help you promote your business or service.
There are forums on just about every subject under the sun. Find one and become active in it. Just google "forum mysubject". For example, if your site is about books, google "book forum" or "reading forum".
Most forums let you embed links in your messages, and also let you create your own signature, with links embedded in it.
