Promoting your online business is a never-ending task. Webmasters are always looking for that perfect promotional method or program to solve their job of finding customers and giving their business additional needed exposure.
The truth is that there probably is not and never will be that one promotional panacea that meets all of your promotional needs.
If that is the case, then I suggest that you use some of the more established methods while you search out the newest, latest or best thing to come down the pike.
In addition to the submission of your sites to all the major search engines, ffa's, directories and award sites, here are a couple of ideas that you may want to incorporate into your overall promotional efforts:
- Start a mailing list composed of visitors to your site. It does not have to be anything fancy or out of this world. Just a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly mailing to your visitors to let them know your latest special offer or services. It will serve as a reminder to them of who you are and what your site provides.
Free mailing lists may be created at: http://www.onelist.com and http://www.listbot.com
Also, http://www.e-zinez.com has a simple, quick template to create a newsletter in five minutes.
There are many others, but these are fairly well established ones.
Onelist also now offers you the ability to survey your customers needs in order to serve them better.
- Put a "recommend-it" button on your website. There is one script that you can get for Free to do this at: http://www.bignosebird.com
- Go out and get new visitors to your website by joining several free promotional lists that are mentioned above and send them your offers by e-mail. If you do this, you probably want to create an alternate e-mail address to serve as a "catch" for all the offers you will get in response.
Sign-up for the mailing lists using this new address and it will prevent your regular e-mail from becoming clogged with offers.
There are lots of free web-based e-mail programs.
I like to use Yahoo's at: http://www.yahoo.com
- Offer your visitors and those your invite by e-mail something FREE. There are many free resources on the internet. Try to make your offer compliment the purpose of your site.
For example: If you are selling widgets, you might offer them a free tutorial in the latest use of widgets in online businesses.
- Use auto-responders to send out your sales message. By doing this you can send multiple follow-ups to increase your sales significantly, and you also capture their e-mail address for future contact or possible inclusion in your new mailing list.
Free autoresponders are available at: http://www.getresponse.com and http://www.smartbotpro.net.
Again, there are others, but these two will serve your needs.
- Link to successful sites that compliment your online business. Now I know this is a little bit of a challenge to find that business online that is not a competitor, but who offers something which compliments your business. I do believe with a little searching and imagination that it is possible to do.
- Follow-up with those visitors and potential customers who have already been to your site. Don't let them come in the back door, exit the back door and never contact them again. Capture their e-mail address in whatever way you can so follow-up is possible.
- Tracking of your traffic is one of the most overlooked subject by most webmasters. How did you customers find you? Was it by search engine, e-mail, ffa site? Put a tracking system on your site.
One I like and use is at: http://www.extremetracking.com. It gives lots of traffic-tracking information. Cost: ZERO!
- People on the street use computers ! Some simple business cards are inexpensive. Have some printed up and pass them out to everyone you meet at work, at church, on the street, in restaurants, on the bus, subway, train, or airplane. These are all a strong potential source of customers who have probably never been asked in person to visit a website by the webmaster of the site!
There are many possibilities for promotion of your site. These are just a few of the suggestions that everyone needs to consider in the overall promotional effort.
Good luck in your promotional efforts!
Larry Johnson, author E-Mail
The author, Larry Johnson, is the editor of Biz Frontpage, a Free weekly business newsletter with original "how-to" articles, promotional tips, quotes, humor and interesting new sites. Come join us as we explore new ways to do business on the Internet.
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