The phrase, “If you build it, they will come,” does not, unfortunately, apply to websites. By itself, with no promotion, your website will find very few visitors. Just like a business needs advertisement, you must let people know your website is there.
There are many ways to improve your website’s visibility in search engines such as Google. Some of the old ways, such as adding keyword “meta tags” do not work like they used to. People would abuse their meta tags by stuffing with keywords. Eventually, the search engines got wise to this, and now grant little weight or authority to your meta tags. Not to say that meta tags are completely useless — just that by themselves, they will not get your page much higher in the search engine rankings.
Website promotion is an ever-changing art. Here are some recommendations for promoting the site:
- Search engines love text. Add some more textual content to your index page;
- Keep your website alive and updated. Google hates stale pages;
- Keep adding pages a few at a time to the site;
- Optimize pages for the search engines. This is an art in itself. It combines a keyword rich, yet natural language, text in your pages and much more;
- Submit the site to search directories;
- Set up a Google “AdWords” account;
- Use only branded e-mail addresses (e.g. yourname@yourwebsite.tld), never use a free web-based email address such at Hotmail in your correspondence;
- Include a link to your site in the signature of your e-mails;
- Include your Web site address in all correspondence you send out – mail, letters, brochures, business cards, etc.
Website promotion is not like a vending machine. You cannot plop in a few thousand dollars and expect your website to attain and retain first page ranking. It is an ongoing and ever evolving process.
You can hire experts to help with your SEO (Search engine optimization) and promotion. Be very careful to get a reputable organization if you decide to hire someone. As in any business, there are unscrupulous people who offer the world and do not deliver.
Be prepared to spend some time and effort working with your SEO people. Even if you hire someone, you know your business better than they do. Your input into how your business works can help them fine-tune your site for more targeted traffic.
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