Many readers of this column have asked me how to promote an online business. Website traffic is the lifeline of any online business. If there are no visitors to a website, even the best website in the world will incur losses. On the other hand, it is a fact that hundreds of mediocre websites are making big money just because the webmasters know how to promote their websites.
Website promotion is a demanding, time consuming activity. I will give you a few general ideas that will help you get started. This article is for beginners.
As soon as your website is complete, you must start submitting your web pages to important search engines such as Google and to directories such as Dmoz Open Directory Project. Almost all web surfers use big search engines to get the information they seek. For each term searched for, these search engines return thousands of websites as result. Unless your website is shown on the first two pages, the chances of getting good traffic to your website are low. You must study your competitors' websites that rank on the top and design your website to beat them.
Submitting your web pages to search engines for free, fine tuning your web pages and getting listed on major search engines usually take a long time - in many cases the waiting period is more than 2 months. And there is no guarantee that your web pages will rank high. If you are not willing to wait but willing to spend some money, there are many excellent opportunities such as Pay Per Click program and Paid Inclusion Programs to promote your website.
Pay Per Click programs such as AdSense from Google will help you attract visitors in less than ten minutes. You have to submit a list of keywords that you are interested in and a brief description about your website to Google. Keywords are the terms that an Internet user will use to search the World Wide Web. You have to tell Google how much money you are willing to pay Google each time someone clicks on you ad and visit your website. Through such programs you will get visitors within a few minutes! Yahoo and MSN too have similar programs.
In Paid Inclusion Programs, you have to pay a one time or an annual subscription fees for including your website in a directory or a search database. It may not work wonders. However, it will help you in increasing overall website ranking. If you have big ad budget, you must get listed with well known directories.
You must participate in as many link exchange programs as possible. In a link exchange program or reciprocal link program, you will mention about another website on your website. The other webmaster will write about your website on his website. This will increase the popularity of your website and search engines will like it.
Many search engines are quick in listing blogs. So, it is a good idea to start a blog on a theme similar to that of your website and keep it updated frequently. You must also visit other big blogs and leave intelligent and sensible comments. Your comments will attract the attention of the visitors of other blogs and many of them will visit your website.
You can also join forums and newsgroups in your industry and start adding posts and comments regularly. Make sure that you respect the rules of these forums and groups. If you break the rules, you will be treated like a spammer and your website will attract negative publicity.
Don't forget to use offline methods to promote your online business. Small local television networks will advertise your websites for a few hundred rupees. Slide show in cinemas is another simple way to make your website popular. If your products and services are meant for local market, these two methods will work wonders.
Classified ads in newspapers and trade journals may sometimes work well. If your product or service is great and you have good contacts, you may be able to bring an article about your online business in a magazine or newspaper.
The best method of promotion is word of mouth referral. If you sell excellent products and provide top notch customer service, your customers will take care of promoting your website.
If you are planning to start a home based online business, it is important that you develop a plan to promote your website and implement it as you build your website. Every minute that you spend now on your website promotion will certainly bring in excellent results over time.