|
|
|
|
|
| Holidays | 2006 |
|
| Promoting Your Website |
|
Once your website is live and you’re comfortable making regular updates, whether it’s once a day or once a month, it’s time to promote it. Use your web address everywhere you can – business cards, letterhead, brochures, advertising and marketing materials, and other company collateral. It’s especially useful at tradeshows where visitors get tired of carrying around bags of collateral from every company booth. With a simple web address on your business card, they can visit your site and get all the information they need when they get back to the office.
Use your site as a sales tool. There’s no need to get that initial phone call with a perspective client only to have to wait a week for the company brochures to arrive before you can have a detailed conversation. Your company information is only a web address away from any prospective client.
Use your website for promotions and giveaways. Websites are the ultimate way to offer deals and track entries. This is particularly important for merchants selling products online, especially during holidays. Web shoppers expect online versions of the in-store sales, whether it’s by offering discount codes, free shipping, or other deals. Using your site for promotions also means that you can collect information from every person who registers or purchases and include them on mailing lists for future sales or events.
Use search engines. Although it is becoming increasingly difficult to increase your rank in organic listings (those which are unpaid), there are tips and tricks for raising the possibilities. For example, although meta tags are becoming less used for determining rank, they are important because they are used to display the title and description in the search result. Make sure to select a few key words that describe your business and use them repeatedly throughout all your site content. Refrain from using Flash especially for content (search engines are still working on a way to spider Flash content). And for those using images or Javascript in the navigation, include a secondary text nav in the footer. Also, popularity counts. One of the biggest factors in increasing your site’s rank is its popularity. This means not only receiving high traffic from other sites and unique visitors, but also having traffic generated from your site to others. Consider using text or banner exchanges, feeds, and other dynamic content.
If your budget and schedule allows, consider paid search ads. These are generally setup auction-style – in most cases you’ll be constantly bidding for the spot you want. These can become quite pricey and time consuming to maintain, but it’s possible to conduct small tests to determine if the results are worth a larger investment. Be sure you have a quality tracking system in place to allow for a comparison of sales to costs.
Finally, use your site as a communication tool to build brand loyalty. In short, send emails. Although we all receive hundreds of emails from businesses and merchants each month, it’s one of the few ways to stay in front of your client. It’s a quick and easy way to remind them of your existence, and a great way to kick off a sale or promotion or provide them with useful information.
|
|
|
|
|
About The Brookfield Group
The Brookfield Group has become a leader in IT, ISP, ASP and web solutions by providing next level technology solutions managed by experts who give you peace of mind without the tech-talk. The company's services are customized to fit any enterprise-size businesses and include: IT project management; hosting solutions and maintenance; systems security and patches; telecommunications services, server and desktop setup, repair and applications; network infrastructure design; audio visual products; surveillance and security solutions; as well as a variety of other software, hardware, services and accessories. Located in Carmel, Indiana, more information about The Brookfield Group products and services is available at www.thebrookfieldgroup.com or by calling 317.524.6000.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Get the latest technology news,
alerts and tools delivered directly
to your Inbox each month.
> Click here to learn more...
|
|
| Subscribe Today! |
|
| Enter email address |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
