Much of the discussion you’ll have with your web designer is about, well, design.
But another area of discussion is business website promotion.
You know that the entire point of a business website is earning new customers and making your business more efficient. In order to accomplish this you need to promote your website.
The thing you might find surprising is that you already know the basics.
Let’s review some of the ways you can promote your website.
Business Website Promotion: The Basics
Think of your favorite singer.
If you’re like me you like country music so we’ll stick with that as an example.
A new country singer typically has worked their entire life to hone their skills as a singer and performer. When they feel they have the skills to sell songs and tickets they look to start building their audience.
You’re in the same situation with your business. You have a website. Now you need an audience.
New country singers used to have a few ways of building their audience.
One way was to schedule meetings, performances and interviews with radio DJs. The DJ or radio station had a waiting audience that was already established. The new artist wanted access to that audience, but they had to win over the DJ and give the DJ something of value in return (great music).
New artists also worked as opening acts for established audiences. The new artist would keep the audience entertained and warm them up for the headliner. In return the new artist had the chance to win over fans and build their own fan base.
Are you getting the idea?
This is how marketing of any kind works including online marketing.
You need to access audiences that are already established.
Here are the big ways it works online.
Paid Advertising
You can always pay for access to an audience. You could look at paid advertising as an easy way to get access to an audience. You hand over the cash and the person with the audience gives you access.
There is work required. You have to make sure there is profit to be made. This is always a game you play with any type of marketing.
Search Engine Optimization
Google has a big audience. Since 1998, people have been trained to go on the search giant’s website and search for everything on the web.
One way to access this audience is to pay for it. We addressed that issue above.
The second way that Google still allows its users is natural search rankings (nobody is sure if that will always be the case). In order to rank naturally in Google you have to optimize your website and content. It’s called SEO or search engine optimization.
Google wants to provide the best results for its users. You need to first focus on providing what’s best for those users. Don’t try to trick Google. They are getting more aggressive all the time about squashing these attempts.
Instead, look at keywords or questions your target customer is asking, see what’s on the results page and work to create something better.
It comes down to creating content. Make your content useful. Give it a great design. Format it correctly so people and Google understand what’s on the page (page titles, descriptions, URLs, etc.) and you’ll be set.
Word of Mouth and Social Media
Word of mouth might be a big part of your business now. People use your service and tell their friends, family and colleagues.
Social media can work this way for online users.
Just as they do in real life, people use social networks to get information and share information with others. Sometimes that information is business-related just as it is in real life. It’s not the majority of the discussion, but it does happen.
You can encourage word of mouth through social media by creating a great brand and a great service. That’s the most important element for any business.
You can also create great content that people are apt to share.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships are kind of like paid advertising, but there are various ways you can use this to your advantage. You could even sponsor a charity or partner with another business to create a charitable event.
You do something to help people. You get access to the audience the cause has already built. If you do something in the charity area make sure it’s win-win with the biggest win going to those in need of help.
Press
Press organizations have an audience. It might be a newspaper or an online news site. They have worked to build their audience and to get access to that audience you have to have an interesting story.
The story can’t just be interesting to you. It has to be interesting to the audience and the writers and editors know what is interesting.
If you do your homework to understand how your story is interesting to an audience you can reach out to writers and editors with your story and they’ll likely want to publish it.
Press is not as easy as it seems. You often have to give up more than you might be willing at first.
Email Marketing
I look at email marketing as a secondary way to promote your business and website.
Building your email list should be a priority.
When someone signs up for your email program they are giving you permission to continue sending them messages. That’s powerful.
But in order to build your email audience you need to get access to other audiences first. Use the methods above to accomplish that.
Conclusion
New country singers often struggle early on to build their audiences.
From the public perception it seems that stars are born overnight, but in reality that star has worked their entire life to develop skills and build an audience. It’s only at the tipping point when the mainstream starts paying attention.
This is how business website promotion works. You have to take the time to build your audience.
Use the methods above to start doing that as soon as your website is live.
