Promoting a website is no easy task but it’s manageable if you know the right way to do it. Like the 25 ways to promote your website that are in this article.
Why This Article Is Special
You may be thinking that this article is «one of those» many articles that talk, talk, talk but don’t actually say anything actionable. You know, something you can read, think over, and put into work the same day to get results the following day.
Well, this article is not «one of those». Here, you will find real, actionable tips and tricks on promoting a website and making your first online sale (or increasing the existing ones).
However, before we proceed to the actual list of tips, let’s get something straight.
These Tips Won’t Work if…
None of the recommendations provided below will work if:
- your website is poorly designed and has a lot of bugs
- your website isn’t mobile-friendly
- your website isn’t user-friendly (poor user interface – UI) and provides an unpleasant user experience (UX)
Why? Well, let’s see.
1. Poor Design and Functionality Issues
Times, when you could have just «website», are long gone. Now, just a website is not enough – thanks to the great variety and tight competition on the Internet market, people have become much more aware of such things as design and usability.
What it means is that people will easily dismiss your website if they don’t find its visual aesthetics pleasing enough. What they think will probably be «How dare a man with such a bad taste offer me anything at all? No, thanks, I’m off to a better-looking website».
And – guess what – they’ll be right! You have to fight for the customers right from the moment they see your website for the first time (or even earlier but we’ll get to that later).
Should I even mention that your website should be working perfectly without any technical flaws?
Why is all this so important? Because it gives off your attitude – if an entrepreneur can create a great-looking website and run it smoothly, the level of trust in such an entrepreneur and his/her website will be high as well.
2. Lack of Optimization for Mobile Devices
Another point that requires minimum explanation. The number of mobile users on the Internet had surpassed the number of desktop users back in late 2013, and the trend continues into the present.
Mind this: around 80% of people aged 18-34 use BOTH mobile and desktop devices to browse the Internet (US data) so we’re talking about a multi-platform approach here. The average conversion rates of online shoppers are still lower on mobile than on desktop but it’s a matter of time until they catch up.
What it means for you is that you should make sure the website look and work perfectly in all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, Edge) on desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets.
3. Poor UI and UX
No specialist can create and implement great UI for your website if you don’t know what your goals with the website are. No Internet marketing guru is able to think over and implement a pleasant UX for your website without knowing and understanding your target audience, their needs, and interests.
The only possible way to understand a user is to become one. Try walking in your visitors’ shoes to see what may be wrong with your website and how it can be changed. Even if that requires you creating a new account, choosing an item, and purchasing it multiple times.
While in the process, keep making notes of whatever feels strange, weird, or otherwise unfitting for you.
That should be it for now – for further information, have a look at this article «Step-by-Step Guide to Website Development Process and Design» once you’re finished reading this piece. Meanwhile, we’re proceeding to the main course.
25 Ways to Promote Your Website
Not all of these tips may apply to your exact situation but you will definitely find most of them helpful in one way or another.
1. Create and Post Only Top-Quality Content That’s Worth Sharing
Average content just won’t do because everyone else already has it. Be creative, be outrageous, be provocative (within the accepted limits, of course), be smart, be foolish 😉 (sometimes).
In other words, write and create only original content that addresses a known issue and gives a valid solution.
2. Guest blog
Provide the content not only for your own website but also for other resources that your potential customers may be reading.
Referral traffic is a great thing and it’s a crime not to use this opportunity.
3. Write About Trending and Hot Topics
Every other day there’s something hot going on around the Internet. Politicians, celebrities, fake news, conspiracies – the world of media is full of it.
Use these trending topics to your advantage by cleverly inserting the relevant keywords into your articles.
4. Make a Habit of Using Infographics
There’s hardly any other better way of presenting a huge chunk of information in a compact, easy-to-read-and-understand form. Plus, infographics are easily shareable on the social networks.
If you’re not good at creating infographics, let the professional graphic designers do them for you.
5. Create Catchy Headlines and Titles
This goes along with the great content. Most people decide whether to read your article or not judging simply by its title. «Bland, unoriginal headline? Sorry, no visit from me» say users.
In fact, I even have a whole article dedicated to the topic – check it out here «15 Tips How to Create a Call To Action That Will Double Your CTR».
6. Use Good-Quality, Visually Striking Images
As I’ve said before, people like fine things. Large, full-scale images will draw more attention from users and make them want to share your article. Just don’t use photos made by other people without their permission, OK?=)
7. Become an Active Member of Online Communities
Find out what Facebook or Google Plus communities are popular within your audience and join them right away. Talk to people, engage in discussions, ask questions, reply to the ones you’re being asked.
8. Do Extensive Keyword Research
SEO is all about keywords. Stop wasting your time trying to compete for bids like «how to make money» or «buy a bicycle» – you will never win the giants.
Instead, concentrate on long-tail keywords that may bring fewer visitors but the ones that will come will be more motivated and will show a better conversion.
9. Analyze Your Competitors to Discover New Backlink Opportunities
Backlinks are vital to your SEO success. There are a few ways of increasing their number; one of the most popular ones is to learn from your competitors.
Do order this service from a professional web agency.
10. Allow Guest Blogging on Your Website
Run a guest column and allow your site visitors to contribute their content. It’s a matter of time until you establish a connection with partners who will be happy to provide content for you.
11. Monitor and Analyze EVERYTHING
Use Google Analytics to keep track of the following:
- incoming traffic by sources, pages
- referral traffic
- on-page user behavior
12. Establish a Connection With Influencers in Your Niche
Influencers are the people whose opinion has weight among a certain audience. Making friends with those people and getting them to talk about you is an excellent way of promotion.
13. Use Internal Links Extensively
It’s one thing to lure users onto your website but it’s a totally different thing to make them stay. Try to interest your visitors in the rest of the content that you have by providing internal links whenever relevant.
14. Do Full On-Page SEO
No PPC ad campaign can ever bring you as many users as well performed SEO can. Never trust this job to freelancers – if done wrong, it can hurt your website.
SEO is one of the first things you should order from a specialist once your website is up and running.
15. Engage With Your Visitors in All Possible Ways
Reply to their feedback and comments, answer their questions, ask them questions. Interview your customers to find out more about their experience but, most importantly, interview those who didn’t buy anything and left your website because that’s where your money are.
16. Collect emails and run email marketing campaigns
Never ask for emails in a nagging fashion, though. Create a situation where leaving an email address would seem like a logical and useful thing to do for your visitors.
Needless to say, don’t send them only «Buy this and buy that» emails. Make announcements, share great fresh content, and… well, new offers in between.
17. Create an Onboarding for the New Visitors
When a new visitor comes to your website, you may want to greet him/her nicely and show them around with a series of interactive explanatory steps, demonstrating your strongest points along the way.
18. Do Paid Advertising Campaigns (PPC)
No one said PPC ads were bad. They just have their limits as to where they can take you. However, for a fledging website, they can prove quite helpful if the keywords are set up right.
Again, it’s a job that’s better handled by a professional.
19. Run a Retargeting Campaign
A cool variety of regular paid advertising, where the system remembers the user who once visited your website (and the page he/she was on) and shows that user the relevant ad on other partner websites.
20. Create a YouTube Channel
Post videos that are relevant to your product. Even if you won’t go «Gangnam Style», you will still benefit from Google indexing your account.
21. Get Featured Google Local Business
Submit your website here to draw attention from your local audience.
22. Maintain a consistent presence of your brand on all platforms
In order to become recognizable, you need to carry your brand’s identity (logo, slogan, style) onto any platform you use for promotion.
23. Run Ad Campaigns not Only in Google
There are other search engines, you know – Bing, Yahoo. Don’t overlook them.
24. Offer Your Visitors Something for Free
Seriously, don’t be greedy. Why not give people a freebie or a sample of your product? The promo effect will easily compensate for any potential losses you may suffer from giving away a few items.
25. Don’t Get Into Something You Have no Idea How to Do
This means SEO, PPC ad campaigns, design, coding, and copywriting. If you’re not good at some of the mentioned activities, delegate them to a professional.
Conclusion
Thanks for getting to the end of our article!
The right thing to do would be share this article with your friends on the social networks – just click on one of the icons of social media, it’s that easy.
If you have further questions on the subject, please write them in comments – I’ll be glad to answer.
To learn more about the subject, read one of these articles:
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