Website Promotion:

Website Promotion comes First:

A website is an important promotional tool for any business, service, organization, charity, etc. But for people to find your website, the website itself needs promoted to rank high enough in the search engines to be found by internet users. Generally the higher the ranking the better the promotion results and search engine traffic a website will receive.

Search engines and your website:

There are many elements in the design and architecture of a website that are considered by search engines during the ranking process:

These website elements include:

• Correct use of Meta tags
• Inclusion of Key words & phrases
• Relevant content which includes keywords and phrases
• Content in readable text not in images
• Correct use of HTML Tags
• Clean HTML code
• Site maps
• Spam penalties
• Static text links
• Incoming links from related websites
• External Java script and Style sheet files
• Ethical vs. unethical design practice e.g. (keyword stacking, hidden text, page swapping, cloaking, etc.)
  
  For definitions of most of these terms see our Glossary page.

Keep in mind that most search engines are constantly evolving their abilities to better serve the internet users and their specific inquires and therefore website elements like the ones above can have changing values.

Other website promotion options:

Pay per click advertising:
Google, Yahoo! and MSN all have Pay-per-Click Programs to promote your website. Basically, you choose keyword and key phrases for your site to appear under, and then pay only when someone actually clicks thru to your website. Some programs like Yahoo’s allow you to bid for the highest position. Google, on the other hand considers your site’s content, quality and other factors, not just the amount you are paying. Some search engines do not make a very obvious distinction of the web sites who are paying to be on top and those that have earned their high position because of quality and content. Google however places their pay per click sites either on the right hand side or in a separate box above the naturally high ranking sites.
It may take time for a site to be ranked by Google in a top listing so starting out with a pay per click campaign may be a good option. Also, some sites may never be able to rank within the first few pages of some search engines because of the competitive nature of their business, and a pay per click campaign may be the best means of promotion for them.

Banner Ads, Paid Directories, and Pay-per-Impression Campaigns:
In the early years of the internet, there were endless portals, directories and sites charging for listings, banner ads and pay-per-impression ads. Some even guaranteed top placement in search engines which in truth is impossible as only the search engines have that control. Most of these types of web promotions were very ineffective and susceptible to abuse and/or outright fraud. Today you should consider carefully the popularity of the website or directory that offers advertising and make sure you’re able to analyze all data necessary to see if this program has a good ROI (Return on Investment).

Pay-for-Inclusion:
All the major search engines accept websites thru some means without charge, however, they will not guarantee inclusion, and the inclusion process can take weeks or longer. Some search engines and internet directories have “Pay for Inclusion”, “Guaranteed Submission” and “Express Submission” programs. These options may be beneficial if you are in a hurry to get your site listed on a particular search engine.

E-mail news letters/forms:
A voluntary online form option for users so you can contact customers through e-mail, get customer feedback, testimonials, make announcements etc.

Local & Regional Internet Directories:
Google Local Listings is a directory for your local area which includes a map explaining your location. This service would not apply to every website. Google also has launched it's Beta version of a service which lists products and services for sale called Google Base.

Linking:
Linking strategies which include exchanging reciprocal links with other sites is still important as long as those sites are within the same theme as your website. The key is to have reciprocal links exchanged between sites that have relevance and importance to each other. For example, a veterinarian and a dog kennel. The search engines recognize these similarities through keywords and phrases and rewards these types of incoming links.

Traditional forms of advertisement:
This would include print ads, radio, T.V., magazines, business cards, etc. To promote your website through traditional media your dot com address needs to be obvious because it is the gateway to your website. Ideally you should have a domain name that actually includes wording which reflects the nature of your business. For example let’s say your selling gourmet dog food; e.g. food4dogs.com would have more meaning than f4d.com, besides it contains a couple of keywords.