We often hear website owners say that they need their site to “start generating more business”  before they spend more money on it. What they fail to do is put any effort into marketing their site to draw in visitors, or update their site with new and relevant information that will be of interest to site visitors, or have a compelling offer.

I liken this to opening a shop on the 42nd floor of a building without any signage or advertising letting customers know it exists or what it offers; a shop with products that never change and that nobody will seek out because they are the same as what can be found more easily elsewhere. This would be commercial suicide – yet plenty of website owners think all they have to do is build the site and business will come – end of story!

Marketing your site isn’t difficult. Here’s some things that can be done on a weekly basis to market your site to visitors:

1. Write a relevant post in a blog, or comment on another blog, and link through to your website.
2. Join in relevant conversations on social networking sites like Twitter, Linked-in or Facebook. Post comments and links to relevant information on your website.
3. If you are a member of any associations (i.e: Chamber of Commerce, industry groups, etc.) ensure your site is being linked to from theirs. Seek out links on other well ranked sites with the same target audience.
4. Update your listing in Yellow Pages online. Tweak your keywords and descriptions, making sure your listing links through to relevant pages on your site. If you are unsure about how to do this, contact your Yellow Pages rep, or talk to Mark at Hot PJ.
5. Write an article, white paper or develop a useful resource that you can offer for free on your website.

Don’t forget to keep track of your efforts so you know what is working best. If you have access to your site statistics then make sure you review them and note any changes in site traffic – not just ‘hits’, but where people are coming from, what key words they are using to find you, how long they stay, what route they take through your site. This will give you valuable insight into the behaviours of your site visitors which you can use to improve your site and your marketing.

If you don’t have access to this info then sign up for Google Analytics.

All of these methods are free, all they take is a bit of time. If you aren’t generating qualified leads from your site then act now! Get in contact with one of our team and we’ll take a look at your site and provide a professional opinion on how you can boost your leads.

Posted on September 23rd, 2009 by Wendy Riley-Biddle
Filed under: Marketing