Effective Website Promotion Techniques

If you visit enough online marketing forums you'll see that one of the most common themes is "website promotion". Everyone wants to know what is the most effective website promotion technique or strategy.

My objective in this article is to effectively lay out the plan that I followed that has worked for me and I believe will work for any site that is intending to make money. Let me first summarize what I want to cover and then I'll backtrack into each topic:

• Clearly identify who your customer is
• Effective layout of your website
• Select the right keywords and phrases
• Quality content
• Integrate Adsense ads
• Update your site regularly

Now let's begin by identifying who your customer is. Many inexperienced internet marketers try to reach out to as many people as possible believing that this will give them the best chance for success. This is the equivalent of tossing wet noodles on the kitchen wall and seeing which ones will stick. To effectively promote any site you efforts need to be concentrated and directed towards the right target. The narrower the target the better. For example, if you are marketing a weight loss system or product you should be able to visualize your customer. What is the gender, age, economic or educational background? All this information will help you increase your chances of effectively reaching them with your website promotion technique. If you identify this customer as a young mother who is struggling to lose weight immediately after having her baby you'll go after her differently than you would a male in his mid forties. See the difference? They will each have different reasons and degrees of motivation for wanting to lose weight.

Once you've identified your customer now you can begin to construct the layout of your website. Think of each page as a different section of a department store. Each one has something different to offer and yet they work together to make the shopping experience a satisfying one. Let's take a closer look. Once again we'll use our weight loss customer. Your landing page should be somewhat like a resume - it should be able to capture the visitors attention long enough to assure them that they are in the right place. Give a brief summary of all the things you have to offer and what makes you qualified to recommend the product or service that is listed on your site

The accompanying pages of your site will serve as a supporting cast. Once the customer is assured they are in the right place gently guide them to the important "accessories" that can help them accomplish their goal of losing that undesired weight.

For example, you may be able to include pages with the following tags:

• Diet reviews
• Latest medical findings
• Expert articles and subscriptions
• Patches
• Pills
• Health foods
• Organics
• Diabetic center

You get the picture? You don't want your visitor to struggle once they arrive at your site. Make it easy for them to find what they came for. Again, this is all part of effective website promotion. Rest assured, if you do this well each visitor will now become a referral center for you. Now that you have identified the right sections for your website you must now carefully select the best keywords to label these sections. This is extremely important because if you don't it will kill everything else that you have done right so far. To help in this matter you will need to get a hold of a keyword research tool so this doesn't turn into a laborious step. I have used several and mention them on my site. Such a tool will let you type in the name of a successful competitor and display for you which keywords they are using.

Many of these sites actually use hundreds of keywords in their meta tags. You want to select the ones that will yield a high page rank with little competition. In my personal projects I look for a keyword that has a page 1 or page 2 ranking and less than 20 competitors. Stay away from keywords that are extremely popular. Also, you will be better off using "key phrases" because people type in entire phrases not one or two words when doing a search. The more words in your phrase the more targeted the customer you will get and the more likely you will be able to convert them. This assumes of course that you have what you alluded to with the phrase you included in your meta tags.

Now that you have selected the best keywords to name your web pages you are prepared to provide quality content for your visitors. In case you didn't know...CONTENT is still King on the internet. People what to convince themselves these days that they are naking a good purchase. Aggressive sales tactics rarely work. Give them as much information as possible. If you are not comfortable with or prepared to write a lot of good content you can either hire a freelance writer or refer to a good ezine website that provides great articles that you can post on these pages.

Once again, be sure that the article you post is populated with the keyword you selected for your webpage. So if one of your pages is labeled "diet pills" then this should be mentioned in the title of the article, the first paragraph as well as the last paragraph. Not too much however or you'll look tacky.

The last 2 phases of effective website promotion are fairly easy. I always recommend that you monetize your website. AdSense ads are the best in this effort. If you don't have an AdSense account then go to Google now and sign up for one - it's free and easy. Remember that you will only get to convert a small percentage of your visitors. Even you can achieve twice the industry average of 2-3 percent you want to capitalize each visit. Why not make money from them as they are leaving?

Finally, to help your site in it's standing with the search engines you will need to frequently update your content. I do this each time I submit my site to the search engines. It typically takes me about 30-45 minutes once each month. If you follow this website promotion technique and are faithful and patient you will see results faster then you think, especially if you are new to this. By following this plan I was able to garner a page rank of 2 from Google after only 6 months. Good luck.

Easy, Effective, Free Ways of Promoting Site

There are some really amazing and totally cost free ways of advertising your online business without spending a large amount on marketing.

Free Publicity-You can also give some products of yours for free to generate publicity. Interviews can be given for free publicity or even free publicity for speaking. Free memberships can be provided, contests can be set up, articles can be submitted, in exchange for free publicity.

E-books-Create an informative and relevant to your business ebook and offer it to people for free and also get your site listed in someone else's ebook. You can also brand a series of Ebooks to give away. Or better still write a book in collaboration with someone else.

Exchange programs-You can exchange reciprocal links or exchange a free seminar with discounted products for registrants. There is no harm trading reprint rights with information products. You can trade and exchange articles, content for content, a product for an ezine ad, an ad space for an ezine ad, exchange autoresponder ads, trade signature files, trade banner ads, trade a product for another product, etc.

Offers-You can also offer free consultations in the promotions, or offer your articles in an Ebook for distribution, or offer email links to distribute your articles, or offer webpages as an Ebook. Offering a discount to subscribers for an Ezine ad also helps. Equally beneficial is offering free or low cost resell rights for information products.

SEO Link Building With Web Content Secrets

It's the timeless question: how do you get other sites to link to you? The most commonly discussed ways are reciprocal linking (swapping links) and buying links. Yet there's another important tool for building links that should be a part of your toolbox: distributing content in exchange for one-way inbound links.

Comparison with Other Linking Methods

• Reciprocal Linking: The big advantage of content distribution over swapping links is that the links built are one-way, and therefore presumably more valuable. Of course, reciprocal links still have value, but relying primarily on them might hamper your SEO efforts.

• Indirect Reciprocal Links: I link my site A to your site, so you link your site to my site B. The problems are that this can be a lot of work, and also, Google can detect indirect links if you do it more than once with the same group of sites, which might make your linking arrangements look like a link farm.

• Paid Links: The problem with paid links is 1) the costs add up; 2) search engines are getting better and better at discounting paid links. According to Matt Cutts' blog, "I wouldn't be surprised if search engines begin to take stronger action against link buying in the near future...link-selling sites can lose their ability to give reputation (e.g. PageRank and anchortext)."

Kinds of Content to Distribute

• Articles: This is the essential kind of content distribution, to the point that many people consider content distribution simple as "article marketing." However, you're missing out on a few other sources of links if you only do articles.

• News blurbs: A lot of news-style sites will only reprint pieces of a couple of paragraphs. The good news is that often enough the whole point of these news blurbs is to include links to other sites, in a sort of "look what we've found" kind of way, a la Slashdot.org

• Press Releases: There are some sites that aggressively reprint press releases. A press release is like an article, only in a very specific press release format, and frankly that's not that enjoyable to read. I don't know why some sites are so head-over-heels over press releases, but, hey, that's their business. The good news is that even if you can't write and don't want to hire a writer, press releases (at least basic ones) are pretty easy to do.

• Tools, games and other webware: Sites with popular tools, software, Flash games and other webware often let other sites use it in exchange for a link. The big potential downside is technical support.

• Images: Images, especially charts and photographs, are important forms of content on the web. If you have great images on your site and people ask you to use them on their sites, require a backlink in exchange. The problem with images is that they are so easily stolen. Stolen words can be uncovered with a web search. You could try to watermark images with a copyright symbol, URL, and the link requirement. But in the process you'd make the image much less desirable.

• Web Design Templates: These have been freely distributed for a long time. Yet they are even more easily stolen than images. Also, if you embed a link in the footer of a web template, what you'll get back are sitewide links, which are often thought to be filtered out in search engines.

Maximizing Content Distribution

Links'Effectiveness: Anchor Text

You need optimized anchor text to rank high for any competitive keyword. That means you need your target keyword in the anchor text, and very importantly, variants of the target keyword (too many links with the exact same anchor text may be filtered). The problem is that some sites by default don't let you choose the anchor text of the link to your site. So you need to: 1) look for sites that do reprint content with optimized anchor text; 2) specifically ask for your target anchor text to be used. Also, do keep in mind that a true natural linking structure will require you to have a number of links that are not anchor-text-optimized, typically with the URL as the anchor text.

How to Find Sites

Finding sites to submit content is the biggest challenge. You can start by asking around to any other webmasters you already have a relationship with. Next, web-search. The classic method is "submit article" + [keyword]. Most of the sites you find this way won't be good candidates, which is why this can be a bit labor-intensive. I use offshore labor for this step, as well as a program that will sort and store all the search results into a spreadsheet; otherwise it might not be worth it. Then again, the same would be true for finding reciprocal linking partners.

Ethical Issues & Best Practices

Golden rule: remember that there's a human being who has to approve your article for submission.

• Read and adhere to all submission guidelines.

• Avoid automation. There's almost always some detail of submission that requires a human eye: a multitude of html formatting requirements, changing site themes, etc.

• Don't submit by email unless specifically instructed. Using a contact form prevents possible sp@m accusations.

• Only approach websites that request content submissions.

• Don't misrepresent reprint content as original.

• Don't submit the same content too often. After about two hundred reprints, a lot of people will be seeing the same thing over and over again and possibly complaining.

In short, as SEO gets more competitive, having more and more linking methods at your disposal gets more and more important. Don't overlook this important tool.

10 Not-So-Obvious Ways to Promote Your Website

It is interesting to think that out of the numerous ways in which business owners can advertise their products and services, many of them neglect to place their company's URL in the very advertising they are already paying for.

Sometimes simply placing their website URL in their paid advertising is not that obvious. Here are 10 not-always-so-obvious ways to promote your Web site.

1. Include your URL on business cards, stationery, brochures and other literature. As silly as it may seem, this no-brainer is often overlooked. You'd be amazed how many business owners either forget to place their URL on their business cards or don't think doing so is all that important. Be sure when printing your company's promotional and marketing materials, to leave off the http:// part and include only the www.domain.com portion.

2. Don't neglect e-mail and e-mail newsletters as a way to bring visitors to your Web site. Utilize the signature file option (company name, address, phone number, URL, e-mail address) in your e-mail program. Many business owners sign their e-mails with just their first name, nothing more. Moreover, many business owners still send and receive business-related e-mails using a free e-mail account or their ISP's email, like Hotmail, Yahoo, or Ameritech, rather than using their corporate e-mail account - another free Web site promotion tool.

While it's a big commitment in time, publishing a weekly, monthly, or quarterly newsletter is one of the very best ways to keep in touch with your prospects, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. Don't forget to place your URL in each newsletter you send out.

3. Take a moment to use your traditional means of advertising to add your URL. Be sure to include your URL in any display or classified ads you purchase in trade journals, newspapers, magazines and more. View your Web site as an information adjunct to the ad - to capture the readers' attention with the ad, and then refer them to a URL where they can obtain more information and perhaps place an order. Look carefully at small display or classified ads in the back of magazines or trade periodicals. Sometimes these ads are more targeted, more effective, and less expensive than online advertising. Consider other traditional media to drive people to your site, such as direct mail, classifieds, post cards, etc.

4. Become an online expert in your field. Use your expertise to become an expert in your field and promote your Web site for free. Sign up for Yahoo Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/) or Google Answers (http://answers.google.com/answers/) and answer questions asked by online visitors. You will have the opportunity to write your company's URL in your profile. This is a great way to gain additional Internet exposure as well.

5. Issue press releases. When your business has a newsworthy event, send press releases to print and online periodicals. Use these opportunities to mention your company's URL near the bottom of each news release. There are many online PR Websites, including PRWeb.com, PRWire.com and others you may use to promote something exciting happening within your company.

6. Promote your site in mailing lists and news groups. The Internet offers hundreds of targeted e-mail based discussion lists, chat rooms and news groups made up of people with very specialized interests. Spend at least one hour each week searching for groups where a conversation is taking place. Do not use aggressive marketing and overly plug your company, even if you see some people doing so. Instead, add to the discussion in a helpful way and let the signature at the end of your e-mail or post message do the marketing for you. People will gradually get to know and trust you, visit your Web site, and do business with you.

7. Ask visitors to bookmark your site. It seems so simple, but make sure you ask visitors to bookmark your Web site. Use a text link or graphic on the homepage of your Web site.

8. Place URL in any yellow book advertising you already do. I once knew of a company who was spending $90,000 in yellow page advertising, across numerous books in the area, and included front yellow book cover ads as well as full-page, full-color ads throughout the yellow pages. Not once did they mention their Web site, which has been on the Net for many years. The company surprisingly saw no value to it.

Whether placing full-page ads in your local yellow pages, or only paying for a bold listing in the white and business yellow pages of your local directory, consider leaving open one line for your company's Web site address. Because you are already paying for the directory advertising, this is one particular place you definitely do not want to overlook.

9. Write articles for use in newsletters and other Web sites. You can dramatically increase your Internet visibility when you write expert articles about your field and distribute them as free content for other article directories, e-mail newsletters and other related Web sites. At the bottom of each article written, request a link back to your Web site and a one-line description of what you offer. This is an effective viral marketing approach.

10. Devise other viral marketing techniques. Viral marketing uses the communication networks of your site visitors and current customers to spread the word about your Web site exponentially. Some examples include word-of-mouth, public relations, referrals, blogs, creating "buzz", and other forms of network marketing.

List of sites that accept podcast submissions.

List of sites that accept podcast submissions.

Podcasting Station - submit podcasts to the podcasting directory
Podcasting News - submit podcasts to the podcasting directory
DigitalPodcast - enter the category scroll to the bottom and click add url
Podcast Alley - submit podcast title, website, xml feed, and description.
Podcast Bunker- recommend a podcast, only high quality podcasts will be added.
Podcast411- add a podcast
AllPodcasts - index a podcast (an RSS 2.0 feed with an audio enclosure), enter the URL for the RSS feed into the field below and click "Index".
iPodderx - submit podcasts to ipodderx directory
audio.weblogs - ping audio web logs to update them
Podcast.net - List your podcast on podcast.net and watch your audience grow!
PodcastHost - add a podcast to PodcastHost
Podsites.com - post a "podsite"
Pocketcasting - submit a podcast
RSS Network - submit to podcast category
Podcast Pickle - submit to podcast category
Plazoo - submit to podcasts or vlogs
Singing Fish - submit music/video directory
Blog Universe - submit podcasts to directory
Digital Podcasts - add podcasts to the digital podcast directory
PodFeeder - podcast submission
PodFeed - podcast submission
Open Media Network - submit audio and videocasts
Podcast Charts - chart podcasts (requires membership)
iPassages - Christian podcast submissions
My Podcast Center - small podcast directory
PodBlaze - small podcast directory
Podcast Shownotes - post podcasts on blog
Loomia - post podcasts and rss feeds
GetAPodcast - post podcasts and rss feeds
Syndic8 Podcast - post podcasts and rss feeds
Podcast Shuffle - post podcasts
idiotvox - submit a podcast feed
Blinkx - submit a podcast feed
PodNova - submit a podcast
PodCasts Yahoo - submit a podcast (top right corner)
Blast Podcasts - submit podcasts
Pod Spider - submit podcasts
Pod Lounge - The Pod Lounge relies on user submissions to help build the database and we appreciate any additions you can provide
iTunes - submit your iTune podcasts
Amigo Fish - submit a feed/podcast
AudioFeeds - submit music podcasts only
Every Podcast - submit podcasts
Fluctu8 - submit podcasts
Get a Podcast - submit podcasts
HardPodCafe - submit podcasts
Podcast Shuffle - submit podcasts
Podcaster World - submit podcasts
Podcast Pup - submit podcasts
PodTower - submit podcasts
Vital Podcasts - submit podcasts
Religious Podcasts - submit religious podcasts (only accept religious casts)
Educational Podcasts - submit educational podcasts
Podcast Videos - submit videocasts
Feedshark - automate submissions to 10 podcast sites
YakkYakk - podcast submissions
Pluggd - podcast submissions
Canadian Podcasts - submit podcasts
VIDEOCASTS
Videocasting Station - submit videocasts and vodcasts
See Also - Robin Good's List and PodcastingNews

Submit Blogs and Blog RSS Feeds

Submit Blogs and Blog RSS Feeds

Blog Digger - submit your rss feed for your blog
ReadABlog - submit your blog
Blogarama - submit your blog
BlogStreet - blog submissions
Globe of Blogs - submit your rss feed for you blog
Kmax Blog Links - blog submission
BlogDex - submit your blog
Blog Universe - blog submission
BlogSearchEngine - submit rss feeds for web logs
BlogHop - submit feeds for blogs
BlogWise - rss feed submission for blogs
EatonWeb - submit feed for online blogs
PopDex - feed sumbission for web blogs
Blizg - submit rss feeds for web logs
Blo.gs - blog submissions
BlogCensus - submit your rss feed for your blog
BlogTree - blog submission
BlogStreet - rss feed submission for blog
BritBlog - blog submission
BlogLines - submit your blog to the directory
Bloogz - submit your blog
Australian Blog Directory - submit your blog
BoingBoing - submit blogs for review
RootBlog - enter the URL of a RSS feed you want to added to the database.
Weblog Directory - submit blog to directory
BlogoSphere EcoSystems - add your weblog
Blogz - add your blog
BlogWatcher - submit the url of your web log
BlogMatcher - submit your blog url
BlogPulse - automated trend discovery system for blogs
BlogCatalog - The Ultimate Blog Directory - Search For Blogs
Blogdir - spanish blog community
Blogs R Us - add feed
Blogs By City - add your blog!
FeedMap - submit a blog!
BlogSearch - submit blogs
PubSub - blog feed submission.
BlogSweet - blog feed submission.
BlogFlux - blog feed submission.
Blogtastic - blog feed submission.
Blog Introduction - submit blogs.
Finding Blog - blog submissions
Bulletize - blog submissions
BlogTopSites - blog submissions
Blog Fuse- blog submissions
Blogion- blog submissions
AddUrlBlog- add blogs
Blogbib- add blogs
BOTW Blog- add blogs
Blog Directory Submit- add blogs
BlogTopSites- add blogs (they will provide required code that must be inserted in your website, in order for blogtopsites to rank your blog)
Podcast Submissions
Podcasting Station - submit podcasts
Podcast Submission Directory - submit podcasts

Rss Feeds

RSS Feeds

RSS Network - submit RSS feeds & select category
RSS Locator - submit RSS feeds
Syndic8 - submit RSS feeds
DayPop - post your RSS feed or blog
Feedster - submit your RSS feed
Rocket News - post your RSS feed
Technorati - submit your RSS feed to be pinged
Userland - submit rss feeds
Postami - submit rss feeds
Finance Investing Feeds - Only submit finance or investment related feeds.
Security Protection Feeds - Submit only security or protection related feeds RSS feeds select appropriate category.
Realty Feeds - Submit only home related RSS feeds. Be sure to select the appropriate category.
Religious Podcasts - Submit only podcasts that relate to religion, sermon or spiritual beliefs.
2RSS - submit rss and assign category (on bottom)
NewsMob - submit rss news feeds
RocketInfo - submit your rss content and feed
Edu RSS - harvests only feeds dealing with educational technology and related issues. All feeds are reviewed before being added to the list.
Sourceforge.net- submit News using XML
Complete RSS - enter the url(s) of the feeds you wish to add to the directory.
Feeds.com.br - add rss feeds
MoreOver - Moreover connects to thousands of online sources handpicked for excellence and trustworthiness. In order to maintain the quality of the directory all submission are evaluated prior to inclusion.
GeneCast - RSS news feed submissions
Memigo - submit a news link to memigo
PubSub - PubSub reads more than 2 million syndicated feeds, matches messages to subscriptions and delivers messages to subscribers in real time.
BulkFeeds - submit an rss feed
Ping-O-Matic - rss feed submissions (pings site)
Yenra - submit RSS news feed
easyRSS - gives you a direct access to the content you are interested in.
NewsXS - submit rss feeds
FeedFarm - all submitted feeds are reviewed
FastBuzz - submit feeds
RSSFeeds - submit rss feeds
Search4RSS - submit RSS feeds
DeskFeeds - rss feed and blog submissions
Terrar - rss feed submissions
The Feed Spot - submit feeds
StepNewz - submit rss news feeds
RSS Verzeichnis - German feed submissions
4Guys from Rolla - submit feeds
DevASP - add feed listing
FuzzySoftware - submit XML listings
ASP Index - submit RSS feeds
SourceForge - submit news feeds
Feed Directory - submit RSS feeds in the feed directory.
FeedBeagle - submit feeds (scroll down)
FeedPlex - submit feeds
Feeds4All - submit RSS feeds
NewsFeedFinder - submit RSS feeds
Plazoo - submit RSS feeds
Newzfire - submit RSS feeds
Feed24 - RSS feed submissions
Shas3 - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
RSS Feeds Directory - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
FeedCat - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
FeedMiner - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
RSS Clipping - add RSS urls
Read A Feed - add RSS urls
Loomia - add RSS feeds
Feeds2Read - add your RSS feeds
Feedzie - add your RSS feeds
RSS Portal - add your RSS feeds
RSS Feed 4U - add your RSS feeds
StepNewz - suggest RSS feeds
StepNewz - suggest RSS feeds
Thomas Korte - automated feed submissions
JordoMedia - suggest RSS feeds
RSS Mad - add an RSS feed (on bottom right side)
FeedBomb - Navigate category and suggest a feed.
nFeeds - Submit RSS feeds only. Auto Feeds - Submit automotive feeds only.
News Goblin - Submit automotive feeds only.
Wordum - Submit automotive feeds only
FeedSee - Submit feeds using keyword searches.
Ez2News - Submit RSS feeds
Videocast Feeds
Videocasting Station - Submit RSS feeds
Regional Feeds
RSS Feeds.be - Beligian RSS feeds. (no obvious way to submit feeds)
RSS Nachrichten.de - German RSS feed directory.RSS feeds Israel - Israeli RSS feeds
Spanish Feeds - Spanish RSS feeds
Japanese Feeds - Japanese RSS feeds
Submission Tools
FeedPark - submit RSS feeds automated submission helper
FeedShot - fee based feed submission
Feed Validator
RSS Feed Validator - validate your feed to ensure your code is correct