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Quick_Web_Site_Start up_and_Promotion_Guide
| Quick Web Site Start-up and Promotion Guide
The biggest problem I've always had promoting my web site is
keeping myself focused. After all, what should I be doing?
Publishing my own e-zine, placing classified ads, looking for
link exchange partners, writing articles... My head is beginning
to spin just from trying to list all the promotion strategies
available today!
But when my friend who is just starting her Internet presence
asked me, "Milana, what should I do now?", it all became very
clear: don't spread yourself thin. Choose up to 2 ways to
promote your web site and do it for at least 1 month to see if
it's effective.
I wrote a brief plan for her to follow this month and I wanted
to share it with you. Please, note: this strategy is not
appropriate for everyone. It focuses on writing articles, so you
must be able to communicate your thoughts on paper. You must
also set aside approximately 3-4 hours a week (which is nothing
compared to how much time most online business owners spend) and
stick to the plan.
Do not try to implement any other strategies at this time. If
you get an idea, write down and try it later. If nothing else,
this plan will surely bring your site steady growing traffic.
Ready?
1. Create a simple 2-5 page web site. Use an easy-to-use web
page editor, such as free Netscape Composer available from
Netscape web site. Place your sales copy on the main page, and
use other pages for information about you, your other products
and whatever else you would like your visitors to see.
IMPORTANT: for this strategy, please, offer something free on
your web site via an autoresponder. Use GetResponse.com to be
able to automatically follow up with people who download your
free gift.
Since this promotion strategy will generate a good amount of
traffic to your site, you MUST capture your visitors' e-mails or
else you will waste all this traffic. Mention to them that you
will be sending occasional mailings and that they can always
leave your list.
2. Add TITLE and META tags to your web pages and submit them to
major Search Engines. Make sure these tags are short and mention
only what's relevant. Ask yourself, what word or phrase would I
type in the Search Engine if I was looking for my product?
Below is the list of "Submit Site" addresses for most of them:
http://home.lycos.com/addasite.html
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/addurl
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
http://www.excite.com/info/add_url_form
http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html
http://www.directhit.com/util/addurl.html
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
http://hotbot.lycos.com/addurl.asp
http://www.anzwers.com.au/cgi-bin/print_addurl.pl
3. Locate up to 20 e-zines that target the same audience that
you are. Make sure they accept articles. Create a text file and
record their e-mail address (where you will send your articles),
e-zine's title and publisher's name.
TIP: If you want to save even more time in the long run, enter
all this data into a mailing list program so all you would have
to do is click "Send" button and your articles will be sent to
everyone on the list.
Now your web site is set up and the promotion strategy is in
place. The rest of the plan will have to be implemented weekly
to be effective.
4. Write one quality and informative article a week of interest
to your target audience and do the following: - Add a resource
box to the article about you & your product - Add TITLE and META
tags to it and submit to Search Engines - Post your article on
your web site for content - Submit it to the e-zine list you
generated earlier - Submit it to article directories and lists
Here is the list of most popular article directories and lists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content
http://www.ezinearticles.com/add_url.html
http://www.AuthorConnection.com
http://www.internetclinic.org/contact/sub-article.htm
http://www.netterweb.com/articles/articlesubmit.htm
http://www.webpromote.com/suggest.asp
http://makingprofit.com/mp/articles/submit.shtml
http://www.mediapeak.com/internetmarketingarticleindex.htm
http://www.articlecentral.com/suggest.asp
http://www.certificate.net/wwio/auto
5. Locate up to 3 popular forums where your target audience
hangs out. Post replies to their questions up to 1 hour a week.
Leave your web site link (or specific article link) behind so
people know who you are and why they should listen to your
advice.
Follow this plan for at least 4 weeks. Make sure your articles
are of high quality and offer a solution to a problem that you
target customers might be facing. If you articles are published,
expect increase in traffic to your web site. And your freebie
should take care of capturing your visitors e-mails.
Your follow-up messages should introduce your products or
services. As always, make sure your subscribers can leave your
list at any time.
About the author:
Milana Nastetskaya is a full time web developer and the author
of two books: "Create Your First Business Web Site in 10 days",
"65 Instant Web Design Answers".
http://www.firstbusinesswebsite.com
http://www.instantwebanswers.com
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