Many businesses have taken the first step in marketing their business by building a website. Unfortunately, they assume that simply having a website automatically turns the site into an effective marketing tool. What often results is having a website that is nothing more than an online brochure and a store in the middle of the desert with no visitors.
You can enlist an expert in search engine optimization (SEO) to help you get traffic to your site; however, if you don’t have a budget you can do some of the work yourself. First, make a list of what you think your prospects are likely to key into the search engines to find you. Start with broad phrases such as “appliance store” but also list more specific phrases because there may be too many sites competing for attention with broad phrases. One more specific phrase you could use is the name of your town combined with the phrase “appliance store.” Research how many people search for your keywords using the Google AdWords Tool and pick only those keywords with at least a thousand visitors a month.
Use the keywords you selected to drive traffic to your site. One option is to launch a campaign using Google AdWords. Google AdWords provides you with a way to have an advertisement appear on the front page of Google when your term is keyed into the search engine. The cost of advertising will depend on the demand for the keyword you selected.
A second way to promote your site is to regularly publish articles on a blog attached to your site. Each article should be based on a specific keyword. Articles can also be published on article sites such as Ezine Articles or on other sites interested in publishing content from third parties.
Another traffic building method is to set up social media accounts for your business. The top three social media properties are Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Traffic alone isn’t enough to successfully market your business. When a visitor reaches your site, you must immediately captivate the visitor’s attention. If you can’t do that in five seconds or less, the visitor is likely to click the back button on his browser never to return again. One component of attracting a prospect is to create a compelling headline at the top of your home page. For example, if your business repairs basement leaks your headline might read “Stop Basement Flooding Now and Protect the Health of Your Family.”
Jason Todd