Content, SEO and Site Promotion
content for your website
You need content for your website. Most people researching on the internet are looking for 'something'. They might be looking for information on how to do something, where to buy something, or product comparison, whatever.
Even if you have a product to sell, they still want or need information about your products in order to make a decision to purchase or not. That's why the internet is often referred to as "the information highway'. The free e-book Affiliate Master explains content and SEO in an easy to read and understand format, taking you step by step. It explains how to work choose your keywords and how to work them into your content.
You can learn to write content yourself, or you can hire someone to do it for you. But who better to write about your topic of interest or your products than you? I'm assuming of course you have a website that's about something that you are personally interested in.
Writer's Online Workshops - These are professional courses and there is a fee involved. But if you are considering writing as a career, or are very serious about your website content, then you should check them out.
RSS and DATA FEEDS - What is RSS? It's a way to syndicate content on your site. It is usually thought of as news type feeds, but there is other content out there available through RSS as well. Read the information carefully, because how you implement it can affect your search engine ranking.
What are DATA FEEDS? - Data Feeds are databases of information that you can use on your site, such as in an affiliate program. This link goes to WebMerge's page, where they have a simple answer to that question. You can download a free trial to mess around with, and if you feel it's something you want on your site you can purchase it.
It seems like everywhere you go regarding Data Feeds, you'll see WebMerge mentioned. I have the trial version, but haven't had a chance to use it. It looks to be pretty straight forward.
Data Feed Forum - On this forum they discuss how to use a Data Feed and also discuss the different feeds that are available. Read it thoroughly before you start asking them questions. This is a great starting point for newbies.
seo - search engine optimization
Not only do your site visitors want content, the search engine spiders want it too.
If you want to get traffic to your website, you need a decent ranking in the search engines, and to get a decent ranking in the search engines, you need to have decent content and have your pages optimized for the search engines.
It's not that complicated and there are a few simple steps to follow. Here are a few sites to get you on your way.
The best explanation and step by step guide are in this free e-book. It's about building an affiliate based website, but the section on search engine optimization and keywords applies to any kind of website and makes it so easy to understand, you'll be on your way in no time. Why waste time researching? Read this book and get on with it!
SEO - A much more involved version but full of good info.
submitting your site to the search engines
I'll mention Traffic Blazer again ( see left column ), because it will do your search engine submissions for you after it's helped you optimize your webpages.
Smart Webby has a great section on website submission, which includes some tips a tricks for the various engines.
W3Schools has a helpful page for getting your site listed in the search engines.
other ways to promote your site
Newsletter or E-zine - Offer a free newsletter or e-zine to your site visitors. This gives you the opportunity to stay in touch, and gives people another reason to come back and tell their friends about your newsletter.
If you do plan to or already send out newsletters, run them through the spamchecker before sending. It'll give you a score based on how spammy your newsletter is.
Google AdWords - Pay Per Click advertising. You write a little ad, that only shows up on Google's results page when someone is searching for the keyword you select. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Check it out.
You can also exchange links or banners with other sites, so your website name gets shown to even more people. Read about Value Exchange at the bottom of the reference page. It's a free site where you can sign up to be matched to other sites that have content that would relate to yours.
Having proper content and SEO will go a long way in promoting your site online, but what about offline? Especially if you also have a brick and mortar store. You should have your website address printed on everything you can get your hands on including any local advertising you do.
Maybe you could get a little blurb in the paper about "the local guy on the internet", or if you belong to any clubs, hand out flyers. Be creative.