Website Promotion
Launching your own website is a proud and significant moment. After all, you are committing to something that will be around in some form or another for ever!
Yet, while this event is of enormous significance to you there are literally thousands of websites going on-line every day. That is in addition to the millions that are there already! So no-one is going to find your website unless you tell them about it. Yes, search engines are nice, and you should be there (see below). But if someone searches for you by name, then they probably already have your phone number so they are not a new client. You need to be found by people looking for services in your sector - not such an easily accomplished task!
Before getting too involved there are a number of simple things you can do to promote your website that should cost you next to nothing . . .
1 | Ensure that your site is registered with all the major search engines (Yahoo, Altavista, HotBot, Excite, Infoseek, Webcrawler, Northern Light, Lycos). If your business is in South Africa, it should be listed in the South African indexes too (ZaZoo, Whoswho, Ananzi, ZAWORM). Test your visibility in the search engines in our Search Test Page, a free service from WildNet Africa.
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2 | If you are an exhibitor at the annual Satour Indaba travel trade show in Durban, ensure that you have a free link in the WildNet Africa Indaba Meeting Planner.
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3 | Announce your site via the WildNet Africa "Where in the WWWorld are you" submission form. Subscribers to this mailing list include internet site publishers, travel agents and journalists who wish to remain abreast of current developments on the internet. Members of the public are also able to make use of this service.
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4 | Ensure that your website address is:
- on all your stationery (letterheads, comp slips, business cards, invoices);
- in all your advertisements and on all promotional and documentary videos and films;
- on all your posters, signage, stickers and vehicles;
- in all sorts of imaginative places - coasters, postcards, clothes, curios, answering machine messages, call holding, etc., and
- mentioned in all radio interviews and advertisements.
All this will take a while, but until you start.... |
5 | Include an announcement regarding your new or upgraded website in your next circular to your clients. You may even choose to offer a prize to the first client that finds a hidden object or link on your site, or run a competition for a few weeks. |
6 | Start collecting e-mail addresses from your clients so you can notify them of changes and upgrades to your website, and of any new services you may offer. Your guestbook (and one on your website) can really work for you! |
7 | Get down to understanding the statistics on your website as soon as possible. This will stand you in good stead when you start with more serious marketing. |
8 | If you are in the travel business, offer a special on the Wildnet Africa Travels Specials Page - this is sure to get you visits, both to your facility and to your website.
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9 | Ensure that your local tourism or trade association has a website and that you have a link on it. (WildNet designs websites for associations, so if they don't have one tell them to get on with it!) |
10 | If you got your website through WildNet Africa, distribute your 200 free postcards with your domain to your clients and key associates. This is a good head start, and is yet another way that WildNet Africa helps its clients to get ahead on the internet. |
So far, for next to nothing you have improved your internet profile enormously!
The next step is to investigate the many ways that there are to advertise your website to increase business.
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SEARCH TEST