As we continue to examine the top 10 questions each business owner needs to consider when taking their site to the next level, we look at question 2: How do I expect people to find my site?
The Kevin Costner approach in Field of Dreams does not work. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve spoken with people who honestly believe “If I build it, they will come.” But it just isnt’ so. If you want to get people to come to visit your site, you have to have a plan to market that site.
Here’s a quick list of ways you can plan for traffic to your site:
- Make sure every piece of paper and email you generate lists your web address
- Run a Pay Per Click campaign in one or more of the search engines
- Provide an incentive for current or past clients to come and visit – include that in your newsletter
- Get others to link to your site (this can be as easy as picking up the phone and making a call or as easy as offering the right partner a small amount to link to you)
- Ensure that your site is optimized for search engines like Google, Yahoo and Live
- Get involved in social bookmarking and bookmark relevant pages in your site
- Highlight your site in any print advertising you do
- Create a blog on your site and post to it regularly so that people have a reason to come back
These ideas are just intended to help you get the creative juices flowing. The important thing is that you have a plan for your site and then you go about implementing that plan.