Site Promotion | Power Tips For Getting Your Site Noticed
Submitting your site to search engines and adding the correct keywords and other meta data are just the beginning. If you’ve already checked out our article on how to get your site into search engines, you’re probably ready for the next step in getting your site noticed!
In this article we will discuss:
- What Search Engines Look For
- Keeping Your Site Fresh
- Monitoring Your Traffic
- More Tips For Promoting Your Site
IMPORTANT: These are just recommendations and you are not obligated to use any of the advice provided here. Do what works best for you and your site!
What Search Engines Look For
Websites are not automatically listed in search engines and there are several methods to having your site show up in relevant searches. Getting your site listed also does not guarantee that it will show up on the first page of results!Google, for example, uses a very sophisticated algorithm to index websites and typically favors sites that are regularly updated and have lots of referrals via incoming links. Webmasters have already promoted their sites to gain incoming links from other sites, and this is what Google will recognize.
NOTE: Google is a tool for indexing, not for promotion. Promoting your site begins with you!Here are some general things you want to keep in mind when building your website:
Compose your pages for visitors, not for search engines.
When building your site and composing your content, you want to make sure your site is relevant, helpful, and user-friendly for your visitors. A well-written, well-designed site will gain visibility a lot quicker than sites that are overloaded with keywords that don’t help visitors.Proofread your site!
Spelling and grammar errors are easy to overlook when publishing content online, but if you’re a business owner it's crucial to catch these errors as quickly as you can. Sites with excellent spelling and grammar are taken seriously and have the potential to increase visits and sales. Have a friend or colleague look over your site to spot any errors you may have missed!Be original.
Being the expert on a certain topic has the potential to drive a lot of traffic to your site. Look up your site’s topic in a search engine to see what your competitors are doing and do it differently. Visitors love a site that speaks to them, so it’s a good idea to avoid doing the same thing as other webmasters.More tips and advice can be found in Google’s Webmaster Center:
Keep Your Site Fresh
The best way to increase traffic and page ranking is by constantly updating your site. This is a lot of work, but it’s worth it! The more pages your site has, the more likely your site will appear in search results!
The easiest way to keep your site updated without redesigning or re-writing it is to have a blog. With a blog, you can provide your visitors with updates on your products or other topics they may find useful. It’s always a good idea to talk to your visitors directly so they have something to look forward to. Keeping your site regularly updated will encourage people visit your site on a regular basis.
For more on adding blogs to your site, check out this helpful article elsewhere in our Knowledge Base:
- "Blog | Journals, News and Updates"
Monitor Your Traffic
The best way to tell how your site is performing with visitors and search engines is to monitor your traffic.
Use a comprehensive stat counter.
A standard stat counter will only list the number of visits to your site, so you may want to use a more detailed counter to learn where your traffic is coming from and why.
You can also use a tool like Google Analytics to gather additional information.
Gathering statistics on your traffic helps understand things like:
- What searches led visitors to your site.
- What content or pages are most popular with your visitors.
- What other sites are referring to you.
You can also create reports and graphs for a deeper understanding of your visits.
NOTE: No stat counter is 100% accurate. You may want to use two to get a better idea of your site’s performance.
Set traffic goals.
Once you have a clear understanding of how your site is trending with visitors, begin to set goals for yourself to increase your traffic each month. Setting goals motivates you to keep promoting your site as well as keeping it updated!Link internally.
Internal links are when you link to other pages throughout your website. Referring to previously published content will keep visitors on your site and increase pageviews!Google Analytics
google.com/analytics
More Tips For Promoting Your Site
Social networking
Sites like Twitter and Facebook are probably the most popular ways to promote content on your site. Use a tool like NetworkedBlogs or Hootsuite to integrate your blog updates into your social networking profile.NetworkedBlogs can be activated from the Settings page of your Blog app.
Hootsuite
hootsuite.com
Contributing to other websites
Working with other websites is a great way to bring visitors over to your own site. If you know another webmaster that is running a site similar to yours, consider collaborating and sending traffic to each other!Using email signatures
It’s always a good idea to place the name and site URL in your email signature. You only have to do it once, but every time you send an email, you’ll be promoting your awesome site!Talk talk talk about your site all the time!
If your friends and family know you’re serious about your new site, they’ll be more likely to visit it themselves as well as invite others to visit. There’s nothing wrong with good, old-fashioned word of mouth!Have more ideas on how to drive traffic to your site and increase page rank? Discuss it in our community:
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