Website marketing is the key to kick-starting your new business. It’s how you promote the site and get people to visit it. It’s how you sell yourself to people so that people trust what you have to offer. And, it’s how you define what your website is all about.
Understanding Website Marketing
Website marketing is all about the strategies that you use to drive people (aka traffic) to your website. It doesn’t matter if you have a blog or an online business, getting people to visit your website is the key to it’s success. There are lots of ways to market your business. For a small business or new website, let’s look at a few options to jumpstart your business.
Using Keywords to Promote Your Site
As discussed in our search engine optimization article, keywords are part of the marketing strategy attracting people. It’s how Google finds your site and understands what it’s all about. By having clear and specific keywords for your website, Google will know when to list your site in it’s search results. So if you have a local business, be sure to include the city and state name as part of your keyword strategy. That way when people Google “Austin pet groomers” your website will be shown. But the key to a good keyword strategy is to have a diverse set of keywords that you use. They are all related, but slightly different so that you can reach a broader market. For the Austin pet groomer, you could also include keywords for pet grooming supplies, small dog grooming, etc. When you think about keywords to use for your site, think like your customer. What phrase would they Google? Use those words in the images, videos and content that you have on your site.
How Great Content is the Backbone of a Site
Keywords may be part of the strategy for driving people to your website, but if you don’t have good content no one is going to stay. And, they certainly won’t come back. But if you offer valuable content that helps the reader, then they will browse your site, bookmark and return. Content can come in a variety of shapes. It can be a great picture that shows-off something you sell. Or, it can be a picture that shows someone how to do something. Take that one step further and provide a how-to video on your subject. Let people know that you are an expert on the subject and they will come back to your site the next time they have a question, or the next time they are looking to buy.
Backlinks Drive Traffic
Now that you have keywords that define your site and great content for people to enjoy, you need to get out there and help people find your site. I’ve mentioned that Google will eventually start to rank your site for your target keywords. That means that when someone types your keyword into the Google search bar your site will be listed as one of the options. The #1 goal is to get on the first page of the results since most people will not scroll through to the other pages. To increase the odds of people finding your site and for Google to give it a higher ranking, you need to use backlinks. Backlinks are an essential part of any website marketing strategy. Start promoting your website on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Each time you post a link to your website, this is referred to as a backlink. The more backlinks you can create, the more traffic you will get to your website.
Putting Your Website Marketing Plan to Work
Now that you know the three key steps for marketing your business, you can get out there and start promoting your website. And keep in mind, that growing your online business takes time. Keep adding new content and backlinks on a regular basis and you’ll see a steady increase in traffic to your website.