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How can I promote my Web site online?
As well as promoting your Web site via the more
traditional methods described above, you may also consider advertising your site via the Internet, or via online methods, as follows:
Usenet groups -
There are now well over 60,000 Usenet groups (or simply 'newsgroups') available on the Internet. These groups cover just about every subject imaginable, such as sport, computing, books, multimedia, Web marketing, etc., and are arranged hierarchically, with groups becoming more and more specific at the bottom of the structure.
Each group can be viewed as a large electronic blackboard that allows people to post articles on to the board and read articles already posted. The articles
can be about a completely new subject or can be follow-ups to previous threads or themes, and they usually have a short lifespan before they are automatically deleted
(usually just a few days). The articles can also include attachments such as pictures, video clips, audio files, text documents, etc.
Specific groups can be
used to carry articles and postings describing your company, the services you offer, the goods you provide and products you support. There are many stories of
companies (including SMEs) who have identified target news groups, and have then successfully advertised their company within that newsgroup.
For example, a
sport and leisure company may use the newsgroup "rec.sports.skiing" to advertise their winter sportswear, or "rec.sports.football" to promote their
range of football accessories. Newsgroup sizes can vary from only a few subscribers up to many, many thousands of individuals located all over the globe. In other
words, you have a potential worldwide market.
Using the newsgroups in this way ensures that you have a captive audience, with specific interests, who are more
than willing to share views, experiences, opinions and comment on interesting Web sites (i.e., yours!) that cater for their specific needs and requirements.
However, a word of warning: each newsgroup usually has its own FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) that you should obtain and read before even deciding to post to that
newsgroup. Specifically, most newsgroups do not allow blatant advertisements to be posted, and will frown upon anyone who does, even to the point of publicly vilifying
the company or individual violating these rules. You need to check what type of postings are allowed in the newsgroups you intend to target as you may end up shooting
yourself in the virtual advertising foot.
Reciprocal links - Reciprocal links are when two (or more) sites include hyperlinks to each other's Web sites,
much like a symbiotic relationship. The idea is that you increase your own profile by being listed on the other Web site(s), which presumably have reasonable traffic
numbers. Likewise, the other companies should obtain higher profile through their own listing on your Web site.
Perhaps the most common form of reciprocal
relationship is between a company and its associated trade body (presuming there actually is a trade body for the relevant industry, the company is a member of that
trade body, and each has a Web site!). In this situation the company may well wish to advertise the fact that it is a bona fide member of its industry's official trade
body, and so will include a hyperlink to the trade body's Web site. Similarly, the trade body Web site would also carry a reciprocal link back into that company's Web
site to confirm its membership.
Note that some search engines may take into account how many other sites link into your own when assigning your ranking, the
idea being that the more sites that point to your own, the more important your site must be and therefore the more relevant it will be to specific user queries. Hence,
it's a good idea to nurture and develop your reciprocal link network.
E-mail signatures - These are a few simple lines of text that are automatically
appended to the bottom of all e-mails sent from within your organisation. There are 'protocol' rules for using signature files, such as not exceeding more than four
lines of informational text. Any more than this is considered bad practice because it merely adds unnecessary content to the body of the e-mail.
Normal items to
include are your name, address, URL, telephone number and fax number. You may decide to list your e-mail address explicitly, but the recipient should know this if
you've already sent them an e-mail! A sample e-mail signature might be:
Regards,
Joe
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Joe McBloggs, Senior Executive, E-Business Team
Scothosts Limited, 304 High Street, Kirkcaldy KY1 1LB
Tel: +44-01592 599772 Fax: +44-01592 592751
www.scothosts.com
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This not only includes basic contact details, but also adds a closing compliments section.
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