Having a business website is essential to grow your popularity and establish a solid online reputation. A website can also be used to make money or present your portfolio if you’re a professional looking for new clients. Reaching the right audience, however, necessitates a bit more of an effort than just putting the website together.
Website marketing is essential, especially if your platform has been launched recently. So, what does it take to reach the right crowd and consistently grow your audience? Here are some of the best promotional strategies you can employ to popularize your website among the right people.
Search Engine Optimization
This one is non-negotiable. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an absolute essential for all businesses that want to build a sensible online presence. Through a series of techniques, SEO makes it possible for your pages to appear among the top search engine results for keywords of relevance.
Here’s a number that will reveal the importance of SEO – the website that achieves a top position for the respective keyword will benefit from a click through rate (CTR) of 30 percent. The CTR for the third positioned website is 10 percent and the websites appearing towards the bottom of the first Google results page will receive only two percent of the clicks. Some of the best optimized websites out there get 60, 70 and even a higher percent of their traffic from Google referrals.
Quality content, a solid design and a mobile-optimized website are essential for achieving good search engine positioning. If you don’t know how to do SEO on your own, you may want to consider hiring a professional. You’ll benefit from a very high return on investment.
Do Urban Marketing
Taking your marketing efforts to the offline realm may not seem logical but the results can be great. Do some guerilla marketing in the local community.
A fun message stamped on the sidewalk and also featuring your URL can easily contribute to traffic growth. The same applies to posters and leaflets. To benefit from such traditional promo media, however, you need to choose a simple and memorable domain. People will visit your website only if the URL is simple enough to commit to memory and produce upon necessity.
Participate in Events and Seminars
Fairs, industry events, and workshops can also be a powerful tool for maximizing the popularity of your brand and getting a sufficiently high number of people to visit your website. It’s important to attend relevant industry events that will help you generate targeted traffic and a large number of conversions.
When preparing for such events, make sure you have informative and well-designed business cards. Obviously, these should feature your URL, allowing people to check out your website later on.
Some other marketing materials you may want to prepare include branded gifts like pens that feature your URL, leaflets, posters or displays, signs, banners and branded t-shirts. Preparing for event participation will necessitate some investment, but if you’ve just launched your website, you will need to generate some buzz.
Use Social Media Other Than Facebook
Social media marketing is the mother of all digital campaigns. Many businesses, however, limit themselves to just Facebook.
Another mistake they commit is utilizing multiple platforms, but only featuring one and the same message in all. The message, however, has to be tailored to the occasion and the communication method. It’s much like in the case when you want to date someone; you need to write a good first message, especially when you meet online.
There are many other channels to explore in an attempt to promote your website. While Facebook is a good start, you should also explore alternatives. YouTube, Twitter and Instagram are the obvious ones. Still, the world of social media is much more diversified and exciting.
Other platforms to consider adding to the promo mix include Periscope, Tumblr, Reddit, Viber (yes, you can set your own public channel that you can use to share interesting information), Snapchat and Medium!
Launch Contests
Offering people something fun or free of charge is a great way to popularize your website.
Launching a contest is as simple as asking people to share a link to your website on their Facebook profile. Needless to say, you can be much more creative than that if you have the budget to develop a fun web-based game.
The aim here is to use the audience you already have to reach other people. Take some time to think of a concept that’s simple enough and that doesn’t demand too much from the audience. People wouldn’t bother if you come up with complex rules, even if the reward is a fun one.
Consider launching a couple of contests over the course of several months. Such periodic campaigns are an ideal choice for a brand new website or whenever you add a new section/content.
Get Influencers to Write for You
Getting established names in the industry to create content for your website is a powerful, strategic approach for popularizing your website.
This strategy works because influencers already have their well-established audience. These people will follow the influencer, regardless of the platform chosen for communication. Thus, someone who has an audience can quickly transfer people to your website.
You may want to work on networking even before you launch your website. Social media like LinkedIn provide great possibilities. You can easily identify the biggest names in the respective realm and get in touch with these people. Nourishing such relationships will help you identify marketing opportunities for the quick and sustainable growth of your website.
Final Thoughts
Finally, don’t forget to work on quality content and a regular upload schedule. If you only add new content when you feel like it, you’ll ruin SEO efforts and you’ll also lose the audience you’ve already established.
People are constantly looking for something new and intriguing. If you fail offering such content on a regular basis, they’ll look for it on another website. Take your time, be strategic and be creative. Learn more about your audience and test out different marketing approaches. With time, you will polish your promotional strategy to get the results you’re hoping for.
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