You have a shiny new website. You’ve staked out your little corner of the Internet. You’ve built it, and now they will come, right? Not so fast. If you don’t promote yourself, your website will probably be a pretty lonely place. Here are five things you can do to help spread the word about your new venture and make sure you get found by the search engines!
Publish blogs on your WordPress Website
You should be always be writing new articles to keep your website fresh. If you have a WordPress site, blog posts are super easy to write, and will cost you nothing but some time. You can even write a bunch in advance and then WordPress will roll them out over time. Your posts should be at least 300 words, and sprinked with keywords you want to focus on. There are many writing tools out there that will help you with this. The title should contain your key focus word and say what the article is about. Make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. Keep your sentences short and use easy to understand words. There are almost two million blog posts published every day with WordPress. How many does your website have?
Market Your Website on Social Media
This is a thing that won’t cost you a dime, but it will take a little time each day. Facebook and Twitter may seem like nonsense to some people, but networking and making hashtagged and keyworded posts can get you traffic to your website. Instagram is becoming hugely popular with younger people. There are free tools out there, like Adobe Spark, that can make awesome images with text elements for no cost at all. Each blog post you make on your website should be shared onto all of your social media links.
Tune Your Content
Search engines do not reward you so much for quantity as they do for quality. Tell people about not only your business, but the industry you’re in. Think about creating content that people will share. Talk about the reasons people would use products or services that you offer. Be an autority on the subject. Top ten lists are great pieces. Track your visits and watch which postings are the most popular. You’ll know when you’ve found a successful formula. When potential clients see the wealth of information you’ve written about your industry, they’ll have more confidence in your abilities.
Swap Links
Get people you know to throw you a link to your website, in exchange for doing the same for them. The more links on the web that point back to your website, the better. Google will assign it a higher value if it considers it a more popular site. Write a blog post about a complimentary business on your website and ask them to do the same. You will not be found in your little corner of the web sitting off all by yourself. You simply must network, and it is a two way street.
Use “Google My Business”
Google is the king of search engines for now. If you have a registered business with them, they’ll show a link to your website to people who are searching for you. It also gives users a place to leave you reviews. Photos can be added. A map to your physical address and phone number are posted here. The value of this free service is too good to pass up.
So, get out there and start promoting yourself! A great website won’t do you any good if people don’t know it exists!