Why Should I Market my Website

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By Nora McDougall-Collins
NNFP Director of Web Services

Your website is finally finished and online! You put a lot of work into developing a site that people will enjoy. Now, you can go back to your regular schedule and fill all the requests and orders that will come from your website. Maybe not. There is a missing link here: viewers - the right viewers. People are the ones who learn about your product and place the orders. If people don't find your website (and like your website) there won't be any orders. That's why you should market your website. What is Website Marketing?

Web marketing is getting the word out - on the web. People will find your website through search engines, links from other websites, other media you use and word of mouth. The harder it is for viewers to get to your site, the less they will get there! A well-positioned link in a search engine is easy to use. Your web address in a magazine article or ad is not so easy to use because people have to retype the information into their browser. So, you can expect to receive more visitors from a good search engine position than from print. Those print ads are still valuable - just not as valuable.

Just having links on other sites isn't good enough, the links have to be positioned where people see them and on sites people trust. The one key place you can be sure people visit is Google - and other search engines.

"The number of searches it handles has grown astronomically. In 1998, Google reported that it handled 10,000 searches a day. That number leaped to 500,000 a day in 1999. Google doesn't share those numbers widely now, but research group comScore estimates that Google hosted 235 million searches a day in July of this year."
http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/04/google-tenth-anniversary-tech-enterprise-cx_wt_0905google.html

Besides the search engines, your site needs to be part of the online community of links. What do you think of a business that is not worth any mention in your community? No one knows about it. It gets no attention - and therefore no business. Your website needs to be part of the online community, just like a business needs to be part of a community.

Time
Web marketing will take time - over time. It is normal for the new website owner to eagerly anticipate orders from their website within a few days. However, there are very few instant stars, either in show business - or on the web. As you market your website, you will see incremental results over time: increased traffic, increased emails and phone calls, and increased orders or donations. The length of time between launching the site and receiving orders will depend on 1) your web marketing efforts, 2) your market, 3) the economy, 4) the quality of your web design, 5) your competition, and 6) many other factors. These factors are discussed in other articles listed at the end of the article.

An example of a common pattern is a niche wood decorator/builder product website I recently did some updates on. The company had placed an ad in a very nice magazine to begin with; so, they had a jump on web traffic. After we got their site up and running, they actually received orders through their website within two weeks. That was phenomenal for such a niche product. However, they were disappointed because they didn't receive enough orders to cover the cost of building the site. That expectation is totally unreasonable. If they recoup their costs in six months, they will be doing very well indeed. Now, they are starting to understand that they also need to be sure that people can find their site.

Persistence
Web marketing is not something that you ever finish. As soon as you stop: the ranking you have achieved will go to other sites that are being maintained and marketed. The great thing about persistence is that you can start with a few things in the list below and work on them over time. Regular marketing is more valuable than occasional marketing binges.

An example of a common pattern is a gift product business that made a big change to make their site search engine friendly and then were disappointed because their site didn't maintain its position a year later.

Some Things You Can Do to Market your Website

1. Track your stats on Google and other search engines.
2. Make your site search engine friendly
3. Add to your website regularly
4. Get links to your site from other high-quality websites
5. Post your website on portals and other industry sites
6. Buy online advertising that links to your website

When Do I Start Making Money from my Web Site

. and I Want to Be at the Top of Google

Members of NNFP have access to a variety of services to help you get the most from your existing web site or to help you develop a site that meets your business or organization's goals. Cost sharing is available on the price of your services. Besides our scheduled times, your group can schedule a private webinar for your members. For more information, contact Nora McDougall-Collins at 740-856-1529 or nora@nnfp.org