Marketing your website

Being part of the world wide web means that people are able to locate you by using their computer, but additionally, recommend to others an easy and modern way to contact you. Telephone numbers are not so simple to remember, a website name is more memorable and more likely to be suggested when socialising and recommendations are of number one importance to any business!
So once you have a web page or web site you do need to market and advertise it to let others know you are there. For business purposes your ‘web address’, also known as your ‘domain’, should be added to your contact cards, your advertising, letter headings, receipts and any other paperwork. Let people know your new site name. It is important to keep your site up to date, sites that are not updated are dropped by search engines.

Advertising with Google

The next most important way that people will find you and your services/products is by internet searching. Google is way ahead of any rival search sites and has more users than other search engines. Finding your way to the top of their recommended pages for free will not be easy or instant. Paying for Google advertising is something to consider since it is low cost and works on a ‘per click’ basis, so possibly just a few pence each time someone finds your link and clicks on it to read more. You set the searches you want to appear in, you set the amount you are willing to pay, and if nobody searches for your type of business or no-one wants to discover more from your listing then you don’t pay anything!
Remember, Waltonwebs offers low priced Google Ad management if you feel this is simply too complex or time consuming. Ask and discuss for free!

Promoting your site for free

There are a few tips we can provide to help improve your web presence without paying for advertising. The results should create more visitors to your site as well as hopefully a higher position in the free searches too.
Firstly, understand that if you have no links to other websites on your web page then search engines (like Google) see your page as an internet ‘dead end’. Linking to other web sites is an important way to make search companies see your page as useful and fully integrated with the internet. Exchanging links with others is beneficial to both of you. Certainly, linking with sites that cover a similar area to you will be a good move, as well as even linking with rivals who offer similar content too although, understandably, this doesn’t suit many business practices. The problem is that if you just add other site links and they don’t add you in return, then you aren’t going to be better off, so no point in just adding dozens of places just for the fun of it. Many web site owners now realise the benefit of exchanging links and will often be pleased to link back to you if you link to them. However, you do need to be careful not to exchange with professional ‘linkfarms’ or some dedicated linking sites, because this can mean your site is penalised by Google for trying to cheat the system.
Linking with local sites, and with other places containing similar content to yours is something very worthwhile, so maybe speak with business contacts and see if they already have a site on the web. If they don’t, you can at least let them know about Waltonwebs cheap solutions!

Link exchange is a common and popular thing to do, because it also provides a legitimate way for people to browse and stumble onto other pages (and offered services) without even using search sites like Google. Sites not only become more interesting, but as an example, someone may come to this website looking for web design and notice the link here for Beauty Therapy, or Digital repairs, or perhaps even notice a useful site for Alicante Spain airport taxi transfers whilst browsing some examples ….oh look just what I need to arrange for my Benidorm holiday. Many people find their local services by viewing useful links on other Walton-on-the-Naze or Clacton-on-sea information pages, so you can see why this is one of the most important tips we can offer, and also the reason search engines very much like rating pages higher if they provide a door to more places on the net!

More tips

Wording on your page is important. Offering web design services here, it would be no use our homepage talking about our history and what Christmas specials are due. You must use the words that people will be searching for, like web design, cheap price, low cost, web pages, etc, whatever is relevant to the people that are looking for the services/products you provide. Finding a balance is a little difficult, since you need many words but also too much wording can make visitors not read the content or take notice of what you are offering.

One page versus several pages is a debate that will likely never be resolved.
A large site with many pages may be rated highly, but a single very long page with all your information on will be the one that is indexed the highest in searches, and the one mostly found by your potential customers. Web designers will always argue over this, but maybe that’s because they charge on a ‘per page’ basis, or at least show their value for charging more for large multiple page websites. If you are on a lower budget and don’t have enough information to create a large site, then 1 or 2 long pages will usually be better than maybe 4, 5 or 6 pages splitting the content, in our honest opinion.

‘Meta tags’ are a way to add words relevant to your site. These are lines in the webpage that search ‘bots’ read and take some notice of, but they aren’t readable by public viewing. These tags will have been added by us if we designed the page, but providing us with your most important ‘keywords’ will ensure that these tags are suited.

Adding your site URL manually to the search engines can be done to help remind them you exist. However, this isn’t as productive as was the case a few years ago. Every so often when page changes are made, or maybe once a month or so, you can add your URL, which is the full domain name- http://~your~details
http://www.google.co.uk/addurl/
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add -
http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/submit.aspx

You can also add free entry listings for your business with the following links:
Hotfrog, an online UK business directory list - http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/
Google local maps - www.google.co.uk/local/add  This is an important site that we strongly recommend registering with.

Yellow pages online - http://www.yelldirect.com/ although they do not show website details, only telephone & address. Another free basic index, although they charge to show website links http://www.freeindex.co.uk/East_Anglia/Essex/Clacton-On-Sea/
Nevertheless, if you take phone calls you can at least direct people to look at your website for information!
If you don't have the time, we offer a service to add your site to these places and many other directories, please ask for details.

Other ways to promote your site may be with social sites like dedicated forums or Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and other blog sites. With site promoting yourself you will soon be part of the world wide web, with your business expanding into the future.
Good luck!

Email: info@waltonwebs.co.uk