How to Successfully Market your website

 2017-10-17

So, you have a wonderful website promoting you, your brand and your products/services, but no one’s visiting. Why not? The answer is very simple; you’re not marketing yourself effectively.

Your website is a window into your business, service center and customer relations department all rolled into one. But, in order to survive you need to be visible! Your clients and potential clients need to know where to go to find you.

Ultimately, you can have the best product in the world but if you don’t advertise, no one will know about it.

Top tips for website marketing include:

1. Website SEO

Here at Pioneering Programmers, we will be focusing on SEO next month and will dedicate our newsletter and monthly blogs to help you gain a better understanding of how to run a successful campaign, but until then, all you need to know is that SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) is the technique to ensure that your website appears high up in the ranks of web browsers. After all, who scrolls down much past page 4/5 of Google? Ultimately, if you’re not on the first couple of pages, there is a chance you won’t get a look in. Keyword use is crucial to a successful campaign as is fresh content (blogs) and relevant and regularly updated information.

2. Social media marketing

There is no point in having social media accounts for your business if you’re not going to use them. Linking all of your accounts with your website is an absolute must. Many of your clients may well find you through social media channels first before visiting your website so it is vital that you link your website clearly. You should also use your social media outlets to share information, services and products from your website – always linking back so that people can easily order your service. Different social media sites offer different ways of promotion and it’s very important that you use each one correctly. We will be focusing on Social media at a later date so be sure to keep an eye out.

3. Signature branding

Your brand image is your own unique stamp. It is how people will recognize your company. Your brand must be easy to recognize, eye catching, and easy to use on all social media platforms. Nowadays, it’s also important to make sure that your branding is mobile-friendly. If your graphics/logo takes ages to download on mobile devices, chances are most people won’t bother to wait. Sites need to be instantaneous and the information needs to be available on every device you can imagine. Every blog you write, every post you make, every letter you send needs to comply with your branding so that it is consistent.

4. Reciprocal linking

This essentially is a form of SEO. It is important to show Google and other web browsers that your site is trustworthy and one of the best ways to do this is through other sites linking to you. Other ways of linking with different sites is through things such as guest blogging, the sharing of news articles and a testimonials page. It is very important however not to link with sites for the sake of it. Make sure you’re not linking to any low-quality, low-ranked pages as this will do you harm; there is no point in linking for linking sake. Google and other browsers are aware of this course of action and penalize sites who do this! Creating links that are relevant to your clients is the key. You also want to pace the rate at which you link. Google will also penalize sites that link too frequently with too many sites. ‘Quality NOT quantity’ and ‘Slow and steady’ should be your mantras when it comes to linking.

5. Regular and relevant quality content

Repeat after me: ‘I must add new, interesting and relevant content…’ This should be your new mantra going forward. Without fresh new content, your website will become static and will fall down the ranks of Google very quickly. New content can be in the form of blogs, articles, news stories, promotions and updates. However, don’t just add anything the content MUST be quality. There is no point in adding quickly written content with no meaning to your site as it will only do you harm in the long run. Long gone are the days where sites can just load keywords into their articles and find themselves at the top of Google. People are now looking for quality. The internet is a resource of information and people want to become informed. Share your new content on social media and this will help you spread the word.

6. Google Local Business

This is a great tip for anyone targeting a local demographic. By using Google Local Business, Google provides website promotion ideas and you can register your information for free including pictures, promotions and adverts. This information will always have priority on Google searches meaning you get to be top of the first page ahead of your competitors.

If after reading this blog you are still struggling with self-promotion, contact us to see how we can help. We have a range of services available to help our clients be the best they can be.