13 Oct 12 Ways to Promote Your New Website

A great website for your business is critical for success. The first thing many people do before buying products or services from a company is visit their website and learn more about that company. Does the company look reputable? How are the reviews? How long has the company been in business? What other products or services does the company offer? What is the pricing? These are some of the common questions that consumers want to know. Hopefully your great, new website has the answers to the questions that your consumers want to know.

Your website may be amazing. It may be the best in your region or the best in your industry. However, if your customers and potential customers don't know about it, the website is useless. If you are not getting adequate traffic to the site, what good is doing for your company? Promoting your site is critical. Below are a few ways to spread the word about your new site, including many FREE and CHEAP methods that are often neglected.

Ways to Promote Your Website

1. Include a link to your website in your signature for all outgoing emails and some kind of enticing statement, such as, "Visit www.perfectimprints.com to find the best deal on promotional products" or "Check out our blog at http://perfectimprints.com/blog to learn about marketing tips to increase your company sales."
2. Make sure your website is printed on your business cards. Give an incentive to visit the site, such as promoting a Deal of the Week or a money-saving coupon for visiting your website.
3. Revise your company stationary to include your website address.
4. Push clients toward your website whenever you are talking to them. Make sure your website has answers to frequently asked questions that you are commonly asked. After all, you have to have to content on the site before you can direct customers to it.
5. If your business has printed brochures, make sure your website is prominently displayed on them.
6. Show your expertise about your products and services by writing regular blog posts. People want to do business with "experts," so show off your knowledge. Don't be afraid to share tips and tricks that your audience can do themselves. For instance, if you are a realtor, share ways that your clients can increase the selling value of their homes. If you own a computer repair business, share tips about how to prevent viruses and malware or ways to speed up a computer by keeping temporary files cleaned. Sometimes, at first, it may seem that you are taking away new business by teaching your clients and potential clients about tasks that you may charge to do on a normal basis, but in the end, your clients will see you as an expert and feel more comfortable with you doing the work, because you are the "expert."
7. Using popular social media accounts, create regular posts that are interesting, engaging, informational, or educational to your clientele. The more compelling content that you post, the better chances your site will show up in the search engines.
8. Participate in your local community networking events such as Chamber of Commerce functions. Make it a point to always mingle with new people and introduce your business. Don' get stuck in the rut of hanging with the same people at these events. However, make sure you focus on the business of those you meet and don't "oversell" your business. Of course, leave behind business cards and brochures about your business.
9. Do postcard mailings in your local area. Let the recipients know about your new sites and the new features. The EDDM program with the USPS is very reasonably priced and can be very effective if the postcard design is laid out properly.
10. Tell people that you know about your new site. Word of mouth is powerful and many business owners fail to adequately promote their site with those they know.
11. Send out a nicely design email newsletter to your existing customers and your prospects with a link to your new site.
12. Print your website url on all promotional products. It is very effective to play on current themes or holidays when promoting your business. Below are some specific ideas for low cost items as well as a few premium items for your top clients and prospects:

• Have mini footballs printed and donate them to your local schools for the cheerleader to throw into the crowd at the football games. Promote a coupon or something FREE if they visit your site and perform a certain task.
• Give out personalized Halloween bags each October to your customers. If they have young kids, they need trick or treat bags, so why not give them bags with your company logo and website printed on them?
• Think about giving out custom Christmas ornaments each December to your customers. Change up the style, color, or saying each year so they can create a collection.
• Promote various awareness campaigns that are related to your business. Campaigns such as Fire Prevention Week or Breast Cancer Awareness Month are great ways to promote a good cause while promoting your business at the same time.
• Know your customers and give out promos that are relevant to their likes and needs. For example, if a large portion of your customer base are business executives, give out premium pens, portfolios, or laptop cases that are, of course, branded with your company logo. The idea is too giveaway items that will be used on a regular basis so they will keep your company at the top of their mind.
• Get custom matchbooks and give them out to bars with your business name, contact info, and website. This idea works great for attorneys and bail bondsman businesses.
• Give out custom tokens with your website address to visit to print a coupon for a discount or free item.

To promote either a new url or a site redesign, it is extremely important to let people not only just know about the new site, but to also let them know why they should visit the site. There are billions of sites on the web, so why do they need to visit your site? For additional help with promoting your existing website, SEO services, or website design, contact us for expert help.