Ways to popularize your website

If your small business depends a lot upon the volume of traffic on your website, you will need it popularized. Website positioning helps drive a steady stream of targeted traffic to your site, and what’s more, it is highly cost effective. What are the strategies that can help position your website really up there in the minds of target customers?

Use specific media. Keep the target audience in mind before you market your site. Are potential customers likely to look for your (kind of) services on the internet? Thumbing through the yellow pages or using directory assistance are popular methods of searching for local services; therefore advertising your site in those media is recommended. It won’t cost much either.

Optimize. List the website with as many search engines as possible. Search engines “like” content rich websites. The trick is to use keywords and key phrases through the body of the site, in the tags and labels etc. so that the site gets picked up whenever there is a relevant search.
It is very important to refresh the content regularly else the site will drop in the rankings. Again, links into your site from other well known sites will help.

Submit to directories. Submit your URL to as many popular directories as possible. Good directories will list your site only if it is well made and has adequate content. Also, your web pages will have to be completely finished and not be the work in progress type.
Submit to content aggregators. If your site is all about content, submit some related writing to a few large content aggregators or to feeders. Ezine.com is one example. If they choose to publish your work, you can expect additional traffic inflow.

Build a newsletter. It’s one way of staying in people’s minds, although you shouldn’t expect to be read all the time.

Offer an email id. That could work very well, and usually ensures regular visits. However, you will have to consider whether you can afford the cost of providing this service (you can’t charge, that’s for sure).

Advertise. This option needs to be weighed carefully. Traditional media is usually very expensive; Internet advertising may cost less but may not deliver. Should you choose to advertise online, choose the location with care, and make sure the message prompts action.