How Do You Promote Your Business Using The Internet

The planning and creation of your website may seem like the most difficult element of having your online business up and operating, but it is really only half the battle. In addition to attracting visitors to your website, you also need to persuade them to make a purchase once they are there. Media Metrix estimates that in 2002, the Web generated $73 billion in retail sales; by 2005, that figure is predicted to increase to $118 billion.

How can you then replicate some of that activity on your own website? To begin with, you must draw visitors to your website. But how exactly do you do that? What is the price? What is most effective? This article will explain how to code and register your website so that search engines can find it, how to better promote your products on your website, and how to earn some extra cash by letting other people advertise their products on your website.

Funneling Traffic To Your Business

A few strategies for increasing website traffic are as follows:

1. Utilize search engines to rank highly in keyword searches.
2. Get press coverage for your website in the local, regional, or national media.
3. To keep visitors coming back to your website, create a customer newsletter.
4. Encourage readers to share it with their acquaintances.
5. Run online classified ads.
6. Create some educational pieces on your subject and submit them to at least ten e-zines that cater to your target audience. Include your company name and website address in your bio data.
7. Through business or consumer product directories, affiliate programs, and more, increase the number of links to your website, both paid and unpaid.
8. Recall the influence of word-of-mouth marketing.

Let's concentrate on listings and rankings in search engines and online directories since they will yield the greatest rewards.

Utilizing Directories and Search Engines

Obtaining a high position on the major search engines is one of the best strategies to increase traffic to your website. The majority of individuals locate the websites they visit through search engines. They enter keywords or phrases that characterize their interests into Google, Yahoo!, or another popular search engine. Following that, they browse the websites that are featured on the first page of the 100+ pages that appear. This means that your chances of getting clicked aren't all that great, even if you're on page two of the more than 100 pages of search results. So, how can you climb to the top of the list of sites on the first page? Let's start by discussing search engines. Information from websites across the Internet is compiled into databases by search engines.

In order for consumers to quickly find the precise information they need among the more than one billion Web pages available, they categorize that material according to keywords. While other search engines, like Yahoo!, rely on directories While some websites rely on spiders that continuously scour the Web, accessing Web sites, indexing their content based on the text found on their pages, and then following their links to other sites, others rely on sites that are reviewed and indexed by actual people. Others place websites in search categories according to how much they are prepared to pay for click-throughs. The websites may pay a modest fee for each visitor who clicks on the link to their website, but they do not pay anything to be mentioned.

The genuine search engines—those that index the Web using spiders—seem to be collaborating with directory-based websites as of late. Keep an eye on any upcoming changes there. In the interim, make sure you're covered by signing up with everyone. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of search engines and directories, you MUST be included on three or four of them because they receive the bulk of their traffic. You must first ensure that Yahoo! lists you. According to various studies, between 50% and 80% of all website visitors come through Yahoo! searches. Your website must be present. If your site is accepted for listing by Yahoo!, the $199 fee will have been well spent.

Google and Inktomi are the next two biggest competitors. Both of these are actual "search engines" that crawl websites, index content, and list links. Although your listing is not assured, submitting your website to these large players is still free. Additionally, you may choose to pay a charge for a premium listing that would position your website at the top of the page or in a sidebar. Although Inktomi doesn't maintain its own search page, it does have a significant number of portal partners who do, including MSN, AOL, LookSmart, About, and HotBot. Your website will be submitted to all of them if you register it with one of these.

You must submit your website to search engines in order to get listed with them. Yes, those crawling search engines may ultimately locate you, but keep in mind that they either follow links or visit sites that have been recommended to them. They might never crawl your website if there are no links to it. As a result, submit your site frequently since a large number of existing sites are dropped daily due to the daily creation and crawling of a large number of new sites.

Cross selling and promotion of your products

You have a lot of visitors to your website since you followed the advice for increasing traffic, but many of them either browse briefly before leaving or make a single, little purchase. How can you persuade them to purchase more, or in the case of browsers, only one item? Let's say your website sells homeopathic and natural medications. People typically don't have a great deal of knowledge about these topics. Because of this, adding educational content, frequently asked questions, a glossary, and the option for users to post inquiries would likely make your website incredibly "sticky."

This implies that visitors to your website would not only come for information but also stay there for a while and most likely come back frequently. Good websites tend to be sticky. People tend to develop a greater level of trust in you and are more inclined to purchase and suggest your goods and services the longer you can keep them on your website. Make your website a treasury of knowledge about your product and challenges that are related to it. Make it simple to print a copy by including "printer friendly" links in your articles and information. Make yourself an authority in your subject, like we discussed before, to raise your rating on the old credibility scale.

Now, how can you persuade visitors to make purchases rather than simply perusing your content before leaving? Give them a break. In your informational sections, include sidebars that list the goods or product groups that relate to the content being displayed. Make links so they may click once to add the item to their shopping basket. Make comparison tables to assist customers in selecting the best product for their needs. Encourage customers to buy related products by using the Amazon.com trick of including a "Customers who bought this product also bought these items...." section. Additionally, you can include user reviews for products on the informational pages as well as next to the item itself. Customer endorsements are always useful, but make sure they appear authentic. Give as many details as you can about the client who is supplying the testimonial. It will have greater credibility the more information there is.

Be competitive with your product pricing. Remember that your customers may access your competitor's website with just a few clicks, elevating comparison shopping to a whole new level. Make sure your product isn't priced too low or people could assume it's of poorer quality; nevertheless, if your product is priced too high, they won't buy it at all. The takeaway from this is to price your own products after conducting pricing research on those of your Web competitors, just like you would in a brick-and-mortar store.