Simple Yet Effective Ways to Promote Your Website

Below represents the best ways for non web designers to promotoe a website, the article  50 Ways to Get Your Site Noticed from the website nettusplus.com.

Write Fresh and Catchy Content
If you have good content, people will always come back for more. One of the most important things about content is to keep it fresh and up-to-date. But, just like Smashing Magazine, make sure to archive your content for people to refer back to.

Have Business Cards at Hand . . . Always
Ensure you always have business cards to hand out. If you meet someone needing your services, it always pays to have a striking and memorable business card to exchange. It is worth spending time on your business card to make it creative and memorable, otherwise you may just be left at the bottom of the pile with the rest.

Use Email Signatures
Whenever you send out an email, make sure you have your URL in the email signature. It’s a simple idea, but it’s effective.

Submit to Directories and Galleries
This should be an ongoing process since there are many local, national and worldwide directories. Your first stop should be DMOZ.org. Following this, submit to the local directories and those specializing in your site’s business sector.

Use Company Stationery
Put your website address on everything: pens, letterheads, flyers, and anything that represents your company. Make sure it is clear and pushes people to visit your web site. For example, you could say, “For more information on our new product, check ourwebsite.com.

Optimize for Search Engines (SEO)
Effective SEO, common sense and web standards go together. The idea is to create semantic, valid code that uses the right tool for the job. This means using the right HTML tags and having a unique title and appropriate meta data for each page. Ensure search engine spiders can correctly index your site. And don’t forget that good content is a must. Remember, the most important way to climb the search engine ranks is through quality links. For more information on this, visit the Google Webmasters/Site owners guidelines.

Write Articles
Writing articles for other sites as well as your own is a fantastic way to get noticed. If you work with web technologies, consider writing a tutorial for Nettuts+. If you sell power tools, consider writing an article about the best router for making coffee tables. Target the niche that you’re after. Just make sure you add your URL next to your name. If it’s well-written, people will want to know more about you.

Get on Twitter
We all know the power of Twitter by now, and much has been said on the subject of using Twitter as a marketing tool. But the fact remains: it is a very effective way of getting noticed. Get the most out of Twitter by choosing one of the many tools available. Keep inside your niche area, follow people that matter to your website, and make it personal. Do not just spout marketing spiel or you will quickly lose followers. If you are part of a niche area consider setting up your own Twibe (a group of Twitter users) or use Twitter’s list feature.

Offer Newsletters and RSS feeds
Users sign up for your newsletter and you have your captive audience. If used properly, newsletters can be very effective tools for driving people to your site. Check out Smashing Magazine’s best practices article before embarking on your campaign. When you are ready, use a service like MailChimp to monitor your success.

Similar to newsletters, having an RSS feed of your content is another way to keep users noticing your web site. They are easy to set up and a good way to keep your users up-to-date on your website. Make sure you keep your feeds relevant, interesting, informative and easy to find.

Send Seasonal Cards and E-Cards
Send out cards to your clients either by snail-mail or email. This is not only a nice gesture but also keeps your website address firmly imprinted in their mind. Using services like Cards Direct is a quick and easy way to spread the holiday cheer with your website address attached to it.

Run an Event
Running an event is a fantastic way to both market your business and connect with your customers, clients and experts in your sector. For example, the Future of Web Design events are run all around the world featuring many professionals from the web design community. Your event does not have to be about web design; it can be focused on your site and your business’ sector, in order to to raise awareness of you and your site.

Release Press Releases
Do you have web site that people are interested in on a national or local level? Why not submit a press release informing the public about your new site? Simply place an ad in the local paper or a sector-specific magazine.

Attend Networking Events
Networking events can be a fun and effective way to promote your website. Armed with your business cards and an approachable smile, you are sure to meet someone who is interested in your services or who knows someone else who will be.

The key is in choosing the right event for you and being prepared. Networking events are normally based around certain types of businesses or they target professionals in specific areas. Choose what is best for you. Check online event sites like Facebook,Meet-up or the local paper. If you can`t find one in your area, run your own!

Use Social Bookmarking
The last tip is also one of the best and easiest. Stemming from the simple idea of having a "Tell a friend" form on your website, allow users to bookmark your site on the many social bookmark sites. That way, you are letting other popular sites do the hard work for you. Social bookmarking meta-services like AddToAny are a simple way for users to publish your site to their accounts on Facebook, Delicious, StumbleUpon and many more with one click. Copy and paste their code on to your pages and you’re away.