How to drive traffic to your website and generate more business. Ok, so you've had a website built and put online. It's beautiful, easy-to-use, and you love it! So, what happened? The phone isn't ringing and you're starting to feel like that gorgeous website was a gigantic waste of money. This is a typical response from people that have had websites created for them. The question we hear most often from our clients is "How do I get more traffic to my website?" Firstly, building a website is not unlike having business cards printed; they can be beautifully designed, glossy and wonderful, but if you don't hand them out, you won't get any new business from them. So how can you "hand out" your website? The most obvious way is advertising. Advertising is crucial to the success of any business. Unless people know about your business and what you do, no one will ever buy from you. So let's talk about some internet advertising options and what they'll do for your website traffic, and eventually, your income. 1. Being crawled and listed on Search Engines Google.com and many other search engines work by sending out web crawlers/bots to go from link to link, documenting pages as they go. Once they have documented your site, you will be included in the google.com search. You may not be extremely visible, because you might find yourself on page 509 of your keyword, but you are still on Google. To move up in the ranks naturally, you'll need people who do searches on your keyword and then click on your link. The more clicks you get, the higher up the ranking you'll move. Now for many of us, this is a long, uphill battle that will take a lot of time. If your keywords are extremely popular, you might end up fighting a losing battle. This is why we recommend Search Engine Advertising. 2. Search Engine Advertising. In the web world, the most visible place for your ad will be on at least one major search engine. Why? Because the people who see your ad have already been qualified, meaning, they have typed in a key word that you have associated with your business. So you at least know that they are looking for your type of services. In a world of SPAM, pop-up ads, and annoying banner ads, it's increasingly difficult to get your company in front of customers who are looking for your products and/or services. At least with search engine advertising you are not advertising to them, they are coming to you. Ok, so after reading up to this point, you're convinced you should be listed on a major search engine, so what do I need to know to list my business? Here are a few search engines and advertising options that they offer: Google AdWords. We get tons of requests for clients who want to be listed in the top 5 positions (and preferably first) in the search results of their keyword. To that we say, "Well, join the club!" We all would like to be #1 in our keyword search, but with so many people vying for the top position, it's time intensive and very difficult to be naturally listed as #1. However, Google has created an advertising promotion for businesses called AdWords, which is a great way to assure that you show up on the first page of a search with the keywords you choose to advertise on. To be assured that you are on the first page, you can purchase a Google AdWord and only pay per click. For more information visit: http://www.google.com. We recommend Google AdWords because we've seen them work first hand. They offer budget options so you can set a cap on how many clicks you want per day and once you've reached that limit your ad will no longer display in that keyword until the next day. This allows you to more easily control and predict how much money you'll be spending. Yahoo! Search Marketing. Yahoo! is different from Google in that it is a directory service, not a true search engine. Therefore, you will need to submit your website to be considered for submission. Once submitted, your website will be either approved or denied by a member of the Yahoo! Directory team. However, there are also many more advertising options available on Yahoo.com. Visit http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/ for more information. Lycos. Visit http://insite.lycos.com/ for more information. InfoSpace Search Network. The InfoSpace search network includes Dogpile, WebCrawler, MetaCrawler, InfoSpace, and Switchboard. InfoSpace allows you to pay for submission into the index of their search engines. For more information visit https://secure.ah-ha.com/guaranteed_inclusion/teaser.aspx?network=dogpile 3. Directory Advertising. If you find that advertising through the top search engines are just too costly for you, you may think about advertising in a industry specific directory. This is a marketing tool that, if used correctly, can drive a lot of traffic to your site for much less money. The first thing to do is, open your favorite search engine and type in a keyword that you would like your site to come up under. Now, take a look at the results that display on the first page. If you recognize any entries that are directories, click over to them and find out how much it costs to advertise on their site. Many times it's much less expensive than advertising directly on the search engines themselves, but, you are still only 2 clicks away from your specified keyword. Keep in mind, this is not effective for all industries as many will not have a directory listed in the first page of results. Don't forget, though, to check all the major search engines before determining that this isn't an option for you. Another way to "hand-out" your website is by including it in your other marketing material. Don't forget to add your web address to your business cards, letterhead, mailers, folders, shopping bags or any other promotional material you have that will be in front of customers. It is a potential opportunity for them to visit your website to learn more about your company. One of your website's move valuable qualities is that it's open 24/7/365. This means if someone purchased an item in your store, noticed your web address on your store bag, and decided to visit your website at 2am when your store is closed, they could still find out more information about your company. And, if offered, they could even purchase more items online. As an example for a service based business, let's say you handed out a business card at a luncheon and one of the attendees picked up your business card with your website address on it. After-hours when things were quieter and they had the time (and wanted) to look up your company, they would be able to get additional information and assess your services and offerings from the comfort of their own home or office. Don't underestimate how powerful your website can be for your business. Just make sure you are able to get it in front of your potential customers!