How to Advertise and Promote Your Small Business Website
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How do you best advertise or promote your small business website? That is a huge question for any small business today. Being able to stand out from
your competition with your website and how you advertise it is increasingly hard and sometimes you need some fresh ideas.
What can I do to advertise my website on other websites that is both affordable and effective at driving traffic?
This can be a very broad question but also a very cost effective option to explore as a small business owner. It can cover a number of different
options or ideas. A core idea of "advertising" on other websites would be to do link exchanges with similar websites or service providers that
you can partner with. By requesting and providing a link exchange with a partner website or service provider and it not only increases your
backlinks but starts a sort of referral network online. Win – Win!
You can also look at some advertising options like text content links on other websites; or banner ads placed on third party provider websites.
These types of ads vary greatly and may have a small cost attached to them but could also drive some key traffic and introduce your product or
service to new customers. You could look at promoting your product in an online shopping mall website with banner ads or text links that will
again create new traffic and good backlinks to your website.
Is blogging or joining a blog an effective method of advertising my small business website?
This covers two parts. First yes, adding a blog to your current website could be a very effective method to advertise your small business
service or product. Becoming an expert about your product or service and expressing that in blog posts on your own website could greatly increase
the rich content about your subject and drive key search traffic. You can also promote your blog on other blog or sell ad space on your own blog to
open up new revenue streams.
Second, if you find one or two blogs that you can participate in as a member or content provider this could be a key venue for you to both discuss your
product or service and promote it at the same time. If the blog allows you to post ideas and links about your small business service this would be a great
resource to add key text backlinks to your website. Do some searching around and see if you can find some quality blogs and engage in the discussion to
help and possibly receive help on your product or service.
What is the best method to do some email marketing to promote your small business to your current customer base?
The best way to tackle this is by using a third party paid email service that not only provides you with the latest email tools but can greatly increase
the chances of your email making it to the inbox.
The biggest mistake small business owners do with email marketing is utilizing their own Outlook email program for example. They make up their list of
customers, type up or design an email newsletter and then use the CC field to put in all the emails. Huge mistake – don't do it. Using a third party service like
Constant Contact Email Marketing
will increase your success rate and not upset your customer when you have shared their email address with everyone one else on your list. Plus you will
get analytic stats on how your emails performed. Much more professional!
Are there advertising opportunities I can take advantage on my own my website with little to no cost?
Yes – this would touch a little bit on all the items we've discussed above but in addition to blog ads, link exchange and email marketing you
could add a few other tactics.
One is actually selling ad spots of your own, it can be fairly easy. First make sure you have a set spot on your website like a navigation side bar to place
text ads for example. Then create an advertising information page on your website – a "advertise with us" page. On this page you could use an easy to
set up Pay Pal buy button
(with an account) for potential advertisers to purchase the service for a set amount and set time frame. Start simple and see how it goes – then
possibly expand it.
The second is more of a method or best practice. Always be sure to link to a product or service within your own website when you mention it in text content.
Also you could create a consistent ad space for your product or service in a navigation bar that is always present on every page for the visitor to click on.
For more ideas you can also review these resources:
Blogads
Show your ads in a network of over 3,500 influential bloggers or show ads on your blog and make money.
How to Link Exchange Article
Read more on the importance of link exchanges as way to advertise your website. The more sites that link to your website the more popular it looks
to the search engines.
How to do Pay Per Click Advertising - The Basics
Read up on the importance of the ever growing world of pay per click advertising such as Google AdWords.
