Your Web Site - Will They Come?

"You build it and they will come". That may be true for a certain baseball field in Iowa, but it is not true of web sites.

If you have used a good professional web designer, he or she has probably done a lot of behind the scenes work to help your site show up in search engines. Your site is attractive, easy to navigate and has lots of relevant information for your web visitors.

Even so, getting visitors to your web site takes time. Search engines may choose not to index your site right away. People may be unaware of your site or the site address. It takes time to get the word out.

There are many things you can do to let people know about your web site and get them to visit.

You must advertise your web address everywhere. On your business cards, on any printed advertising material, in your yellow pages ad, in any media ad campaign - your web site address should be in a prominent place, not an afterthought.

Tell people when you talk to them!

Offer and send out a monthly email newsletter. Have a sign up form on your web site as well as a sign up sheet in your store. One word of caution when using a sign up sheet - always make it clear that people are signing up to receive periodic emails from your company. Never, never, never send an email newsletter to someone who has not requested it.

Build your site and... they will come with a little patience and a little work.

Creative & Cheap Ways of Advertising Your Business

Keeping a business afloat in early 2009 is certainly a challenge. It takes me back to when I first began my web design business and needed to advertise on a $50 advertising budget!

One thing I did then and am getting ready to do again now, is send out a few targeted mailings. I ordered some nice postcards from Vista Print, bought some postcard stamps from the post office, went through the phone book yellow pages looking for companies who might need my services and mailed a few cards out. I actually made a couple of contacts through those mailings that became long-term customers. It was well worth the initial cost. This time, I am searching online for local businesses who might need my services and will be sending out a few postcards at a time. I am also going to keep some postcards with me at all times to hand out or stick on public bulletin boards around town.

Since I am reestablishing myself in a new area, I am also handing a few business cards out to friends, relatives and business owners I have worked with, so they can pass them out to others. Believe me, my husband's wallet is full of my business cards!

Another thing I did recently was to post my services on one of the local television station's free online classified sections. I got lots of web site hits the first few days, when my ad was on the landing page. It dropped off after awhile because new ads were being posted and so did my hits, but it was free and is still up for someone who finds it.

In a business climate like this, we need to keep thinking of creative and economical ways to advertise our businesses. If we do, we may just be able to hang on.