Whenever you’re putting a new website online there’s no simple way to attract lots of visitors. Social media allows for a much faster viral growth process. But ultimately you need to find different marketing outlets to build up links, so more people will find your website over time.
I want to share a few tips for Internet marketing which should be done right after a new website launch. There is a laundry list of trends you can follow which really bring attention to newer websites. And of course this isn’t an exhaustive list, but merely a guide for getting started. Different niche websites will benefit from various marketing strategies, and it’s up to you to determine which of these content-specific strategies will work best!
Generate Lots of Backlinks
A backlink is basically any anchor href which points to a page on your website. Right after launching online the best way to gain credibility is by linking directly to your homepage. You can build these links quickly by creating social profiles on websites like Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, and others.
Another quick way for gaining backlinks is through blog comments. If there are blogs online in your niche it’s worthwhile to visit some articles and drop a few comments. Even 3-4 comments a day will rack up tremendously over a couple weeks’ time. And those comments will stay online forever as long as the website stays up and doesn’t prune older articles.
It’s also notable that the link text will affect how Google ranks your website. If your backlink text reads “Web Design Ledger” it will produce different results than linking with “Website Design Blog”. In fact most search engines will rank backlinks in accordance with their text and match against related keywords.
Adding a Personal Touch
It never hurts targeting a specific market share and personally contacting individuals who may be interested in your website. I often find e-mails which invite me to join new startups or social networks online. Most of the time I won’t join because I’m just so busy – but I always at least take a minute to look at the website and gauge an opinion.
One place you might consider scouting is on related forums or message boards. There are some very popular website forums out there in almost any topic you can think of. Automotive, technology, Internet, web design, gaming, cooking, you name it! And these forums are often filled with members who are very interested in the topic at hand.
The goal when directly contacting people is to not sound like a spam robot. Add a personal touch to your messages by addressing each person by name, or why you chose to contact them specifically. Even via e-mail this method for Internet marketing is a lot slower, but will produce results given enough patience and repetition.
Flow with Information
I can’t stress enough how marketing your website needs to be geared towards people who would be interested in your topic. Aside from bulletin boards there are other network-specific websites worthy of some attention.
Most notably Yahoo! Answers is a very popular Q&A network powered by community members. You can sign up for a free account and help answer existing questions related to your niche. After you amass 250 points you’ll be able to include links in all your responses. Getting some major backlinks on Yahoo! Answers is one very powerful way to start leaking your website onto the Internet.
The Y! Answers portal has very high-rankings with Google searches when people are looking for answers to specific questions. If you can answer enough questions with Best Answer rankings then you may find small influxes of keyword-related referral traffic! This is a very natural SEO-friendly method which requires some invested time, but will be worthwhile in the long run.
Public Updates with Social Media
Blogs and Online Magazines have the ability to update their readers from the homepage with new site features and related news. However other websites are not often able to do so, or even with a company blog just don’t always have the time. You should create even 2 or 3 social media profiles on some of the big websites to keep people updated on your recent events.
Twitter is by far the most popular network for quick website updates. You can let people know when your site is down for maintenance, or if you plan on launching a new theme or new content pages in the future. Also having those profiles will only help with building your brand to generate a wider audience.
But probably the most interesting piece behind social media is open communication. These networks allow you to communicate with your readers via totally free web applications. It’s all well and good to setup a small contact form on your website – and surely you’ll get plenty of e-mail if the content is well received. But when your visitors have a quick question or want to give a shoutout it’s much easier tagging or mentioning your brand via Twitter or Facebook.
Final Thoughts
There is no single method for Internet marketing which will draw thousands of repeat visitors. You’ll need to employ a handful of techniques over an extended period of time to see any major results. But the best time to jump into marketing is directly after launching your new website online!
I hope some of these tips will be useful to entrepreneurs and webmasters still getting accustomed to how Internet marketing works. The idea is to flood the market with your links and your branding, drawing attention from very large crowds all across the web. Over time people will recognize the site logo and keep updated with your content. Along with my ideas feel free to share your own thoughts on the article in our comments area below.