You signed up for Yahoo! Web Hosting, set up your email, began building your web site — now how are you going to attract potential site visitors or customers? Before you sign up for any directory listing services or begin peppering your friends with emails, you may want to consider some of the ways you can promote your site, then map out a promotion strategy.
Why Promote Your Site?
The answer to this one may be obvious, but you might be surprised how many people build a web site and then sit back and wonder why it's not performing to their expectations. Think about the goals of your site. If you're hoping to sell products or services, show off your work, promote your organization, or attract readers or discussion board members, for example, you'll want to advertise. These days, there are millions of web sites competing for attention — how will potential viewers find yours?
Your Web Address
The right web address can help potential visitors find your site. If customers are already familiar with your company or organization, they may simply enter its name in their browser's navigation bar, like this: http://www.widgetdesigns.com. They may also look for your company using a search engine — and they're more likely to find your site at the top of the search results when your web address matches your name.
Creating a customized web address can help you develop your web site identity and brand. If your business name is already taken, try picking a domain name that describes your group or the products you sell. Choose a name that's easy to spell and remember. Not happy with the address you already chose? Don't worry: You can register as many as you like through Yahoo! Domains and use them all with your current web site. In fact, you may want to register not only your ideal name but also its variants (for example, widgetdesigns.net and widgetdesigns.org in addition to widgetdesigns.com) before your competitors can! Learn more.
Search Engines
Web users look to search engines more than any other tool to find what they need online. Search engines generally rank their results based on a complex formula that considers page contents, keywords, number of links, site size, and other details, and they change their formulas regularly to ensure that web sites can't artificially elevate their rankings by manipulating one or more of these elements. Although you can never guarantee that your site will appear at the top of their search results, there are some strategies you can use to raise your profile, and it pays to start thinking about these details before you begin promoting your site — even before you begin building it.
What can you do to optimize your rankings? Start by creating a great site! A well-organized, professional-looking web site loaded with useful information will naturally attract and retain visitors and referrals, and ultimately raise your rankings. Adding meta tags to your pages and focusing on keywords in your text can help with some search engines. Larger web sites and those with frequently updated content also tend to rank more highly. Learn more.
Your email service, terrific for business communications, can double as a powerful marketing tool. Personalized email that matches your domain (such as you@widgetdesigns.com) helps extend your brand to everyone with whom you communicate, and, of course, you can use email to send notices or even monthly newsletters to your friends and colleagues.
Before you launch your marketing campaign, think about your site audience and the kinds of messages that might appeal to them, then gather the email addresses of friends and colleagues you'll want to contact (your Yahoo! Address Book can help). With these details in hand, you'll be able to spread the word as soon as your web site is ready for visitors. (Please be sure to read Yahoo!'s spam policy before sending a large number of emails.)
Are You a Store Owner?
We've built promotional tools right into the Yahoo! Store platform that are designed to drive targeted traffic to your site. With a Merchant Solutions Standard or Merchant Solutions Professional plan, you can use Cross-Sell Manager, Track Links, and Coupon Manager to strengthen your sales efforts. You'll find more information about promoting your Yahoo! Store in our Yahoo! Store help center.
Next Steps
Before you get started, think about your overall marketing strategy. How else will you attract potential visitors and customers to your web site? Do some research to uncover other promotion avenues: Where do your competitors advertise? How did you hear about your favorite web sites? Be sure to consider both online and offline marketing tools.
Head to the Promote tab of your Web Hosting Control Panel to learn more about the variety of promotional tools Yahoo! offers and think about which might suit your site's needs. For more ideas, take a look at the monthly Yahoo! Small Business newsletter, which is packed with tips that can help you market your site. (If you don't already receive the newsletter, update your newsletter subscription preferences now.)