What is Website Promotion?

Information and How-To on Website Promotion

What is Website Promotion?

Website promotion is a collection of tactics, actions and techniques that serve to drive traffic (visitors) to your website.

Why is Website Promotion Important?

Websites offer a multitude of benefits. For some online entrepreneurs, they are storefronts selling goods. Others earn income through advertising, sponsorships and affiliate marketing. Others are marketing tools in and of themselves, providing information about the business and how to best get in touch for services.

While all these website options work, they only fulfill their purpose if people visit them. If you think of a website like a storefront, that store doesn't make money unless someone walks in and buys. If a website is like an online magazine (such as a blog), it only makes money if people visit and buy from advertisers. As a marketing tool, websites deliver information about your business only if they know about it and visit it. 

Web promotion is how online businesses get the word out about the website. The more targeted traffic (visitors who fit your target market) a website receives, the better the chance of making sales, earning ad income and gaining clients. 

How is Website Promotion Done?

There are endless ways to promote your website, and new methods continue to arrive. Websites can be promoted in a variety ways both online and off. 

Online Website Promotion

Anything that allows you to include your website URL can be considered promotion including an email signature line or participating in online forums.

Here are a few common website promotion tactics:

• Email marketing
• Blog marketing
• Social Media
• Advertising
• Search engine marketing
• SEO

Offline Website Promotion

Some offline website promotion techniques include:

• Direct mail
• Publicity 
• Networking
• Public speaking
• Television and radio advertising
• Newspaper advertising

Best Practices for Website Promotion

The ideas listed above are not the only strategies you can use to promote your website. Because there are so many different ways you can market your website, it can get overwhelming. Further, without a plan your promotional efforts can be a waste of time. As you prepare to market your website, here are few things to do and keep in mind.

1. Know your target market. Your goal isn't just in getting as much traffic to your site as possible. A million visitors means nothing if none of them are interested in what you offer. Knowing and understanding your target market will allow you to focus your marketing efforts on those activities that put your message in front of your most likely visitor in a way that entices them to visit.
2. Use search engine optimization strategies, but don't rely on search engines alone to deliver traffic. Making it easy for search engines to understand, index and rank your site is a no-brainer. It's free and not that hard to do. At the same time, you don't need to spend a fortune in SEO services or hours and hours studying SEO. Checking your website stats and keywords every month or so will help you understand how people are using search engines to find your site and other information in your business area. 

1. Promote where your market hangs out. If your market isn't on Twitter, you don't need to tweet. When considering how and where to promote, think about where your market turns to get similar information and resources related to what you offer. This isn't just other websites or social networks, but also, offline sources such as groups and print media.
2. Hook your market with a message that speaks to them. That means opening with a hook that entices and intrigues your market. It should be benefits oriented in that it promises to solve a problem, improve life, or be entertaining. The better your promotional copy, the better and bigger the results on your marketing campaign. 
3. Track your efforts. You'll save time and money if you know what promotions are delivering results and which aren't. 

Also Known As: online promotion, website marketing, web site marketing, Internet marketing, online marketing.

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Marketing Best Practices (and Real-Life Examples) for SMBs on a Budget

If you recently launched a startup or small business, you may not have enough funds to invest in expensive advertising and marketing campaigns like your larger competitors. But don’t worry, there are plenty of simple and effective marketing techniques with a modest budget that can help you promote your small business. Below are some of the most effective marketing strategies for the business on a budget.

Curate Remarkable Content

Content marketing has become an essential and affordable marketing technique for any business, big or small. You can expand your customer base by creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to your target audience through various channels. This helps you to drive traffic to your website and attract new customers. You should continuously monitor the performance of your content through (free) tools like Google Analytics. In addition, you should review and update your content based on its past performance and focus only on creating content that generates more views.  To do this, you need to understand the likes and dislikes of your target audience and know what types of content they are looking for. A best practice is to create different types of content, including e-books, blogs, websites, brochures, and social media pages. Based on a survey conducted by the Content Marketing Institute in 2016, 86% of B2B marketers and 77% of B2C marketers use content marketing to promote their business.

Mint is an example of a small business that grew to more than 2 million customers in the span of 3 years with the use of content marketing. They created custom infographics specifically designed to speak to their target customers and then used the power of social media to distribute it.

Another success story is that of Yale Appliance, an appliance store based out of Boston, that grew its business by 40% through effective content marketing. They focused on creating blog posts that provided genuinely useful information to their readers, helping them in the buyer decision process.

Create Informational Videos

Another creative technique to market your business is to produce informative videos that explain your product or service in a helpful manner. In general, users prefer to watch videos over reading long articles. Hence, you can create a YouTube channel for your business and post informative, as well as entertaining, videos on a regular basis.

An impressive example of this marketing technique is Anyoption’s daily market analysis videos published on their YouTube channel. These short videos are really helpful for newbie investors and binary options traders. Anyoption’s YouTube channel was watched by more than 95,000 unique visitors in 1 year. Assuming a conversion rate of just 1%, they would have acquired 950 new customers through their video marketing.

Dollar Shave Club is another great example of successful video marketing. This company spent $4,500 on a video ad that was posted on YouTube and, subsequently, got more than 10 million views, 76,000 Facebook fans and 23,000 Twitter followers. This helped them get more than 12,000 new customers, in 2 days and they went on to raise $10.8 million in financing.

Participate in Social Media Groups and Online Forums

Social media has proven to be a versatile tool for any business trying to connect with a wide audience. Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, allow companies to market their brand extensively through the inbound techniques mentioned earlier. Other forums, like LinkedIn groups, Quora questions, and Reddit pages, allow you to reach already-interested users through topic-related content. You can use these techniques to share your company’s insights and expertise by advising others. As a result, you will build an online reputation for your brand and improve its credibility. Engaging in social media conversations will also help you build an online network and drive business growth.

To illustrate, Kagome, a Japanese food brand, achieved a 25X increase in orders and subscriptions and a 4X increase in conversion rate after running Facebook ads along with newspaper pamphlets.

Similarly, a watch company named MVMT Watches used Twitter to share product deals during the holiday season. The company increased their website traffic by 189% and Black Friday sales by 353% through these Twitter campaigns.

Produce Compelling Emails

Another simple yet effective technique to market your small business is through e-mail marketing campaigns. E-mails are an easy way to share content that is relevant to your target customers. An email campaign is not just about featuring your products, it should centre around educating your subscribers about new technologies, upcoming trends and business insights. If done right, these campaigns will help you build a referral network and nurture strong relationships with your clients.

Research has found that e-mail marketing is the most cost-effective marketing technique. For every $1 spent on email marketing; you can expect returns as high as $38. Since e-mails are more personal, delivered directly to the inbox of the customer, they are more effective and guarantee better reach compared to other techniques.

An email success story is that of Danny’s Meat & Catering. This small business used email marketing to attract new customers by advertising “free steaks on your birthday”. They were able to increase their sales by 15% in just 6 months. During this time, they also accrued 2,400 new email subscribers.

Conclusion: These marketing best practices can help you compete with big-budget companies and stand out in the sea of small businesses, even with a tight budget. Ideally, your company would execute all four marketing techniques, but picking just one (and perfecting it) will go a long way!

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Develop a Leadership Platform That Will Supercharge Your Sales Numbers

Like the cold days of winter, the days of cold outreach are numbered. But, for the moment, your prospects are still being inundated with sales pitches from all sides, every single day.

And when they’re overwhelmed with options, they won't respond, no matter how appealing your offer. If your target doesn't feel a personal connection to your content, that clever email you composed to catch his or her attention will be cast aside, along with thousands of other such attempts. 

Related: Why You Can’t Ignore LinkedIn for Thought Leadership

Data backs this up: According to Demand Gen Report’s 2016 Content Preferences Survey, nearly half of all responding B2B buyers will consume three to five pieces of content before interacting with a salesperson. 

The same study found that a staggering 96 percent of buyers wanted that content to come from thought leaders in their industry; indeed, the trustworthiness of the source was cited as highly important by all respondents.

Fortunately, none of us ignore a message from someone we already know. But, of course you don’t have enough personal contacts, friends and family to keep your business growing sustainably; so how can you get to know prospects you’ve never met before?

The answer is that the surest path to warmer outreach entails building familiarity and credibility with the right people; and that occurs when you become a trusted voice in your field. When you take the time to position yourself as a leader in your industry, what you have to say about what you’re selling suddenly carries more weight. In that context, you’re not just another person hawking his or her wares; you’re someone your prospective customer or client knows and trusts.

The more familiar buyers become with you, the more likely they are to listen to your pitch. You’re looking for more leads and sales, but what you really need are more strong relationships.

Own the conversation by being the highest authority.

Imagine you sell software to commercial construction companies. Even if you have a great list of leads, good luck getting a foot in the door if no one on that list has ever heard of you. Now, let’s say instead that you’re the founder of a popular LinkedIn group called “The Commercial Construction Leadership Network.”

The more well-known and active a group is, the more likely its members will be to listen to the person who started it and to recommend that person as a leader in the space. Establishing this kind of “authority leadership platform” on social media can really boost your marketing initiatives.

Hosting recurring local meet-ups or conference series and other traditional methods of broad outreach takes a lot of time and effort and produces limited results. LinkedIn and Facebook groups, however, allow you to reach a larger swath of your target audience without a huge time commitment or travel on your part.

Following these steps will help you create an online space where your target audience wants to be -- and where you lead the discussion.

Related: 3 Questions to Make Sure Your Content Starts the Conversation

1. Zero in on your targets.

“Small business owners” is not a real demographic. Neither is “everyone.” Trying to please everyone will make your messaging seem generic and, sadly, leave it unread. Think about the kind of person you want to reach. What does that person do? What kind of purchasing power does he or she have? What industry is this person in, and what city or town? Think about what this person searches for, and include those keywords in the content you create.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, for example, created a LinkedIn group targeted specifically to its members. This group saw tremendous growth, with 15 percent of the institute’s membership joining up, according to the Institute. By identifying its niche and taking charge of the conversation, AICPA not only strengthened its brand, but also provided a new community resource for its members. Added bonus: Most of them now view being included in the organization’s LinkedIn group as a major perk of membership.

2. Build to their specifications, not your own.

Don’t make the mistake of creating something that’s all about what you do. The only people who care about that are you and your competitors. Instead, think about what would resonate with your audience. What do they care about? What conversations do they want to have? Decide whether to provide a thought leadership platform, a network hub or something else that fulfills a need your audience has.

One of our clients, an IT business, realized that most of its buyers worked in manufacturing. Rather than start a group about IT -- the focus of his business -- this man started a group called “Midwest Manufacturing Leaders,” which focuses on what his clients want to talk about. This puts him in a position to engage further with an attentive audience.

3. Follow them to your place.

Among B2B buyers, 50 percent use LinkedIn to help make purchasing decisions, according to the social media site itself. HubSpot, meanwhile, says Facebook is about more than socializing, with 73 percent of users reporting they use the site for professional purposes to some degree.

You can find business on both platforms, but you have to figure out which one is the most likely place for your prospects to engage. CEOs of construction companies probably don’t spend much time searching for business conversations on Facebook; that’s more of a LinkedIn audience. On the other hand, people in consumer marketing are all over Facebook. Don’t try to drag your audience to the platform you prefer. Figure out which one they like, and make it easy for them to interact with you by setting up a group on that site.

Related: Content Strategies for Customer Engagement

Once you start your group and get your target audience signed up and talking, all that’s left to do is consistently provide content they crave. By engaging with you outside of a sales channel, they’ll come to know you as a trusted advisor -- someone whose emails will never end up in their spam folders.

Create the right group on the right platform, and you’ll not only position your company as an industry leader, you’ll also supercharge your leads.

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