“If you build it, they will come” just isn’t true when it comes to websites. Now that you’ve got this great site, how do you get people to visit?

This is an area of website management that is more art than science, and indeed, website marketing has lately become a growth industry in the web world. In fact, you can hire individuals who specialize entirely in website marketing. But what if you don’t have money to pour into marketing? Here are some simple no-cost (or low cost) ways you and your staff can increase the number of web visitors and keep them coming back.

Foremost, hammer it in everyone’s head in your organization that your website IS your public persona. If you’ve done your web homework, your site is dripping with information and features that your readers will want to know about. So the first step is to be proud of your website and you’ll soon discover untold ways to advertise it.

How do visitors find my website?
They may see your web address in a newspaper article, an email message, an online discussion, another website, an advertisement, or a search engine. The important point is that all these mediums are not just over the Internet; offline marketing of your site is just as important as online marketing.

Offline Marketing

• Publish your website address on everything you print: brochures, newsletters, fax cover sheets, letterheads, business cards.
• Make a reference to your website in every newsletter you publish, sending readers to your website for something not available in print.
• Know your URL, making sure everyone who works for you can tell others how to find your website online.
• Add your website address to your organizations phone voice message.
• Request that reporters include your website address in any newspaper or magazine articles about your organization.
• Add your website address to all press releases.
• If you sell posters, T-shirts, mugs, or photos, add your website address to every item.
• Does your organization have a store front? Put your website address on the window or door.

Online Marketing

• Create an email signature that ALWAYS advertises your website address in every email message you send.
• Make sure your organization’s primary purpose is simply stated in the header element of each web page. Search engines often use this statement as a partial description just under your website listing.
• Make sure the keywords and phrases you want people to use to find your web site appear in the text content of your main pages. This will allow the search engines to list your pages correctly.
• Don’t trade links with other websites just to get your website listed as much as possible. Such “link farms” are frowned on by search engines. It’s OK to link to other websites, but make sure you either use links in your page content or else offer a simple explanation of what a user may find if they open the link.
• If you join an online community, use your website URL in your signature.
• Monitor your website traffic–numbers and kinds of visitors and what pages they view. Basic website statistical tools are available in your control panel, or subscribe to more sophisticated software like Google Analytics.
• Investigate online ads. These are a great way to target specific viewers by carefully selecting the words they search on, and it’s often quite inexpensive. Check out Google Ads for starters.

Bring ‘Em Back Alive

• Keep your website current. Visitors will return to your website if they find the information they need, and particularly if they know that new information is added periodically to make their return visit worthwhile.
• Capture subscribers online and send them periodic email newsletters to send them to your website for new articles and updated information.

The key to successful website marketing is to first realize that promoting your website is a slow but steady process, using all the simple tools–both online and offline–at your disposal.