ADVERTISING YOUR SITE
If you want people to visit your site, you have to advertise it. If you do
not, nobody will visit it no matter how good it is.
Before you start promoting
your web site, here are a few preparations you should make. First, make sure
that your web site has an informative title. Next, come up with a good
description that is 25 words or less.
Search
Engines
To find information
on the Internet, most people use search engines like
Infoseek or
Alta Vista. If you want people
to find your web site, register it with 40 top search engines for free at
Submit Express.
Before registering your
site with the search engines, visit
Northern Web's Search Engine Tutorial. This excellent site that
explains how to create "search engine friendly" web sites. It discusses how
search engines index documents, and how you can use that knowledge to improve
your site's search engine position.
Banner Exchanges
The
Internet Link
Exchange and Looksmart Clicks are banner networks that advertise your site for free using banners like those that
big companies have. In exchange for displaying other people's banners on your site, they
will display your banner on other people's sites.
Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
Newsgroups and mailing lists can be valuable resources for promoting your web site.
You can find newsgroups related to your web site's topic(s) with
Usenet Info Center Launch Pad, and mailing lists with E-mail Discussion
Groups.
Use a signature file each time you post to a newgroup or send an email message. A signature file is a few lines of text added to the
end of a message. Here is an example of a signature file that you could use to promote your web site:
Learn how to create a successful web site!
http://www.hooked.net/~larrylin/web.htm
Before posting to a newsgroup or mailing list, you should read some of the current postings to get a feel of what is appropriate
and what is not; if the newsgroup has a FAQ, you should read it. This is especially important if your
posting is purely an advertisement for your web site.
Exchange
Links
Find sites with content
similar to your own. Then, ask the owner of that site to exchange links with
you. In exchange for making a link to that person's site, that person
will make a link to yours.
Guestbooks
Many guestbooks asks
you for the title and URL of your site. If you come across a guestbook, fill
this information out. What you fill out will be posted somewhere, with a
hypertext link to your site. More people are likely to visit your site if
there are more hypertext links leading them there.
Free For
Alls
Free for All link pages allow you to post your site. They
ask you for the name of your site, the URL, and the category. Once you push
the submit button and reload the page, a link to your site will appear at
the top of the category you chose.
When you send email
to a webmaster asking for a reciprocal link, remember to include the title
and URL of your site. Also include the title and URL of the site you want
to exchange links with because many webmasters have more than one site.
Sites that have Links to Places Where you can Submit your Site for
FREE
1.
WebStep Top 100
is a list of the 100 best places to advertise your site for free.
2.
Free Links: The Ultimate
Web Site Traffic Builder categorizes directories, search engines, and
links pages where you can list your site for free.
3.
2001+
Places To Promote Your Web FREE!! is another site you should check out.
