50 Tips for Marketing Your Website

marketing2 

As amazing as your website may be, it’s not going to market itself. If you want people to come to your website, you have to get the word out there. Once a few thousand people see your website, it can start to pick up steam and spread through reputation. In the beginning however, you have to do the ground work.

Here are 50 tips for marketing your website.

marketing-strategy

1. Add a ton of original content. There is no better way to market your website than having content that people love to spread. This method doesn’t work overnight, but in time is extremely powerful.

2. Pick keywords and put them in your title tag. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find good keywords and put the in your title tag. Note: use only several relevant keywords.

meta-data3. Write a good META description tag. Your META description tag goes under your title tag in the search engines. It helps convince people to click on your ad.

4. Look at your analytics logs and see who’s sending you traffic. Use these traffic sources more readily.

 comments5. Contact people who comment on your blog. See if you can get them to link to you or talk about you in a blog post.

6. Start a YouTube channel. Upload videos that people in your industry would love and want to pass on to their friends.

7. Submit your site to directories. Use DMOZ and Yahoo! Directory for high powered backlinks and smaller industry specific directories for targeted traffic.

 news8. Write for offline newspapers and magazines. Reach out to editors and let them know that you’re an expert on a subject and would like to do an editorial or opinion piece.

 pressrelease9. Write a press release and submit it to online press release services like PR Web. Bloggers and editors will receive this release and potentially write about your company.

10. Get in contact with traditional press editors. Pitch them a story about why your company is unique, or find a way to help them in a story they’re already working on.

11. Submit a high quality piece of content to Reddit. Make sure you submit it to the right sub-reddit to get as many interested people as possible.

12. Submit your content to StumbleUpon. If your content is good, this can send tens of thousands of visitors your way very quickly.

 Facebook

13. Create a Facebook page. Use your website to promote your page. Your page will allow you to stay in touch with your fans, as well as launch new viral campaigns.

14. Use Twitter regularly. Befriend other Twitter influencers and ask them to retweet things when you’re doing a promotion. Likewise, do whatever you can to help others succeed, as eventually they’ll want to reciprocate.

15. Search for people to reply to on Twitter. Search for common questions people in your industry might ask and @reply them directly.

16. Join internet forums and contribute. Find relevant forums in your industry and post high quality content replies.

17. Put your site in your email signature. Anyone who interacts with you should see your content website in your email.

 email mkt118. Create an email newsletter. Use it to follow up with your guests, to build a long term connection and to make regular sales over the guest’s lifetime.

19. Do an online contest. Give away amazing prizes that people would want to fight for. If your prizes are really top notch, people are going to talk about the contest and pass it along to other people.

20. Advertise in other people’s emails. Advertising opportunities start as low as $25.

 affiliate_marketing21. Launch your own affiliate program. Get other people to promote your products for you.

 PPC22. Buy pay-per-click advertising. Buy relevant keywords for products that you’re selling and get traffic from Google and Bing.

 local_business

23. Contact local businesses about joint marketing opportunities. Look into advertising together, doing products together, doing local promotions, etc.

Nicole Munoz Speaking24. Speak at events related to your topic. Ask the event organizer to link back to you. Mention your site when you’re speaking to bring in more traffic.

25. Use Pinterest. It’s one of the hottest social networking sites at the moment. It’s great for attracting a female crowd.

26. Add your business to Google Maps. If you run a local business, it’s essential that you have a well setup Google Places page.

27. Post on newsgroups, Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. Don’t spam, instead look for ways to add value by giving advice and answering questions. Have a small link to your site at the bottom of your messages.

blog28. Comment on other people’s blog posts. Make well thought out, intelligent comments that add to the discussion and get people curious about you and your site.

29. Interview a well known person. Make the interview available for free.

30. Have great guest blog posts. Often times your guests will link to their own article, driving a lot of quality traffic.

RSS feed31. Create an RSS feed. This makes it easy for people with RSS readers to follow your blog.

32. Advertise on Craigslist. If you run a local business, this could bring a lot of targeted traffic.

33. Use My Blog Guest to find opportunities to write for other websites. Write for those sites and include a link back to your site.

review34. Review products and books. Especially try to review products and books while they’re hot.

35. Answer questions on Quora. Not only can you get good traffic from Quora, but you also position yourself in front of a very high powered crowd.

36. Cover a live event. Update frequently, once every hour or so. People who can’t make it to the event can still feel like they’re there by reading your coverage.

37. Post on portfolio sites. Look for places where you can showcase your work or your ideas. If you get good reviews, a lot of people will come to look at your site.

 Podcasting38. Start a podcast. Publish once a week to start. Build a list of fans who listen to you every week.

 website redesign39. Get a custom designed header. It can really make a big difference on how people see your website.

40. Comment on current events. If a major shift is happening in your industry, talk about it and give your opinion. If you have a unique take, it could gain a lot of traction.

41. Give something away for free. Give away a free eBook, a free audio MP3, a free DVD, a free software package, etc. Free stuff always gets a lot of attention, especially if there’s a high perceived value.

42. Break a record. Pick a record in your industry and try to break it. If you do, you’ll get a ton of press and blog coverage, which will all translate into website traffic.

43. Ask your customers what they want. Then give it to them. When you do this, customers will often be so surprised and thrilled that their request was heard that they’ll tell a lot of their friends about you.

44. Do a weekly roundup of your industry. At the end of each week, go through and pick out the best posts in your industry and link to them. You can write a small summary as well. Make your blog a resource for people to go to for good content in your industry, even if you don’t write the content yourself.

questions45. Answer questions on HARO. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a great place to find reporters who need to interview people for their stories.

46. Organize a local meetup. This will bring you a small amount of connections, but get you a ton of valuable connections.

47. Do a free live chat Q&A. Doing these live Q&As regularly will help you build your connection with your audience as well as get a lot of people linking to you.

 content funnels48. Spend as much time growing interest in your content as you do on writing. After all, what good is content if you nobody sees them? Split your time in half: Half on marketing, half on content.

49. Promote your content on Social Buzz Club and Triberr. Submit your blog posts or videos to these two sites to have the chance to be promoted by leaders in your industry.

50. Create infographics. Gather relevant data, create a scenario and ask a graphic designer to give life to the data you have collected. Promote the infographic on all available channels: infographic sharing websites, Pinterest, social media sites, bookmarking sites.