By Samantha Gluck
The Internet has become a popular and relatively inexpensive way to promote goods and services offered by businesses. The world of ecommerce is in a steady growth trend with new business Web sites showing up daily. Driving traffic to a business Web site is important and does not have to be difficult or expensive.
Below are 10 of the easiest and least expensive ways to accomplish increasing Web site traffic:
- Include the businessdomain name in your email signature. Most email clients have an easy way to customize email signatures. For example, in one of the most popular email programs, this is under the Tool menu option located in the menu bar.
- Ask other business owners or bloggers to place a link to your Web site or blog on their site and do the same for them. You can use Google Alerts to find relevant blogs where you can post comments and draw their attention to your Web site.
- Have car magnets printed for your car doors with your business name, slogan, and URL on it. Keep them on your vehicle when driving around town.
- Take advantage of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. You can create a page for free with links to your actual business Web site as well as post industry-related articles and blogs to spark interest.
- Do some Internet research to discern how people might be searching for your product or service (i.e., what keywords they may be using, etc). Include these keywords in the content of your home page.
- Be careful not to overload your Web site content with too many keywords, as this often creates an awkward feel to the content and readers may navigate away from your page as a result.
- When ordering custom stationary and business cards, be sure to include your URL underneath your company name and logo.
- Send out a monthly or quarterly electronic newsletter to current, former, and prospective customers with your URL prominently displayed.
- Become involved in local business networking clubs and organizations. These are an invaluable tool for driving traffic to your Web site. Make certain to pass out business cards with the URL printed on them, and to talk about the ecommerce component of your business to the other members.
- Many businesses have a bulletin board or designate a certain shelf space near the cash register for other local business owners to leave marketing materials. Ask permission to leave materials in these spaces for customers to see and take along. Make certain your URL is printed on these materials. Examples of businesses that may allow this are local coffee shops, family doctor offices, grocery stores, and beauty salons.
Implementing the suggestions above will most certainly be the first step toward success. If there is room in the business budget, you may wish to consider using professional services for content authoring, search engine optimization (SEO), and homepage design. There are many companies that offer these services for very reasonable rates.
About the Author
Samantha Gluck has had more than a decade of experience helping businesses better focus their Web sites to enhance ecommerce and Internet presence by utilizing Web analytics, relevant design elements, and marketing campaigns.