Promoting your Website
Telling the world about your website

The Types of Websites

There are four main types of websites, each one gains traffic through a different method.

Content site

Sites like this which contains large amounts of information. Almost all traffic is provided by a search engine. Users are looking for specific information, so the key to large traffic is a large amount of information. Few users are repeat visitors.

Commercial site

Sites which are sales fronts for businesses. They can either have a large catalogue of products, making the website similar to a "Content site", or drive traffic from offline advertisements.

Purpose site

Sites which perform a specific tool. For example a search engine or an email account. Most traffic comes from either a search engine or the url being memorized.

Entertainment site

Sites which typically provide a comedy aspect, where most traffic is driven by friends recommending the site in e-mails.

Note: This is by no means an exhaustive list, but will give you a brief idea of how targeting different methods of advertisements are appropriate for different sites.

Optimizing for the Search Engines

Search engine optimization is crucial to your traffic flow. If you are not listed in any search engines no one will be able to find you unless they type your web address (i.e. domain) into their web browser.

Once you understand how to optimize your website for the search engines your site will be easier to find and the number of visitors to your website will increase. See also: SEO Process

Positioning your Website

Having your website listed on the first page of a search engines results will give you maximum exposure. The closer you are to the top of the page the greater the number of visitors you will receive.

By optimizing your website you can exercise some control over where your site shows up in the search results for the search engines. It's not easy but it can be done. Thus, you should try to optimize your website to rank somewhere in the top ten results. To do this will require long hours of hard work. But, first you must learn how to optimize your website.

Optimization of webpage keywords and content

First focus on your keywords and keyword density but don't sacrifice your message. Write your content like you were writing to a friend. Let your creativity take over and write from your heart. Focus on what you want to say and don't worry about optimizing your web page content until you are completely satisfied with your message.

Once you have nailed down your content then utilize the meta tags keywords, description and title. Use your keywords when naming your pages and also for paragraph headings. Not all search engines operate exactly the same. But, if you follow the optimization tips outlined below you will do just fine on most of them.

Optimization tips

Are your keywords in your title tags?
Are your keywords in your content?
Do your keywords accurately describe the theme or subject of your page?
What words will users type into search engines to find your website?
Does the page contain JavaScript? If so, how much of it precedes content? (CSS and JavaScript is nice, but engine robots don't have a clue as to what to do with it and often give up if there's no content nearby.)
If your website is a business, have you made sure your business address and other information is easily available on each page? (Directories look for this when reviewing business sites.)
Did you optimize several pages of your site for certain targeted keywords? Be sure that your page titles reflect your keywords and be sure to repeat them in the body text of the page.
Are there plenty of text links on your pages for robots to follow? (They don't follow image map links or options in drop down menus.)
Did you read each engine FAQ to make sure you avoid SPAMMING their database before you submitted your URL? (FAQ's change often, so you need to keep checking back.)
Do you have any web sites linking to your website? Links from other web sites similar to your own will increase the relevancy of your website in search engine results.
Note: Remember your keywords should be in your filename, heading (i.e. page title) and in the first paragraph of your web page.

Links from other Websites

One of the biggest things that search engines look for, after content and theme, are quality links to your website from reputable internet addresses. Just any links won't do. They must be roughly the same subject matter and rank well on the search engines. This can be one of the most difficult parts of the optimization process but if your site is interesting, full of rich content and you keep growing your website they will come.

Website Promotion

Remember that while search engines are a primary way people look for web sites, they are not the only way. People also find sites through word-of-mouth, traditional advertising, the traditional media, news group postings, web directories and links from other sites. Many times, these alternative forms are far more effective draws than are search engines.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Website Optimization
Optimizing Your Website	It's no good having a website if no one can find it. That's the bottom line. But the good news is that there is plenty that you can do to increase your chances of the right people finding you.
Landing Pages - What You Need to Explain to your Website Design Company	The definition of a landing page is simply "the first page that visitors hit on your site," so it is not strictly a certain page but any page that a user "lands" on. All websites have landing pages, whether they like it or not, even if it was not specifically designed as such.
6 Website Redesign SEO Secrets Your Developer May Not Know	At the end of the year, many businesses start to think about redesigning their tired old website to breathe some new life into it. If so, the first thing is to make sure you hire a design and development company that knows how to build the infrastructure of the website in a search engine crawler–friendly manner.
Do-It-Yourself SEO - A Beginner's Checklist	It is becoming more important for webmasters to have an internal approach and awareness of search engine marketing.
For SEO Beginners - Twelve Definitions You Need To Know	This líst of twelve SEO-related definitions in alphabetical order serves as a great companion for your initial SEO reading.
Most Common SEO Mistakes	Here are the most common mistakes people make which keep their sites from being ranked well.
Keywords Are It! Seven Powerful and Useful Keyword Marketing Tools	After years of running websites and earning a full-time online income, I am constantly reminded that it all comes down to keywords.
How to Begin Keyword Research	Keyword research starts with the understanding that finding lots of related keywords that deliver targeted traffic is the ultimate goal of any keyword research.
Writing And Optimizing Your Website's Content	Content is the messages and information that accurately and significantly describe your business or purpose of your web site.
Link Popularity	Search engines are the gateway to the Internet; they are the first tool that potential customers use to find the products and services they need. This is why link popularity is so imperative.
Link Building Basics - 5 Easy Tips	Today building a website is so easy even a child could do it. The difficult part however is to get targeted traffic to your newly created website.
Content and Optimization	The content of your individual webpages determines how your visitors and the search engines se your website.
The Top 10 Tools for Monitoring the Success of Your Website	By monitoring your website you will be able to see how it is performing and how it can be improved.
The Search Engine Optimization Process - Beginners Guide