Every month thousands of people are searching online to ask: How Can I Promote My Website For Free?
More often than not these people have an ecommerce type website, or a company replicated website they were given by an online business they signed up with.
Some are advised to buy expensive online advertising spots such as banner ads or pop-up ads, place free online classified ads, or pay big bucks to a search engine marketing company. None of these options are going to get you anywhere fast...
(That's actually very 90's advice!)
Earlier this week I received a similar question in my Inbox:
Hi Lynn,
I just joined an online business and wanted your advice on what would be my best choices for advertising it. It is an online store that has all brand name groceries and products that saves us all money, time and gas, 30% to over 50% on all of these products over Wal-mart prices. The website is http://www.myharvestamerica.com/arizona
Thanks,
Jim Rusk
My response to Jim:
"The best thing to do is create a blog or website that appeals to your target market, and then use your store link as the call-to-action within the content. That will allow you to get search engine rankings and traffic free, instead of paying for ads."
When you have a company replicated website like this it is usually through a "business opportunity", or a network marketing (MLM) company. Each website is identical, and is actually very similar to an affiliate link.
These types of links do not get indexed in the major search engines.
Example:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=+site%3Amyharvestamerica.com+arizona
How Can I Promote My Website For Free?
The absolute best way to promote your website for free online is to get good rankings in the major search engines. Since that is not possible with this type of website (or link), you'll need to consider other options.
As I mentioned in my reply to Jim, you can set up your own blog or website and bypass that issue. Your first objective is to consider your target market (your ideal visitor) and brainstorm what kind of content would appeal to that market.
On that blog or website you create, you'll write what is called SEO Content. This will make it easy for your buyers to find you online through the major search engines (like Google), and then you'll have the opportunity to tell them about your website and whatever deals you offer there.
Jim's website sells retail products at discounted prices, including brand name groceries, with free shipping directly to your front door. So Jim's first step would be keyword research, to determine how is target market is searching for this type of service online.
I use http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com
A quick search shows that nobody is really searching for individual products, like say - windex. The closest you can get is "windex coupons" which gets around 31 searches a day - but Jim doesn't offer product coupons.
Instead, he should start with the base keyword "shopping" and target keywords like: online shopping, walmart online shopping, online grocery shopping, online discount shopping, online outlet shopping, buy groceries online, etc.
The goal is to create an extensive keyword list of all the things people are searching for you in your market, and then write content that specifically appeals to them. Optimize your pages or blog posts to rank well in the major search engines, and end your piece by showing them your website as the solution.
This is the absolute best way to promote a website or link for free online. Some people think that "SEO" (search engine optimization or search engine marketing) is difficult - but it's not. It's a simple matter of researching keywords, writing content that is optimized for those keywords, and getting links to that content. That's it.
It's a lot more effective than any type of free online advertising, such as classified ads, or even expensive banner ads or other online advertising options. And it's free.
The short answer: Jim should create a blog all about online shopping. The benefits, the resources, reviews and comparisons, etc. This will allow him to reach his target market, engage in discussions with them through the comments, and become an authority in the niche.
The same would be true for a Tupperware or Avon rep, or any other merchant representative with a company website. The Avon rep might focus on anti-aging articles and solutions, the Tupperware rep on simple cooking tips or potluck parties.
The goal is to figure out what your target market is most interested in, and deliver exactly that - along with the solutions or resources they'll need.
Best,
p.s. If you're worried about the cost of creating your own blog or website, don't be! You can set one up for less than $10. You'll need a domain name and a hosting account. I use HostGator for web hosting, and if you use the coupon code "wordpress" you'll get the first month for only a penny.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below 😉
About Lynn Terry
Thanks Lynn for sharing these very practical and free tips! You really laid it out there for Jim in a no-hype, straightforward way.
I love the way your brain works Lynn. I didn't even think about anti-aging related content for Avon products.
I always wondered how can those in MLMs promote their site with so many restrictions. Thanks for sharing these great tips as usual!
As a MLM distributor, you really have to promote yourselves, not the company at all. Once people get to know you and trust you, they're more willing to listen to your advise and may become your customer. Moreover when want to change company. You have your own list, your own customer that is belongs to you. No to any MLM company.
Ahh - very good point, Kin! 😉
Great advice as usual Lynn. So many people try and market their company replicated websites as given. Pick a specialized niche based on the company provided website, create a blog and go from there.
Will look anew at my website because of this article...thanks
Thank you, Jim, for posing your question to Lynn re: "How to Promote Your Web Site for Free," and thank you, Lynn, for answering Jim so thoroughly.
I like that you've linked to some of your other posts, Lynn, to show Jim how to set up his site.
It also helps me to understand the process when I can see it in action.
Very clear instructions, as usual, Lynn!!
And that is what I have done with my site - fortunately for me I did get this great advice about 5 years ago, and am doing fabulously with it for my Sunrider whole food nutrition business.
There have been ups and downs along the way, but I am so happy that I listened to this advice early on!
Also having incredible support of those who have gone ahead and paved the way in the online world has made all the difference.
Diana
Diana Walker, Cravings Coach, Sunrider Group Leader, CEO, Diana's Healthy Lifestyles
I have only just started getting into keyword research and SEO for my blog and ti really isn't that hard to find search terms to target.
Great post, Lynn! I'm beginning to grasp the keyword concept more.
I like your post, because it touches on website promotion, and the value of blogs. Have a good day!
I like the post and how Lynn has suggested to build a long-term source of traffic from search engines.
Building a blog and creating content in it could be very useful and effective way of generating targeted traffic to your online business. What it takes is the knowledge of web content creation combined with SEO methods. If you know how to find the keywords, use them at your post and continue this on a regular basis, you can get take your blog to the next step.
Of course, this is a great start that can be continued as long as your blog is alive. However, content creation outside your blog can help it too. It's not much different from what Lynn has mentioned. You can write and distribute articles at article directories to get backlinks to your blog and enhance it. You can write and publish press releases to be found by journalists and web news readers.
You can add to your list other free marketing methods like video marketing and so on. The first best advice is what this post explains.
Good info on your post. thanks for all your hard work, I am learning alot by your blog.
These are the exact type of marketers my coaching targets...the companies themselves do nothing in this area.
You truly nailed it head on as Rich said, you really laid it out there in a no-hype, straightforward way.
SEO is key to driving in traffic. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one sees it, then its useless. You have to work hard to get ranked high for competitive keywords in Search Engines, but once you accomplish that, you will notice a huge increase in your traffic. Creating a blog or website to promote your idea and driving traffic is another traffic strategy.
Nicely summed it. It really is very simple in principle and certainly onsite content writing is something that we're getting the hang of. It's the other half - getting links to our content - that we find a bit more of a mystery now. Any suggestions on how to attract links? Thanks again.
Show to receive (love that is). Start linking out to other bloggers from within posts, comment on other blogs in your niche, etc., you'll see it reciprocated. 🙂
That's good advice Dennis. Basically get involved inthe community and show some goodwill right? We've also just discovered the WordPress community CommentLUV which seems to be a great way of finding interesting blogs and of encouraging people to comment on your own blog.
Excellent Vineeta, it's one of the best plugins ever created. Just remember to pay a little more attention to your titles if you comment on commentluv enabled blogs. 🙂
SEO plays an important role in order to have a successful online business. It's actually not merely about your product, but more about how will you reach all your potential customers.
This is exactly what I am doing. I have a few websites / affiliate programs I am promoting all on my blog. As of right now I am creating my blog to gain more trusted and regular visitors and them I will start promoting more.
Like anybody else, I also think that SEO is very difficult to handle. You need to perform tons of research, etc. Though it's really difficult, it could only happen at the beginning of the process. Most especially if you're new in doing SEO.
Lynn, SEO is important, but might be the wrong focus for a business in an ultra-competitive market (e.g. restaurant, blog etc.). My suggestion for the local business owner looking to promote a website online is to create both a Google and Yahoo local listing. These are a great way to get search preference from local searchers for free.
Tip from CluePad Marketing Engine -http://www.cluepad.com
Quality content - build links = better search engine rankings - more traffic = more sales. Simples!
If you want cost free blogs, you can always use blogger or wordpress. Then you can introduce your company in a subtle way without directly advertising. You can also use PR sites to submit articles.
I am using right now Scribd.com and Google News to gain some targeted traffic and it's well worthing the investment to put time in it, because you will get highly targeted visitors back from Google news.
Thanks for some great tips. Your blog is so full of rich information about website traffic. I get most of my website traffic from Yahoo Answers, but I want to know a easy way to get high PR for free or back links from websites with Dofollow
Also if your website is fast and has more rich content then your competitors your website will eventually out rank them
"You can have everything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want." People are looking for a leader and someone whose vision they can share. They need to know that if they buy from you, they will never get better service from anywhere else. You add the value to the business. Natural traits such as trust, positivity, certainty and integrity are the most valuable lead generators you can have. And they're FREE! When you switch from selling to genuinely caring, your business improves by 400% Of course there are lots of online techniques that can help, as well. Thanks for this. If you need any help, just ask. Good luck!
Rayna,I very much agree helping others enrich themselves is the secret to getting what you want out of life.People want people that help them get what they want.its an exchange game, so care for people and they'll come back to you.This in return improves your business.
great site , there is lots of info so i need to get reading
I enjoyed reading this article, the information on no cost website promotion is very well presented in concise, easy to read segments and it covers all the best methods of free promotions.
Thanks for your tips, Not even $10, with blogger, we can create a free blog and website.
Good tips for website promotion. Always care about who your customers and visitors are. It will show in how you present information.
Wow, thank you so much for the information. At the moment my main business is my blog, but I really like to set up a shop to.
Clean, simple, direct.
I actually understood something.
Now whether i can act on it or not....!
What IS SEO content though...? (ya, I'm a novice!)
Great post and some useful and practical tips. I have only recently discovered how important keyword research is and I have started spending more time on keyword research and it has definitely made a difference
That's not a shabby idea. I've got a number of websites I'm currently working on promoting. I still believe that marketing a website yourself is the most rewarding form available. You get out of it what you put in.
I am one of those Tupperware reps and in South Africa they dont create websites for us to advertise consultants in different areas like they do in the US, so i thought creating my own site was a good idea and so i did only to be sent two letters from the legal team and company of Tupperware telling me to remove their pictures in my post, thye went as far as wanting my to shut down the whole website. How do you get around creating your own site and running it without any trouble from Tupperware in your country?
Hello Lynn, great article. My mother sales Avon and have one of those sites they give to reps. My question is when she creates her own website should she get a domain name or just roll with one of those Wix, Weebly, or WordPress sub-domains? I normally get a domain name for my sites to eliminate the sub-domain. I was wondering if it was necessary for good rankings.
Thank You 🙂