Promote Your Site Every Day

By - Steve Nash

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You want traffic at your site, but with so many new websites added every day it isn't easy. The only solution is to promote your site, each and every day...

Here are 7 promotion methods for you to try, one for each day of the week:

Day 1 - Submit Your Site To A Search Engine
No big surprises with this promotion method. Just submit your site to a new search engine, or blast your website address to hundreds of directories and Free For All (FFA) sites. (Take care with your e-mail address with the FFA sites!) Try to keep a log of just when and where you submit your site.

Link: http://jimtools.com/submit.html

Day 2 - Post A Newsgroup Discussion
There are newsgroups, bulletin boards or forums on just about every subject imaginable. A good place to start is http://www.deja.com/usenet which allows you to search all of the Usenet newsgroups for a particular term or phrase.

Post a message online, via Deja.com, or offline using Outlook Express (or similar). Follow the forum or newsgroup guidelines, when you start a discussion or answer someone's query. It *is* okay to mention your website in a 2-line signature, though.

Day 3 - Swap Links With Other Sites
Links make the World Wide Web go around; they also improve your search-engine ranking! One way of achieving lots of links to your site is to swap links with other sites. There is an excellent article on link-swapping at http://www.bannertips.com/howto.shtml but basically:

Identify sites with similar content to yours
Request a reciprocal link (be polite, and use webmaster's name)
Create a "Links" section on your site and put the links there.
Day 4 - Write A Testimonial
Writing favourable comments, testimonials, about another website could make you an instant online friend (we all respond well to flattery after all!). This could lead to a link-swap or even a possible joint venture (see Day 6).

Just review their website (or product), and write about the benefits you gain from the site in specific terms (so it sounds like you're actually talking about *their* site). Just be honest and tell them what you like.

Day 5 - Be An Expert, Have An Opinion
Believe it or not people are interested in what you have to say! Several websites are even willing to pay you for your opinion! And we all have an opinion, don't we! Remember, it's good to talk (especially if your listeners then visit your website!).

If you *really know your stuff*, you can become an 'expert' at several sites. You may have to write articles on your subject of expertise, or just answer questions from site-visitors. Either way *you* gain more exposure, and your site gains more exposure too.

Opinion site: http://www.epinions.com
Expert site: http://www.askanexpert.com/

Day 6 - Start A Joint Venture
A joint venture can be as simple as joining an affiliate program. But basically you sponsor another's product and take a share in the profits. Joint ventures can also improve 'site-stickiness'.

You need to:
CONTACT webmasters who market similar products/services and ask them if they would be interested in offering yours. Share the profits, and it's a win-win situation.
PROMOTE another webmasters' product or service (something you believe in) to your subscribers or customers.
Day 7 - Follow Up!
No new websites to visit here. No new methods of promotion. Just an opportunity to measure the success (or otherwise) of the previous 6-days' efforts. This is a time to follow-up and perhaps plan for the next 6-days.

And If All Goes Well...
If all goes well then just take a break, but if you're really keen, however, you *could* take a look at some of these other promotion methods too:

Encourage visitors to bookmark your site
Join a banner-exchange program
Write a press release
Run a competition
Create great content, and allow others to use it
Create an online community
Good luck!

About The Author
This article is a summary; the full-length article(s) can be viewed online at http://www.shoptour.co.uk/promote_your_site/ Steve Nash is webmaster of Shop Tour UK: "A unique, fun way tobrowse over 900 secure UK shopping sites" http://shoptour.co.uk