Gemini's Blog

Promoting your website online can be costly or low cost depending on the techniques that you use. Everyone likes to receive the most traffic using the least amount of expenditures and this is desirable. Using a limited budget it is possible to promote your website using low cost advertising. The objective is to get the right targeted traffic to your site

Having contests o your site is a great way to promote your site. This encourages and involves your visitors’ participation. People like to be a part of something and even if they do not win the contest they feel great participating. When doing this try to give away something of value and it is a good idea to announce who the winner is. This will enable others to see that the contest is legitimate. You may also include the winner’s testimonial to provide validity.

Discussion boards are also a great way of promoting your website online. When visitors come to your site using this channel they are able to freely discuss your products and services. Maybe there are excellent sources or great features that buyers enjoy and they will share their experience. Using viral or word of mouth this could cause an increase in your sales and online visitors to your store .People will also discuss any issues or concerns and through adequate feedback and timely action these can be corrected.

Classified ads an also be used when promoting your website and it is low cost especially when compared to other paid advertising channels. You are also able to reach your target audience enabling better ad performance results. If you ever have lurked n chat rooms then you are aware of this channel as well. Chat rooms are great to spread your message and is familiar to discussion boards.

These are just a few techniques whereby you can promote your website and they definitely work.

Whether you've been in business for years or you're just getting started, Craigslist is one promotional tool that can help you get the word out about your products and services.

Craigslist is an online community of classified ads (categorized by location and including 450 cities worldwide) and forums. It started in early 1995 as the brainchild of Craig Newmark, who wanted to connect people. Today, Craigslist averages more than 20 million visitors per month and over 7 billion pageviews, making it a great place to find a job, a home, a romance, or a product or service. There is no charge to advertise on Craigslist unless you are posting a job or are a broker listing NYC apartments.

As a business owner, you can place an ad (or ads) on Craigslist so that others can learn about your products and services. But, before you place an ad, here are a few things you need to know:

Before You Write Your Ad

1) Who is your customer? If you have an established business, you probably already know the answer to this. But, if you're new to the entrepreneurial scene you've got a little homework to do. Ask yourself how old your customer is, where they live, what they drive, what they eat, what books they read, whether they own pets, and anything else you can think of that might be relevant. The more you know about your customer, the easier it will be to market to them.

2) What are your marketing strengths and weaknesses? You might be great at choosing the right category to place your ad in, but if you can't write good copy you won't get any replys or page hits to your website. Take a self assessment of your marketing skills and decide what you should hire a professional to help you with.

3) Who is your competition on Craigslist? Check out those other ads for some ideas on how to write your own ad. Don't copy ads as you want to be original, but use them to get you thinking as to how you can position yourself in the Craigslist marketplace. Think about how your product or service is better or different than the others listed there.

4) Sign up for a Craigslist account. While you don't need an account to post, having an account will save you hours of trying to write new ads. Your account will keep track of the ads you post, and you'll be able to easily re-post them without having to write new ones unless you want to.

Writing Your Ad

1) When writing your ad (if you are doing the writing) don't make it too long. People prefer short bursts of information to long copy, especially in ads. Think like you're writing for a newspaper classified ad, and keep your copy short and to the point.

2) Use an eye catching headline. Headlines are what will get people to read your ad so make every word count. Don't make claims in your headline that will make your business sound illegitimate. Instead, state the facts of what you have to offer.

3) Include a photo. If you have a product to offer you'll need a professional photo of the product. If you offer a service, such as lawn care, you should include a photo that shows off that service. In the case of lawn care, you would include a photo of a beautiful home with a large, front lawn that is green and well kept. If you offer accounting services you might include a photo of yourself or of you and a satisfied client going over their books. A photo will help people to connect with you, your products or your services.

4) Have your ad professionally designed. Many advertisers on Craigslist do this. It isn't necessary, but it can set you apart from other businesses in your category and make you look professional.

Posting Your Ad

1) Choose the category where the most people who are likely to fit your customer description will see your ad. An author of a book about music, for example, placed his book in the musicians category. Many musicians saw his ad for the book and went to his website to place an order.

2) Make sure you have a way for people to contact you. Putting your phone number or email address on Craigslist isn't advised, but you can use a faux Craigslist email address that will forward messages to your personal or business email. If you have a website, you can also list your URL in your ad. This will bring traffic to your website if your ad is well written and correctly categorized.

3) Choose the city where you want to place your ad. If your business depends on local customers, then you'll need to place your ad under your town or city, or a neighboring one. But, if your business can serve customers from anywhere, then you've got some choices. Try to place your ad in a larger town or city rather than a smaller one. Think about your customer demographics. Are they professionals or farmers? Knowing the answer will help you choose a city or town that will bring you the most business.

4) Post more than one ad to various cities and categories if appropriate. While Craigslist won't allow you to post identical ads to more than one category or city, you can re-word the ad in order to post it in more than one place. You'll need to change the headline and at least the first paragraph of the ad. One easy way to post more than one ad about your products and services is to post one ad for each service or product you offer. Then, each ad will be different, although the results will be the same - your potential customers will be able to see your ad and contact you.

Reposting An Ad

1) You need to repost your ads in order for them to keep working for you. Craigslist will keep your ad active for seven days, after which time it is deleted automatically and you can repost. However, a better way to do it is to delete your ad manually after two days. Craigslist won't allow you to repost an ad any earlier than two days after the original posting, but after two days you can delete the ad yourself and re-post.

2) Use software to help you with your ad campaign. There are several different companies available online that offer software to help you. Do a google search to find them, and then research what each company's software has to offer for the price. Choose the best one to suit your needs.

Following these tips will help you to run a successful ad campaign on Craigslist. If you're persistent, it won't take long before you'll see the results of your efforts.

Tips on URL Submission to Online Directories

 Lin Parker 

Acquiring back links to your website is one of the key methods in achieving a good Google page rank, improving your search engine results and getting more visitors. There are many online directories where you can submit your website link and description. Some directories offer a free listing with or without a reciprocal link. Others, usually the ones with a good Google page rank on their directory pages, offer paid listings only, or paid listings with no reciprocal link required.

Submitting to directories is a very time consuming process but can be well worth the effort. Firstly, it can get a new website listed quickly in the search engine results. Secondly, if you get your site listed on a page which has a higher Google page rank than the url you have submitted, this can increase the page rank of your page and boost your search engine results.

Unfortunately, not all directories are good. Some are created mainly as Adsense earners, and are not administered, so links submitted seem to disappear into a black hole. You may find that you add a reciprocal link to your website, submit your url, wait for weeks, and your site never gets listed. You really have to be organised to monitor which directories are worth submitting to. Some webmasters notify you if your url has been added. Others do not, so it is up to you to check your submissions.

If you manage more than one website, just submit one site at first. If it is accepted, then submit the others. Use a spreadsheet to list the directories and websites you have submitted to, noting the url where you expect your site to be listed, the submission date, approval timescale and the date your link was approved. Note the directories where submission failed, so you do not waste time submitting again.

How do you know which directories are good, and which should be avoided? Directories with no Google page rank on the home page are not established, and your listing may not be found by the search engines. However, the directory may be an up and coming quality website, and this could give you the opportunity to get a free listing with no reciprocal link required, before they achieve good page ranks and start charging for submissions! If the directory shows the date when websites were approved, check to see if the dates are recent. If not, steer clear. Take a look at the copyright date at the bottom of the page. If this does not show the current year, it may be an inactive directory. Look at a few of the categories. Do they contain only relevant websites? If they list all kinds of sites under inappropriate categories, this indicates the submissions are not checked, and there is little benefit to being listed on a page with few relevant websites. Are the directory pages optimized for search engines? Does the url of the category page include the category name? If so, then the page is optimised and this will encourage search engine spiders to visit your website.

Some directories will indicate the approval timescale, varying from days to months. Make a note of this and check to see if your site has been listed. If not, try to contact the webmaster so see if your site was rejected. If there is no response, and you had added a reciprocal link, make sure you delete the link from your website. Be wary of directories requiring a reciprocal link on your home page. Too many outbound links on your home page can have a negative effect on your ranking in search engine results.

Webmasters are busy people, and may be inundated with submissions to their directory. Here are some tips to help ensure that your link will be accepted:

• Submit to a relevant category in the directory. The most common reason for rejection is from submitting a link to an inappropriate category.
• If a reciprocal link is required, add it to your website before you submit, and check that the link works. Always copy and paste the reciprocal link url to avoid any typing errors, which will result in a failed submission.
• Do not stuff your title or description with keywords. A short title containing just your website name is usually the most acceptable.
• Ensure that the description is relevant both to the web page you are submitting, and to the category selected. Make it attractive to potential visitors.
• If requested, include a valid email address, preferably one containing the website address of the url being submitted.

Submitting to websites can be a tedious process. Knowing what to avoid, and how to improve your submission success rates will help you to achieve quality links and get more visitors to your website.

Keywords play the most important role when it comes to website optimization. Search engines search for keywords or key phrases only in the web site when they search for the information for the net surfers.

As search Engines need just the most informative and useful sites for their visitors, they prefer the sites containing content with the highest priority of the keywords being searched.

Expert Keyword Research is the cornerstone to a successful SEO.

Many new website owners have a myth that Keyword Research and Analysis is a very simple task which can be performed with the help of free Keyword Research and Generator tools like Overture, Wordtracker, GoogleAdwords etc.

But in reality these tools can only give an approximate idea of what keywords can be searched relevant to a website like yours. But the actual keyword analysis can only be done by the person who has done analysis of the site keeping in mind the user’s perspective and potential customers.

Research Tools or a layman can just land up to basic research. Expert Keyword Research exposes so much more.

Find here 5 effective Keyword Research Analysis Tips for website optimization:

 

 

• Use multiple - word phrases

   

  In spite of using more generic words try to use synonyms or “long tail” keywords. Research has shown that multi word phrases are capable of bringing more traffic to your site rather than highly competitive main keyword phrases. As long tail keywords plays a role of unique keyword for the site which increases the chance of bringing the site to the top.

  Less generic keywords or key phrases can bring a good amount of traffic to the site initially.

   

• Research keywords specifically for each page

   

  Stuffing of surplus targeted keywords in the Meta tags and using the same Meta tag in every page of the site is a complete waste. Your keyword research needs to be page specific and only focusing on 2 to 5 keywords per page. It would be more effective according to the best SEO practices as it gives each site page a chance for higher ranking on its own.

   

• Country specific Keyword Research Do not forget keyword search terms can be country specific. For different countries there are different keywords terms you must research and then reference that country's search engine when doing your initial keyword research. For instance, UK and Australia may have different expressions, terminology and spellings. Referencing the country specific search engine can yield to a good amount of local traffic to your site.

   

   

• Perform Effective Keyword Analysis Effective keyword research for your website should be accompanied with an effective analysis of those keywords in the search engines to check:

   

   

   

   

  • To evaluate the competitiveness of your keywords. Along with checking the competitiveness of your keywords you should look at the strength of the competition.
  • Are the other sites listed for your keywords truly your competitors?
  • If it is really the desired niche keyword for that page
  • Are the sites listed for your keyword even related to your industry, products or services?

   

   

• Ongoing Keyword Research Keyword Research and Analysis is not a home work of one day. It needs continuous efforts to be done upon to survive. Consistent modifications according to the emerging market changes are needed. Ongoing keyword research and modifications are the must for best SEO practices. All the search engine optimization process goes around the website overall impact and usefulness and obviously the content and the keywords that are going to be used for the optimization process decide the fortune. Therefore keyword research needs expertise and should be done under the supervision of experts.