It amazes me, people still believe that all they have to do is “build it and they will come“.  I promise that is the only movie quote that I will use.  Having personally developed well over 100 websites since 1997 I am always stunned by people complaining that there website is a failure and blaming the person who built it.  Having a website is only half the battle! You must promote, promote, and then promote some more.  No matter how great your product is no one can buy it unless they know about it.

First let me say that having  someone develop a custom website for you is very important.  Go cheap and buy a prefab website is usually a prelude to failure.  Yes they are affordable and I know you are on a tight budget but never forget “You Get What You Pay For”.

Now to the point.  There is a simple formula for success.  Spend money = make money.   Sounds easy right?
First figure out what you can afford to pay a developer for your website, if you  have a product to sell you should be thinking in the $1000 range. Also  find a developer who believes in web standards, trust me this is important.

Next figure out a monthly advertising budget and spend it wisely.  This is by far the most import advice I can give.  Your website is not going to shoot to the top of the search engines or miraculously develop visitors all on its own.  While we are on the topic of search engines, keep in mind that a person on the web only has a 4% chance of winding up on your website through a search engine.  Most likely they will find your site while browsing on another website.  Your best bet, if you can afford it, is to hire a reputable firm to promote your website.  They will know what will work and what is a waste of money.   If you can not afford to hire a firm, do your do diligence before spending  your  money.  Only advertise on websites that are relevant to your product otherwise you are wasting your money.

This leads to our third point.  Believe in the power of link exchange.  I do not care what it will do for you in the search engines.  The more links you have out their the greater the likely hood that someone will click that link and wind up on your website.  If you are on a tight budget this is the best way to promote your website.

This article only covers the basics.  Keep an eye out for part two which will have more detail about internet promotion.

Can you ever avail of free website promotion? Is that even feasible?

Of course yes! Nowadays, your baby website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.

How does this free website promotion go anyway? What are things to be done?

1. Enlist your website.

Look for the hottest Internet directories and enlist your site there. This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic. Start with this step and the rest of the good things will follow.

Just don’t forget to prep your website and make it all spruced up for a higher chance to get accepted in your directory of choice.

2. Know your forums.

One reason why forums are created is for free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your site in every post and you attract instant visitors right there.

3. Write a press release.

Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and massive traffic will come to you pronto!

4. Be friendly online.

Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other webmasters. Why, you ask? So they can link you immediately! Establish contacts and never tire of link requests and exchanges.

5. Write an article.

Say, your website is about your travel agency. Write an article about the perks of traveling or the hottest travel spots in the world. On the concluding paragraph, mention your website in passing. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as a free website promotion approach.

6. Just let the whole world know about your site.

What is free website promotion without the word of mouth? Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one mouth to another!

7. Make a banner ad.

Make a banner ad for your site and ask another webmaster to do the same for his site. Then swap!

8. Take up a free website promotion course online.

Yes, there are free website promotion tutorials. But don’t you know that you can actually take a free website promotion course that can help you out further? Part of the free website promotion program is signing up for newsletters.

When you make a website, you need not pay anything to promote it. You just read it — there is such a thing as free website promotion!