After finishing the development of your website, the next step is to actually start marketing it. But what do you do? Which strategies and channels should you be using? Before going into all the options, you should start by double-checking your web design and its user interface design. You want to make sure that your website is designed for conversions, properly represents your brand, and can be used with different platforms such as mobile and tablets.
Targeted Visitors
If you’re okay with your web design, the next thing you need to figure out is if you’re looking for quick results or want to with a long term business strategy. For quick results, the best way to market your website is through pay per click advertising. Within minutes of setting up your campaign, you’ll start receiving targeted visitors to your website. Although it can be costly, it can give your website the marketing momentum it needs to grow.
Niche and Local Markets
An alternative way to target your audience is to locate social network hubs, blogs and niche or local sites related to your business. You can contact the publication and ask them if you can purchase advertising space or sponsorship on their site. The traffic volumes may be lower and less predictable but the advertising rates will often be less expensive than pay per click. In return you will be getting all relevant traffic and visitors from the same geo location as your business.
Content Marketing
If you’re in it for the long haul, content marketing, social media and SEO all work very well. Content marketing in particular is a proven strategy that many companies are using to build an audience. When used with social media and SEO, the results can be rewarding. Many companies are using content marketing to build an audience for their blog and then cultivating that relationship.
Because content marketing helps increase web presence/brand awareness, builds incoming links and inspires conversations, companies often use it with social media and SEO. All three strategies feed off each other and maximize the effectiveness of the end goal, which is to build an audience and leverage that audience to bring in new customers.
Solid Website Foundation
Again, no matter what strategy you decide to go with, it’s important that you have a solid foundation in your website. You must have proper web design or else all your efforts will prove fruitless. Visitors will abandon your site if it’s hard to use, lose trust in your brand if they see poor design, and won’t connect with your message if it’s not presented well.