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Get Yourself Out There

Once you’ve got a fantastic website up for your business, the next step is to get people to come visit it. A few simple things can be done to make sure that those people you come into contact with will become aware of your site and possibly check it out. One thing is to update your business cards and other stationery with your website URL (the “www.yoursite.com” address). The other thing to do is add that information to your email signature so that every email you send will automatically include it. You can also add it to your telephone voice-mail’s outgoing greeting.

So, that takes care of the people you meet, but what about those people you won’t meet? There is a big world outside of your sphere of networking and acquaintances. To reach those people, you need to work on link building.

“Link building” is a general term that can cover many individual techniques of getting other websites to host links to your site. Some techniques are more effective than others and I encourage you to be sure that you focus only on high integrity links.

There are some dubious websites which either for free or a fee, will put up a link to your site from theirs – along with thousands of other unrelated links. Sometimes these are called “Link Farms” and if the image you get is one of “factory farms” you’re about right on track with the general ickiness-factor of these sites. They are generally considered “internet spam” and should be avoided.

So, if that is a bad way to get links to your site, what are some good “high-integrity” ways?

Strategic Alliance Link Swapping

This means you know someone who is in a line of business which doesn’t directly compete with yours, but serves the same target customers. If each of you has a “Resources” section on your site, you can provide a link to one another’s sites. This is even better if you each include a short description (like a mini-ad) as well.

Link Directories

If these are carefully edited by real people who have a vested interest in keeping their directory of the highest quality, this can be a good thing to get listed in. Follow their instructions for submitting your URL.

Article Syndication

There are websites which are looking for useful content for their site visitors, and if your business serves that audience and you have some useful information to share, writing an article is even better than a simple link swap. Not only does your message get more physical space on their site, but you get more valuable space – usually articles are somewhat more “featured” than resource lists plus you get a chance to display to your target customers your expertise in the subject. They will have the opportunity to get to know you better and also to feel a certain amount of gratitude to you for the useful information you have provided.

Forums and Blogs

If you enjoy reading blogs related to your business, commenting intelligently on blog posts can give you another way to share your expertise and leave a link to your website for other readers. Also, if you spend time on forum websites where people can ask and answer questions about topics related to your business, there is usually a way to have a “signature” on all your posts (similar to your email message signature), which of course should include a link to your website.

Social Networking Websites

“Social Networking” encompasses all those sites where you have a profile and “friends” – people who choose to pay attention to what you are doing and saying, or at least be loosely affiliated with you in some way. There are many of these out there, though the biggest right now are Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace. Obviously you should have your URL on every profile for any site you are a member of.

What about other ways?

If you have an opportunity to get your link on someone else’s site and it doesn’t really match any of the things I have described, ask yourself: Will the link’s placement be viewable to your target customers? Is it given some sort of context or is it included in a random list of other links? How many other links are there on the same page? Does you link add some sort of value to the visitors of that site?  If you are still unsure, follow your instincts. A poorly placed link isn’t going to destroy your website or your creditability, but it won’t really help either.

Web Action Steps:

Start with the quick and easy stuff. Add your URL to:

  • your stationery and business cards
  • your email signature and outgoing voicemail greeting
  • any social networking profiles you have
  • any organizations’ sites you belong to that have a public listing of your business (industry associations, chamber of commerce, etc)
  • any online membership organizations you belong to
  • your signature for any forums you regularly spend time answering questions

Pump it up a bit:

  • Look for strategic alliance partners who have a decent website of their own and approach them about a link swap or article publishing opportunity
  • Research link directories and content-oriented websites that would be of interest to your target customers and see if you can get a link swap or article published.
  • Start leaving relevant, intelligent comments on blogs you read, and be sure your link is included (usually your name as the commenter is a link to your site)

It will take a bit of time and effort to start seeing your link all over the internet, but sure enough, you will eventually see increased traffic to your website. There are some other factors that play into what makes a good link opportunity – things like PageRank and the link text used, and there are ways you can evaluate which of your incoming links is most valuable to your site – and thus where you should spend more effort getting links. These things are a bit more complex and beyond the scope of this article. If you are interested in really maximizing your “link love” and getting some help deciding which techniques are the best for you, please take a look at the services I offer. I’ll be happy to help you get more traffic to your website.