Print Article for : How To Make A Website Online

Your Online Guide » Ideas for Marketing » Guide To Marketing

[H1368]How To Make A Website Online

by Elizabeth Mclachlan, Eli

Developing a website is only the first step in your online marketing campaign. You also have the task of ensuring that your site is visible, which includes strategies and techniques applied to drive traffic to your site. This is an essential part of your online campaign and deserves a lot of attention. In this article I will explain some ways to market your real estate website online:

Submit Your Site

Find the best web directories and submit your site. This is the first step every web owner should take and also the easiest of these techniques. Directories will only accept your site if you have good content and a likable design.

Optimize It

Search Engine Optimization refers to the process of increasing the volume and quality of traffic to your website. This can be done in many ways but one will start by showing the Search Engines what your site is about. You do this by entering keywords, titles and descriptions regarding the content of your site. This way your website will come up on the search engine results page when people search a query related to the content of your site.

Start Blogging

Blogging refers to a space on the web that individuals use to write about industry related topics. A property website owner will typically blog about the property market and other topics concerning property. This is a great way to advertise your site, generate leads and also brings you in contact with other players in the industry.

Write Articles

Write articles on topics relating to your website or industry and submit them to article submission sites – much like I am doing now. This will improve your online visibility.

Make Your Site Appealing

Design is still one of the most important aspects to get users to stay on your site or to make your site “sticky”. Your home page should be informative with minimal distractions. Also, avoid misuse of pop-up windows or flash introduction. Use fast-loading graphics and remember that users will leave your site if your design does not draw their attention.

Link It

Link building is an essentially part of Search Engine Optimisation – so important that it deserves its own introduction. Linking the pages of your site to each other and getting links from other websites are extremely important if you want to do well on the search engines' rankings. A link from another site is like a vote and the more votes you have the more important the search engines will see you, and the more traffic they will send to your site. It would therefore be wise to spend some time on link building. Links can be paid for in the form of Pay-Per-Click Ads or banner advertising or you can think of creative ways of persuading other sites to publish a free link to your site.

Engage in Social Media

Real estate is an inherently social enterprise. Agent-client relationships stemming from real estate deals can mature as personal friendships, and personal friendships can become business relationships. Because of this it is important for agents to use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. These online communities should be used to network rather than advertise your listings but it can also be an effective way to drive traffic to your site.

The reason that potential clients don't respond to traditional style adverts is just the same as the reason why they hardly ever make direct contact with you the first time they visit your website. It's because they don't want to take the risk!

Most people, when considering working with a coach, want to be able to have indirect contact and get to know the coach a little before they pick up the phone and make direct contact. Adverts, by their very nature, don't allow readers to get to know you. If anything, there's an element of suspicion where advertising is concerned. And that's not helpful as the foundation to a potential client/coach relationship.

But there are ways to advertise your website online that do work...

* Adverts combined with articles

Adverts for your services can be more successful if you combine them with an article. In my last newsletter I wrote about article marketing online and how each article always has its resource box (or advert) attached. The better the article and the more relevant the resource box is to the material contained in the article, the more likely you are to get people clicking through to your website.

This is a technique you can use offline in relevant magazines and papers too, of course. But don't forget to make sure that (a) the readership is relevant to your target market, and (b) you give them a strong call to action. Just saying that you're a life coach who works with people at a crossroads in their life, then inviting them to make contact with you won't cut the mustard!

* Ezine advertising

A great way to access potential new clients online is to identify people and organisations who have the same target market as you and who offer advertising space in their ezines. Yes, you have to pay to advertise, but in choosing relevant ezine providers, you can be sure that your advert is being sent to a highly relevant readership. I've used this technique and it really does work! Were you one of my sign-ups from an online advert I wonder?

Most ezine ads only allow you 50 words, including a link. So you need to make your copy compelling and snappy. Now if you don't have an on-the-spot offer on your website, let me tell you now that ezine advertising isn't for you just yet. Because just advertising your coaching services won't do the trick here. What you need to do is advertise your free offer. Nothing more. Get people to your website, get them opting into your mailing list and downloading your free report. It's a fast way to grow your list.

As with offline publications, you must make sure that any ezine you choose has a relevant readership. Check the size of the distribution too. As a personal rule of thumb, I wouldn't choose to advertise unless the ezine went out to at least 10,000 readers.

Best way to find ezines to advertise with? Take a look at what already lands in your inbox. If you subscribe and are interested, then that's a good place to start.

Article Source : lg marketing mix

About Author

Both Elizabeth Mclachlan & Mary Mcneil are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Elizabeth Mclachlan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Internet Marketing and Marketing. Elizabeth works for SA Hometraders - South Africa's leading online property portal that advertises a wide range of property for sale in all areas of South Africa, including. Elizabeth Mclachlan's top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.

Mary Mcneil has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development, Stress Management and Internet Marketing. is a FREE 20-page bulletin by Mary McNeil. Grab your copy now!. Mary Mcneil's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.