Previous articles have covered how to build a website using the free website builder from webeden.co.uk. In this the first part of this multi stage article, we're going to look at how to market your website online in order to increase your visitor numbers. We're going to cover the tools freely available to any website owner from within the control panel.

Why market your Webeden.co.uk website?

The aim of any marketing of a website is to increase the number of visitors to that website - the more people that visit a website, the greater the chance that the website will be a success, whether success is measured in terms of selling products or simply engaging users with the editorial content.

Free Marketing tools embedded in the control panel of webeden.co.uk websites?

The easiest way to start marketing your website is to use the tools available to you as a webeden.co.uk website owner. Within the control panel of your website are several handy features to take advantage of.

1. Google AdWords voucher

All paid-for Webeden.co.uk website builder packages include a free Google AdWords voucher worth between ?20 and ?50. To redeem the voucher simply navigate to the Google area of your control panel and click ?redeem voucher?. You will then be emailed a unique 10 digit code that you can use when signing up to the Google AdWords service. This entitles you to between ?20 and ?50 of free clicks. How you make best use of this is covered in subsequent articles on ?Pay per Click? marketing.

2. Mail to a friend

One of the features of the Webeden.co.uk website is called ?Mail to a friend?. Quite simply, if you place the ?mail to a friend? form on your website, it enables visitors to recommend your website to other people. The recommendation takes the form of an email that includes your website address. The personal endorsement of a friend counts significantly towards a websites? reputation ? people are most likely to visit a website recommended to them by a friend. As such it is a key way to increase the potential audience for your website, and increase visitor numbers too.

3. Newsletters

A great way to increase your website audience and drive repeat visits is to write and send newsletters. Having gone to the effort to build you own website, this is one of the easiest things to do. Of course you need to have the name and email address of the visitors, so you need to encourage them to sign up to your newsletter, and then capture their details using a lead capture form. You might want to incentivise people to sign up, by offering them money off vouchers or an exclusive report. If you make your newsletter both interesting and engaging then your have a far greater chance that the recipients will visit your site once they've finished reading it. They will also forward it on to other people, thereby increasing the chance of visitors to your website

4. Membership tools

All Webeden.co.uk websites come with free membership tools. This allows visitors to your website to sign up and become a member of your website. You might decide to reward them by giving them something special ? perhaps access to exclusive content or products. The membership tools allow you create and set permission levels and get a closer handle on who is visiting your website. All this does not in itself improve your traffic numbers. But it does increase the chance of repeat visits. Anyone who invests some of themselves by becoming a member of a website is far more likely to return to that website. In short, your website and your visitors will have a closer relationship, and are therefore likely to see each other more often.

5. Chat modules

The Chat feature is freely available in most webeden.co.uk website packages. It allows website visitors to ask the website owner a question directly, by simply clicking a button and submitting a question in the box that pops up. Once again, this is does not in itself improve your traffic numbers, but rather it develops the depth of the relationship between your website and your website visitors. Anyone with a close relationship with your website is more likely to visit frequently, or even recommend to a friend.

6. Forum

The forums tool is a new addition to the Webeden.co.uk control panel. It allows you to deploy a forum on your website without the need to understand any complex programming or hosting. Forums by their nature are all about user interaction and user engagement. Visitors submitting to or reading forums on your website are developing a much closer relationship with the website. They are therefore going to increase the number and frequency of their visits to the website. It's a great what to get repeat visits when you make your own website.

7. Blog

Blogging is a very useful tool for any website owner. It allows the website owner to communicate their personality to the website visitors in a way that a cold, one way brochure website never could. The greater the personality that blog gives the website, the more personal the relationship between the website owner and website visitors. In fact, done well, visitors feel like their interacting with a real person with feelings and emotions. And to reiterate, a visitor who has a close relationship with a website is far more likely to repeat visit and recommend to a friend.