Making your site online ready

In order for your business website to be online ready, a few things are needed. Your website will grow over time. When you are just beginning, you need a few pages so that you have something to offer your visitors.

A site can have as few as twenty pages in the beginning. Make sure all of your links work, and that your navigation system is easy to understand.

Adding more content over time is actually better than uploading a huge site in the beginning. Upload your basic site, and then add pages on a regular basis. This will give the search engines a reason to return and spider your pages.

Do not put up an under construction notice. This looks most un-professional. All sites that are growing are under construction, because you will either be adding content, or updating the content that is already there. Just make sure you have no links that lead to dead ends as you are building, and that everything that is there is functional.

Begin promoting your new website

There is no need to submit your site to the search engines. It is better to let them be found. Having said that, do understand that you must be taking constant and ongoing action to help your pages be found.

Getting links from other sites is the best way to promote your website. The search engines will follow those links to your site, and this gives you more credibility than search engine submission.

Most new marketers begin by exchanging links with other websites. These links don't carry as much weight with the search engines, but they are a place to start. One way links are far more valuable, and take some work. Article marketing and social bookmarking are currently two of the best ways to get one way links to your website.

There are many article banks that are happy to post well written articles. EzineArtilces and GoArticles are two good ones to start with, but you will find hundreds and this is free if you write the articles yourself. Write good informative articles related to your website topic, and include an author bio at the end with links to a couple of your pages.

Do read the guidelines of the article banks before you post. Most of them are pretty much the same. Articles that are a minimum of 400 words will have the best chance of wide circulation.

Do some research on social bookmarking. This too is free. It will take some time and effort, but the rewards are great. There are many social bookmarking sites that will help your promote your online business. Read their guidelines, and study what others are doing.

Promoting your online business takes some work, but it needs to be done on a regular basis, and even more so in the beginning until it gets noticed. Set up a schedule and keep track of your promotional efforts to be sure you are doing your best and doing it regularly.