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Websites are great, but without traffic, they are pretty useless. With millions of websites out there, and hundreds of thousands of new ones created each and every day, it gets pretty competitive. If you own a website and are looking for ways to promote it, check out the tips below.
1. Yahoo! Answers.
Yahoo! Answers is a great way to promote your website. No matter what your niche is, you can find questions to answer. For those unfamiliar with Yahoo! Answers, it’s pretty simple. Users ask questions, and for the next few days (usually 5 days), anyone can answer that question. Yahoo! allows links within the answers, as long as it’s not spam. So, just search for some questions, and answer them wholly and completely, leaving a link to your site at the bottom. It is important to answer the questions well, because after the 5 days are up, the question asker chooses a “best answer”. That best answer is displayed above all the other answers, and therefore receives more views.
2. Social Bookmarking Sites.
Social bookmarking sites are a great way to promote your website. Sites like Digg, Technorati, etc, take the days “news”, and allow users to vote on it. You can submit an article, or an entire site, and if the Digg users like it, then they will vote for it. The more people vote, the higher your site goes, bringing more traffic. Digg can also help with general SEO as it is essentially free links to your site. Digg is great for a quick traffic boost, and can often bring hundreds, even thousands of visitors to your site in a day.
3. Forums.
Forums are powerful promotional tools. On top of that, they are fun! Just do a search for forums in your niche, join up, throw a link in your signature, and start posting! It truly could not be easier. Forums are one of my favorite promotional methods, mainly because it doesn’t feel like promotion. Forums to me feel like a break – a relaxing conversation with a few people. NOT a boring campaign or mindless link building.
4. Word Of Mouth.
Believe it or not, word of mouth is actually a great way to promote your site. Tell your friends, and have them tell their friends, and soon enough you will see a drastic increase in traffic. Unfortunately, in order for this to work, your site needs to actually be interesting. This won’t work for the generic “Buy My Stuff” type websites, as nobody would want to spread the news of the site around, unless it had incredibly cheap prices, cool items, etc. Generally “non-generic” or creative websites work better with word-of-mouth. So if you own a site that is different from most sites out there, tell your friends – tell everybody you know, and see what happens!
5. Fliers/ Offline Advertising.
Most webmasters don’t even consider offline advertising. If you own a website and you are looking to reach a whole new audience, creating fliers, posters, etc, can help a lot. Again, in order for this to work your site has to be at least somewhat interesting, and you have to have an easy to remember domain. No matter where you live there are places to put your fliers, such as power poles, billboards, etc. If you own a large site and/or have a lot of money to spend, you could even consider buying a TV or radio spot to advertise your site. I encourage you to try it – all you’ve got to lose is a few hours of time and a few sheets of paper!
6. Craigslist.
Craigslist is also a powerful promotional tool. The success you see with Craigslist will vary depending on your site’s niche, but overall this is a great way to promote a site. It takes a little while to learn the Craigslist regulations, but once you have it should be easy to post several ads a day. Craigslist works very well for ecommerce sites, sites with “work from home” opportunities, service sites (such as web design, SEO, etc), and similar sites. Normal blogs/informational sites probably won’t bring much traffic, but it’s still worth a try.
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59 Responses to “Traffic Monday: 6 Tips on How to Promote Your Website”
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[...] many authors still forget to give their names in the resource box? If there is a space for you to promote yourself, here it is. When you write an article, you only get to see your name on the byline and on [...]
I’ve never heard about Craiglist. Maybe, I should try them. Your tips are so helpful. Thanks.
Hi Fatin Pauzi,
Definitely give it a try and thank you, glad you found my tips helpful.
I really havent taken advantage of Digg yet. I have an account but I havent really been active with it. Thanks for the reminder!
carlas last blog post..Blogroll – Daily Living
Carla,
You welcome! and nice to see you here
I tried those things and they’re really effective. but sometimes, it’s tiring specially that i have lots of blogs.
Selboys last blog post..How I Lost $642 to a Webhost?
Selboy,
I agree, marketing can be very tiring indeed but in the long it usually worth it.
Yahoo Answer is considered as organic traffic because people look for answer, and it’s really a good place to promote your blog… I have tried it but not really active with it…
As for social networking, finding the one that suits you, Digg is not recommended, many people have had a bad experience with it..
And Craiglist, first time hear it too…
How does it really work?
Sayzs last blog post..6 Tools Every BlogSpot User Should Have
Sayz,
I love Yahoo! Answers. I have find it to be very effective.
For Social Bookmarking, you’re right that you should find one that suits you. What was success to another person, may not be so successful to you. So a little experimenting here is not such a bad idea.
Craigslist is a central network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements. It also can be an excellent site for searching jobs or for finding just about anything. I will put an article in detail about Craigslist as many seem to be bit lost here.
I have heard a fair few people talk about getting traffic from yahoo answers. Have you actually tried it yourself? Did you get good results?
Tom – StandOutBlogger.coms last blog post..Twitter Marketing: Branding With Unique Backgrounds
Hi Tom,
Yes have tried it, i just need to be more active with it. As for the results. I am happy with the results, so far so good really and I think if i put more time in it the results will improve even more.
Why would you think word of mouth is no good for e-commerce sites?
Dennis Edells last blog post..Article Marketing Made Easy
Hi Dennis,
Because simply word of mouth marketing isn’t effective if your product sucks. Many people thinks word of mouth is about getting others to spread your marketing message, and while this may be true, it isn’t always the case. Real word of mouth marketing is about building a great product, and then letting your customers pass on the news however they see fit.
So it is good but like i said on my article “unless it had incredibly cheap prices, cool items, etc.” to really make it work for you.
I swear I just read, all he other methods work if your product sucks. LOL
No matter what, you need s substantial product.
Dennis Edells last blog post..May Top Commenter Contest – Sponsors & Prizes
Hi Dennis,
LOL
Non works if your product sucks, or atleast hard to get it work anyway but here I was just referring to the word of mouth alone from your question which was specific for this particular method and well yeah that is true, substantial product is important.
If you find questions relevant to one of your blog posts, adding them as resources to Yahoo Answers is a great way to promote. Not only for the original person who asked the question, but anyone down the road that searches for the same answer. Bonus is if you get selected as the best answer.
~ Kristi
Kikolanis last blog post..How to Make Social Promotion Easy
Kristi,
Exactly so it is important to answer the questions well.
I love the offline advertising tip! I haven’t actively pursued this in full force, but I often leave my blog up on public computers inside of stores, just to see if anyone will interact.
I’ve thought about buying a car decal with my blog address, think about the amount of eyeballs hitting that address during a traffic jam.
Jeremiahs last blog post..5 Simple SEO Tips for WordPress
Jeremiah,
Lol, you made me laugh because i also leave my blog on public computers inside stores and such, just to see, and it does actually work.
I want to put a full blog post up about offline marketing so stay tuned!
I would love to read it! Keep me posted via my email, I hardly have time to hit my feed reader on my laptop.
After I posted that, I thought long and hard about making a landing page for Best Buy customers or Apple Store customers. Then placing my blog as the homepage on all of the computers in the store or something.
Jeremiahs last blog post..4 Reasons You’re Holding Yourself Back as a Blogger
Hi Jeremiah,
No worries, I will email you once I have the post up
Hey Salwa, I’ll definitely use these tips. Thanks so much! xD
deuxs last blog post..Stop Motion – Pictures become videos.
Hi Deux,
No problem, you welcome!
I am using all of those methods except the craig list, maybe I should give a try.
With the time you spent and the outcome which is more efficient way among the above?
Sanya @ China Travels last blog post..Photo Turpan Ancient City of Jiaohe12
Hi Sanya,
Give Craigslist a try, it is really worth it!
As for your question, among the above I would definitely say Yahoo! Answers, Forums, Fliers, and Craigslist.
Wow, that #1 never occurred to me. Sounds like Yahoo is ripe for mining with craftily designed questions and self-answers.
The word of mouth thing also happened to me before. Really convincing when someone is willing to talk about their website offline and able to keep up a conversation about what’s going on on it.
Mike,
Yahoo! Answers is really great, give it a try and see.
As for the word of mouth, yeh it is convincing and when you advertise using a word of mouth say for your blog between family and friends, it’s good because they know the real you. Example me whenever I tell a friend or family member about my blog the responce i get it usually “wow cool salwa’s blog/website, i must check this out”!
Great tips! I’ll try to promote my blog with them
Benjamin Cips last blog post..Where Is The Best Place To Display Ads?
Benjamin Cip,
Thank you! and welcome to blogriffic
Great article, funny thing is I have use all those ways to promote my blog.
KushMoneys last blog post..Poker Training Weekly Launch Today!
Hi Deneil,
Cool, how did you find them? Did you get good results?
Hi Salwa,
Learning things on the forums last year. Good results, just have to keep it up.
KushMoneys last blog post..My Top 3 Favorite Movies
Many social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including lists organized by tags. This allows subscribers to become aware of new bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by other users.
Bookmarking,
Exactly!
Forums can definitely help. It’s important to make sure anything that is contributed is relevant though. If not, there will be a negative response from the regular readers (rightfully so).
Gennaros last blog post..Best NBA Arenas To Visit
This is a very important point. Forum regulars, no matter what forum, can be VERY protective of their forum. They will indeed pounce like a monkey pack if they feel their forum is threatened by garbage.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Article Marketing Made Easy
Very important point indeed, also please avoid mindless posts or members will start seeing you as a spammer.
These are some great tips – thanks!
Louisas last blog post..I’ve settled down to a mild panic
Louisa,
You welcome!
Hi Salwa,
In terms of building blogging traffic, how important would you rate social networking and social bookmarking sites like Digg in terms of importance as compared to commenting on other blogs?
I have personally avoided social networking sites up until now in favor of allocating time toward writing and contributing to discussions on other blogs. Am I crazy? Do you think that I should re-prioritize a little here?
Hi Andrew,
In my opinion I think they are both very effective in terms of building traffic. It just depends on how you use them and what you really want to achieve at the end as for any promotion method or technique one decide to use, it is important to see which one suits you the best and your website/blog.
Hi Salwa,
Some great tips forums are a goldmine for traffic.
Hi James,
Thank you, glad you think so
Good List. But about “Word of Mouth”. Whosoever you may tell about your web/blog. Friends, relatives, people you meet.. but there will come a stop. Word of mouth works very little, even if you have very very big social circle or lots and lots of friends.
Enk.s last blog post..30 Typographic Logos – Inspiration
Enk,
I am gonna have to disagree with that, especially the part when you have very big social circle or lots of friends, but of course like any other promotion method anyone decide to use, you must have a plan for it and use it correctly to really get it to work for you. This is the same for the word of mouth marketing. You must be very transparent in your approach and clearly, by just telling people “hey check out my website” than here i will agree with you, it might not be so effective.
Still wondering, what’s that craiglist supposed to mean?
Blog Experience Shared,
Graiglist is a central network of online communities, it is a virtual online classifieds. It’s a great place to go if you are looking to buy or sell something.
Nice read!
And of course commenting is another way ..
No doubt it is…
Indeed it is but decided to leave blog commenting out in this article and write one up just for that as it requires special treatment due to its effectiveness!
Interesting tips…. I’ve been looking for ways to promote my blog… I think i found the answer write here..
Keep up the Good work..
Cheers
Sandeep
Sandeep,
Thank you! Glad I was able to help
I’ve been looking fore ways to promote my own blog… I think i’ve found the answer right here..
Cheers
Sandeep
Sandeeps last blog post..Do you Ping too Much!
hi, i am on yahoo answers but i am not sure about how to get benifit from it. i better give craigslist a try.
peace
irtiza104s last blog post..To a Stronger Personality
irtiza104,
Just try and leave good answers to the questions. Give a craigslist a try, it is also very good.
Hi Salwa,
I just have read somewhere, that you may need to be cautious with Digg when submitting SEO related articles or sites, you may be banned from Digg. Seems Digg does not like SEO.
Marketing Business Reviews last blog post..How To Work Efficiently When You Are Your Own Boss
Hi Luis,
Yeh I actually heard about this aswell which I honestly don’t really get or see a logic reason behind it but oh well!
Craigslist sounds familiar, but I’m not too sure. I’m definitely going to check that out. Thanks for the tips.
Hi Marianne,
Welcome to blogriffic, and thanks for your comment. Hope to see more of you in the future