The Quartz Effect

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Jan 27 / 3:20am

Tips On How To Launch A New Website & Blog

Newwebsite

In recent months and especially this month of January has seen us help launch new  websites and businesses. In that process we have had to help some of our clients on how best they can take advantage of the internet to fully market the website and their business.  The web site and Internet might actually be your business. So have come up with some guidelines which are crucial to you growing your business, some must does depending on your budget in the first 3 months of launching your website and business.

 

The hard work is only beginning when your web site is done. That’s when the marketing and promotion kicks in. How would you do that? How would you spread the word about your new small business and web site?

 

How to market and spread the word about your new small business website

So let’s assume the following:

  •      My web site is fully developed. (There’s no sense marketing an unfinished product.)
  •       My web site is attractive and is user-friendly. I’ve taken care of the basics of usability.
  •         I’ve done the appropriate keyword research and my page content reflects that.
  •         My web site has good content for my target audience (and for search engine spiders).
  •          I’ve done at least the basics of SEO across the site. Page titles and Meta descriptions are relevant and unique, the keywords tag is used for  misspellings, etc.

Ready? Let’s launch this small business web site!

 

MONTH ONE

1. Have metrics tracking in place. If my web hosting service doesn’t provide a stats system, or provides an inadequate one, I’d sign up for Google Analytics. It offers more data than some small businesses need, but you can’t beat the price. You need metrics in place at the beginning so you can track all your upcoming marketing efforts.

Cost: Free

 

2. Write and Distribute a Press Release(s). This will be a business announcement, and you’ll want to focus on your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). What separates yours from similar businesses? That’s the story you are telling. Since you will be on a tight budget, you will have to write this yourself. Use many of the same SEO copywriting techniques you would for a web page — emphasizing the appropriate use of keywords, especially in the title and the beginning of the release.

 

Distribute Press Release both online and offline.

 

    Offline: Many local newspapers have announcement sections for new businesses. Some communities have business-specific newspapers that will be more likely to consider your new business launch a newsworthy event. If your town still has a locally owned radio station, check if they have a news department and if they accept business announcements.

Cost: Free

    Online: There are several good online sources of press release distribution. Since you are on a budget, use PRWeb. PRWeb offers packages ranging from £50 to £230. I’ve had some success at the £50 level, so use that.

 

3. Upload your site to directories. This is very useful and most are free. Please read my previous blog entry on directories: http://thequartzeffect.posterous.com/business-directories-search-engines-being-fou

Cost: Free

 

4. Take advantage of Local Search opportunities. Start by using GetListed.org to check local listings on Google, Yahoo, and a couple other primary local search sites. Also use Google AdWords to create a Local Business Ad for Google Maps. Buy a Local Featured Listing on Yahoo Local, but only if you qualify for the £20/month or less plan. You are on a budget, after all.

Cost: £20/month

 

5. Add a blog to your web site. Blogs make great “spider food” (i.e., search engines love blogs) and they’re a great way to have an ongoing conversation with customers. Use WordPress or Posterous because they are great, free, and your hosting company probably supports it with a one-click installer. Be sure to make it easy for readers to add your posts to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. It takes a while for a blog to gain traction, so start writing posts as often as possible. The main goal at this point is just to get in the rhythm of writing and make blogging a habit.

Cost: Free

 

MONTH TWO

 

7. Be active in the blogger community. Create accounts at MyBlogLog and Technorati, etc and put their widgets on your blog. Run my feeds through FeedBurner for the community stat tracking. Use Bloglines or Google Reader to track other blogs in your industry and be active in commenting on them (not spamming them, commenting on them).

Cost: Free

 

8. Join Twitter and Facebook. Each offers a good opportunity to meet and network with local people who may be good contacts and/or future customers. But rather than signing up and starting to promote your business, spend the first month or so just meeting people and listening to the wider conversations.

Cost: Free

 

9. Join your local Chamber of Commerce/Business Link. Small businesses rely heavily on networking and word-of-mouth for survival. These groups offer a great way to do both. Ask for a link from the chamber’s web site, and/or a mention in their newsletter.

Cost: (Actual cost will vary by location, number of employees, and other factors.)

 

MONTH THREE

 

10. Investigate local offline advertising options. Sponsoring events or hosting networking events etc is inexpensive and gives you at least a couple months of exposure, not to mention plenty of goodwill with your peers and the community. Same for partnering with charities, schools, etc.

Cost: £200 (estimated)

 

11. Invite/pay bloggers to write about your business/product/service. Use ReviewMe or Sponsored Reviews to find bloggers in your industry who are willing to write a paid review. I know that search engines, Google especially, frown on paid links. So tell the blogger that it’s okay to use the nofollow tag if they link to your site. I’m more interested in the exposure to the bloggers’ audience than I am in the link. If you can find a popular and influential blogger with maybe a thousand readers or more, and only spend a couple hundred pounds for a write-up, that’s a great deal.

Cost: £200 (will vary on industry and blogs targeted)

 

12. Use Yahoo! Answers to answer questions from people asking about your industry. Its light years ahead of any other Q&A site in traffic. It helps establish you as an expert and a helpful person/company. It’s also good fun. And it can even be a source of web traffic. Note: This may not be effective for a small business that’s located in a small town/city.

Cost: Free

 

FINAL COMMENTS

 

That’s the three-month plan for starting a new small business and marketing a new web site. Going forward, give these ideas a couple OF months to see which ones work and which don’t. At about the fifth or sixth month, start focusing on the ones that do and eliminate the ones that don’t.

 

There are additional marketing opportunities that may be effective depending on the size of your small business and what you do or sell. Ultra-small businesses, for example, may be able to market effectively with something as simple as printed flyers distributed around town. Other businesses may find branded publicity materials (calendars, magnets, etc.) to be effective.

 

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for small business marketing. Hopefully the ideas shared here will help you put together the right game plan for launching your small business website.

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