How to Create a Marketing Plan for Your Website
Building your website is only the beginning. Unlike a tree falling in the forest, if no one hears about your website or finds it, it has no impact. From the very inception of your website, building your site and creating the marketing plan need to have a symbiotic relationship. Think about what you most want to convey about your products or services, and begin communicating that message through the name, tone and even the colors of your website.
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Instructions
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Begin your plan with a simple brainstorming list. Some ways to help prospects find your website include organic search, paid search, email, collateral materials and social networking (also known as Web 2.0). Next, qualify the marketing methods on your list based on how effective they are likely to be, how easy or difficult they are to implement, and their cost of implementation.
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Optimize your website to be located by search engines; it is one of the most effective things you can do. It is also free. Natural search engine optimization (SEO) also requires expertise. Some best practices to keep in mind are:
Include keywords and repeat them in the title, description and content of your site.
Submit your site to search engines.
Update your site content at least monthly, and resubmit to the search engines at least quarterly.
Encourage others to include links to your site on their sites. -
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Email everyone you know and let them know you have launched your new website. Provide them with the link and ask them to visit the site. Also include your website address on your incoming voicemail message. Include a link to your website in your outbound email signature. Consider adding signage to your car. These things are negligible in cost and will begin to generate small amounts of immediate traffic.
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Add your website address to your business cards. Add a sticker announcing your new website to other collateral materials, like brochures and envelopes. When you reprint those items, be sure to include the website address.
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Join online discussion groups where your prospects might congregate. Contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way, and be transparent about who you are and why you are there. Don't push, but offer yourself as a resource and let the prospects come to you.
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Consider testing a paid search campaign. There is no doubt that some find it tremendously profitable. The jury is still out on where the threshold is for it to be profitable. Also, that threshold tends to move, depending on the type of business.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image courtesy of Microsoft Clipart
