In another post, the notion of getting 1000 uniques/day was discussed. yfs1 mentioned that you need a marketing plan for the early going since it takes months to get into Google in most cases. What are you guys doing to market your site while you wait for Google rankings to kick in? Brandon
BUILD BACK LINKS Comment on blogs you are interested in that happen to get decent traffic. Comment in related forums with your sig being shown (make sure the forum owner doesn't use nofollow tags on sig links) Trade links with category related webmasters. (NOT your competition - but same category like Entertainment, Tech, etc.) ADVERTISE Adwords - Set up a campaign Buy ads from fellow webmasters on their sites - You help out a fellow webmaster and they are often cheaper than going with an ad network.
You can go ahead with directory submissions (free & paid), link exchanges (only with sites related to the content of your site), write on forums, etc. Most importantly update your site frequently with unique content, that will help you gain a better ranking as well as good natural links as well.
Personally we have a Public Relations company that does a ton of press for both our new sites and our established ones. Many months we make 2-3 times more through our newspaper, radio and magazine mentions then we do through all the SE's and PPC programs combined. This all depends on your industry but there is a specialist PR company for nearly every one. The magazine market, especially, is so saturated that they are always looking for content. A typical campaign of around £200-£250 will normally get us 3-4 magazine features, 1-2 newspaper (usually supplements) and a radio mention from time to time. They typically convert all month long (although radio gets you only a few hours) and we have always made a good profit from the initial investment. We do a lot more but thats just one suggestion.
I would say find sites its theme is similar to what you are selling/offering and adertise there. It worked for me while I was waiting for googs to rank my site.
My site can be found in tons of google SERPs (1st page for a lot, but I've noticed that 1st on second page actually gets tons more traffic than 3rd on first) google and I started it about 3 weeks ago. Google started indexing it in the first week. Haven't gotten much traffic from other engines yet. A publicist is very expensive. For a good one expect to pay more than a grand a month. My publisher also has a press relations department which acts as a publicist (you don't have to be an author or have a book to use them) but you can get ones that only do publicity.
Its not that easy...When choosing a PR company it is quite important 1.) Your geographic area (or where you are targeting) 2.) Your industry I actually have more then one PR company doing work for me as I have one for the UK and a few throughout Europe. They are specialists in my industry though which makes a huge difference. If you want to post your details, I might be able to suggest one although if its outside my industry, Im not sure.
yfs1, My industry is PC Gaming and finding a worthy PR rep has been an absolute pain. Can you reccommend anyone for my industry?
I can't make a personal reccomendation but there are some good directories out there...For example By Industry - (Technology) By Geography Have you gone down that road?
As above, adopting an all-round marketing plan which includes lots of different methods is going to get you the biggest results early on. You mentioned you are in the pc gaming industry, you dont by any chance have a small addictive game that people can play online? Like one of those flash puzzles etc etc. That could be a great way to get some instant popularity and links. Also gaming guides and what not for your visitors will get your referrals coming back, and if you implement a tell a friend before they can download the guide. Then you have a viral facet working for you aswell. Brad
Most of the people applying for the immigration are Asians. For example you can find plenty of interested prospects from Pakistan and India. Try to advertise on local sites there. I think an ad on a major local site in these countries can generate a good amount of qualified vistors with bright chances of conversion. Also try to have some unique offer and then make a press release and submit it to any local news site or forums.
welll thanks WebmasterTradeCenter, Ive been targeting UK and US i think i should also focus on the asian nations. good point there Regarding PR, ive been creating press releases for the site and ive just started submitting it just last week... Im not that good in PR writing but im trying my best to get a quality PR... Do i have to look for major distribution list where i can place my PR's? or i just buy a sofware i can use to submit to those news distributor? Thanks
I would suggest to mannually submit your press release to some selective sites like prweb and urlwire. They have their distribution network and you can get the maximum benifit in short time and effort. PRWeb also have some suggestions on writing an effective press release. You might find that useful. Good luck!
In my experience that will yield some SEO benefit over the long term but it pales in comparison to actual offline PR work. I have yet to get an offline feature from submitting to those sites (I have gotten a few mentions on sites and some links but short term it doesn't help that much for a new site)