Your Website Strategy

6. Attracting Visitors

6.1 Use email or an old-fashioned mailshot to let a targeted list of potential customers know about your site (see Email). You must obtain your recipients' prior consent before sending them marketing emails (see Website and email law).

• You can rent an email list from a broker. Check the list members opted to be included.
• Make your email message short and simple.

6.2 Provide incentives to attract visitors, such as discounts for online buyers.

6.3 Register your site with the search engines - the starting points for keyword-based information searches - so people can find it. Each search engine site offers you a simple online registration form to fill in.

• Most search engines accept new entries automatically. Yahoo! is an exception. It vets entries manually.
• Publicising a site can be hard work. You could pay a specialist registration company to do it for you but you will probably get better results if you did it yourself.
• Check your designer has put the keywords and the summary information (meta tags) used by search engines on every page.
• Re-register occasionally. Search engines are weighted in favour of newer registrations.

6.4 Announce your site on the search engines' 'what's new?' pages.

• Most provide a free advertisement for your new site for a limited period.
• Internet magazines also print lists of new and recommended sites.

6.5 Negotiate to exchange links with relevant but non-competing organisations.

• If your trade or industry body has a website, ask for a link to your site.

6.6 Plug your site in all company literature.

• Include it in your letterhead and business cards, as well as flyers and advertisements.