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Site Promotion
There are many ways to promote your site, and I'm sure I'll miss some here, as people are thinking up new ones every day! They are not listed
in any particular order:
Post, Post, Post!:
There are thousands of public network (internet) newsgroups which you can read and post to through
Deja News, or your own web browser, using Netscapes Messenger or IE's Outlook Express, or a proper news program like Free Agent. Certain internet
services also offer similar, more ghettoized, discussion groups of their own, and many major websites also have discussion boards. While many of them
frown upon off-topic, or prohibited-type promotional messages called "spam", there are always ways to get your sites URL noticed in blatant or discreet
fashions!
Just adding your sites URL to bottom of your posts, or using your website email address, on otherwise topical, and popular comments is a good method!
Web Resources:
One of the best free website promotion resources can be found at Sitelaunch. Sites like this one can offer you many tips and tricks to give your page counters a workout. Other excellent resources are shown at The Web Site Positioning Resource Center which offers extensive details about how to maximize your site's visibility.
The Grapevine:
As above, include your site URL's into the footer or signature line of your emails to friends and aquaintances. Word of mouth is still a great promotional
tool and one that can also give you honest feedback about your efforts.
Spam:
One of the worst ways to "promote" your site is by sending unsolicited email. Don't make the mistake of thinking that
buying a "victims" email list will pay for itself! You may get one or two responses, but good advertizing needs to be
seen an average of 8 times before a customer will respond to it, and dumping that volume of trash into peoples email
boxes is a very unwise idea. Your site and it's network will be "blackholed" by the
anti-spam organization, which thousands of internet providers now subscribe to. This will prevent you and everybody
else using your SMTP (send mail) server from contacting a good chunk of the world!
Website Awards:
Another excellent method of promoting your site is to seek out sites that offer awards. While some are more valuable and meaningful than others, it certainly doesn't hurt to apply for them! We will have a large list of sites that offer these enhancing traffic-builders in this section soon!
Normal Advertising:
You get or don't get, what you pay for, depending on where, when, how well, how long and what you pay to advertise. Advertising usually pays rich
rewards if done properly and economically. If your website itself has the purpose of advertising your products or services, it may seem redundant to
advertise it, but with few local merchandising exceptions, no other medium can present a product or service better or more in depth than the web!
Of course, contests, free offers, controversy, agressive site submission tactics and advertising in traditional mediums can also improve your site's visibility and target it to it's special audiences.
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