By Rebecca Strehlow & Blake Stimac
So you’ve just finished creating a website, and now it’s time to share it with the world. After all, what good is your site if no one is around to see it? Website promotion doesn’t have to cost you a ton of money. In fact, it doesn’t have to cost you any money at all.
We’re sure you’ve encountered articles similar to this one that promise to show you “x amount of tips” to do something for free, only to have a big, red price tag at the end. This isn’t one of those posts. Everything listed will ensure your wallet stays closed.
Read on to discover the 10 best ways to promote your website for free.
How to promote your website
01. Solidify your website SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is one of the most effective ways to promote a website, as it helps improve a site’s ranking on Google and other search engines. Unlike paid search ads, SEO is totally free - the competition is open to everyone, based on the quality of the content you publish, the fluidity of the navigation you offer to your visitors, and the number of links you receive from external sources.
You can achieve strong SEO by placing certain keywords and phrases throughout your website, adding alt text to your images and optimizing your headings so that your website can get found on search engines.
Because SEO requires time and effort, automated SEO tools make the process more efficient. Wix SEO, for example, walks you through the process from start to finish, providing you with an easy checklist of everything you need to optimize on your website so that it's visible in search engine results.
Additionally, all Wix websites are instantly indexed by Google, which is a crucial first step in getting your website on Google. This is the bedrock of website promotion, as it ensures your website can be discovered by new visitors.
02. Take advantage of email marketing
There’s a reason you always see email marketing placed high up on articles that talk about how to drive traffic to your website. Why? Because it’s proven to be effective over and over. In fact, its average rate of return can be as high as 4400%, or $44 for every dollar spent.
Newsletters are a particularly effective form of email marketing, since they are a direct form of communication between you and your potential customers. They also help you get subscribers and can help drive traffic to your site. To create an engaging newsletter, keep your content punchy and direct, and use prominent CTAs that encourage readers to click. That will help your content stand out from the sea of other newsletters your subscribers may receive.
Wix’s email marketing services will help you create, send and share professional email newsletters and other email marketing campaigns in minutes.
03. Start a blog
When considering how to promote your website, a good practice is to create a blog to bolster your SEO and increase your site’s rank on search engines. Blogging makes it easier for people to find your site and discover your business. On top of that, it helps you establish yourself as an authority in your field and can dramatically improve your conversion rate.
Writing blog posts forces you to research your market, and in turn broadens your knowledge and professional skills. As for the technical side of starting a blog, Wix streamlines this process, making it easy to add a blog to your website.
Even if you’re not much of a writer, you can still benefit from including a blog on your site. This definitive guide on how to write a blog post will teach you how to create strategic posts that generate brand awareness and increase your website traffic.
04. Try guest blogging
Expand your website promotion even further by collaborating with a guest blogger. When another writer in your industry writes a post on your own blog, you expand your reach to their audience and gain quality leads. In addition, connecting with writers who are already established in their field helps you grow your own network. This can bring you more exposure, traffic and social media shares.
On the flip side, you can also promote your website by becoming a guest blogger yourself. If you choose to go this route, you’ll be writing articles that will be published on sites other than your own.
This is a crucial marketing strategy that yields huge benefits. First, it strengthens your SEO when you include a link to your site in a guest post or author bio. Second, it generates awareness of your brand by encouraging new audiences to click on your site and browse.
05. Harness the power of social media
Social media isn’t just a way for your friends from high school to show off pictures of their children or snap photos of what they ate for lunch. It’s also an effective way to promote a website, as it helps businesses reach a diverse audience and build brand awareness.
Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, social media marketing is important for engaging followers. Importantly, posting compelling content increases the chances that your audience will share it - which is free promotion for your website.
Don’t forget to cross-promote so all of your networks benefit from as much of your content as possible. For instance, you can share your Instagram video to Twitter or your latest blog post on your Facebook page. You can also add a social bar to your website so that visitors can easily find your social profiles and share your content.
06. Submit your site to online directories
In addition to optimizing your SEO to help people discover your website, you’ll want to submit your site to online directories. Online directories are free advertising sites that make it easy for people to find your URL and navigate to your site. Depending on your industry, there may be a directory for your specific business type.
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, submitting to local directories is even smarter. Free services like Google My Business allow you to claim your business so that when someone searches for your business, a complete set of details - including your website, opening hours, contact details, and a map of your location - appear on the results page. Other locations you should consider placing your website are Angie’s List, Yellow Pages and Yelp.
07. Post on forums
When deciding how to promote your website to a new crowd, try using forums. One method is to start a thread on a well-known forum like Reddit and let others decide if it’s worthy of getting upvoted. Another option is to engage in an existing conversation thread and refer to your website when relevant.
Whichever approach you choose, be mindful that you should only add your website to these posts when it serves as a genuinely helpful resource to supplement your response. Otherwise, you risk coming across as spammy.
Try to find forums that are specifically about your industry so that you can reach people who are already interested in your niche. If you can’t find a forum that’s specific to your business category, start your own forum using Wix Forum. That will make your website the destination forum spot for your industry - another great website promotion tactic.
08. Reach out with outreach marketing
Outreach marketing involves connecting with others in your business niche, such as bloggers, influencers and other professionals, in order to promote your website. Ideally, you’ll be able to build a lasting relationship with these professionals that will help you increase your site’s exposure.
The technique starts with identifying your marketing goals, and then finding people who can help you achieve those objectives. This involves reaching out with a pitch, and following up when necessary. Try sending your pitch over email or via certain social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter.
For more details on how to connect with these professionals and send a compelling pitch, take a look at this comprehensive guide on building an effective outreach strategy.
09. Say it with your signature
Your email signature is an underrated but powerful tool that essentially serves as an online business card. Make sure that your email signature includes your business logo, links to your social accounts and website, plus any other contact information. This puts your brand’s stamp on your emails and promotes your website to your recipients.
10. Focus on quality
When learning how to promote your website, your focus should be on publishing expert, informative content. This is true regardless of which promotional strategies you choose, whether that’s posting on social media, writing blog articles or partnering with influencers. Though you may be eager to get the word out right away, prioritize quality over quantity. This is one of the best things you can do for your business in the long run.
Image Credits Featured Image: WIX
Article By:
Rebecca Strehlow - Marketing Expert for the Wix Blog
Blake Stimac - Community & Social Media Manager
Article can be found on Wix Blogs at the following link:
Want to see one of your blogs on our website? Submit it!
Become a member and leave a comment below with the link.