Every day hundreds of new web sites come on-line, as companies, organisations, and personal web sites and go-live.
The principle of "If you build it they will come" is not true when it comes to web sites and web traffic.
Web site owners must invest time, effort and sometimes money into promoting their web presence on-line and also off-line.
This investment is not only to bring people to the web site but also to encourage web site visitors to remain on the site and also make a purchase or an inquiry.
Keep your web site sleek and fast loading Broadband, Broadband, Broadband - that's what everyone thinks will help their site be bigger and bolder than the competition.
The reality is for some countries with less developed digital infrastructures that broadband is not as widely available as is believed.
Many users still use the old fashioned dial up, with more major companies using ISDN connections.
Visitors don't want to wait for long downloads, or sites which take a long time to appear - only use large downloads where they are imperative to your web sites message.
If your web site does not appear within 15 - 20 seconds most visitors will leave the web site and go else where.
Having a sleek, quick loading website is essential.
Get listed on Search Engines, Web Directories and Related web sites Your web site should be fully optimized for the search engines.
Google is the Number 1 Search engine giving some websites over 90% of their search engine traffic.
You should ideally be listed on Google, MSN, AltaVista, DMOZ (the open directory) and any related search engines and directories in your country.
Your web pages should be search engine friendly, with all the relative META Tags for keywords and descriptions.
If you find that your website is in a competitive area or requires extra exposure at the early stages after the launch of the website, then Pay-Per-Click may be a good idea.
Systems such as Google's AdWords program allow you to specify which keywords you are listed for, and how much you wish to bid for your click.
You can also specify how much you wish to spend per day and which sites you wish to appear on.
PPC is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site but can be expensive in the long term.
Another technique is related links on website in your business area.
Therefore if you sell PC Software, having a link on a PC hardware company in your country would be a very good idea.
However, try avoid the whole reciprocal linking with sites which are either unrelated or are simply a big list of links, these link farms are not usually a good idea.
Maintain a Professional Image It simple - your web site should have a professional image in order to portray your business image in a good light.
Home made web sites don't usually look as good as one developed by a professional web designer.
By developing your site with a professional look and feel, your business will appear to the public to be well run and one which can be trusted.
Also, part of that professional image is that your website is constantly being updated with the latest news, new products and services, and special offers.
Business websites should really avoid items like visible web counters, Guestbooks and common clip-art - as these are dated items which really do not reflect well in the B2B world.
Keep things simple and easy to use Don't make your web site overly complex.
A website which is difficult to use or difficult to navigate will result in poor web site traffic and poor sales conversions.
A professional web developer will ensure that the web site visitors needs are put first.
The most critical information should be within 2 or 3 clicks from the main page - make it easy for people to buy from you.
By maintaining a consistent look and feel on the web site, users can navigate the site, find the information.
Flashing graphics, rapidly spinning animated GIFs, badly contrasting background and foreground text, MIDI files playing in the background - none of these demonstrate a professional image and should be avoided.
Don't start confusing your website visitors by using animations or sounds just for the sake of it, only use these if they are illustrating something on your web page.
Browser Testing - Maintains Uniformity Before launching your website you should have it tested in all the major browsers and on different types of computers.
This ensures the site looks the same on different platforms.
For example if you used a certain font on your website, this font may not be available on somebody else's PC, PDA or Apple - therefore your website will look vastly different in this case.
Also certain browsers don't follow the exact same rules for CSS Style Sheets and this is another reason why testing is important.
Inform and Empower your website visitors Content is very important on a website, however, if the content is not well written, not informative or not up-to-date people will not read-on and will possibly leave your web site.
On your web site, make sure your customers know exactly what it is that you do, what products or services you offer and demonstrate to them the benefits which you or your product/service can bring to them.
By keeping the content up-to-date you can also make sure that web site visitors will bookmark or return to your site.
Allow your visitors to keep up to date : E-mail them One marketing technique which really works is an opt-in e-mail Newsletter or E-Zine.
This allows you to keep in touch with your web site visitors who subscribe via your website.
In these E-Zine Newsletters, you can offer information to subscribed visitors relating to new product information, special offers, and the latest news from your company.
Newsletters are an excellent way of driving quality traffic to your web-site, keeping your customers informed on your success and to ultimately increasing your on-line sales.
Target your market through your website Make sure your web site is built with a target and a vision in mind.
Don't try to be all things to all people.
If you sell PC Software, then your site should be aimed at this market.
Know who your market is and ensure that your web site is aimed to their needs.
Therefore if you are selling B2B then your website may be different in appearance, style and content language than a B2C aimed at teens.
Also, if you sell different products, target each product by placing the content on a unique section of your site - don't attempt to sell all your products on the one page.
Use Viral Marketing and use it well Viral Marketing is a very powerful tool and you usually need to do very little for this to work.
Simply, this is where a website visitor finds your web site and then emails the link to a friend.
This can then appear on your site as a "Send to a Friend" section on your site.
Web visitors will fill out their email, name and possibly a short message and this information along with a link to your web site will be sent to the recipient email address.
Done well this can add valuable traffic to your web site and it can get your web address well known and remembered in the right areas of the market.
Other ideas along this line include free downloads - all downloads would be set up so as to have your logo and web address somewhere on the downloaded item.
Analyze your website visitors.
By analyzing your web site visitors you can find out, who is visiting, where they came from, how they found your site, what web browser they are using, and what pages they found most interesting.
Web site analytics are very important to discovering if your web site is working for you.
If you constantly have low traffic on the site, then something is wrong.
You have to start asking questions like ...
Are you on the major search engines? Are you search engine optimized? Are visitors not progressing past the first page? There are some excellent free website analytics systems available, such as Google Analytics, which at this time is by invitation only.
Basic system such as StatCounter or ShinyStat can give some information on web site visitors, but if you have a web server then your server may have a system such as Webaliser or Analog Stats.
Conclusion If you follow even a few of the above steps then you will be after making a start on an improvement to your web site and its marketing.
None of the above steps are difficult to get in place.
If you don't know how to do something, simply get a professional to do the job for you.
Put simply, you should build a fast, clean, professional looking, search engine optimized, easy to navigate web site with processes in place to monitor web visitors, allow for newsletters and viral marketing.
The principle of "If you build it they will come" is not true when it comes to web sites and web traffic.
Web site owners must invest time, effort and sometimes money into promoting their web presence on-line and also off-line.
This investment is not only to bring people to the web site but also to encourage web site visitors to remain on the site and also make a purchase or an inquiry.
Keep your web site sleek and fast loading Broadband, Broadband, Broadband - that's what everyone thinks will help their site be bigger and bolder than the competition.
The reality is for some countries with less developed digital infrastructures that broadband is not as widely available as is believed.
Many users still use the old fashioned dial up, with more major companies using ISDN connections.
Visitors don't want to wait for long downloads, or sites which take a long time to appear - only use large downloads where they are imperative to your web sites message.
If your web site does not appear within 15 - 20 seconds most visitors will leave the web site and go else where.
Having a sleek, quick loading website is essential.
Get listed on Search Engines, Web Directories and Related web sites Your web site should be fully optimized for the search engines.
Google is the Number 1 Search engine giving some websites over 90% of their search engine traffic.
You should ideally be listed on Google, MSN, AltaVista, DMOZ (the open directory) and any related search engines and directories in your country.
Your web pages should be search engine friendly, with all the relative META Tags for keywords and descriptions.
If you find that your website is in a competitive area or requires extra exposure at the early stages after the launch of the website, then Pay-Per-Click may be a good idea.
Systems such as Google's AdWords program allow you to specify which keywords you are listed for, and how much you wish to bid for your click.
You can also specify how much you wish to spend per day and which sites you wish to appear on.
PPC is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site but can be expensive in the long term.
Another technique is related links on website in your business area.
Therefore if you sell PC Software, having a link on a PC hardware company in your country would be a very good idea.
However, try avoid the whole reciprocal linking with sites which are either unrelated or are simply a big list of links, these link farms are not usually a good idea.
Maintain a Professional Image It simple - your web site should have a professional image in order to portray your business image in a good light.
Home made web sites don't usually look as good as one developed by a professional web designer.
By developing your site with a professional look and feel, your business will appear to the public to be well run and one which can be trusted.
Also, part of that professional image is that your website is constantly being updated with the latest news, new products and services, and special offers.
Business websites should really avoid items like visible web counters, Guestbooks and common clip-art - as these are dated items which really do not reflect well in the B2B world.
Keep things simple and easy to use Don't make your web site overly complex.
A website which is difficult to use or difficult to navigate will result in poor web site traffic and poor sales conversions.
A professional web developer will ensure that the web site visitors needs are put first.
The most critical information should be within 2 or 3 clicks from the main page - make it easy for people to buy from you.
By maintaining a consistent look and feel on the web site, users can navigate the site, find the information.
Flashing graphics, rapidly spinning animated GIFs, badly contrasting background and foreground text, MIDI files playing in the background - none of these demonstrate a professional image and should be avoided.
Don't start confusing your website visitors by using animations or sounds just for the sake of it, only use these if they are illustrating something on your web page.
Browser Testing - Maintains Uniformity Before launching your website you should have it tested in all the major browsers and on different types of computers.
This ensures the site looks the same on different platforms.
For example if you used a certain font on your website, this font may not be available on somebody else's PC, PDA or Apple - therefore your website will look vastly different in this case.
Also certain browsers don't follow the exact same rules for CSS Style Sheets and this is another reason why testing is important.
Inform and Empower your website visitors Content is very important on a website, however, if the content is not well written, not informative or not up-to-date people will not read-on and will possibly leave your web site.
On your web site, make sure your customers know exactly what it is that you do, what products or services you offer and demonstrate to them the benefits which you or your product/service can bring to them.
By keeping the content up-to-date you can also make sure that web site visitors will bookmark or return to your site.
Allow your visitors to keep up to date : E-mail them One marketing technique which really works is an opt-in e-mail Newsletter or E-Zine.
This allows you to keep in touch with your web site visitors who subscribe via your website.
In these E-Zine Newsletters, you can offer information to subscribed visitors relating to new product information, special offers, and the latest news from your company.
Newsletters are an excellent way of driving quality traffic to your web-site, keeping your customers informed on your success and to ultimately increasing your on-line sales.
Target your market through your website Make sure your web site is built with a target and a vision in mind.
Don't try to be all things to all people.
If you sell PC Software, then your site should be aimed at this market.
Know who your market is and ensure that your web site is aimed to their needs.
Therefore if you are selling B2B then your website may be different in appearance, style and content language than a B2C aimed at teens.
Also, if you sell different products, target each product by placing the content on a unique section of your site - don't attempt to sell all your products on the one page.
Use Viral Marketing and use it well Viral Marketing is a very powerful tool and you usually need to do very little for this to work.
Simply, this is where a website visitor finds your web site and then emails the link to a friend.
This can then appear on your site as a "Send to a Friend" section on your site.
Web visitors will fill out their email, name and possibly a short message and this information along with a link to your web site will be sent to the recipient email address.
Done well this can add valuable traffic to your web site and it can get your web address well known and remembered in the right areas of the market.
Other ideas along this line include free downloads - all downloads would be set up so as to have your logo and web address somewhere on the downloaded item.
Analyze your website visitors.
By analyzing your web site visitors you can find out, who is visiting, where they came from, how they found your site, what web browser they are using, and what pages they found most interesting.
Web site analytics are very important to discovering if your web site is working for you.
If you constantly have low traffic on the site, then something is wrong.
You have to start asking questions like ...
Are you on the major search engines? Are you search engine optimized? Are visitors not progressing past the first page? There are some excellent free website analytics systems available, such as Google Analytics, which at this time is by invitation only.
Basic system such as StatCounter or ShinyStat can give some information on web site visitors, but if you have a web server then your server may have a system such as Webaliser or Analog Stats.
Conclusion If you follow even a few of the above steps then you will be after making a start on an improvement to your web site and its marketing.
None of the above steps are difficult to get in place.
If you don't know how to do something, simply get a professional to do the job for you.
Put simply, you should build a fast, clean, professional looking, search engine optimized, easy to navigate web site with processes in place to monitor web visitors, allow for newsletters and viral marketing.