TIPS TO PROMOTE YOUR SITE!

* Award Sites and 'Best of' Listings
There are many Web sites that give awards to other sites, and list the "best of" in various categories. Here's a tip, it's surprisingly easy to get a web site award. There are sites that help you quickly submit your site to hundreds of award sites ... if your site clean, navigable, and concise -- chances are you will get an award. 
For a list of award sites, visit: http://www.poorrichard.com/freeinfo/special_reports.htm and read the "Getting Awards For Your Site" report. 

* Web Site Giveaways
Selling a product or service on your web site? Try giving away the product on someone else's site. Hold a drawing and link from other busy sites back to yours, where a feedback form can take names and email addresses to be used for the drawing. You can generate a lot of traffic this way, and if you have an email newsletter of your own you can use the submission forms to build your subscription list. Simply set up the form to automatically add people to the subscription list giving them the option to opt-out by checking a box or changing the option-button setting. 

* Promotions in Newsletters
There is another way to promote in newsletters without paying for advertising; get mentioned in them. It's similar to promoting a product in the real world you pay a publisher or editor to carry an ad, or you find some way for them to mention your product in a review or feature article. Email newsletters work the same way. Get an editor to review your web site or product, and perhaps even offer to give away something to their subscribers. You could set up a form at your Web site for people to register to win, then promote the contest in the newsletter. Never underestimate the power of contests and giveaways that offer something useful to your customers and visitors. 

* Creating a Newsletter or Bulletin
Consider creating a newsletter or bulletin yourself. These can be useful in more ways than one. For instance: keeping in contact with customers; promoting your product, service, and web site; offering valuable information about your area of expertise; announcing new products, services or changes to features on your site; etc...Before you take on something like this you need to ask yourself one question: Are you up for it? Do you think you can you create a newsletter that people really want to read? Can you create one that will catch, and hold, their attention? Do you have the time to do so? If you answer 'yes' to these questions, and you have the inclination and the content, the benefit can be huge. 

* Press Releases
Sending out press releases really does work. There are many press release services that can help you. You give them your press release, and they'll send it out to the media contacts you select. Some of these services will write the release for you, as well. Understand that writing a press release is part science, part art. A bad press release about a bad product won't work, so think hard and get some help if necessary! 

* Reviews on Web Sites
There are plenty of places to get reviewed online. These places vary from large and popular sites, perhaps run by major newspapers and magazines, to sites owned by individuals or hobbyists. They can also be a good place to be reviewed, and may bring in a lot of traffic. Again, this does take some effort on your part, but not much. A good press release will interest content providers in your product, service or site -- then they can visit your site for themselves and determine if they want to review or include your site on their own. Also, it is safe to say that (generally) sites that mention you are going to be related to your subject matter, consequently delivering qualified leads and visitors to your site. 

* Discussion Groups
Many Internet promoters spend a lot of time in discussion groups related to their industry or area of expertise. They become discussion-group "experts," always there to hand out advice or provide a little information. They become well known in their business in this manner. Many also post information at their Web sites, and subtly promote the Web site -- so the discussion groups push traffic to their sites. 
What sort of discussion groups? There are hundreds of thousands of mailing-list discussion groups, groups that operate over the email system. Then there are somewhere around 100,000 newsgroups. But don't forget the online services; you may find that CompuServe or AOL, or perhaps Prodigy, has a private discussion group that is well known in your business industry. 

* Email-newsletter Advertising
I've used email advertising very effectively. I've found newsletters that take ads for as little as 42 cents per thousand impressions -- 42 cents for every 1,000 email messages. That's unusually low, admittedly, but it's relatively easy to place ads for $5 per thousand impressions. I've tried email advertising and almost always made money. But, be very careful about using the expensive "targeted" email ads. Some companies will send your ad, and nothing but your ad, in an email message to a large "opt-in" list. And then will charge as much as 15 cents per name -- a cost per thousand impressions of $150! Needless to say, it's very difficult to make this pay. 

* Promotions in Newsletters
Getting mentioned in large email newsletters can be powerful. The best way to do this is identify the newsletters out there that are reaching your target audience, and contact the editors directly. This may take a bit of extra effort, but you can rest assured the newsletter will reach your desired audience. Sometimes an editor will give a mention for free, other times there is a minimal fee, like most promotions on the web, there is no standard yet. 

* Creating a Newsletter or Bulletin
I believe the newsletter has been a very important part of Internet Strategy; it's starting to turn up in lists of "the best newsletters," which both attracts people to the newsletter and directly to the Web site.

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