MetaPro Systems Inc.

Driving People to Your Web Site

The question I get most often concerning web sites is, “how do I get more visitors to my site?” more specifically, “how do I get better placements on search engines?”

Marketing

It’s your responsibility to drive people to your site. Make sure your web address is listed anywhere one of your prospects or customers is likely to see it. Put it on every piece of marketing literature you publish, including your business cards, stationery, brochures, and even invoices. Put it at the end of all your email messages – an easy way to do this is to make it part of your email signature. In most cases, the receivers of your email can simply click on the address and be taken directly to your site. Put your web address in any ads you do. If appropriate, put it on the side of your truck.

Useful Information

Give people a reason to visit your site. Be sure to give them useful information that does not directly promote your business. For example, an accountant can write tax tips, a carpenter can give do-it-yourself fix-it hints. In my case, I developed a series of hints for Visual Basic, a programming language that we use. This generates a lot of traffic to our site. One Visual Basic site created a link back to our site called “Cool Tips”.

Search Engines

There are steps you can take to make your site friendlier to the search engines. Search engines cannot read graphics, so a site heavy on text and light on graphics is good. Make sure all the links work and that there are no errors on the site. The search engine reads the same text that the visitors see so be sure to put any words or phrases that you want to be found by the search engine in the body of the text.

There are two types of places where you can register, search engines and directories. A search engine is when the visitor searches keywords or phases and is directed to a number of sites. It is not necessary to register at search engines; they will find you on their own. However you can register to be found more quickly. Directories are where the visitor clicks through a series of choices to find a certain product or service. It is necessary to register to be in directories. The most important free one is www.dmoz.org. In other prominent directories such as www.yahoo.com, you are only placed if you pay.

It is good to have many other sites which have a link back to your site. Not only does this give the visitor more ways to find you, it gives you credibility in the eyes of the search engines. More credibility means better placement. You can make arrangements with non-competing businesses to have a link to your site (in exchange for a link to theirs.) Many associations you can join also will link back to the web sites of their members.

Conclusion

This advice is of a general nature; every case is unique. We can help you deal with these issues. Please feel free to contact us at 781.860.7345.