Search Engine Marketing Blog: piloSEO

Your brand new site is live, what’s next?

You finished developing the perfect site and you just know everyone will love it if they could only find it. The Field of Dreams method really does not work. Just because you built does not mean they will come. How can they come if they don’t know about it? So now you have to figure out a way to get visitors to your brand new and wonderful site. The problem is you spend all of your money buying your domain, designing and developing your site, and on hosting fees. So you have to find a way to attract visitors without doling out a bunch of cash.

Where can I get all that free traffic?

Internet marketing can get a bit pricey and you need to put some money in the bank before you can pay that great search engine marketing company to optimize your site so all of those wonderful searchers can find your site. You need to find a way to publicize your site for free. But how do you do that?

• Local Search Engines and Local/Map Features on the Major Search Engines
  • Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Local.com, MSN Live , etc. All of these engines allow businesses to add their own listing. The only caveat is that it must have a physical address in the town in which it is being added. You can also include much more detailed information in the local/map listings. As you can see from the screen shoot below you can add operating hours, phone numbers, email addresses, payment information, etc. They also provide a map with easily accessible driving directions to your physical location.
• Craigslist
  • Add listings in the online classified services for your area. It is very easy to do and Craigslist gets a ton of traffic. Make sure you go back and update because the ads only last 7 days. The bonus is that many times the Craigslist Ads will appear on the organic results on the major search engines.
• College Gameday
  • If you watch College Gameday on ESPN you know that when they are on location a ton of people show up and hold signs. Some are funny, some are obscene, and sometimes they are touting a website. This applicable for any situation where large crowds gather and you can carry or display a sign. Tailgating at a football game, before a concert, etc. I chose College Gameday because you get the added bonus of a national TV audience seeing your sign.

   

  

• Business Cards
  • You have business cards right? If not, go out and get some. Business cards are great because you can leave them anywhere. Going out to eat? Leave your card. Sending a bill in the mail? Put your card in there. Many small businesses also have bulletin boards on which you can place your card. If you go to a restaurant or shop that has a business card bowl to win a free lunch out you card in there. Business cards are cheap and you get a lot of them. Put them anywhere and everywhere you can.

  

• Free Directories
  • Directories have taken a hit recently but there are still plenty of worthwhile directories to submit to. Try to find directories that allow free submissions with no reciprocal link required. Niche directories are best but as long as the general directories have well layed out categories they should be fine. Remember you are doing this for traffic so make sure you submit to directories that offer something unique to their visitors that compells them to come back and visit the sites contained within.
• Social Networking
  • Build profiles on StumbleUpon, MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Yelp, and the plethora of general and niche social media sites. On sites that allow you to build a company profile make sure you do that. On others like LinkedIn where you can only build individual profiles make sure you include your URL when setting it up. When others visit your profile they should be able to find a link to your URL right away.
• Squidoo Lenses
  • Build lenses on Squidoo for your site and your individual products and services. Again, make sure you include links to your site on your Squidoo page. You should also seek out related groups and join them. These group members will visit your lens and tell others about it. Do not duplicate content. Use fresh content on your Squidoo lenses. If you have a site that sells hockey equipment build a lens that discusses how to properly fit hockey equipment or the history of hockey equipment.
• Friends and Family
  • Tell everyone you know about your new web site. Put the URL in your email signature. Make sure you tell your mom. Mom’s are great at promotion. She will tell everyone she knows about your site. Word of mouth marketing can be a fantastic way to get more visitors directly to your site. Start with your friends and family and as long as they actually like you they will spread the word.
• Forums
  • Sign up for and participate in as many relevant forums and message boards as you have time for. Don’t be a spammer or a troll. Most forums allow you to add a signature so make sure you do that and include your URL in your signature. The more you participate the more people will see your URL and click over to your site. Again, don’t spam but get involved in the discussions. You should not use the forums to self promote but to offer your opinion and advice. As long as you offer good advice and opinions the other users will be interested in what you have to offer and will visit your site.
• Article Sites
  • Submit articles related to the content on your site to free article sites like Article City and Ezine Articles. Make sure you submit unique articles to each site. You can write about the same topics but use unique articles and most importantly do not use the same content on your site. These article sites deliver some decent direct traffic and they are syndicated across hundreds of sites so you pick up trickles of traffic from that.
• License Plate Frame
  • Now, this one is technically not free but it is extremely cheap. There are a number of license plate web sites that allow you to custom design a frame with your own message. For around $15-$20 you can order a license plate from and put your sites name and a short message in front of thousands of people every day. Sure, there is a cost associated with buying the frame but the actual impressions are free and you are advertising your site whenever anyone can see your car.

  

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