Gane.ca

In my first article I discussed what your website needs to be successful, and this is the second portion to that: Offsite Things that will make your website successful. The shear size of the internet, the amount of content generated everyday is simply difficult to express. What does that mean for you? It mean the "Field of Dreams" plan won't work; ie: if you build it, they will come.

People often get confused at this point, because when they hear me mention 'offsite', they assume I mean offline. Well, I can tell you I don't, not completely anyways. When I say offsite, I really do mean off your website, and in the rest of the world. And I do mean the rest of the world, be it the physical world or the digital world. Simple things you can do right now, that will allow you to generate more traffic to your website and really make your site a success!

Advertising

Advertising your website and the services you offer is important to generating the right kind of traffic to your website (to be honest, I don't believe there isn't a wrong type of traffic). When I say the right type of traffic, I mean the type that is already targeted by services like Google's and Facebook's advertising platforms. See if they click on the ad to come to your website, they have been searching for keywords you've define, or have a profile with interest's that match things you've defined.

See in the sales cycle, they've already qualified themselves as a prospect, and that is an important step. If you're driving this type of traffic to your website, you're bound to have some success, regardless of your website's content. The visitors who are attracted to your website are clearly showing some type of interest and possibly actively searching for your products or services.

Local Listing Sites

These local listing sites are wonderful source of traffic and even provide a certain level SEO. Sites like Hotfrog.ca's entire business model is supported by ads, a model that is only viable if you have a certain level of traffic. To help achieve this they utilize SEO to get results on search engines. They offer listing services for free based on location and industry, so potentially someone looking for a Widget company could find your Widget company.

Of course most sites like this offer 'Premium Services', like preferred listings and additional advertising opportunities are often the most frequent. Like any advertising, you should take a look at the risks, costs and possible return. Often the free listing will suffice.

Google Business Center is it's Local Listing service. Signing up for the profile is beneficial because this is what will place you on Google Maps. Having a complete profile is more then just having your Name, Address and Website on the listing. You can provide a logo, pictures of the location, hours or operation, payment methods and even business categories to be associated with. It should be mentioned that Yahoo and Bing also offer the same type of services and shouldn't be neglected.

Clearly the goal here is to get your information out there, make it easy to find, easy to utilize (Google Maps). This step is a little less about your website, and as much about your contact information in general.

Branding

Branding is important, everyone knows that. But on everything you can, place your website address. Business cards, letter head, bags, clothing, email signatures and even your vehicle. Some of those could go unsaid, but I encourage you to incorporate your web address into everything you output.

A car wrap is a good example of something that is really very cost effective, because of the free advertising implications. Even having a bumper sticker would be worth it, as you can imagine, getting the information into the public domain is the entire goal of this branding step. Sometime you can generate traffic out of casual visters, who may become clients or recommend someone who could become a client.

Social Media

People seem to be waiting for someone to get Social Media down into a science, so that they can just apply it to their business and get instant success. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I can't see it happening at any point in the near future. And I've got more: to have success with Social Media it's going to take time, commitment and hard-work. I hope that doesn't deter you from becoming active with the Facebooks or the Twitters of the web.

The thing is, with everyone and their Grandpas using Social Media, you can't really afford to not be participating with it. It's an excellent way to connect with those people that make your business what it is - your customers. Not only that, but an excellent way to use your personal network of friends, family, and the such to build a network of potential leads and new clients. 

Getting those people to recommend you via liking your Facebook Page, or re-tweeting a Twitter post is not only a reward onto itself but often worth the investment into Social Media. At the bare minimum, you allow yourself to put your information out there so that even Joe Casual surfer can find your website or contact information. Please ensure that your branding and website points to any and all Social Media efforts, so that people can connect with you in anyways they feel comfortable.

Did I miss something that you like to do? Did any of the tips help you with your website? Feedback and suggestions are welcome via the comments! As well, feel free to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS Feed.