How do I promote a site?

M

mljohn

New member
Mar 15, 2010
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I have a new eCommerce (saltlakecitytoner.com) site and now I need to start getting the word out.

I'm beginning to see some effects of SEO but still very little.

What are some of the first steps I should do to start getting more traffic to my site?

Your advice or redirects to other posts would be very helpful.

Thanks

Matt
 


What are some of the first steps I should do to start getting more traffic to my site?
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You shouldn't run into many dickrolls in the newbie section...

To start, I would break what you need into two chunks:

1. usability
2. promotion

First, I can't give you all the details on what to do. Look at this as a blueprint and then search the website for the details. Also, this is a 50,000 foot view.

Usability
You're site is not easy to navigate. Granted, I'm not highly motivated for your products, but with the competition only a back click away - I suspect you're losing traffic due to the dated look and clumsy content structure.

Google tracks site stickiness or site engagement. A site that is easier to use for visitors will allow them to penetrate deeper and spend more time on the "information scent". This may help your site become more trusted by Google.

A site with good usability will usually have a better flow of page rank to your money pages. The proper flow of page rank will help Google identify important pages.

One thing I can't ignore: replace that POS video immediately. Heck, a hole may perform better than that dated thing since it wouldn't immediately turn people off. Try fiverr.com.

Promotion
Think engaging content, SEO, Links and Social Citations.

Make that home page *POP*. You have a giant red arrow on the home page that does nothing when clicked. The video does not answer why I should buy from you because I am too busy trying to turn it off. As I suspect is the case with many visitors.

If you have an arrow - make it it do something or lead to an *immediate* answer. This goes back to usability...

Engaging content will also put you in a position to build links. At the least, it will provide your website a cover story so that when you buy links it looks like you have a reason. Google is not stupid, there is very few reasons that any sites of value would link to your home page.

Build up engaging articles and send quality links. Build social citations. Build or buy feeder sites. Add content daily. Even if it's something small - add content.

So, take some of these ideas and research this site. All the answers are here if you look.
 
Nebraska speaks the truth!

Color scheme - nothing matches
Video - sucks balls
Ink Toner Search - I'd have it on the right, as part of the main body rather than dropping down from the navigation bar.

Gradients - there are 2 sides to this. Designers are saying that gradients are outdated and you should go with something flat and more corperate. On the other hand marketers who actually track and test their performance say that you should have something that allows users to identify that it is a button which is meant to be clicked, one of the ways of doing this is putting a gradient on the button to make it look 3d'ish lol.

I also loving having banners on the homepage, horizontal banner making the user aware of a special offer or some sort of price comparison or price reduction usually does well for "commodity marketing". Like leaderboard ads, I usually have a bit more height in mine than most common leaderboards.

Site title says "Salt Lake City Toner -".... add a tagline after the "-"


Your response to all of this shit might be "I can't afford a good designer", but the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of young designers out there who cant find work, need to build their portfolio and would be willing to work for free or cheap.

Best of luck to you, keep us updated :)
 
Your site looks really dated, but you could get away with that if it weren't for the video. Why on earth would someone looking to buy toner/ink want to listen to your video autoplay as soon as they open your site? Aside from the fact that autoplaying videos annoy 98% of visitors, there is no reason for a toner site to even have a video unless you have a section of How-to videos about cleaning your printer, changing cartridges etc.

Toner/ink is a pretty simple concept, you look up your model, find the corresponding product and buy if the price is right. That's it. None of your visitors care about "allowing you to stay in business" (<--wtf?). Anybody shopping for toner/ink wants to look up their model, find the corresponding product, and buy.

Therefore you have to make sure those 3 things are your focus.

Step 0 - Scrap the video. Nobody gives a fuck about you or your desire to stay in business.

Step 1 - Put the brand/model names front and center. Make it so that the first thing people see is a list that has what they are actually looking for. You can keep your little drop-down search thingy but people are going to want to see product names front and center. Plus, you need that for the search engines anyway so just do it.

Step 2 - Get some testimonials about how great your customer service is and how fast and headache free your shipping was. People love to see testimonials, and the only thing toner/ink shoppers care about when they are buying is price, quality and delivery. So focus on those things. Also, are you selling re-manufactured cartridges? Just by a cursory glance I couldn't tell, which would worry me. If they are then you should focus your message on the great savings and comparable quality, if they aren't you should announce that loud and clear.

Step 3 - Get some trustmarks on your site. Every ecom site needs these because you're going to be asking for people's personal/payment info if they buy right? How can they know they can trust you?

Step 4 - When you land on the cartridge page there is a little link to "show compatible machines. That should be open by default - you want people to see their model listed without having to dig around to uncover the link. One of the most frustrating things for ink/toner shoppers is the millions of different cartridges so reassure them that they found the right one.

Step 5 - Your quantity should default to 1. Don't make the customer have to type it in, assume that 90% of your customers are only going to buy 1 of that cartridge so make their shopping experience a little easier and default the quantity to 1.

Step 6 - On the cart I don't see anything about security. You're asking me to give you all my personal information but I don't see any guarantees that my info will be safe with you. You have an SSL cert, but the average internet user needs to see more. Pictures of locks with the words "your shit is safe with us" (slightly reword that). Pictures of the payment types accepted - I don't see the Visa/MC/Amex logos I've grown up to trust my whole life - where are they?

That should get you started. Also, you need to redo your header, it looks like something a 6th grader made for his school project.
 
1) Try using a site such as Fiverr.com to get a video etc. to boost views. That alone might get you noticed and it's cheap...

2) Start posting your best writing samples on the site and make them visible to potential customers.

3) Write, write, and then write some more...you will get noticed if you know what you are doing.
 
smillar1980 said:
1) Try using a site such as Fiverr.com to get a video etc. to boost views. That alone might get you noticed and it's cheap...

2) Start posting your best writing samples on the site and make them visible to potential customers.

3) Write, write, and then write some more...you will get noticed if you know what you are doing.
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I agree with u DUDE;-

The other options which may also work are as follows

By inserting social media like Facebook ,Twitter and so on.....

By making the keyword getting diversed while it gets searched in Google
 
Hi Dude, I suggest you to do the following things to increase traffic..

-make your site with original and quality content which are to be unique
-make the contents with niche relevant
-build your site with permanent backlinks
-be patient to add quality contents until your site get indexed
-make the pages that are easy to read
 
Hey Mate, there are many way to increases your traffic

SEO
Link building with blog commenting, web 2.0, link wheel and etc...
SMM
Facebook, twitter ,Pinterest and etc

Go to BST section and select your campaign
 
SEO can take time. To get more instant traffic and visibility go to other websites in this topic that are already getting a lot of traffic and see if you can get some visibility on those sites. Guest blogging, blog commenting. You could write articles at ezine too. Make sure you link back to your site and ideally use a squeeze page so that you can build your list.
 
Get more niche relevant link from high authority domains..Do niche relevant Blog commenting, Article submissions, Directory submissions,Bookmarking,etc..It will be increase your backlink counts..
 
Unarmed Gunman said:
Your site looks really dated, but you could get away with that if it weren't for the video. Why on earth would someone looking to buy toner/ink want to listen to your video autoplay as soon as they open your site? Aside from the fact that autoplaying videos annoy 98% of visitors, there is no reason for a toner site to even have a video unless you have a section of How-to videos about cleaning your printer, changing cartridges etc.

Toner/ink is a pretty simple concept, you look up your model, find the corresponding product and buy if the price is right. That's it. None of your visitors care about "allowing you to stay in business" (<--wtf?). Anybody shopping for toner/ink wants to look up their model, find the corresponding product, and buy.

Therefore you have to make sure those 3 things are your focus.

Step 0 - Scrap the video. Nobody gives a fuck about you or your desire to stay in business.

Step 1 - Put the brand/model names front and center. Make it so that the first thing people see is a list that has what they are actually looking for. You can keep your little drop-down search thingy but people are going to want to see product names front and center. Plus, you need that for the search engines anyway so just do it.

Step 2 - Get some testimonials about how great your customer service is and how fast and headache free your shipping was. People love to see testimonials, and the only thing toner/ink shoppers care about when they are buying is price, quality and delivery. So focus on those things. Also, are you selling re-manufactured cartridges? Just by a cursory glance I couldn't tell, which would worry me. If they are then you should focus your message on the great savings and comparable quality, if they aren't you should announce that loud and clear.

Step 3 - Get some trustmarks on your site. Every ecom site needs these because you're going to be asking for people's personal/payment info if they buy right? How can they know they can trust you?

Step 4 - When you land on the cartridge page there is a little link to "show compatible machines. That should be open by default - you want people to see their model listed without having to dig around to uncover the link. One of the most frustrating things for ink/toner shoppers is the millions of different cartridges so reassure them that they found the right one.

Step 5 - Your quantity should default to 1. Don't make the customer have to type it in, assume that 90% of your customers are only going to buy 1 of that cartridge so make their shopping experience a little easier and default the quantity to 1.

Step 6 - On the cart I don't see anything about security. You're asking me to give you all my personal information but I don't see any guarantees that my info will be safe with you. You have an SSL cert, but the average internet user needs to see more. Pictures of locks with the words "your shit is safe with us" (slightly reword that). Pictures of the payment types accepted - I don't see the Visa/MC/Amex logos I've grown up to trust my whole life - where are they?

That should get you started. Also, you need to redo your header, it looks like something a 6th grader made for his school project.
Click to expand...

Very good tips.
 
Make your site more text based, get SEO done for it. And also use its URL for mailing, on Facebook, Twitter and where you make post.
 
a1.premium said:
Make your site more text based, get SEO done for it. And also use its URL for mailing, on Facebook, Twitter and where you make post.
Click to expand...


we can also add images and videos which looks realistic and gets related to the topic very well...!
 
Going social is free if you know what you're doing. Other than that, seo and ppc are your next best options.
 
You must do something unique for promote your site instant. You can do as below,
• Make sure that you have added a listing to Google Local Business.
• Submit your site to directories.
• Off page SEO (Bookmarking, Classifieds, Directory Listing, Article Submission, Forum Posting, Press Releases etc)
• Join Social Networking sites
• Blog posting with link back to your site.

Hope this gets you started. Have a charming day ! :)
 
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