BLUESTREAM WEB TIPS & TRICKS FOR PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET HOW TO GET YOUR BUSINESS NOTICED ON THE NET
A VALUABLE GUIDE TO HELP PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE USING FREE AND LOW COST ONLINE RESOURCES AND SITES
www.Bluestreamweb.com
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Is your website working for you or against you? Are customers able to locate you easily through online searches? More importantly, is your website pulling in prospects or are they running back to the woods? Before going any further, ask yourself one simple question: "Do I care if my website is found on the internet?" If the answer is YES, please flip the pages!
FREE WEBSITE EXPOSURE ON THE NET In addition to SEO techniques, link building, social media, blogs, and local sites can all help your website rank higher in searches or get your business more exposure online; and many of these can be done for free. Most of the sites listed in this guide should have free listings available, with some having paid upgraded listings. A few of the telephone directories are no longer offering free listings and have been omitted for that reason. Other sites are available besides these. This is a great list to get you started with some of the more popular websites that will help get your business FREE website exposure on the internet; but always be on the lookout for other sites that you can add your business information to because it will help.
KEEPING IT FREE Other great ways to get free online exposure is link swapping and social media sites such as Facebook and Google+. Remember, always add your website URL to your information page and make sure it works. Designing your own eye catching FB Landing Page is another way to increase business exposure.
OTHER FREE RESOURCES There are also organizations you may already be a member of that allow you to provide business and website information. The local Chamber of Commerce, Builders organizations, Realtor organizations, Church, the Better Business Bureau, and other resources usually have either online directories or newsletters for business owners to advertise in, all of which increase your exposure to the community. If you are a member of organizations like these make sure to get your business included in any online listings, and always have a link back to your website posted.
LINK SWAPPING-BUT BE CAREFUL The #1 thing to do to increase your website ranking is to LINK SWAP with other REPUTABLE websites. Ask your friends, business associates, and family members to add a link to your website onto their site. Offer to reciprocate. This will help you both websites get higher in the online search rankings. Make sure you link with reputable businesses. We cannot stress this enough. Be wary of link farms or websites claiming to add your site to multiple websites. Some of these link farms are blacklisted and can actually hurt your rankings with Google and other search providers!
BOOKMARK YOUR WEBSITE Create your own bookmarks to your website, and ask your friends, business associates, and family to bookmark your site as well. Some of the bookmark sites have their own communities which also help to get your business more exposure on the internet. It's all about networking - so use the free tools that are available! Whatever home page you are using, Yahoo, Google, etc., you should always bookmark your website on the home page. Here are a couple of additional bookmarking sites you can add your website listing on:
STUMBLE UPON HTTP://WWW.STUMBLEUPON.COM/ DIGG HTTP://DIGG.COM/
GOOGLE +1 Google has the new +1 internet tag. Get your friends, business associates and family to +1 your website. +1 their sites. +1 other sites you like (like this one!). Google is stating that they will be using results from the +1 clicks in ranking websites. This may turn out to be a very important way to increase your site rankings. For more information on the new Google +1 go here:
http://www.google.com/+1/button/ To easily add a Google +1 button to your website go here:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/
OTHER FREE RESOURCES YOUTUBE VIDEO Create your own business commercial and help your business get even MORE online exposure. Be creative and memorable - Make it Huge! Add keywords that are relevant to your business (YouTube videos are searchable also), and always inlcude a link back to your website in the video HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/
Type in the search "how to make a video"
WEB PHOTO ALBUMS PICASA, FLICKR, AND PHOTOBUCKET You can easily create online photo albums to promote your business. You can add an array of photos, brochures, advertisements, and any other type of marketing media that is formatted for a photo album. Make sure you add good keywords that are relevant to your business, and always include a link back to your website Picasa
HTTPS://PICASAWEB.GOOGLE.COM/
Flickr
HTTP://WWW.FLICKR.COM/
Photobucket
HTTP://PHOTOBUCKET.COM/
PDF BROCHURES ISSUU Create a high quality brochure and turn it into a pdf Add the brochure to Issuu Create a Free account with ads promoting your business Opt to pay $20 per month for ad free HTTP://WWW.ISSUU.COM
BLOGS Create a Free blog. Blogs are the best way to keep your website fresh and up to date – and Google LOVES new and updated website content! Keep your content updated regularly, and always use keywords inside your blog post that are relevant to your business. A blog can easily be embedded onto your website. There are quite a few options on the internet, with Blogger and WordPress being a couple of the more popular choices. HTTP://WWW.BLOGGER.COM HTTP://WWW.WORDPRESS.ORG
POPULAR SEARCH ENGINE SITES Setup a google account:
HTTP://WWW.GOOGLE.COM Setup a yahoo account: HTTP://EDIT.YAHOO.COM
Setup a bing account (known as a windows live account): HTTP://SIGNUP.LIVE.COM
ONLINE TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES Add your business to the Superpages telephone directory HTTP://WWW.SUPERPAGES.COM/
Add your business to the yellow pages directory HTTP://WWW.YELLOWPAGES.COM/
Add your business to the insider pages directory HTTP://INSIDERPAGES.COM/
Are you an entertainment company? (restaurants, bars, movies etc). If so then get your business listed on four square. HTTPS://FOURSQUARE.COM/
LOCAL ONLINE DIRECTORIES Local business directories and advertising sites like HTTP://WWW.SHOPPERPOPPER.COM are also great sources to help your business get more exposure on the internet!
CONTACT BLUESTREAM WEB It has been a pleasure putting together this guide for you. At Bluestream Web, we strive to educate and help our clients and potential clients as well. If you need any help or additional information with any area discussed in this guide, you can contact our office for further assistance.
Office Hours: Monday - Thursday 9:30 to 5:00 • Friday 9:30 to 3:00 Saturday’s by Appointment Only! We return all voice messages within 24 business hours. We accommodate working people – please call for info.
PHONE: Florida
(941) 275-9932
Texas
(972) 338-5841
Email: Info@Bluestreamweb.com Visit us on the web: www.Bluestreamweb.com