The 1989 movie Field of Dreams was a fantasy that used the phrase “If you build it, he will come!” which is sometimes misquoted as “If you build it, they will come.” In the movie, Kevin Costner built a baseball field because he thought that “Shoeless” Joe Jackson would return and once again play baseball in the field.

 If you build a website will visitors come to your site? If you believe they will just because you have a website, then you, like the movie, are living a fantasy.

 Today it takes more than just having a website to get visitors (potential customers) to come to your site.

 You wouldn’t design a brochure or catalog and not mail it out to potential customers would you? No, of course not! Unfortunately, most website owners are doing just that with their site. They are not taking the proper steps to promote (market) their website and therefore are not getting the traffic they should.

 Today, the Internet (specifically search engines) is the number one source that individuals use to look for products and services, even for local sources. Without properly promoting your website, you will be sitting in the stands waiting for the game to start.

 So, what do you do? The following list gives some of the best proven ways to get significant, quality traffic to your website of potential customers looking for your products or services.

Search Engine Optimization

Writing Blog Articles

Submitting Articles to Article Websites

Using Social Media

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

 The primary goal of a well established plan to promote (market) your website is to get your website listed high in the search engine results. Not just for the name of your company, but for keyword/phrases that potential customers would search on when looking for your products or services.

 This goal holds true whether you sell nationally or locally. With the search engines being the number one place individuals go to search for products or services; don’t you want your website to show up high in the search engines or do you want a “Website of Dreams?.”

 Where do you start to promote your website? Most website owners lack the knowledge of how to properly promote their site, so the best staring point is to find an Internet Marketing company that has the experience to guide you.

If you are interested in learning more about the best ways to promote your website and generate traffic, please contact us today at USA Marketing Associates. 508-223-3653 or jconant@usamarketingassociates.com

You might have noticed recently that Google’s search results are listing pages from sources other than traditional business websites. It’s certain that Google is now taking a big interest in ranking, within their search results, with more unique information. It most likely started when Google purchased YouTube three years ago and started listing video from YouTube in their search results related to the specific keyword/phrases being used for the search.

 With videos being hotter than the SUN as far as search popularity is concerned, Google made a very good choice in their purchase of YouTube. So what does that mean for individuals searching on Google?  The first clue is that search results are showing small jpeg graphics of videos Google believes are relevant to the search. If an individual thinks the video would be of interest, they now can click on the link and view the video on their computer.

However, what Google is now displaying in their search results doesn’t just include YouTube. We are now seeing listings from LinkedIn, FaceBook, Wikipedia, MySpace, EzineArticles, Scribd, Flickr, Search Directories, and Twitter to name just a few. Yes, even Twitter is showing up on the first page of Google’s search results.

This is both Good news and Bad news for website owners trying to obtain high rankings! The Bad news is your previous high rankings in the search results might get pushed down to the second or third page. The Good news is you can regain your rankings by taking advantage of all of the Social Media sites. In fact, it is possible to obtain several listings on the first page of Google’s search results by providing good content to the Social Media, Article, Directory websites and good optimized pages on your site.

So if you are not using LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace, EzineArticles, Scribd, Flickr, Search Directories, and Twitter, you should. And the best news is they cost nothing to use.

If you are using FaceBook, LinkedIn, and other Social Media websites for personal use, create new accounts for business “only” use.

Realizing high rankings on Google and other search engines using Social Media and other sites, will require that your content be of high quality, and relate specifically to the keyword/phrase or phrases for your business.

If your business sells “home gardening supplies” as an example, you will want your content to be written for this topic (keyword/phrase). Make sure you use the keyword/phrase in the title of your content, whether you are describing your business in your LinkedIn profile or if you are writing an article and submitting it to an article website.

One thing you should remember is that your Social Media site listings on Google and other search engines will not give you direct links to your website. Someone clicking on one of these listings will need to go from the Social Media site to your website with another click or two. The primary way to get potential customers directly to your website is with optimized web pages. The next best thing is all of the free Social Media sites that will help you generate more visitors to your website.