Slashdot Mirror
Web Sites-How Can You Draw Users To Them?
Muad asks: "Suppose someone had a really cool site like /. - how do you get the word out? In other words, once the work is done, how do you build the hype and let your potential users know that the result of so much of your hard work is finally online? Granted, you could use a lot of money, but the really interesting question arises when you don't have a large marketing budget, or none at all." In the absence of an advertising budget, and after you've added your site to every search engine you can find (accurate entries, please) you still can't beat the word-of-mouth method as a way to get folks to visit your site. However, you will soon discover that the hard part isn't getting folks to visit the site...it's getting them to come back.
It will take a long time before you appear in search engines, but meta tags will help you get a better position. And thus more visitors.
Mail your friends, colleagues, friendly webmasters of other sites.. stimulate other sites to link to you by offering buttons and banners or by linking back to them. Spread the word some more on mailinglists, newsgroups etc (but keep it relevant, spam doesn't work!)
If you have the money, advertise. On TV, radio, the Web or whatever you can afford. Or advertise by sacrificing advertising income using a banner trade program such as LinkExchange on your site instead of regular ads.
Just kidding.
Keep your site up-to-date. Alive. Fresh. Cool. This might even be the key element.. build it and they will come. Maintain it and they will keep coming!
How did you know about the sites you like best? Somehow you became a visitor. Try and determin what they did (think, ask) and copy their methods.
That's the simplest answer I can give - be creative!
.sig for emails, newsgroups, email etc.
I can assure you that success didn't come to Slashdot overnight, or easily. There is no one way to do it. Think of all the bands out there who get a record deal, have a record company spend money on them, but never really get mcuh fame or fortune. Quite simply, you must have a product which when found, will cause people to return or to tell their friends about it.
Given that you probably believe in your own site, what else can you do apart from Search engine advertising?
Always have a link in your
Find appropriate newsgroups and mention your site (the key here is *appropriate* - don't spam)
Have a "Mail this to a friend" button on your site.
A newsletter will ensure that people come back to your site - all my favourite sites have nwesletters which drag me back when there is new content of interest.
Think viral marketing! What can you make your site do that helps spread the message. For instance, Geocities had a message saying "Get free email at Geocities.com" at the bottom of every mail their users sent out. (More info here - http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/vi ral-principles.htm)
That's some starting pointers. The important thing is to be realistic. Is your site *really* something that people will want to return to? Otherwise you should be content with fairly low numbers of visitors.
"Give the anarchist a cigarette"
A little planning goes a long way...
There have already been a bunch of great ideas; here are mine.
Build community ties. By helping out with other projects, you get your own name out there. When people know who you are, especially when you have helped them with their projects, they will be more likely to use and advertise for your site. How can you help out others?
Once you have content up on some of these sites, its easy to reference your own site, whether through direct links, author bios, or something similar. I'm not advocating using other sites for your own gain; I'm advocating reciprocation. You help them, they help you. You may even find that your site has a very natural tie-in with another site, and you can work together to share data, user info, stories, and the like.
Of course, you can always just stick some advertising in your /. sig.
darren
Cthulhu for President!
(darren)