A beautiful website is essential. But once you’ve got that, then what?

It would be great “if you build it, then they will come” applied to your website. But honestly, it takes work to market that beautiful website. Once your site is live, you can't just sit back and watch business flow in.

According to a recent study conducted by Webvisable and Nielsen, small businesses spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online. Interestingly, business owners are often frustrated that they are not being found online. So, is there a connection here? If you’re frustrated that prospective clients aren’t finding your website, first ask yourself; what are you doing to market your website? 

To start

Announce your site to friends, family, clients, and business contacts. Keep in touch with email newletters. Include a link to your site with your email signature, pass out business cards, reward referrals, offer promotions on your site.

Consider your search engine optimization

Working on optimizing your site for the web, so that Google recognizes it and hopefully ranks it high, is a hot topic and one that a lot of business are spending a lot of time and money to do. Here are some basic principals of SEO: 

Keywords--Keywords are search terms (words and phrases, such as “Seattle green remodel”) that prospective customers type into Google. Use keywords especially in your headers, in the first paragraph of your site, and embedded in your meta tags. Google offers a free tool to help you choose your keywordshttps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. 

Incoming links--This is probably the hardest, but most valuable, part of improving your SEO. Essentially, getting other websites to link to yours, especially if they are relevant to your industry and link to you using your keywords, will help you rank higher in Google searches.

Frequent site updates--Google rewards sites (by ranking them higher) that update their website frequently. Having a content management system that is easy to use will encourage frequent site updates. 

Using social media

Businesses are increasingly using social media to promote their business. But, a word about marketing using social media: the return on investment (and its usually an investment of time) is slow and happens over time with constant attention.

Create a profile for your business on social or business media platforms such as facebook, or LinkedIn help people find you and direct visitors to your website. 

Blogging, and being an active participant and commenter on other, industry-relevant blogs will help people find your site over time.

Writing articles and content for online media sites such as Digg, andExaminer can help direct traffic to your site also.

Other considerations

Google Adword ads, working with a PR or marketing agency, and traditional marketing methods such as paid ads in publications, radio/tv ads, and direct mail may have a place in your marketing strategy depending on your budget. 

Your website is an essential part of your businesses’ online presence. Its important to have a marketing strategy for your website--your website will work for you, if you work for it.