You signed up for Web Hosting, set up your email, and began building your website - now how are you going to attract potential site visitors or customers? Before you sign up for any directory listing services or begin peppering your friends with emails, you may want to consider some of the ways you can promote your site, then map out a promotion strategy.

Why promote your site?

The answer to this one may be obvious, but you might be surprised how many people build a website and then sit back and wonder why it's not performing to their expectations. Think about the goals of your site. If you're hoping to sell products or services, show off your work, promote your organization, or attract readers or discussion board members, for example, you'll want to advertise. These days, there are millions of websites competing for attention--how will potential viewers find yours?

Your web address

The right web address can help potential visitors find your site. If customers are already familiar with your company or organization, they may simply enter its name in their browser's navigation bar, like this: your-site-here.net. They may also look for your company using a search engine--and they're more likely to find your site at the top of the search results when your web address matches your name.

Creating a customized web address can help you develop your website identity and brand. If your business name is already taken, try picking a domain name that describes your group or the products you sell. Choose a name that's easy to spell and remember. Not happy with the address you already chose? Don't worry: You can register as many as you like and use them all with your current website. In fact, you may want to register not only your ideal name but also its variants (for example, widgetdesigns.net and widgetdesigns.org in addition to widgetdesigns.com) so no one else can. Learn more.

Search engines

Web users look to search engines more than any other tool to find what they need online. Search engines generally rank their results based on a complex formula that considers page contents, number of links, site size, and other details, and they change their formulas regularly to ensure that websites can't artificially elevate their rankings by manipulating one or more of these elements. Although you can never guarantee that your site will appear at the top of their search results, there are some strategies you can use to raise your profile, and it pays to start thinking about these details before you begin promoting your site--even before you begin building it.

What can you do to optimize your rankings? Start by creating a great site. A well-organized, professional-looking website loaded with useful information will naturally attract and retain visitors and referrals, and ultimately raise your rankings. Adding meta tags to your pages and focusing on keywords in your text can help with some search engines. Larger websites and those with frequently updated content also tend to rank more highly. Learn more.

Email

Your business mail, terrific for business communications, can double as a powerful marketing tool. Personalized email that matches your domain (such as you@widgetdesigns.com) helps extend your brand to everyone with whom you communicate, and, of course, you can use email to send notices or even monthly newsletters to your friends and colleagues.

Before you launch your marketing campaign, think about your site audience and the kinds of messages that might appeal to them, then gather the email addresses of friends and colleagues you'll want to contact (your Contacts are a good place to start). With these details in hand, you'll be able to spread the word as soon as your website is ready for visitors.

Next steps

Before you get started, think about your overall marketing strategy. How else will you attract potential visitors and customers to your website? Do research to uncover other promotion avenues: Where do your competitors advertise? How did you hear about your favorite websites? Be sure to consider both online and offline marketing tools.