Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Free Website Marketing Tools

I launched my small business website 2 years ago.  I continue to be amazed by how many people find me via my website.  This seems to be a growing way to search for a counselor.  For me, I get as many referrals from my website as I do insurance plans.  It is a treat not to be as dependent on insurance referrals.

Being a full time mom and part time small business woman, I didn't have a budget to hire a web designer.    Instead, I found a great web hosting comany (http://www.homestead.com/ ).  Their templates are very easy to use and the monthly fee is right for my budget.  This company stays current and continuously adds features to meet the changing environment of internet marketing.

I enjoy learning, however I never took a class on building a website.  I've learned a lot by looking at other websites related to my field and reading blogs like mine.  Here's a list of free website marketing tools I have found along the way:

1. Add this button: Add this on any page of your website.  It enables visitors to easily share your website with various social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Everyone seems to be on at least one social media site, so it's important to make it easy for them to share your site once they've found it.

2Extreme Tracker:  Use this to find out what search words people are using to find your website, blog, etc.  Your web hosting company probably offers statistics, but mine doesn't show the keywords people used to find my site.  For a detailed comparison on 3 popular website statistics, visit: http://www.mywebsite.force9.co.uk/

3. Submit Express:  You can submit your website (or blog) for free to 40 search engines by simply entering your address. This website is also full of free tools from meta tag generators to keyword suggestions.  This is the behind-the-scenes marketing of your website.

Having cool tools and great website content is just part of web designing for small business.  You also need to make sure people can find you using search engines.  For more information, read my previous blog:  free ways to increase your google ranking.

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