Part 6 - Join the community on the net

In the sixth installment of our ongoing series on how to increase traffic and sales to your website we are going to look into making you have a little bit of fun while promoting your website.

How can running your business be more fun? By contributing content back to the internet. My guess is that your passionate about your business, you want it to succeed. You love talking about it to almost anyone who will listen.

Take that passion, and pour it into the internet, there are a million ways to do so. We'll look at a few of them.

Message boards and discussion group forums - There are people just as passionate about your products or area of service. Seek out these groups on Yahoo groups, Google groups, or specific message boards all over the internet. Create an account, and start contributing, post a question your having a hard time answering yourself, or help someone else learn about something you know all too well. The key to it all is to mention your business, either in the signature part of your message, or as part of the actual answer.

Bry.Net Web Services' goal is to build your website, help you promote your website, and help with marketing your website to clients. With that in mind, we constantly are finding we can help fellow web designers learn more about Search Engine Optimization, or HTML. And we use these same forums to learn things ourselves.

Blogs and Video Blogs - There again are other people in your line of work, they probably have a blog. Find them, and leave them a comment, encourage them on a great job, or help them learn something they didn't know. Again the key is to leave your website link on the form, so they can come back and visit your blog or website as well.

The key to all of this contributing though is to be consistent. Again set aside 15-30 minutes once or twice a week, or less depending on your schedule, and find these places online, and check back, update a post, or add a new one. Slowly over time you'll build up a massive collection of links on the internet all pointing back to your domain. All while helping others learn more about your products and services, and they didn't even have to find your website directly.

We hope you've found this article useful, if you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know!

Part 5 - Email Newsletters - a key to good web design.

In our continuing series on ways to get new customers, and get the old ones to come back to your website we are looking at email newsletters.

If people have purchased something from you before, there has been a certain level of trust between your business and them. They obviously like what you are selling or providing, so allow your customers to be added to some kind of list.

Email newsletter lists are one of the best and easiest ways to help, they have several great points to consider.

1) Extremely low cost - sending out an email newsletter only costs a small maintenance fee, usually included in your website hosting, and a little bit of your time. Any other communication method with your customers is going to cost exponentially more.
2) Be sure your customers know what they are signing up for. Some companies want to keep you informed about new products. Others want to give you tips and ideas to help you. Some want to have a monthly special or promotion, many companies do a combination of all of the above.
3) Use your newsletter email system wisely. Too many emails going out will seem like junk mail, and people will unsubscribe and be unhappy. Too few emails lets them forget how great your company is. You will know your clients best, but a good way to start is at once a month. This gives you a regular schedule to stick too without taking too much of your time initially to see how it works out.
4) Include links back to your website. Besides informing them of the specials, or giving them a quick tip. Invite them with teasers or links to more information back on your website. Remember our goal here is to get them to buy something, they need to visit your website, or contact you to do that. So don't give away all the secrets right inside the email.
5) Make it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe, it should be in the footer of each email you send out, and be available online someplace on your website as well. Further more encourage people to forward your newsletter to friends and family as well.

There are many other great tips and things to consider when sending out an email newsletter, but either way Bry.Net Web Services strongly encourages you to give them a try. If you have any questions or want information on the email marketing and newsletter services we offer, just contact us.

Part 2 - Topical Web Sites

In this second part of our series on how to increase traffic and drive more business through your website we need to look at another important aspect of the Internet. Knowledge.

More and more people are turning to the Internet for knowledge, information is power. From simple things like what is your companies phone number or email address, to more detailed things like how to make a superb soufflé, or where can I buy a Venus fly trap.

In whatever your business, you know your customers best. Help them realize that your website is a wealth of knowledge, and they will keep coming back for more "free" information. This will lead to them trusting you more, showing that you know what they really need, and in turn they will not mind paying a few dollars more for your product versus someone else, or they will check out the product on your website first.

So gather up all the one off emails you've sent to customers over the years, create a Frequently Asked Questions page on your site. Provide full detailed articles in how to hang curtains, or the best way to irrigate their flower beds. Whatever your business is strive to become an expert in that area, and share that information with them.

As you can tell, that is exactly what we are trying to do here with this blog. Show you that Bry.Net Web Services is more than just a website design company. We are here to make sure your Internet venture is a success.