Keep The Faith magazine - Britain's leading publication about Black faith

With the Internet firmly established as a necessary business tool, most businesses and organisations will have a website. In fact, there are over 234 million websites globally (Source: Netcraft December 2009). The issue, then, is not just owning a website, but making it visible and ensuring that people can find it on the Internet. The most efficient way of assuring website visibility is to use SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) principles and activities.

However, there are a few more basic things you can do offline and online to publicise your website, and to attract visitors to your site.

Use your business literature

Your close acquaintances and business partners will probably visit your website using the link found on your business card, letterhead or any other marketing material you provide. It is important, then, that your business or commercial literature includes your website address. This can include promotional gifts, carrier bags, till receipts and more. Marketing online is key, but do not neglect the offline channels which may already be available. Use every opportunity to publicise your website address: include it in any articles you may write, on books and within church materials. This is such an easy and cheap way to advertise your website, so use it.

Ensure consistency between your email address and your website address.  This is stating the obvious, but in my experience, this simple mistake is still being made. In fact, some website owners still use a ‘Yahoo’ or ‘gmail’ email address. It is a common assumption nowadays that your email would use the format name@yourdomainname.com; and it is therefore logical that typing ‘yourdomainname.com’ from your email address, would lead people to your website. Is this the case with you? It is a simple but important adjustment to make.

Maximise your email signature

It is surprising the number of emails I receive that do not have an email signature.  Using an email signature is a cost-free and effective way of reminding people about your contact details. As a minimum, your email signature would contain a contact number and a website address. Depending on the content of your message, your clients may just click from your email straight to view your website.

Write a newsletter

Communicate with the people who currently engage with your website. One of the best ways to bring them back to the website is to let them know when you have uploaded new content. The most effective way to do this is to write a regular e-newsletter. This could be quarterly, monthly or even weekly. The key point is to keep it relevant and interesting.

Use social media

Facebook and Twitter are established social media tools, and are invaluable for introducing your website to potential clients, as well as reminding existing customers about what you do, or about new products being launched.

These simple techniques are easy and relatively low-cost to implement, but how will you know if they make a difference?  I encourage all website owners to incorporate a web analytical tool on their websites to track visitor numbers, page views and other key statistics. You can easily see what impact your activity has made, and what works for your business.

Written by Keno Ogbo, Director, Spiral Web Solutions London, England