Top 5 Ways to Promote Your Business Online

What are the top 5 ways to promote your business online? How do you get more traffic to your website? Is there more than 5 ways to get more traffic? Is there 10 ways or 15 ways? Who is right when they claim they know the best 5 ways to get traffic and promote your business online?

Do a search on Google and you'll find a lot of answers. You'll also find a lot of people trying to sell their magic secret answers making it sound like it's easy but you have to pay them before you can find out.

I've been doing reading and testing and re-reading and re-testing in an attempt to get more traffic and more business to several websites. And I've succeeded with some of the websites and not so much with some others. The ones that I've succeeded more with are those that I've put more time and effort into. There really is no secret to how to get this done. Even Google will tell you how to do it although they won't tell you all the details of how they rank pages.

So here we go. Some ways are simple to implement and some are hard work.

1. On page optimization. Determine the theme of your website so that you can come up with a half dozen keywords that you know people would use to search for you. Then include those keywords in your website page title tags, page descriptions, page content, and anchor text links. Provide content that people will want to see. Keep your site up to date. Ask yourself if you would be interested in reading through the website if you were a visitor and if you would return again.

2. Off page optimization. You will need links pointing to your website from other websites that are related to the theme of your website. These links should contain some of your keywords in the anchor text.

3. Enter your business in Google Places, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local. This should not be difficult but it is a must. It's free and very important especially if you do business locally.

4. Use social media and other online networking tools to get connected to others in your line of business. If you join LinkedIn.com don't just join, find groups that are related to your line of business and use them. Read what other people are saying and become engaged in conversations. Use social media and discussion groups to offer free advice and build relationships. This will pay off in referrals and more business.

5. Consider pay per click advertising. But do it right. Don't set up a pay per click Ad and throw money at it without knowing what you are doing. You can target your exact preferred audience both geographically and by the intent of what they are looking for you. You can help them find you. This is very powerful and can work wonders if done correctly. I've met a few people who say they've tried it and it doesn't work. These are people who did it wrong and gave up. Do you think if it does work that Google would sill be in business? They would not as they make most of their revenue with their pay per click operation.

I hope this article gives you a good idea of what can help you promote your business online. There are no big secrets here. It's more like common sense and a bit of hard work. As long as you are on the right track and keep at it, these things will work for any business!

Certified Google AdWords professional and internet marketer. http://www.onlinemarketblog.com