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    How do I make myself visible?

    Hi all,

    I have taken over a website and am administering it for a company. I am trying to make the website visible to the general business community in SA. I have posted the site to Google crawlers and done what I can to make the website visible using meta tags etc... but I would like to know if there are any webmaster experts around this forum who can direct me to some more methods to increase the website visibility more. For example: Where can I post news about this Life Skills Company, what other sites are great to intoduce new products on and any other tips to bring traffic to a new"ish" site.

    There must be some "old" hands, or experienced administrators how have a thing or two to share with a newbie....

    Many tx and cheers!

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    Moderator IanF's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rudi View Post
    what other sites are great to intoduce new products on and any other tips to bring traffic to a new"ish" site.

    There must be some "old" hands, or experienced administrators how have a thing or two to share with a newbie....

    Many tx and cheers!
    Rudi
    Try google adwords I spend about R200 a month on it and it is working for me. Great features like you prepay,set daily limits turn off when busy etc.
    Only stress when you can change the outcome!

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    Thanks for that tip Ian. I am not in control of the budgeting site of the web, so I may need to sell the idea internally before I can do that. But its great to hear that it is working for you and it gives me the confidence to try it out in the future.
    TX

  4. #4
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    To answer your more direct question, mygenius.com is worth a look.

    In terms of what you are doing and given our little aside earlier, we've got a list of articles here - there's a small mound of treasure there that might help. Roelof aka Chatmaster is a particular expert in the field and I'm sure can help you more than I can.

    Another great resource is Ann Williams, also a member here. Look up her profile and visit her website for ideas.

    My question, given the little I know about you right now, is how much do you know about the company's business?

    Personally, I see much of this as the modern online version of being the old fashioned sales rep. You need to build a network which can refer you potential clients.

    Now one of these network resources are search engines, and you win them over in a rather technical way.

    But the internet is used by people. And the marketing techniques that work for people work over the internet too, except that if done right, your effort becomes far more leveraged than in the "real" world.

    If you're more a website admin than a mine of useful information about the company, either you're going to have to learn more about what they do, or you should consider gearing up your company subject matter experts for some exposure on the web.

    This is where company blogs can help, I guess. Then you can socialise your way round the right parts of the net, gently nudging people in the right direction when appropriate.

    People do business with people - preferably people they know and like. Hence the rise of business interest in Web 2.0.

    Another option, as Ian has raised, is advertising. You'll need a budget, though.

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    Dave...thats a lot of info in one post! I will systematically look through all your links and dvice during the weekend and see what I can learn. I appreciate the effort to help me with all your advice.

    Many thanks!

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    Email problem RKS Computer Solutions's Avatar
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    Rudi,

    If I can make one suggestion... The site is well set out and seems in some place to be very organised, but in other spots there is too much info on single pages, which makes browsing a tad disorganised, even if having the "go to top" buttons right there...

    Also, quick meta-check on the home page, nothing there, where did you add those meta tags?

    Something which might work a load better than the current setup you have of single-built static pages, is maybe to go the way of a CMS (Content Management System) like Joomla or something simular... This would give you greater control over single pages without having to worry about your linking structure failing, and new information can be brought to the attention of your visitors a lot quicker...

    If you need any more info, do ask!

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    Good advice...

    RKS,

    This is great advice. After you mentioned tis, I could agree with you that the "home" page does contain a bit too much info. Though I was the one to design the website, I was asked to put the info together on this format on the page, so I did not really have to much to say in the matter. It may develop and change as time goes by. I have plans to use collapsable menus soon to eliminate all those bulleted lists of hyperlinks, and over time I will be cleaning up the interface... I accept and agree though with your initial observations.

    About those meta tags... they are on the index (landing) page in the heads section. I guess thats the meta tags as they start with meta Maybe you can give me some more advice on these as I know they are useful in crawler searches etc..

    I have never used Joomla?! The site is developed in FrontPage and it seems that frontPage is quite capable of maintaining the linking structure. The link bars at the top of each page are automatically changed when I update the navigational layout in FrontPage. I have never had issues with it or with any "broken links". I have heard of Joomla but I will have to read up a bit more about it to develop any confidence in this. I am a fairly old hand in FrontPage and its difficult to break old habits...

    Many tx for the advice!

    Quote Originally Posted by RKS Computer Solutions View Post
    Rudi,

    If I can make one suggestion... The site is well set out and seems in some place to be very organised, but in other spots there is too much info on single pages, which makes browsing a tad disorganised, even if having the "go to top" buttons right there...

    Also, quick meta-check on the home page, nothing there, where did you add those meta tags?

    Something which might work a load better than the current setup you have of single-built static pages, is maybe to go the way of a CMS (Content Management System) like Joomla or something simular... This would give you greater control over single pages without having to worry about your linking structure failing, and new information can be brought to the attention of your visitors a lot quicker...

    If you need any more info, do ask!

  8. #8
    Platinum Member Chatmaster's Avatar
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    Rudi, before I continue. Some criticism about the website that I haven't mentioned before. Why do you have the landing page as the current home page. It is acting like a shop with a closed door that says we are open but you have to knock first. It is bad in many ways, including usability and conversions.
    Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
    Roelof Vermeulen| Rock flaps south africa

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    Roelof...

    I often see websites with this sort of welcome page. I do admit that when I initially designed the page I was intending to put more into of the company on it. However, after meetings with the CEO and other managers, the info was moved to the "Home" page. I guess the Welcome page is a remnant of the decision that was made after I started creating the site. I never considered it to be a form of "closed door". I appreciate the advice though. Its good to get insight from experienced sources. I wil review the purpose of the page in the context of the rest of the site and come to some conclusion to its purpose or existence.

    I am grateful for any more support you can offer to add professionalism to the site!
    Cheers

  10. #10
    Platinum Member Chatmaster's Avatar
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    What version of Frontpage are you using?
    Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
    Roelof Vermeulen| Rock flaps south africa

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