Promoting your website: old-school
You may have thought about how to advertise your site online, but there are lots of affordable ways to promote it off-line as well. Here are a few old-school methods to let people know about your site:
- Put your url everywhere.
It’s a no-brainer to include your url on business cards, stationery, and envelopes. But also think about putting it on:
- fax cover sheets
- a magnet or tire cover for your car
- an email signature
- a custom-printed t-shirt or hat
- a promotional item such as a pencil or coffee mug, preferably something relevant to your business (i.e. try not to make it something useless and annoying)
- a sign on your building, if you have a brick-and-mortar location
- your voicemail message
- packaging or hang tags, if you sell a physical product
- Don’t abandon print advertising
There are still many print venues that are important to consider. For example, you can usually add a website url to a yellow pages listing for a small fee. This gives you an advantage over the next business in the list with no web address listed. Also think about advertising in smaller, local publications, or publications specifically targeted at your audience.
- Chat it up
Talk about your business and website with friends, family, and colleagues (be sure to have a business card with your web address on hand). Also try building relationships with business that intertwine with yours. Even get to know your competitors—they may pass you business if they are too busy or aren’t well suited to handle a particular job.
- Issue a press release
If your business is doing something new and noteworthy in your area, let a local newspaper know. Make yourself available for an interview.
- Write an article
Submit an article demonstrating your expertise in your field, and submit it to a local paper or a publication (or a website!) specifically targeted to your audience.
- Give a free seminar
Think of a focused topic that will be useful to people and promote your business. Prepare some flyers to advertise it (including your url) and post at willing local businesses or on public boards. Be sure to have plenty of business cards and/or brochures to hand out at the talk.
- Meet locals face-to-face
Join your local chamber of commerce or other business or trade groups and attend meetings and conferences regularly.
- Give local newspapers something to write about
If you are promoting an off-line business with your website, most often your potential customers are local. So give an interview or press release to the local paper and include the url.
- Support public radio
Public radio stations will often have a “business” support level, where they will mention your business name a certain number of times for a certain contribution. Be sure to consider whether this will reach your intended audience.
More resources
- 10 Ways to Promote Your Wesbite Offline
- this list of on and offline ideas
- a very thorough list on problogger.com (the whole website is chock fill of ideas)
- another list on bootstrapper
- You can order custom printed items at Zazzle.com and CafePress.com
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