It’s great to have an online presence but that great website won’t get your phone ringing. You need to promote your site in order to boost your reputation.
Getting more exposure for your business and website doesn’t mean you must hire a marketing agency or purchase online banners and ads. You can do this marketing of your website yourself….for free. It’s just an investment of your time.
I’m talking about outreach marketing. Outreach marketing is where you connect with bloggers and people in your industry to increase exposure for your website and promote your products or services. Today, bloggers with great followings can seriously increase your brand’s reach just by mentioning you in their blog post or in a post on any social media platform.
Connecting with others in your industry that have strong brands and a great presence on Google can help your website rank higher by obtaining links from their sites.
Basically, the more mentions or links you’re able to get from other relevant sites, the more your own online presence will grow.
That’s the why….here’s the how to promote your website.
Create a target list
In order to start reaching out to relevant bloggers, publications, and other online businesses, you need to create a list of websites and blogs that you think would be interested in your products or services. You need to make sure that the websites you’re putting on your list are relevant to your business and have high-quality content.
Here is a couple of techniques for identifying potential targets:
Conduct a Google search
In Google, enter the type of blog or publication you think would be interested in your products or services and see what shows up. Check out the sites and blogs. Do they have relevant content that fits your products or services? Put these names into a spreadsheet and include an email address.
Related search
Now you have a list of some great website and blogs to approach but you want more. Conduct a related search in Google. A related search is where you find other websites similar to the ones you’ve already found.
Enter a website address in the Google search box. This will generate a results page full of websites similar to the one you’ve already found.
Write a compelling email
Now that you’ve identified your targets, you need to contact them. Bloggers and great websites receive many emails daily. Your email needs to stand out and make them want to read it.
Here are some tips to writing that compelling email.
First, know that subject lines with 3-5 words work best.
The ideal message length is 75-175 words.
Emails with 1 to 3 questions have the highest response rate.
In your message, you need to make clear the connection between your business and their business, similar articles/audience or blog topics and why you believe your product or service is relevant to their readers.
Next, you need to pitch your plan for collaboration. This can be offering to provide them with a blog post or you could send them one of your products to test and write a review.
Make sure each email you send is personalized to the reader. Use the name of the person you are writing to.
Follow-up
Sending follow-up email is essential. You might have to send a second or even a third email to get a response.
Now, you don’t want to come across as desperate, so limit yourself to only three emails, each sent a week apart.
Build those relationships
Once you’ve received a ‘yes’ from people on your target list, don’t just stop with the first offer. Cultivate these relationships so these influencers have a great impression of you and your business and will be more receptive to continuing to promote your products or services.
Send out newsletters quarterly updating blogger on your latest products or service offerings and company news. Quarterly is a good time frame because you don’t want to overwhelm them.
Send them a free product or a coupon for a free service as a thank you for their promoting your business.