Plug it in, Plug it in!
© By Lena Sanchez

Okay, now you have your website with everything you ever wanted in it and you are ready for business but the question to follow is, "What do I do Now?"

Plug it in, plug it in to every ezine, newsletter, classified, etc. If you don't people won't find your site. Same story with your newsletter. People are not going to find you unless they know where you are and then only will they find you if you tell them where you are.

Or you buy guaranteed visitors to your website!

There are many ways to plug in your web site or newsletter to the World Wide Web but you have no idea how or where? You should already know that it is very important to publish your own newsletter to keep your customers/clients up on the latest Internet marketing techniques. As one means of promoting your site and passing on important business tips your newsletter is the single most important medium on the Internet. "But how do I do that?" you ask.

Find a company that will take care of your Search Engine placement. Find an Internet company that has it's own Search Engine to submit your site in order to be placed strategically. Link to similar sites or sites that will compliment yours'.

Then, another options of promoting are newsgroups. This technique can be pretty useful, but you have to be careful to make sure you post appropriately to the right groups and joining in the discussions takes up a considerable amount of time. If you are not careful of how you post you may lose your privilege to use the newsgroup. If you have the time do that it's good but it really will take thousands upon thousands of postings to see results. I know, "been there done that!"

I now work with a very reputable company and taking advantage of all their advertising freebies, classified sites, and malls along with their expertise is I believe the very best means of promotion. Another means of promoting - whether you have money for advertising or not - is to exchange banners and links with others. Having many banners or links to your site also improves your ranking on many of the search engines. The more links you have the closer to the top of the search engine you will be placed when submitted.

How to find swap resources

The necessity of having traffic to have a successful business means the need for many visitors or subscribers. Then logically, you should have your link in as many places as possible. Many studies show that most visitors will come to your site from the links or banners on other sites. So plug it in and link up!

Linking to other sites is not an easy task. Although achieving it isn't too hard, if you know where to look. First you have to decide which sites you want to link to? You need to choose a target audience. By that I mean you need to have links that will compliment your site. It is not very effective to be linked to a totally unrelated business site, but you don't have to have your link on competitor sites either. So you need to find those sites that complement your site. Example if you have a business site that promotes mainly home business tips and information you don't want to link to corporate sites. By linking to sites that will compliment your business it is more likely that people will actually click on your link since they probably have an interest already.

You can now easily find complimentary places to advertise by putting in your key words and search! search! search! You will get many results, but many of them are useless for your marketing campaign. You will get far more results with fewer approaches if you find people who are also looking to swap resources. Do a search for "Ad Swaps," and then contact each site owner that you have chosen and give them positive reasons why linking together can improve their business.

Newsletters are another great source! One technique - subscribe to as many newsletters and ezines as you can that compliments your business or is the same kind of business and you can locate numerous links. 

Proper email etiquette is important to form a kinship. You can't simply say: "Hey, I want my link on your site". That might work one in a thousand times but why waste the time. Remember that time is MONEY! First of all, you should personalize your swap request.

For example it is better to say: "Dear Lena" or "Dear Webmaster." Be sure to include their site or ezine name in the email too.

After which, you have to explain why are you interested in swapping links with them. For example you can say that they offer valuable information to enhance their readers lives and you think that that it will be useful to your visitors to come to their site. You have to tell them why you should put their link on your site: They need to know what's in it for them and how your site can enhance their business as well as yours.

Swapping links creates some great online friends. After the initial contact you may be able to cooperate on many other things as well as creating lasting friendships and cooperative marketing. Online friendships can be a great asset to your personal life as well as your business life.

When you swap links don't simply use the number of subscribers or visitors for determining whether you will exchange links with someone or not. The value of a certain newsletter or site should be just as important to you. It is also an important to know where your link will be and how many other ads will be in the same place where you will advertise. As you can see, swapping links isn't always as easy as it sounds but well worth it.

Now go and prosper your business by plugging it into the real World Wide Web!

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Lena Sanchez a retired Medical office nurse/administrator/consultant Short bio at http://www.envirodocs.com/lenas_bio.htm  Lena also does consulting in online business and alternative health matters helping to build success in business as well as healthy minds and bodies http://www.envirodocs.com  Editor of "Natural Environmental Health Facts," ezine subscribe by mailto:anehfacts-subscribe@envirodocs.com