You Built It - They Didn't Come

In the 1989 movie Field of Dreams Kevin Costner is told "if you build it they will come" and they do. Of course they do, it's Hollywood.

But the same doesn't work with your website. Marketing to brides online isn't anything like a Hollywood movie. You can build a website and no one, I mean no one, will find it or come - for weeks, months, maybe years.

Not unless you have an effective TRAFFIC BUILDING STRATEGY.

Here are the elements to consider when putting together a successful traffic building strategy:

SEO (search engine optimization)

* Optimizing your website for Google, Yahoo!, MSN
* Creating page content that is relevant to the search
* Developing keywords and keyword phrases
* Making sure they appear in your content (i.e. keyword density)
* Creating fresh information and keeping your website up-to-date
* Maximizing your website's "crawlability" (i.e. no FLASH)
* Developing inbound links
* Measuring results (i.e. Google Analytics)
* Patience: it can take 6 to 12 months to see results

SEM (search engine marketing)

* Pay-per-click advertising at Google (i.e. Adwords)
* Buying other links in directories
* Increasing your overall exposure using paid advertising
* Using search engines AND directories

Link Building & Exchange

* Exchanging links with people you know and work with
* Asking for links at other sites thematically the same as yours
* Buying positions at well ranked websites
* Optimizing this by getting direct links (not passed with scripts)

EMAIL Marketing

* Building repeat traffic opportunities
* Exchanging value for a visit
* Expert tips = come back for more = inquiries
* "Touching" a prospect up to 7 times

Web 2.0 (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, bulletin boards, "social media")

* Developing additional exposure for your website online
* Jumping on the "social media" trend
* Blogging
* YouTube
* MySpace
* FaceBook
* Linked In
* Posting to Craigslist


Integration of Offline/Online Marketing

* Making sure your offline marketing and advertising programs fold in to your website and Internet marketing plans.

Without question this is a lot of work and it will take time to see the results you ideally want. But make no mistake, doing nothing is not an effective strategy and the amount of effort you put into the above items will be directly proportional to the results and traffic you get.

Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com

Get the ADVANTAGE for your website. More traffic, more brides, more inquiries, more sales.