Advertising Your Site

Place keywords in the meta information

To enable users to find your site using a search engine, place keywords in the meta-information of your web pages. Search engines use keywords to identify the topics of web pages. Ask users what methods they would use to find a site such as yours, and particularly what keywords they would use to search with. You can elicit this information in your early users analysis, or you can informally elicit it at any point during the development process.

Announce your site on relevant news groups and bulletin boards

Internet news groups are a great way to reach a targeted audience. Many web users read news groups, and there is no fee for sharing information. Your news group notice should read as a pointer to information of interest rather than as an ad. Be sure to follow the etiquette and rules of the group.

Advertise on major sites

Some sites for web searches, such as Yahoo and Netscape, provide a way for you to advertise your site. Large numbers of web users visit these search engines, and you can reach some of these people with an ad. These sites charge fees to place ads, so this suggestion applies mainly to commercial sites.

Advertise through other media, such as magazines, radio and television

You can also attract users to your site by advertising in other media. Radio, TV, billboards, and store signs all provide ways to advertise your site.