Promo Checklist

1. Redirect old website links to new web pages.

2. Ensure that your website is listed on all your media.

And anything else that will be seen by your potential customers

3. Submit your website to the Google Search Engine.

Follow our step by step guide to submit your sitemap to Google. The Zeald Website Manager produces an automated sitemap for Google and allows you to set the priority of each page in your website.

Ensure that you have set the priorities for each page of your website, create a Google Sitemap account and submit your website map. 

If you would like us to do this all for you we have a Search Engine Submission service.  Click here to find out more about this service on our online store for Zeald clients.

4. Submit your website to the Yahoo Search Engine.

Visit www.yahoo.com and click on the 'Suggest a Site' link at the bottom of the page.

If you would like us to do this all for you we have a Search Engine Submission service.  Click here to find out more about this service on our online store for Zeald clients.

5. Setup an advertising campaign on Google Adwords.

Signing up for Google Adwords is another way of catching Google's attention to help you obtain that initial search ranking. It will allow you to generate instant traffic to your website and to begin testing and measuring the value of your keywords and website offers.

You will need to create an Adwords account in order to do this.  You can do this yourself if you would like.  Click here to find out more.

6. Optimise web page content for organic search engine rankings.

Keyword research.  The first step of optimising any web page is to conduct some keyword research to determine the best search terms to target with your web pages.  You can find out more about conducting good keyword research by clicking here.

Optimise web pages.  The next step is to saturate the content of your web pages with these keywords. Ensure that important keywords have pages of content specifically dedicated to them.

One of the best ways to optimise your web pages is to structure them into well defined themes.  One of the best aspects of themes is that they help keep your website well organized and on-topic - something that can become quite difficult as your online presence evolves and grows.  A correct theming structure will help you maintain a clear delineation between the different areas of your site, and allow you to target specific keywords and keyword variations to particular sections.

A themed website should follow a structure similar to this:

• First level:  Buy Meat Online in New Zealand
• Second level:  Buy Beef Online
• Third Level:  Buy Beef T-Bone Steaks Online

The key is to forget about the search engines as much as possible and just write and create your site with the single purpose of reaching your target audience.  Stay focused on this goal alone.  When you are done, then you can review it in the light of the guidelines below and tweak it to fit.

Further rules for optimising web pages

• Incorporate the important key words and key phrases in the 'Heading 1', 'Heading 2' and 'Heading 3' formats.
   
• Optimise your meta data so that it includes your key words and key phrases.  Don't include the same key word more than 3 times in the keyword meta-tag.
   
• Include key words and key phrases in your internal links between pages whenever possible.

7. Add extra content pages for further search engine rankings.

Using your keyword research (outlined above- click here to learn more) and feedback from customers, determine further themes or topics that you could target with your optimisation efforts. 

Create web pages around certain themes and topics to target specific areas.  For example a website selling meat may determine that many website users are searching for recipes. It makes sense to publish many pages of quality recipes. This not only provides great information for potential and existing customers but is likely to generate more and more traffic from the search engines.

When our customers ask Zeald questions about websites in general we research, write and publish articles around each of these questions. This not only answers our customer’s questions and also saves time in answering that question in future, but it also provides a quality resource that users will send on to their friends and will rank well in the search engines.

To find out more about our copywriting and content loading services for generating extra website content please browse our online store for Zeald clients here.

8. Get online directories linking to your website.

Create a keyword rich title and description for your website. Specify a category and source relevant directories to link to your website.

Start by submitting your website to the following:

• www.dmoz.com
• www.yellow.co.nz
• www.searchnz.co.nz
• www.indexnz.com
• www.linknz.co.nz
• www.accessnz.co.nz
• www.nzs.com
• www.nzsearch.com
• www.nzpages.co.nz

Search for relevant and quality directory websites using Google. Type in the following search string. 'Directory:[keyword describing my website theme]'.  You will need to choose a very generic keyword.  For example a website selling meat to a New Zealand market could try the following searches to find relevant directories. “New Zealand” “Meat” “Butcher” “Recipes”

Hint. Keep track of your list in a spreadsheet and constantly add to it. Signup for Google Alerts and then Google will notify you when they have found a new website linking to your website.

If you would like us to do this all for you, we have a Search Engine Optimisation service to help increase your website's rankings in the Search Engines.  Click here to find out more about this service on our online store for Zeald clients. 

9. Start a reciprocal linking campaign.

Put together a template email. Click here for an example of a template email.

Think about people you can approach who would be willing to link from their website to yours. Think about your prospects, suppliers, resellers, partners or even just websites with complimentary information.

Determine the correct contacts and send out the personalized emails to negotiate link swapping / exchanging. Add a links page to your website to list outgoing links, but do not make it too obvious.  Remember that outgoing links are a backdoor allowing potential customers to exit your website and sales process.

10. Start a forum and blog back linking campaign.

Create a keyword rich signature file to include at the bottom of your post whenever you discuss top in an online forum.  Determine relevant forums and blogs to link to your website and contribute to the discussions that are occurring in these places.  Don't forget to include your signature whenever you post. 

To discover good forums and blogs, search for relevant and quality forums or blog sites using Google.  You can use a search string similar to the following -'forum:[keyword describing my website theme]' You will need to choose a very generic keyword. For example a website selling meat to a New Zealand market could try the following searches to find relevant forums. “New Zealand” “Meat” “Butcher” “Recipes”

Hint. Keep track of your list of relevant forums and blogs in a spreadsheet and constantly add to it. If you haven't already, don't forget to sign up for Google Alerts.  Google will then notify you whenever they find a new link to your website.

11. Build a database for email promotions.

Brainstorm up a creative strategy that will encourage users to sign-up for your email newsletter. Give visitors a reason to sign-up for your newsletter and request that you keep them informed of what is going on in your organisation.

To find out more about successfully building a database for email promotions click here.

12. Send regular email promotions and newsletters to your database. 

13. Set up an affiliate marketing programme.

Encourage and provide incentives to your business affiliations to send you referrals. This works especially well on the internet where it is possible to automatically track and measure 'click-through's’ and purchases/enquiries.