# any advice on Web Site Promotion?



## TCARTEL1 (Feb 21, 2007)

I'm in the process of building an online storefront to sell my t-shirts. Can anyone provide me with some advice on how to effectively promote and draw visitors to my site. I've read a few books on marketing and promoting a website, but I would like some feedback from people who have been successful at it. Especially in our business. Thanks


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Here are some good threads with tips to get you started:

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4115

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4636

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4650

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ecommerce-site-design/t1849.html


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## DLPerry (Feb 24, 2007)

Strictly from a website promotion standpoint - below are some of the most useful and recommended things that can be done to increase traffic, as well as help target traffic.

*Create and submit Sitemaps and a siteindex file* -- In addition to being an excellent way to keep Google, Yahoo and MSN up to date on your sites activity, this will also provide access to a variety of stats, diagnostics and tools to help you increase visibility.
*Create and selectively submit RSS feeds*. These standard xml feeds should include a Sitemap feed as well as targeted topic feeds. One example might be a targeted feed containing links to your "Products" data sheets.
*Offer an informative email newsletter.* This newsletter can contain items such as; an informative weekly/monthly/quarterly article on a specific relevant topic; detailed information on and links to a featured product or service. Include links and verbiage from your website in this newsletter. Recipients for your newsletter will include:
Anyone who has contacted the website and/or requested additional information
Direct Subscription Requests via a secure (anti-spam) online, double opt-in Subscription form. 
** IMPORTANT** This newsletter MUST include active and functional one-click un-subscribe capabilities, and ALL un-subscribes should be automatic, immediate, and strictly honored.

*Review, rework and refresh your keywords/phrases.* Take an honest look at your targeted keywords/phrase(s). Do they accurately reflect what a real-life searcher would type into a search engine in order to locate products or services such as yours?
*Review, rework and refresh your content.* Be sure to intersperse targeted keywords and phrases in the content of each page. Optimize content to insure your targeted keyphrase(s) are the first thing a bot sees. 
I have a tool online that will show you what a spider sees - but I don't want to violate any posting rules by including the url here since it is on my website. Feel free to contact me if you'd like the url - or - search Google for "What Search Engine Spiders See" and you'll find something similar.
*Review, rework and refresh your tags.* Go over your site and source code with a fine-toothed comb to insure your site is making optimum use of tags. Be sure ALL your images have relevant and appropriate names and <img alt> tags. All <name> tags should also be appropriate and relevant. Comments within the source code should be limited or non-existent. If comments are necessary, avoid placing them at the beginning of a page or paragraph as much as possible, and avoid using targeted keywords/phrases in the comments themselves.
This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a good start.

I hope this helps. 
--dlp


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