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We love WordPress. We use it for our blog, and are also considering it as a CMS for clients to be able to update their sites.

If you are a blogger, and haven’t tried it out yet, then check out version 2.7 at www.wordpress.org

If you have a website, the chances are that you are keen to get people to find it.

However, one of the biggest mistakes people make when paying for the development of a website is after the launch they then spend nothing promoting it. This is akin to opening a shop on the high street with the windows boarded up!

Just because you have launched your website, it doesn’t mean that people will be beating a path to your door, no matter how good your services or products might be.

On the other hand, it is very easy to spend and waste a lot of money on website promotion: banners, reciprocal links, Google AdWords – the list is endless….

So which is best?

The best is probably a combination of things, and this can only really be tested by trial and error. Our suggestions at the beginning are as follows:

• Ask your friends and contacts whether you can have reciprocal links to each others’ websites (if they are suitable!)
• Make sure your site is search-engine-friendly, which we can help you with but basically means correct and relevant page titles, properly named images and links, correct page layout using proper HTML tags
• Get active on blogs and forums that are in your marketplace – putting yourself forward as an “expert” who is prepared to help others will get you in a position to soft-sell your own products and services
• Track your site’s performance by using Google Analytics, which is a free service that tracks who is visiting your site, how they found it, where they went and much more
• Keep your site as up-to-date as possible – there’s nothing worse than a site with a last updated message that is three months ago, so don’t use those either!
• Don’t expect miracles in the first few months – it takes time for a site to get noticed and become popular, so be prepared to put some effort in!

What now?

If you have a website already that you feel isn’t doing the job for you, then give us a call and we can suggest ways we might be able to help.