Be everywhere you can on the web.
I can't stress this enough.
Building your own web site won't get very much traffic.
You need to be visible on the web in many different places to promote traffic to your web site.
Even if your business is mostly face-to-face, a recent study showed that more than 1/3 of Americans get on the web daily, and more than 2/3 do on a regular basis at least twice a month.
No matter what your line of work, you have a huge clientele of interested people online.
Participating in forums, social groups, and e-mail groups is a great start.
Find several to participate in, and make sure you post regularly, it does you no good to be a lurker.
You want to try to post on each of them a minimum of at least once or twice every other week, so keep it to a manageable number so you can keep up the participation.
If you have the time stay and chat with a few people.
Engaging in conversation from time to time show's people you're not just posting for business you want to take the time to get to know your clientele.
Showing up intermittently and then disappearing can actually hurt your reputation rather than help it.
One other very important thing is to be sure to include a link to your web site or e-mail in all your messages.
If at all possible, try to figure out how to do it as a hyperlink when you're posting to web-based forums.
It may take some research, but it's critical if you want to make those connections.
At the very least get your URL in there somewhere.
Another opportunity is expert and guide sites.
There are a ton of sites out there where people exchange knowledge, both for free and for pay.
Find a couple of these that are appropriate for you and sign up.
Just as with the business networking sites, if you get a profile page, be sure to build it out fully, or it's really not serving the purpose.
Take advantage of hyperlinking and make it work for you.
Be sure your home page contains links to all the other places people can find you and your work on the web.
Put a hyperlink to your web site in all your messages and profile pages.
You'll get more direct referral traffic to your web site, and you'll also improve your search engine rankings.
I can't stress this enough.
Building your own web site won't get very much traffic.
You need to be visible on the web in many different places to promote traffic to your web site.
Even if your business is mostly face-to-face, a recent study showed that more than 1/3 of Americans get on the web daily, and more than 2/3 do on a regular basis at least twice a month.
No matter what your line of work, you have a huge clientele of interested people online.
Participating in forums, social groups, and e-mail groups is a great start.
Find several to participate in, and make sure you post regularly, it does you no good to be a lurker.
You want to try to post on each of them a minimum of at least once or twice every other week, so keep it to a manageable number so you can keep up the participation.
If you have the time stay and chat with a few people.
Engaging in conversation from time to time show's people you're not just posting for business you want to take the time to get to know your clientele.
Showing up intermittently and then disappearing can actually hurt your reputation rather than help it.
One other very important thing is to be sure to include a link to your web site or e-mail in all your messages.
If at all possible, try to figure out how to do it as a hyperlink when you're posting to web-based forums.
It may take some research, but it's critical if you want to make those connections.
At the very least get your URL in there somewhere.
Another opportunity is expert and guide sites.
There are a ton of sites out there where people exchange knowledge, both for free and for pay.
Find a couple of these that are appropriate for you and sign up.
Just as with the business networking sites, if you get a profile page, be sure to build it out fully, or it's really not serving the purpose.
Take advantage of hyperlinking and make it work for you.
Be sure your home page contains links to all the other places people can find you and your work on the web.
Put a hyperlink to your web site in all your messages and profile pages.
You'll get more direct referral traffic to your web site, and you'll also improve your search engine rankings.
Source...