You’ve chosen your domain name, selected your web host, designed your site, and you’re now online! Now what? How will anyone find you? There are many ways to promote your website on the internet. One of the growing trends is blog writing and reading, and it’s a great resource for promoting your website.

Exchange Links

Search for blogs that have topics or discussions related to what you’re site is about. Contact the blog owner/writer and offer to exchange promotion. If they’ll mention you and post a link to your site on their blog, you’ll mention their blog and post a link to it on your site.

Submit Your Site to Blog Directories

There are many blog directories out there that a simple Google search will produce. Submit your site information to whatever blog directories grab your attention. They are often reviewed by the staff and selected based on content, but submitting to many can get you on a lot of lists.

Join Blog Communities

Joining some of the communities related to what your site has to offer is a great way to get connected to other people who share your interests or may be interested in your products or services. This is especially true if you get to know the members, because word of mouth is a great way to spread information about a great website.

Comment on Blog Postings

By being active in the blogs of others, particularly those related to your area of expertise, you can comment on postings and direct other readers to your site. For example, if you sell baby gadgets, follow as many parenting, mom and childcare blogs as you can keep track of. When readers discuss topics related to baby gadgets, you can give your two cents and recommend your site (including a link, of course) as a great place to get the gadget they need!

These are just a few ways you can use blogs to promote your website. Do some looking around at the blog universe and it’s likely you’ll be inspired to come up with some promotional ideas of your own.

If you’re considering creating a website, whether for your business or for your personal interests, you may also want to consider becoming an affiliate. Being an affiliate is an easy way to make additional income from your website. There are several ways to go about this, and you can be as aggressive or as passive as you feel comfortable.

An affiliate in online marketing is someone who refers customers or visitors to another site in exchange for commissions. The commissions are generally based on sales made, though they can also be made based on sales leads and traffic. It’s an easy way to make additional income because it only requires referrals from your site; you don’t have to stock or sell the product yourself.

To become an affiliate is easy and usually just involves filling out a form and then being approved by the merchant. You have to have an active website to become an affiliate, as that is where you will put your affiliate links to send customers to the merchant site. The merchants will give you a unique link that you can paste into your website. When visitors click on the link, the merchant site will recognize the referral and give you credit if a sale is made.

When signing up to add affiliate products to your website, make sure they make sense. If the primary purpose of your site is to offer information and reviews on books, don’t include affiliate links on plumbing supplies. An example of a good affiliate link for your type of site would be links to those books on amazon.com, which has a thriving affiliate program. Also, make sure any affiliate products you endorse are things you are actually interested in or associated with. It’s easier to build rich and persuasive content that will direct visitors to your affiliate merchant sites if it’s something you are passionate about.

You can place affiliate product links on a variety of pages. It can be a personal page that has a lot of traffic, it can be a hobby or recreation page, it can be a professional page, or, most commonly, it can be a topical blog or forum. Any way you decide to use it, affiliate marketing can be a great way to make extra income off of your website.

EasyHomeInternetBusiness is a great resource for affiliate marketers.

There are two approaches you can take when choosing a domain name when creating a website. You can focus on primary keywords that describe your business or you can use your company’s name. There are reasons why one or the other of these approaches will work.

If you are an online business and your desire is to attract as many visitors as possible from anywhere in the world, using keywords may be the best bet for you. When internet users are doing a search for a particular type of product or service, they generally search by keyword. If your website name and address only includes your business name and no keywords, it will limit their ability to find you. The major search engines will be more likely to pull up your website if it includes keywords generally used for the product or service you provide.

On the flip side of this argument is the idea to use your business name in your domain name. If the majority of your clients will be local or geographically close to you, it might benefit you to use your company name as your website name. When you’re growing your brand and company name in your area, company name recognition will be more important than if you’re trying to drive traffic to your website globally. If you have local referrals it’s also beneficial to use your company name for ease in locating your site and not your competitors’ sites.

Keep in mind that the words in your domain name are not the only factor used by search engines to rank you in their search lists. However, having a good domain name is one way to help you optimize search results and drive potential customers to your website.

Read cheap web hosting reviews to find reliable hosting for your website.

A domain name can make or break the chance of traffic getting to your website. Choosing a good domain name should not be taken lightly. There are a few things to keep in mind when selecting that oh-so-important address.

Keep it Short!

Less is more. The shorter the domain name the easier it will be to remember. Also, the shorter it is the less likely it will be misspelled. Try keeping it under 15 characters.

Make it Memorable

Memorable means people will remember it. This is key to getting visitors to your site, both new and return visitors. New visitors will have an easy time finding you and return visitors will have an easy time getting back to you! Nothing is more frustrating than finding a great site and then not being able to find it again because the web address is too hard to remember. Make it easy for people to find you by making the domain name catchy, but also easy to remember.

Spelling is Important

If you create a website name that has unusual spelling, though it may seem cute and unique, you’re increasing the chances that people won’t find you. Most internet searchers will use traditional spelling when entering a web address. If you have a huge presence and a nationally recognized brand, you may be the exception. If you’re like most businesses, this isn’t the case, so make sure your users can find you with simple, traditional spelling.

Tell Them What You Do

Creating a domain name that reflects your business and your product or service will help people find you. Often times a business name doesn’t appropriately describe what that business offers. Including that in your domain name will make it easier to locate your site.

Buy Up!

If you can afford it, you may want to buy the domain name for both your company name and a domain name that you choose for your site. You can redirect the site from your company name to your actual site. This will allow you to hold on to both names and give you double the leverage when people search for you.