Web Site promotion can be quite a complex issue. We are going to start dealing with it by tackling some relevant portions of this huge iceberg, so to speak. Most important of all is that the minute you start thinking about building your Home Page, you also start considering the promotion issue.
Why? For it is not something that can be achieved instantly! Promoting a Web Page is rather a slow process of investing, and one that not only can be somewhat time consuming (unless you are ready to spend money!) but also takes time to start yielding results.
The promotion aspect, in reality, includes two main realms: what you do within the boundaries of your Home Page, and what you do outside the boundaries of your Home Page. We could refer to these as the internal and the external realms of Web Site Promotion.
Both realms are equally important, as they reinforce one another. It is little productive to invest only on the external realm of promotion, if care is not also taken regarding the internal realm. Conversely, it is also little productive to invest only on the internal realm, while dedicating little or no attention to the external realm.
BTW, the latter situation is quite common among those starting their Home Pages. Thus our concern with giving attention to this issue right away, while we also tackle other areas of importance to starting and upkeeping a Home Page.
By now you might be asking... "But what are these internal and external realms, after all?..."
Yes, we'll clear this right away!:)
The Internal Realm has to do with the contents, the looks, the navigability, etc., of your Web Site. If your Guests do not find something to return for, they will point their Browsers elsewhere, instead. Just think of the immense number of Web Sites on the Net, a number growing day by day! The External Realm, in turn, includes all that you do in order to make Your Home Page known to and/or available to new Visitors.
Although below we will not be covering every aspect of the Internal Realm of Web Site Promotion, we'll be sure to get you started with sufficient good tips!:) In addition, some of what you'll see right below can just as well be good food for thought! These tips, and any other analogous tip dealt with later on, please keep in mind that they are all meant in addition to the good contents which you can personally offer Your Guests, and which have most likely motivated you toward starting your Home Page!
Except for a mouse click here and there, the Web experience we derive can be as passive as watching TV and switching channels. Thus, the more you can actively involve our Guests, the better you can motivate them to participate actively while paying you a visit, the more interesting they will find visiting you, independently of how interesting the personal (or business) content you offer your Guests is.
Take a look at the left and right columns, as well as at the bottom of every page, where a good number of activities that you can easily get for your Home Page for free have been added, so as to aid you with good ideas, as well as hot places (URLs) where to go in order to get them!
By "hot URLs" we mean Web Sites which provide good, reliable, and free services, and which are serious enough not to misuse your e-mail address and/or whatever other information you may provide them, as you subscribe. (Spam is the most common form of such misuse of personal information on the Net, but it is certainly not the only one. One must be careful, therefore.)
Your HomePage MadeEasy either makes use of or has carefully checked each of the Sites that are suggested here. You can thus sign up with each and everyone of them where you find a service your Home Page could be enhanced with, and you can do it in the quietness that you are signing up for quality service and no trouble!
In the On Line Commmunication and, more especially, the Webmaster's Tools Sections of this Web Site, you'll also find some good tips and references regarding the Internal Realm of Web Site Promotion.
Before we tackle this area at greater length, do keep in mind that varied and active content that you add to your Home Page will definitely contribute toward generating more traffic! This is true whether you have a personal or a business Web Site. Active content, or dynamic content, let us remind you, is content that is often (preferably daily) updated, and/or content that invokes the participation or active involvement of Your Guests.
These News Services are certainly of interest, whether or not you are a beginner on the Web! The Web changes and evolves at such a fast pace that, once you have Your Own Space on the Web, it is a must to keep in pace at least with the main headlines of what is going on on the Web. Much the same can be said about our modern world. Although the world news provided on this site is not comprehensive, for we prefer to offer many option on our area of interest and related areas, a good example of world news coverage in depth can be found at the LanGServices Web Page. It's worth your taking a look at the news coverage they offer, so you get an idea of the many possibilities readily available to you (i.e., no customization is needed, even though any customization is also possible).
Yes, some of these news services offer you the possibility of customizing the news you offer on line, according to the topics that you determine (usually topics related to the theme of your web page). By the way, you are also able to customize the way the news services will appear on your page (colors, fonts, width, how many headlines, and so forth), so it really looks like it is something that you offer, out of your own coding and effort!
Our [1] Webmaster Latest News Headlines is just one example of this customization. Check a few other examples so you can get a picture of how many different possibilities you can enjoy on your own site. Here you find the news headlines integrated with the contents of a site dealing with [2] Languages and Communication. Then check a couple of sites that make great use of this tool. Go to the News Menu on each of these web sites, and click around so you check the many different possibilities that are offered there: [3] MieNet's large News Menu,[4] Trylleri's News Menu and [5] Jacques' Image Paradise's News Menu. For examples of science-related news headlines, check the [6] Tempero-Cognitive Model pages.
As you can see from the examples above, the possibilities for customizing the news you offer on your site are illimited! Additionally, you can also use standard news topics that are readily available for copy-and-paste, such as the ones you find in [1] our Webmaster and Website Owner Latest News Headlines and via the News Menus offered at [2] MieNet,[3] Trylleri and [4] Jacques' Image Paradise.
Other than these news services, which are easy to add to any Web Site, we have some more good suggestions regarding extra and dynamic content for Your Home Page! Click Here and a page full of newly updated tips pops up, allowing you to follow below and, at the same time, have a lot of great options at the reach of your mouse and eyes, on this extra page that opens as you click on the link just given.
Two other great tips, regarding content that is dynamically renewed, are the Joke-A-Day and the Cartoon-A-Day. Eveybody enjoys a good laughter!:) So, as you offer daily Jokes and/or Cartoons, you can be sure many of your visitors will return to enjoy them! Just follow these links and you can get your own experience of both these services! (If you'd like to order either one--or both--for your page, you will find links to do so right there--look for a small banner under the words "sponsored by". Alternatively, you can return here and order the service(s) for your page, from the links that we offer you to this end--whichever way you prefer to do it. We should just call your attention to the fact that here you can sign up for an extra and great Humor Service which is not available at this other web site: FREE Jokes & Humor.
So, do you wish to add also these other two free assets to your Home Page, and have your visitors return for new Cartoons and new Jokes? That's simple, and pretty fast, too. To add these services right here and now, just click on these next two links to get [1] free daily cartoons and to get [2] free daily jokes!
Well, why sign up for the three of them, so you offer your visitors a greater variety, even if only one of these services may pay you (that is, if you choose this option)? At any rate, the pay is not high, we should warn you. You cannot expect to became rich out of providing humor to your guests...but, depending on your traffic, you may be able to get enough for a nice bottle of wine or so, now and them:)...or to help you pay for the Web Host Provider--if you do not host your web site for free.
Here is other daily (or frequently) renewed stuff that you can add to your Home Page, and keep your Guests coming back for more: quotes, short texts on a number of curiosities, and the like. We do not know of any service offering these directly, in the same way as the Jokes and Cartoons above mentioned. (If you happen to discover one, pls. do send us a note on it, so all our Friends and Guests can have the choice of enjoying them, as well! We'll certainly appreciate your doing that!)
But there is a simple way you can just as well offer daily quotes, or daily curiosities, without much effort, and just the same for free. Just pls. read on.
As far as quotes, here are a couple of good possibilities: [1] subscribe to a freeQuote-A-Day Mailing List and/or [2] "borrow" as much as you wish from these quote-collections freely available on the web: [A] a Large Quote Collection; [B]General Quotes; [C]Quotes on Time; [D] Quotes on Music; [E] Quotes on Coffee; and [F] Quotes on Food, Cooking & Meals. Still want more quotes?!:)... Just check the Links sections on these Web Sites offering free quote-collections, and you'll find a number of other good Links for more and more Quotes! For more possibilities, please Click Here so you open again that page full of newly updated tips (the present page will not close when the new page pops up, so you can read on below and, at the same time, have all the additional tips conveniently at hand).
You must now be saying; "Ah! this is all very well...but wait a minute: I simply do not wish to trouble to change the quote (or text) every day!..." Have we guessed it correctly?
No, we'd not dare ever giving you a tip that meant you getting caught in some sort of drudgery! No ways!!! Just pls. read on!:)
Here's the complement of the daily quote (or daily whatever) that you may wish to enrich your Home Page with: there are java scripts, freely available on the Net, which can change daily whatever short content there may be, out of a given collection of short texts!
In other words: select a collection, say, of quotes, get one of these scripts, copy and paste it onto your Page, and voilá! You have your own, home-made, Quote-A-Day!:)
You don't know how to go about this "magic" java script which places a new quote on your page every day? Just drop us a note, and we'll help you! for as long as we have not yet covered this topic here.
It is definitely in our plans to be posting information on and discussing java scripts. Then you'll be able to set your "Whatever"-A-Day on your own, and a lot more. But while we haven't gotten to tackle the java script topic, you are welcome to drop us a line and we'll assist you in having your own Quote-A-Day, or whatever short text you wish to offer on a daily basis.
Complementary to the the above, is the Page on Linguistic Curiosities! As the name evidences it, here you find curious information only within the language realm. Considering that this page is updated approximately once a month, you can choose to visit it for some interesting variety, if you decide to make use of this other great tip to help you ensure that Your Guests return often to enjoy your Page!
Have you got some good ideas as you've been reading above? Then share with us! We'll give you credit for it (unless you tell us that you prefer us not to!), if we post the idea you share, so other Guests and Friends can also profit from your good creativity!
Here you see that, if you have just started your Home Page, and feel you still have little to offer Your Guests, just the addition of interesting extra-content that is often renewed, such as indicated above, this already allows you to count on returning Guests, eager for more! Likewise, this also enables you to start thinking of and investing in the External Realm of Web Site Promotion! The earlier the better for, as already mentioned, this takes time to do, as it takes yet more time to start yielding results!
It requires just a bit of imagination and creativity to make a Home Page extra interesting without much effort, or the need to know html language!:)
Other than the tips above, all regarding the Internal Realm of Your Web Site promotion, you can easily invest further on a number of simple additions that are equally helpful in bringing people back to your Page. Here are a few more good suggestions.
For example,
you can have your Guests take a Poll--Click Here to try,
or Vote on whatever topic related to the contents of your Site--Click Here to try;
you can offer periodical "Quizzes" for your Guests to take (and return after a certain time to check the answer, which you will then have posted)
you can offer useful Links and add periodically to the list;
you can offer possibilities for searching the Web right from your home page--Click Here for a few good options--please feel free to send us a query in this regard, if you don't know how to go about setting up search options on your site--we'll be happy to help you get going with one of more search scripts);
you can offer free postcards and/or greetings cards for your Guests to send to friends right from Your Home Page (SiteGadgets.com can help you, in no time, with offering Post Cards! BraveNet, in turn, can help you offer Greetings Cards. You can try these services right here on the HomePage MadeEasy Web Site--just Click Here and go try them, while you make a friend happy to be remembered!
you can offer you guests fresh news of all sorts! There are services that place frequently updated news on you site, free of charge. You do not have to do anything, in order for the news to be constanly updated, except place a string of coding on the page where you wish to offer the news, when you first sign up for the service. That's it! The updating takes place automatically, every time your page is loaded.
The best such service that we know is the one provided by Moreover. Not only Moreover offers an amazingly large variety of news headlines, but they also allow you to customize the kind of headlines that you wish to place on your site, so it fits perfectly within the context and the format of your page!
You can check Moreover's news right on our site: for news that are customized especially for HomePage MadeEasy, click here and, for examples of the many different sets of news headlines available at Moreover, ready to paste and use, click here.
And enjoy knowing that you can offer your guest interesting, freshly updated content every time they come by for a visit!
you can offer your guests updated weather forecasts that reach anywhere in the world, and related services. It's free to sign up.
Before signing up, though, see here our popular tips on using this and other complementary tools (these tips include the possibility of generating revenue, if you'd like that too!).
you can offer your guests a web site that displays beautiful images of all sorts (you can choose among over 60000!), all for free, and just as well free from any copyright complication.
And more: these images will not be on your site, so they do not take up any space on your web site provider, if your account is fairly limited regarding the number of MB's you can have on-line.
And yet more: You'll have the possibility of getting posters and art prints for free and/or the possibility of making some money (that's up to you to choose).
Keep in mind that a pleasant-looking web site is a sure invitation for your guests to return! Sign up here for the right to display any of these 60000 images on your web pages--as many images as you'd like (no limit!). Before signing up, learn here about all that this excellent tool can do for you! Among other advantages, you can also use it for free web site promotion with the search engines! (No work for you, besides typing your URL! And it is reallyfree.)
you can offer your guests the possibility of playing different games right on your web site (there are services that provide this, such as PrizeGames and PawIsland). Optionally, you can also provide links to pages offering games on line. Click here to check on these games (you can also try them out!), and find links where you can sign up to start offering your visitors the possibility of enjoying games on your page.
you can subscribe to a service that automatically notifies your Guests of new updates to your pages, if they sign up to be notified, evidently!
There are a few such services on the Web, a couple of which are on the Web Site Tools List standing on the left column. If needed, we can discuss and compare these different services here--you are welcome to let us know about your needs, in this regard.
At any rate, you can confidently go for the best of these, which is no doubt the one provided by ChangeDetection.com.
You can try it out below. You just need to fill in your e-mail address and click the "GO" button, to sign up for e-mail notification whenever the page you are curently viewing is changed/updated:
This way, you can see for yourself the sort of service you'll be offering Your Guests on Your Home Page, as well as the kind of mail they receive once they sign up for this service at Your Web Site!
If you've signed up above, the next time this page changes/is updated, you'll have a short a note from ChangeDetection.com in your mail box.
It is always very good practice that you try out for yourselfall that you plan to offer Your Guests!
Don't just trust or take for granted! Do remember to try out whatever you'll be posting for Your Guests, for there is nothing like experience to help you decide whether or not it is something you would really like to offer Your Guests! Only you can decide on this! Independently of what anyone may say or suggest!
These innumerous tips above are just some of the many great ideas you can easily make use of, in order to ensure that first-time Visitors to Your Home Page feel enough motivation to return, and possibly become regular guests!:)
Use your imagination and creativity, and you'll always have an attractive and varied Home Page, as far as extra-content is concerned(that is, content beyond the good stuff that you place on Your Web Site, out of your own mind, inspiration, skills, etc.). You can be sure that this extra-content related sort of initiative is very helpful as far as keeping your traffic flowing!
Remember that there are thousands of Home Pages out there! If you do not make yours special and motivating, beyond the good content that led you to build Your Home Page, how can you expect to keep your visitors, and attract others? People's time is each day more precious and more scarce. It is thus natural that people become choosier and choosier regarding where and how to spend their time. So, respect and appreciation for the time that our Guests spend visiting our Home Pages is an excellent attitude to cultivate on line!
Got some more good ideas?!:) Don't forget to share them with us! We'll give you credit, unless you mention that you prefer us not to!
Our last word for now on the Internal Realm of Web Site Promotion focuses on the importance both of making Your Web Page as easily navigable as possible and of making it easy for Your Guests to find what they may be looking for on Your Site!
Good navigability is not necessarily synonymous with fancy and/or complex menu systems, please remember! It rather means easy access to the different Sections on your Web Site!
In order to ensure that Your Guests can easily find whatever they may be trying to find on Your Site, it is a great idea to have Local Search possibilities available. An excellent Local Search Engine, which you can get for Your Site totally free of charge and of whatever obligation can be found at FreeFind! Their service is excellent: swift, reliable, user friendly, and uncomplicated. We sure hope they continue offering this good service for long! (There have been many a Site that started up offering excellent services and, as they became very popular, quality dropped considerably. Certainly we hope this will not be the case with FreeFind!)
FreeFind offers you, in addition, the option to have a Web Search service implemented on Your Site, together with their Local Search service. The choice is entirely yours. Now, why not offer Your Guests a little extra, when it costs you no effort or money?!... You can try both these Search services right here, at Your HomePage MadeEasy! You just need to go to the Local Search Page, and try it all out! As you will see, FreeFind also allows you to have a Search for Site News and Updates Engine and a Site Map Function on Your Web Page--all of it is free, and can be signed up for in one go, via a very user friendly interface.
Wish to read other comments on FreeFind, these written elsewhere? Just Click Here and find the Link to + comment on FreeFind's services. BTW, HomePage MadeEasy fully endorses these further comments you will read.
Just so you understand the quality of service we refer to above, as well as the crucial importance of quality for this sort of Web Site Service, please take a moment to read a report on our most recent frustrating experience with Local Search Engines. Click Here to bring this report to your screen. We are sure you will find it helpful and enlightining!
Now, while you invest on keeping your traffic rolling, that is, on maintaining the traffic that you have already succeeded in building, let's start discussing how you go about getting new Visitors.
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Enjoy your visit!
Have a very nice day/evening/night
...and return soon!
Need a WebSite?
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. So, perhaps you'd find this service the most interesting of the three;)...
