Now that your website is up and running, how do you let people know it exists?
If you don’t already have a blog on your website, I highly recommend writing regular blog posts as a way of providing timely information about who you are and what you offer. For more details, visit my post, “Keeping your website content fresh”.
But blog or no blog, how can you distribute your information beyond your website’s audience?
Email Newsletters
I’m not a marketing expert by any means, but I know a penguin who is. According to Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development, “email newsletters remain the single most effective (by far) marketing tool for any solo professional.”
Every time you write a post on your website, it’s a good idea to also email it to a list of your readers, placing it directly in their inboxes. Unfortunately, if you use WordPress, there’s currently no great way to send out posts directly from your website. It’s better to use a service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, which sends emails that are optimized for viewing in different email programs that your readers might be using.
On your website, you can provide a sign-up form so that your readers can subscribe to your email newsletters. The downside is that you may have to deal with “spam” subscribers, which are usually robots scouring the internet to fill out forms. Fortunately there are several tools to help mitigate that.
Share Buttons
Adding social media buttons to both your posts and email newsletters is an additional way to distribute your content to a wider audience.
However, not all social media buttons are created equal. There are actually three distinct types of social media buttons. You can’t always tell the type by looking at them, but they provide very different services.
Below are brief explanations of the three types of social media buttons. The type I recommend for your posts and email newsletters are called “share buttons”.
Simple button
A simple button links to your social media account.
For example, if a reader clicks on your Twitter simple button, they will be taken to your Twitter profile page.
Like button
A like button displays “likes” from your social media account.
For example, if a reader clicks on your Facebook like button, your Facebook account will display the number of likes you receive.
Share button
A share button shares your information on the reader’s social media account.
For example, when a reader clicks on a LinkedIn share button, it adds the content of your post or newsletter to their LinkedIn account, so that they can share it with their list of connections. As a result, a greater number of people will be exposed to the services and information you are offering.
You can see my share buttons below.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about any of these services.