10 (OFFLINE) WAYS TO BOOST TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

You have your shiny new site up and running, how do you get people to know it's there?

Brand your stationery

This sould be obvious but its strange how people seem to think of the website as separate from the business and do not consider it a business tool. Print your website on your cards, letterheads, brochures, newsletters - pretty much anything you print out and disburse. And don't forget to add it on your email signature. You do have an email signature don't you?

Brand your vehicle(s)

Does your vehicle have a tyre cover? Brand that. Does your firm have company cars? Brand those as well. Because the website is all encompassing (has your email address, your phone numbers, your locations), this might even turn out to be cheaper in the long run and provide visitors with more information to make a decision.

A cheaper, yet no less effective alternaive is creative bumper stickers with the URL. Considering the amount of traffic in Nairobi, this has to be the cheapest, most effective means of reaching ten thousand people a day.

Brand your laptop(s)

Does your firm give laptops to staff? Brand them with your website. This is cheap and quite effective in eliciting curiosity. When your staff are working outside the office, the URL is bound to catch someone's attention.

Direct any inquiries to your website

When clients send requests via email or via phone, you can refer them to your website for more information, for downloads, or for forms that they can fill. This can even help streamline your responses and encourage your clients to use the website to provide feedback, retrieve general information and in the process free up time for the receptionist to concentrate on her nails.

Put a classified ad in the paper or in a magazine

A classified ad is dirt cheap and depending on newspaper circulation, quite effective. Placing one classified ad a week increases the likelihood of someone requiring your services bumping into you.

Write generously as an expert in your field

Write for newspapers, magazines and journals. Portray this image of giving tips or advice to your readers. They will consider you an expert and, when they require the services of an epert in your field, will automatically turn to the voice they trust and know. And of course, at the bottom of every article is a link back to your website.

Grant radio and TV nterviews freely

This ties in with the suggestion above. It builds your credibility and the visibility of the website as well because, of course, your website will feature at the end of the show.

Billboards, Bus stops and benches

Often, on advertisements, agencies disregard the website and put in a plethora of contact details that need a magnifying glass and the sun at 12 o'clock to read. It would be much easier even to remember, www.lerustique.co.ke than General Mathenge Drive, Westlands, Tel (254 2) 3753081

The Phone Book

Agreed, this is technology for a bygone error but there are still people who refer to phone books for informaition. In addition to all the contact information, do not ignore putting your website.

Use Public speaking engagements

Whenever you are in a position to address a multitude of people, make it a habit of mentioning your website (repeatedly). Refer people back to it for more information on content you've just touched on. Use the freely available nature of the internet to disseminate more free information that has a link back to your website.