Website Love Potion #9 - The Magical Elixir

"What I can do to get more traffic to my site? My competitor has an ugly site  but they are getting lots of press, how? I don't have money to spend on marketing, how do I get that first customer? How do I get a never-ending conveyor belt of clients?" Those are some questions I've gotten recently and perhaps you're wondering the same thing. Whether you're running a business or nonprofit, a stream of cheerful buyers handing us work (or just money) would be great! But marketing takes effort so here I present to you my own, home-brew recipe for website success, my Website Love Potion #9. 

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 In the questions above, clients were looking for ways to market themselves without spending money so that's what I'll focus on. Put on your safety goggles and let's start brewing up our 9  ingredients:

1. Cook up one Killer Promo Idea using your favorite catalyst (coffee, chai tea, tequila - whatever gets you going).
2. Reduce down from that a brief, compelling Promo that includes a chunk of well-written text, an appealing  graphic and a call to action. Split into three parts. Place one part on your website blog or home page to chill. 
3. Take second portion, shake vigorously, and add to your Facebook Business Page.
4. Pour third part  into Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram (or YouTube or Vine or whatever you have on hand). 
5. Add a dash of Search Engine Marketing on Yelp, Google My Business, Kudzu or other local search page.
6. Let all chill for one day.
7. Go back, check each promo and respond to questions, shares, likes, etc. as needed.
8. Over the next few days, freshen the potion with reminders, add new tantalizing details and countdown to the last day.
9. On the promo deadline, sit back and review your results!​

Getting a good response already!

This is a free approach to promoting yourself online, but you can also look into paid advertising through services like Google Adwords, Yelp and others. Either way, if creating a "conveyor belt of clients" was easy, we'd all be rich. In reality, marketing is an important, ongoing part of running a healthy business and it takes time, creative energy and/or money. If you don't have a lot of money, you can learn to use free online ways to reach people by attending my Website Workshops or by liking my Facebook, Twitter or Instagram feeds. 

While there's no magical elixir, the web and social media give us our own ways to cook up success so use the recipe above to get brewing!  Comments, results, feedback welcome below. ~ Ame Stanko, Pixel Lava Interactive

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