Traffic on the freeway is bad. Traffic on the Internet is good. With over 60 million web sites on the Net, you need a solid strategy for steering customers to your home business web site.

Search Engines

Search engines are the yellow pages for a home business web site. Over 80% of Internet surfers use search engines to find information on the web. To get the most traffic to your site, list first with the big search engine players Yahoo, Google, and MSN. Smaller search engines also get results from the big three so you'll be covered in case customers visit less popular engines. A smaller search engine network to consider is Exactseek.com, for example.

Looking Good

Your home business web site can be simple or complex but it must be functional and attractive. Make sure your site does what it is supposed to do - provide customers with concise, useful information about your product or service. Be wary of making things too complicated. The site should be easy to navigate or customers will look elsewhere.

Your home business web site should also look professional, not cheap. If you aren't design savvy, spend money on a good web designer. The investment will pay off by attracting more people to your web page.

On-line Ads

The Internet has many sites where you can list your home business web site for free. To guarantee the greatest exposure, place your ad on several (20 or more) sites and repeat the process every month.

Banner advertisements can be as effective as TV spots in increasing customer awareness of your business. A banner ad should be direct, i.e. promote a benefit of rather than just the name of the product or service. Try participating in a banner exchange program such as LinkExchange that connects your home business web site to other company sites that have similar customer bases.

Affiliate programs offer an excellent opportunity to promote your home business web site. Affiliate businesses post links to your web page on their sites. You pay them a commission or set fee based on the amount of traffic sent to your web site. Pay arrangements vary and can be based on the number of people who visit your site or the number of customers who purchase your product.

Bloggin' It

Bloggers are the hot new information medium. Getting them to write about your home business web site is an excellent way to gain exposure to potential customers.

Technorati Blog Directory provides a listing of blogs by industry. Do your research here to determine which blogs might be interested in writing about your business. Send a short, personal email to a few blog writers describing your web site and asking the blogger to write about it. Offer the writer something in return, for example, free product or a link back to his blog on your web site.

Off-line Ads

Cruising Down the Highway

Your car is a moving billboard for a home business web site. Window decals and bumper stickers are inexpensive ways to get the word out about your web site. Spend a few extra dollars for a personalized license plate with your web address.

Old Media Standby

Regardless of what the bloggers say, people still read the printed page. Run ads in the classifieds of large and small papers, trade magazines, and free weeklies. Your choice of print media will depend on the product or service offered and whether you do business locally or nationwide.

Sources

Gaebler Ventures, "Advertising on the Web" (gaebler.com)
Data Synthesis, "Internet Solutions for Today" (ictks.com)
"Top Ten Ways to Promote your Website" (agora-business-center.com)
"Using Blog PR to Promote Your Site" (sitepronews.com)