I just recently launched my first internet company. This is the first company that I started that required major public awareness to succeed. A website is worthless if people don't come to the site. The whole "if you build it, they will come" idea doesn't apply when you are talking about websites. There are hundreds of thousands of websites out there. So what makes yours so unique that it will continue to have people come back for more?

When I first came up with this idea of creating a financial education website for women, I sat down and brain stormed all of the websites that I considered successful and what they had in common with each other. I thought about MySpace, Ebay, Yahoo, Amazon, YouTube, and the like. There were a couple similarities that I noticed.

Most had something on the site that kept their audience coming back. Sometimes that meant the latest news stories. Other times it meant some type of email service or message services where the customer had to come back to check for possible emails or notes. The one main factor that I noticed was that most of the sites had offered the ability for people to communicate with one another....to be part of a cyber community if you will.

Okay so how was I going to take that same concept and add it to my new website? I created free message boards to encourage people to communicate with each other. I looked for an outside company that could provide news articles relevant to my audience in order to have new information and I hired writers.

Now the site was up and ready to go....but how do people find out about me? I had developed a rather extensive Rolodex from friends or clients I had from previous companies. When it was time to launch I did an email campaign. I asked everyone to forward the announcement to friends and family. That actually worked out better than I thought it would. By the end of the week I had a couple thousand hits and I was happy and it didn't cost me anything. Little did I know that in cyber land that number was nothing to brag about. Not to mention that they were not all repeat visitors and the numbers soon trailed off.

I would like to share some other things I did that helped raise awareness for the site. Maybe they can help some of you out there in cyber land. * I started doing public speaking events. Because the site was about financial education, I did several free workshop or seminars about various financial matters and entrepreneurship. Because this was something I was passionate about I had no problems speaking in front of people.

* I wrote free articles for various publications. It's a win/win for both parties. The publishers can continue to supply their viewers with informative content and now you have content out there reaching an audience that may have been unattainable through your tradition marketing efforts. (Side note: The key to free article publishing is that you have to write relevant information that will educate the readers. You should not be selfish in your writing and make sure you are truly helping people solve some type of problem.)

* The most helpful and profitable route was the Ebook. I made the topic relevant to women (my demographic), created a catchy title, and created an Ebook. I sold it on Ebay. I included my website link and a brief description of my website inside the Ebook. I encouraged purchasers to give the book away to their family and friends. I sold it for a ridiculously low price and got a great response. My intention for the Ebook was to raise awareness for my website. I didn't expect to make a profit, but I did.

The main thing is to remember that just because you create a website or blog doesn't mean that people are going to come. You have to sit down and ask yourself... What makes my site/blog different? What would make people come back for more? Most importantly, how are web goers going to find out about me? 

Articles Source - Free Articles

About the Author

Cinnamon McCann is the creative creator of Financial Fashion House, a financial education website for women. The purpose of the website is to provide financial education in a trendy and exciting format. It is also intended to provide an environment where women can network and feel inspired. Visit her athttp://www.financialfashionhouse.com.