Promotion. Sometimes it feels like a dirty word. For some people, the act of promoting themselves, their sites, or their brands is the hardest part of working for themselves. Over time, we’ll discuss lots of promotion ideas so that what seems hard suddenly looks much, much easier. Today, I wanted to focus on local promotion. Sure, a site is usually (though not always) global in nature, especially if it is an information-based site such as this one. So why would I want to promote a global site on a local basis? There are several good reasons for doing so.

• We feel a lot more comfortable discussing ourselves and our projects with people we know.
• We are much more likely to get a positive response from people we know, or people who know we are part of their community
• People we know, who also own web sites or social network profiles, may be more willing to talk about us online - including linking to our sites

Let me give you an example, if I may. Today is the start of the annual Washington Parish Free Fair, which lasts several days each year at this time. It is held in my town, Franklinton, Louisiana. It is considered to be the world’s largest free fair, and it’s always a lot of fun. We’ve got my granddaughter here (she’s two years old) so she can experience it all day, every day. She just came back from the opening parade loaded down with beads, candies, and other float throws. She thought she’d won the fun lottery. In a few minutes, we’ll all be heading down to the fairgrounds to have fun for the rest of the day. So wait, why am I telling you about this? Patience…there’s a good reason. Let me show you the fair’s official website. This is the Washington Parish Free Fair web site in all its glory. Go on, go take a quick peek and then come back here (the link opens a new window/tab to make it easy).

Is that not one of the ugliest sites you’ve seen in a long, long time? The site tells us that the Free Fair started in 1911. Oh! Is that when the site was designed as well? Sure looks like it, doesn’t it? Now, I’m not the world’s best web designer by any stretch of the imagination, but I can assure you that I could design a decent looking site for them if I tried. Heck, even if I knew nothing about web design, I could grab a nice-looking template and modify it appropriately. If I were smart (and had a bit of time), I’d talk to the fair coordinators here in town and volunteer to update their pitiful site, bringing it into the 21st century. In exchange, I would expect them to link to my site in return. I might also be able to get more forms of recommendations out of them in terms of testimonials and/or word-of-mouth advertising, including more links on other sites they may own. Lots of deals could be made if I were redesigning their site “for free”.

In the end, they benefit with a nice, new site. I benefit by promoting locally, but gaining global exposure and links. And the promotion spiel would probably end up being just a casual conversation between me and some fellow townspeople over a cup of coffee. Easy and unintimidating. That’s promotion at its finest.

So, before I head out with my granddaughter’s tiny little hand in mine, let me sum this up for you. Don’t forget to promote your site at the local level, with people you already know. That may be the quickest, easiest form of promotion you’ll ever undertake, and you could get some great links, testimonials, and word-of-mouth advertising out of just a quick cup of coffee and a friendly conversation.

Now, I’m off to have fun at the fair. Later, y’all!

(from Smash Mouth. "AllStar" Astro Lounge. Interscope Records, 1999.)

Posted on October 17th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Site Promotion