Being in the website design business, the thing that seems to always delay projects is copywriting. Even from clients who claim that they have their copy already written and set to go somehow don't have it ready in time and projects get delayed. I can think of just 1 instance where a client walked in with a binder and CD of all their content before we even started design (man, was that nice). So I realize that not everyone out there is a writer, but thank God there are copywriters out there, right?

So this tip may not be for you if you're not a writer. I don't mind writing and can often just come up with copy without too much effort. If you're like that and if you want to promote your website, then there are some great opportunities out there for you.

Basically, what you'd do is write a somewhat generic article about your business industry - not about your business per se. So, for me, my business is website development, so I might write an article (like this) about how to promote your website or maybe the top 10 things to remember when creating a website or picking a website developer - something like that. At the bottom of that article, I'd then write a short, 3-4 line bio and include a link back to my website.

What happens next is, you submit your article to a site that will distribute it for you. One I just found is called iSnare.com. For like $2, they'll take your article and submit it to sites that want articles dealing with their industry. The great thing is, these articles are posted on other websites as news and your link then appears on them. So not only do you get another link pointing back to your website but you get to prove your knowledge about your industry to the audience that you want to reach. It's sort of like product placement in a way but you're giving away some of your knowledge in exchange for it and everyone wins.

I sort of discovered this technique again while setting up some of my domain names at WhyPark.com where they match these kinds of articles up to your domain name and keep refreshing that domain's website with fresh content so that your domain names are active. You can then sell or develop those domain names later and those domains will be worth more because they're already getting traffic and may be ranked alright on search engines.

So if you have the time and can write a pretty decent article, I'd suggest signing up for iSnare.com and sending out 5-10 articles to see what happens.

Tony Herman is an owner of a website development firm in Madison, WI called Webstix, Inc. where they specialize in website design, content management systems and website promotion. (see how that works?) :-)

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