You've made a nice effort G_Ina the results looks pretty professional given the limitations of such site builder tools.
A couple of quick comments if they are any help - when it comes to Internet M'kting as you mention - there are two sides to the coin I guess (keeping it simple at least) - (1) getting 'free'
traffic from the SE (ie being found high up in the search results for terms that relate to your site) and (2) getting traffic by other means (ie that cost money
)
The free traffic is great but takes a lot of time and patience to acquire - you'll need to start to get your website name all around the place. It is generally accepted that SE placement depends on things like inbound links (other folks linking to your site). These are 'worth' more (it is believed) if the links are one way (ie you do not have to link back). One way you can get them is by writing articles and publishing them on good quality article sites. When your article is picked up by people with an interest in your topic for their own site and/or newsletters or ezines - you get a link (assuming you fill in the bio-box with appropriate live links AND the content users play fair!) - I use ezinearticles.com which has a good rep, but there are several others that are worthwhile.
Another way to get your site 'found' is the tedious business of submitting it to as many directories as possible - especially the 'niche' directories that cover topics relating to your site. You can hunt around and find these directories but beware of being suckered into parting with cash for mass directory submissions. These do not always turn out to be a great investment. Also do not 'buy links' as you can end up with your site in places that could cause it problems.
You could also use a reputable link exchanging program as reciprocal links still have some value even if less than a one-way link. I can PM you a good one I have used with 'some' success if you like (PM me first and I'll respond). The rule of thumb being that it should be free, and that you can check out possible links to make sure they are real, and not spammy sites. Plus do not link to off-topic sites (that is - stuff that cannot be at least construed to relate to pets./pet products/pet stuff of some kind or maybe even food products - there is plenty to include - but NO casinos, NO pharmacy stuff etc - you know what I mean)
The OTHER side of the coin being 'paid marketing' - you might decide to dabble with a program like Google Adwords - but READ all the advice first provided by Google (and others). It CAN be very expensive if you do it wrong...BUT if you do it right it WILL bring good targeted traffic and can be very cost effective. the other thing to consider that you do need to know that the 'copy' for your ads is 'good' and works - if you want 'clicks' and then you need to know your sales copy is also the best it can be. Employing a copywriter is just out of the question for most small/start-up businesses but I just put an article on my weird little 'Happy To Recommend' site I'm working on (see sig file) that reviews a new piece of software that can really make a difference to your sales copy. It's worth considering - that's all I'll say - (take a read if you get a chance and send me any questions you have if you like)
Otherwise you'll need to spread your www address whenever and wherever you can offline too! Business cards, bumper stickers, letterheads, use local notice boards and such...wherever you can
The other BIG thing - that is important for getting more attention from the search engines include – is the generally accepted wisdom that the more real content your site includes the better. This would mean building lots more pages of information and expanding your site in this way to attract a much wider attention form the SE's and Internet surfers. You have a great niche there talking about 'pet nutrition' and pet related things - but you really need to build and publish at least 30 pages to start to get noticed more - and for many 'decent' reciprocal link prospects to take you seriously. Some would say each page needs a minimum of 300/350 words of theme based text to ‘count’ for anything – but each page could be MUCH longer – into 1000’s of words. There are ways of getting content without having to write it all…(I’m getting short of time – so once again PM me if you want so more info)
This is a process of steady building to expand your site - and if you can add 2 pages a week - you'll have 30 within about 4 months (shorter if you build quicker)...BUT you need to build pages about topics and around key words that are important to your general theme and that folks are searching for. You'll need a tool to search for key words - and some of these can be found free online (although the best ones cost money) you can get started with these at least - (again PM me for some info if you want).
I noticed that at the moment 2 of your pages have the 'Title' HOME, and the HOME page has the title 'INDEX' - by 'title' I mean the 'meta tag' information that appears on the blue bar at the top of the page - it is written into the HTML of your 'head' section of your page and it is used by the SE's. This is really quite important - as the SE's 'spiders' supposedly 'read' this and use it to determine page relevance when putting your site into search results (or not). Also it is the info that can be seen in the short snippet that shows in the Search listings.
If you can do - using the Yahoo page builder (which I am not familiar with) - you need to go in an write a sensible keyword based sentence as a meta tag 'Title' relevant to each page. If you can also create a 'keyword' meta tag you need to include at least one (in fact some say ONLY one - whereas many folks include far too many) key word or phrase for each page that relates to the content on the page (remember this will apply to any future content pages you also build as discussed above).
The last point I’d mention – is that your ‘free biscuits’ offer is great – but risky. One the one hand it may help you create a list of potential customers – VITAL for long term online success – a big list means BIG profits and recurring sales if you handle it well. BUT it is always a bit risky giving ‘free’ stuff that actually cost you money to make, and MONEY to post!!! I think offering a ‘get another pack’ free with your first order - OR get a 50% discount on your first (or second) order, or ONLY end out a free ‘sample pack’ (2 or 3 biscuits only) along with an online ‘coupon number’ for a 25% discount when they place a first REAL order online - is MUCH better and financially safer idea! And just as likely to get sign-ups – PLUS it covers your costs. Free is not always best! (OK, OK...I just re-read your 'freebie' and see it only 2 winners who'll get it! But if you consider offering a longer running 'list-building' promo then the comments still apply!)
Well I just blurted out a few ideas - I hope some of them are useful...You are at the beginning of a long - but potentially rewarding road!
Good Luck
websage
Check out my site guys :) YAY!
) It will help generate traffic, after all, and eventually will lead to more sales.
