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Technical Info

Internet Promotion of a Web Site in Winchester VA

Last updated April 5, 2001.

This is an attempt to list local Internet resources that can be used to promote a web site serving the Winchester, VA vicinity.

Promotion falls into two categories:

  1. Regular Links
  2. Paid advertisements

Having links directing traffic TO your web site is a very good thing. In addition to bringing visitors directly, it also has a secondary beneficial effect. Many of the Internet Search Engines will tally up the number and quality of these external links as a way of judging how popular your web site is. Having numerous external links to your site can improve how well your site appears (ranking) in the search engine results.


(1) Regular Links (usually free)

(a) WinchesterOnline.com

From what I can tell, this local web site is pretty well established. They will provide a free link to a business web site:

From the business directory page "This is by no means the full list of all businesses in the Winchester area. Most of the businesses listed have requested their free listing. So, with that said, if your business wants to be listed in this directory, simple fill in our request form at the bottom of this page. If you have a website, we will link to it if you include the URL."

(b) ClarkeCountyOnline.com

While this site is not fully operational yet, they are taking requests for businesses who want to be listed online free. This site is produced by the same people who do WinchesterOnline.com. If you serve Clarke County for some of your services, it may be a good idea to get exposure here too.

(c) ShenandoahValleyWeb.com

This site invites businesses to submit their information to get a free link. In particular, this site has a real estate section that lists all of the local real estate companies.

Here you can find a good example of how to suggest that other web sites voluntarily link to your site. This page gives detailed instructions and images to other webmasters to let them easily link to their site. Every site that wants links to their site should do the same. By providing graphics and recommended HTML code you can better control the quality of the presentation of your public exposure.

(d) Chamber of Commerce

If you are a member of the Winchester-Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, make sure that you have a link to your web site in the online member directory. The same applies to every other organization that your business belongs to. If there is an opportunity to have your web site listed somewhere on their web site, use it. If they do not have an online listings of member websites, suggest it. A listing like this increases the value of the organization's web site and benefits its members.


(2) Paid advertisements

Caveat: Internet Advertising was first considered to be a great idea, but the last few years of industry experience has shown that it did not perform as well as originally thought. Many advertisers have removed their Web page ads due to a newer perception of the effectiveness/cost for that advertising channel. Note: Even if the web page ad does not directly drive a lot of traffic to your web site, it can contribute to the number of "external links" and that will frequently increase the site's ranking in search engines.

(a) WinchesterOnline.com

You can place an advertisement on any of their pages, space permitting -- first come, first served. Their rates are $300/month, $100/month, or $50/month depending upon the location on their site.

(b) WinchesterStar.com

Ad space ("Banner" or "Button") for rent. $250, $200, $100, or $50 /month depending upon size and placement.

(c) FrederickVA.com

This site is a production of Shenandoah Web Works and Frederick County E-Business Solutions They offer a business listing area online and some other services. The fee starts is $100/year. http://www.frederickva.com/businessjoin1.asp The disadvantage of this site is that the link you get will not be easily used by search engines because of the way the link is technically formatted. Therefore the only advantage to having a listing in this site would be if you know already that potential customers are looking there.