A Quick Start to Using Social Media to Draw People to Your Website

I've been meaning to write this for awhile.

This is the advice I give to my radio clients.

It's the advice I give to nearly anyone that wants to get found online.

It's not a quick process.

It takes discipline.

It requires your time.

1. Start a blog. Update it at least once a week.
2. Set up a twitter account. Use it to promote, interact and share with others.
3. Set up a Facebook page. But be selective with what you do with it.

Let's start with your blog.

Once a week, tell a story about your business. Change the names to protect privacy of the people you are talking about if you want, but be real. Talk about the customer that was looking for something and you were able to help. Share tips on your area of expertise.

But most of all, keep updating it. Weekly is a minimum. Daily if you have the time.

I recommend using Blogger.com It is an easy to use platform and is owned by Google. Google is always looking for fresh content and after awhile you will probably start showing up in Google search results.

One other Blog hint: include a picture with each post.

Twitter is my favorite online method of promoting my blog postings. Most of my new blog postings, I promote with a link on Twitter. Many people don't understand Twitter, don't use Twitter, but they use Facebook, which I'll get to in a moment. Over the weekend, I posted my 10,000th Tweet since I signed up in October 2008.

I use Tweetdeck as a way to manage my Twitter account on a daily basis and unless you are compulsive about it, Twitter can be a useful communication tool. Somehow, I've gained over 900 followers and made friends with others in my home town and also around the world in areas that we are both interested in.

Now, Facebook.

Facebook to me is the social media platform that I really don't like but it is too big to ignore. The number of people with Facebook accounts, if they were a country would be one of the top 3 or 4 countries in the world!

What don't I like about Facebook? The games like Mafia Wars and Farmville that friends play and it shows up in my updates. The various other applications that are in my opinion silly. But the biggest problem I have with Facebook is they keep changing the layout and privacy settings.

What I like about Facebook is that because so many people are on it, odds are if you want to connect with old friends, new friends, or family, they are probably on Facebook.

But having a blog, a Twitter and Facebook account will not draw people to your website.

You need to provide links, not copy and paste style, but clickable links that go to your website.

And on your website, you need to provide links to your social media sites.

Click here and you'll go to my website where you'll find clickable links to my blogs, my radio stations, and even links to the most recent blog posts.

It has taken time, work and discipline but it works.