When it comes to niche marketing, don’t focus solely on search engines to bring customers to your Web site. You want information about your site to appear any place on the Internet where a large number of potential customers congregate. To wit:

1. Seek links. Keywords inform search engines about the nature of your business, while links from other Web sites show that your site is highly regarded. Go to any major search engine and type in your target keywords. Look at the listings that appear in the first page of results. Contact those businesses about linking to your site; many may decline, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
2. Search for partners. Whenever you sign a deal with a business partner, include in the agreement that they must link to your Web site.
3. Send out lots of press releases. In predigital days, press releases were meant for journalists. Now they can be sent to bloggers and posted on other Web sites. Be sure each press release includes a link to your Web site, as it can help move you up in the search engine rankings.
4. Blog and write articles. Being a source of information is the foundation of Internet niche marketing because it turns you into a trusted authority. Any articles or blogs you write for your Web site should be disseminated throughout the Internet via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.
5. Buy banner ads. Placing ads on other Web sites can be an effective strategy for some businesses. According to the Center for Media Research, technological breakthroughs are giving Web sites the ability to serve ads to visitors from specific geographic regions. This can be a boon to a company that wants to advertise on a popular site but only wants to attract customers in their local area.
6. Create a widget. Widgets are tiny programs — embeddable chunks of code — that people can place on their own Web sites. They can take the form of games, animated pictures of animals, or images like a clock with the second-hand sweeping around. Facebook, the huge social networking site, has turned widgets into hot marketing tools for younger-generation customers by making them easy to exchange. Internet advertising experts are creating widgets to promote their products in an entertaining way. Zazzle, which makes custom T-shirts and hats, saw page views jump 300 percent after distributing a widget.
7. Put your Web address everywhere. Don’t lose repeat business — be sure to include your Web address on shipping materials and other information mailed to customers.

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