How to Promote a Game Website

The internet is saturated with topics and websites; one of the most competitive niches is video games, but don't worry, it's also one of the most lucrative. Promoting your game website can be seen as a science. If you perform these steps you will undoubtedly become successful. Your budget will determine the volume and alacrity of performing these tasks but should not be the deciding factor as there are a myriad of free options.

Define your strategy: Are you going to rely on Search Engine traffic, Social Media traffic, or offline such as word of mouth? Let's assume you want everything.

Search Engine Traffic:

Directories: You need more quality links to rank better. You have no credibility yet, so start off with web directories (like yellow pages online). Vmoptions and Directorycritic have great lists. There are thousands of these so enjoy.

Article writing: Just like you are reading this article, there is a link at the bottom linking to a website. The more articles you write related to your niche, the more distribution and back links you receive (not to mention referral traffic). EzineArticles is the top article directory.

Forum Posting: Most forums allow signature links to external websites. Be sure to add yours in bbcode or HTML. Do a simple Google search for your market "vbulletin"

Blogs: If you frequent blogs in your industry be sure to leave comments or even ask if you can have a link to your game website. Find related bloggers in blogroll links as friends of a feather blog together!

Link Exchange: Find relevant webmasters (go to their website and find contact us form) and ask them if they would link to you, if you link to them.

Top Sites: These are websites where you add their banner to your website, and they track how many people you send to them. It's a fancy way of doing a link / banner exchange with the added bonus of rewarding those that reward you.

Social Bookmarking: These are back links with the added benefit of being voted on by the community. Start by bookmarking your homepage, but then go back and submit your most popular inner pages.

Social Networking: Sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The web is becoming more social so the line between all of these mediums is becoming blurred. YouTube is the second largest search engine which means it can send thousands of visitors a day to your website. If you don't want to make videos then there is Facebook and Twitter, although those usually require seed money or an established website to break through the noise of generic networks.

Offline: Groups and networking is the key here. The best way to get any community started is by having your friends use it (after all if you won't use it no one else will). Classmates, sports team members, church group, and of course there is always billboards and small signs you can make. With the endless amount of ways to promote a video game website online, and the finite 24 hours in a day, it only makes sense to stick with online marketing outside the word of mouth.

Want to market your CLICK HERE-->> video games or website? Come join us and stay connected with our gamer community. Matthew Anton is co-founder GameFriends where you can read the latest video game news and promote your quality game content.