Then you've probably experienced agony of telling someone that long, drawn out URL string.

Imagine what that link looks like on your business card, in your signature file, or in your resource box. Looks pretty bulky and long, doesn't it?

If so, then it's probably time to give your link a "facelift." The best way to do this is with a redirect URL, or simply, a redirect.

First, for uninitiated, a URL is destination address of your website. Generally, it begins with 'www.' or 'http://'.

A redirect is a shorter URL address, or string, that when clicked, will still take you to your designated website. Redirects have some great features.

They can add to simplicity of your URL. They can also help make your string more memorable. They have ability to camouflage your existing URL string.

And, best of all, you can find them offered for FREE. But, there is a small trade off. You must agree to some sort of ad promoting company that is providing redirect, such as a popup or some sort of promotion page.

Here is an example of simplicity of a redirect.

First, I'll show you a long URL string that I have for one of my replicated sites:

http://www.dmapower.com/d.cgi/1066/call.htm

Notice how bulky that looks. That's too much to communicate over phone or even to remember.

Here's redirect that I have for that address:

http://www.easy.to/phone

That's 'easy to' say and to remember. Plus, I included keyword 'phone' in it for word recognition.

Also, when that redirect is clicked on, site visitor will notice that when they arrive at site, they will see that simple redirect in their browser URL window, as opposed to long string.

The company that promotes that URL uses a popup ad too.

Redirects can also be used to camouflage your URL.

Promote

You must promote your web site constantly. Every single day you should do something, anything, which attempts to get people to your site. This is extraordinarily critical in order to ensure that people continue to visit your site day after day. The "Advertising" section describes many of techniques that you can use to get your site noticed.

Advertising - http://www.internet-tips.net/Advertising/Advertising.htm

Check your links

Another task that must be performed on a regular basis is checking for "link rot". This is tendency for broken links to appear all over a site. It is most common with external links (sites move, are abandoned or are modified all of time) but can occur occasionally with internal links.

Link Rot - http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/maintlinkrot.htm

Change Your Site

People expect sites on web to be constantly changing. If your site is static and unchanging there is no reason for someone to come back again - after all, they've already seen it so why return? One major way to get them to come back is to change content constantly and to be sure that your visitors know it is changing.

Monitor Your Site

Subscribe to a service which checks your site on a regular basis. This is important, as if your site is constantly "bouncing" you will find it being removed from search engines and your visitor levels will drop.

Review Your Statistics