If I create a website and want it to top, compete with other giants in my target industry, or reach as much clientele as possible. How do I do it? What avenues do I employ to advertise the website?
Target market: At least 10% of youths in the US, UK, and Australia
A target market is something like âfirst time car buyers under 25 who live in citiesâ, not âthe US, UK and Australiaâ. The latter isnât a target market, itâs just a hugely disparate group of ~418 million people
You should take a look at SEO (search engine optimization) courses.
Coursera has quite a few of them, as well as a specialization that group 6 of them:
Introduction to Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals
Optimizing a Website for Search
Advanced Content and Social Tactics to Optimize SEO
Advanced Search Engine Optimization Strategies
Website Optimization Client Report Project
I havenât tried the course myself but the reviews seem very positive. The lowest average score is 4.5/5.0.
Generally, specialization in Coursera are not free, but the single courses, if you manage to find them, can be audited without spending a cent (or whatever is the lowest coin where you live ).
But be aware that by auditing you wonât receive a certificate nor youâll be able to do the end of the week projects.
Iâve actually completed all 6 of the SEO courses on Coursera that @simonebogni mentioned and theyâre very good, you get a lot of useful information and there are a bunch of projects to help you get some independent practice. However, SEO is just one part of digital marketing, so you might also want to explore SEM (search engine marketing, which is basically paid advertising on search engines), and even social media as an additional channel of website/product/content promotion.
And one more thing. As @DanCouper hinted, you donât want âas much clientele as possibleâ. What you want is as many converting clients, meaning that people who land on your site actually do what you want them to do (buy your product, read and share your content, subscribe to your podcast, or whatever else your aim is). Defining your target audience, figuring out what they search for and what they expect to find on your website once theyâre there should be your first step.
One more thing that you should be aware of in case youâre not already - domain authority is a huge ranking metric on search engines and it pretty much depends on how many other websites and which ones link to yours (this is extremely hard to manipulate, so donât even bother trying). The point is - it might be veeeery tough to compete with âother giantsâ in your target industry, if not impossible. I donât mean to discourage you, but itâll take a huge effort!