Blog Me Happy I don't want to be a newbie any longer.

As an Internet consultant, strategist and developer for over 20 years, one of the greatest concerns I hear from my small business customers is that building traffic to their Web site is too great a task, particularly as more Web sites compete for online consumers and strategies have become more and more technical over the years. 

 

If you share these same concerns, my advice to you is to start where you’re comfortable, and grow from there.There are a number of activities you can start with to increase your Web site traffic that don’t require any Internet knowledge at all.  Here are three options:

 

Word-of-Mouth.  Tell everyone you know about your Web site.Strangely, people seem to overlook this easy yet powerful resource.Perhaps they think that their Web site is too simple compared to some of the more extensive sites they have seen. Others just disregard this valuable source of information for people interested in learning about your product or service. Take pride in your Web site and tell everyone why they should go visit it.

 

T-Shirts.  Have a black t-shirt made with your Web site address displayed in yellow, gold or silver.Before discovering this strategy, I would wear a suit at any speaking engagement or seminar I would attend. Now, instead, I wear a very nice long sleeve shirt with my HereNextYear logo embroidered on the front.  Along the back collar, www.HereNextYear.com displays. Whenever I attend a workshop, I make sure to sit in the front five rows toward the center. When I do, someone always comes up to me during the break to ask me about my business.   

 

Don’t skimp on quality here.It can be some of the most powerful and direct promotion you can invest in.. Get a stylish shirt and have an embroidery store reproduce a digital copy of your logo and Web site address.  It is one of the best investments you will make to spread the word about your Web site and build traffic. 

 

Give-a-Away Premiums.Give pencils, magnets, bumper stickers or other freebie gifts to anyone you see.The goal is to give something related to your Web site.  Dentists might give away toothbrushes, and financial advisors might hand out small calculators. Remember the whole point is to provide a reminder to your prospects and customers that your business exists. So be sure to display your Web site address on all those items.

 

Business Card.  Sure, you have probably been using business cards long before your Web site existed.  But the purpose of these business cards is to do nothing else but to get your prospective customers to visit you on the Web.  Consider offering a free report with information of value to your customers when they visit your site.Promote the report and the Web site address they should visit to receive it on your business card.Then, give a card to everyone you meet and tack it up on every public bulletin board you see.

 

True, there are many options for building traffic to your Web site, and many of them require some real time and skill.But keep in mind that many of the tried and true promotional strategies that people have been using for years are equally effective to build traffic to your Web site.Personal publicity can still be one of the best ways to build traffic, and it is simple to start using this plan of action immediately. 

To find out even more Web site traffic builders that you can start using today, get your free report:  “101 Ways to Get More Web Site Traffic”. 

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Technorati Tags: Increase Web Site Traffic, Internet, internet marketing, more web site traffic, online marketing, sea, search engine optimization, SEO, site promotion, traffic generation, web traffic, website design and development, website promotion, website traffic, website visitors

Posted under Linking.

Online press releases is possibly one of the most untapped areas in search engine promotion.

A press release in this context is effectively a short attention-grabbing article you write and submit to popular press release web sites. These websites then syndicate your content to many other sites and other news feeds, spreading the message dramatically and in many cases generating huge traffic for your website.

The cool thing about press releases is that they also get picked up by the search engines, and can bring you traffic time and time again in the future.

Is this really important, I hear you ask? Generally the search engines rate the major press release websites highly and index their contents (and thus your press articles) very often, often numerous times in a day! This gives you a one-way link from a authoritative site.

In the case of new websites, issuing a press release is in my opinion essential because it will get your website indexed by the search engines very quickly.

More to the point, a press release you have submitted to the various press release websites may well rank higher in the search engines that your actual website itself, while you are building up your rankings for your website so it’s a great way to gain exposure quickly and efficiently (people can visit your website from the link in the press release).

One of the most popular press release websites is P.R. WEB so I would recommend you start with this site.

Now be prepared to pay in some cases, because not all press release websites are created equal. Whilst it is possible to find free press release sites, chances are that you are not going to get anywhere near as much traffic from these sites as you would from the major ones, so I would suggest you focus on these first and then move on to the other sites once you have done that.

Don’t forget great content is a Search Engine’s best friend, and they just love press releases. Believe me when I say press release sites are spidered (indexed) very frequently by the search engines.

So, you’ve decided that a press release for your website is the way to go. What writing should your press release consist of?

Firstly it has to be attention grabbing, as does any article to grab the attention of the reader, and the actual content, should be relatively short sweet and to the point, with a call to action. That is, your website is visited because the reader is urged to click the link in the press release.

You don’t want to be wallowing in self-promotion and telling everyone how good you are (they will find this out soon enough when they visit your website). Rather, you want to convince them that they should be visiting your website, and that there is a benefit to them (the reader) of doing so, and that they should do so right now!

You should write your ad for the “press” because the “press” will be the people who will initially read your release and determine the relevance of it, and how hard they “push it”.

If they see a benefit to a reader in the article it makes sense for them to promote it because more people will be interested in the press release and their website also benefits as a result (from visitors reading your press release because the press release is actually stored on the press release website).

Some ideas for a press release include: -

1. Launch of a new site
2. Launching of a new product
3. A new addition to the site, for example you may be extending your site to including coaching to your customers.
4. A major new event in your life – e.g. forming an association with a key industry figure, a new seminar, etc

The list is endless. Remember that your press release needs to be relevant to the reader and not just a hard sell if you truly want to maximize the traffic to your website.

Give the reader a reason (and a darn good one) to visit your website, make them compelled to get to your website.

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Technorati Tags: google ranking, Guaranteed Website Traffic, Increase Web Site Traffic, Search Engine Promotion, web traffic, Website Marketing

Posted under Emails

One of the things I see lots of Internet Marketers doing is putting their full focus on Google and their search engine rankings, to the exclusion of all other search engines.

Now in your quest for an increase in web 2.0 traffic, I am going to suggest you should broaden your horizons and look at other traffic sources.

At first glance this makes sense because Google do have by far the largest market share i.e. more people use Google for finding what they want on the Internet than any other search engine.

However because more people use it, more advertisers are drawn to it and advertise with Google, so this often brings more competition, and more cost to advertise.

Have you ever considered focusing on some of the less prominent search engine? Or at least putting some focus on them?

Yahoo and MSN are two examples of search engines that still get a considerable number of people using them (obviously not to the level Google does) however, it some cases I have researched there is little and if your really lucky no competition for paid advertising with these search engines in particular niches.

That’s right, it is possible to be the only paid advertiser for a given niche. Of course this can change at any time, and people will get savvier about this as the word gets around.

Imagine if you can get your website listed prominently in these search engines result pages, but also advertising your website using their paid advertising!

Now you will obviously want to ensure you’re also using Google, and focusing on getting good rankings in their search engines results, but don’t ignore these other search engines.

One of the most important things I tell people is bring in as much traffic from as many dofferent sources as possible.

I mean would you be happy with 1000 visitors to a day when it quite possibly to increase this by 100% or more by using some of the other traffic sources outlined on this website?

You want as many visitors as possible, don’t you. Sure you want them to be targeted and qualified visitors, and not just random people surfing by (unless you have a fantastic product that everyone in the world would want). If you have such a product let me know, I’d probably want to invest in your company!.

It only takes a little vision to stretch your horizons. I tell people to spend some time looking at the larger picture and working out where you want your website to be. Focus on your site from a visitor’s perspective. Great, relevant content will pick up your sales in no time!

Make sure you investigate other search engines, a gold nugget could just be waiting for you to come along and to dig it up!

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Posted under Site building.

Enabling visitors to your web site to refer a friend, you can help your visitors to naturally generate new web site traffic and create revenue and sales opportunities. No endorsement is as effective or successful in gaining customer interest than a word of mouth. To encourage your site visitors to refer a friend, you must provide incentives for them to do so. You must also ensure the process for the referral is as easy and carefully planned as possible.

The first action you should take when instituting a ‘refer a friend feature’ through your web site is to brainstorm a plan of action. First, establish what incentives you will provide for those who refer a friend.. You can provide a free e-book or a small piece of information for those that provide a valid address. You could also institute a full-fledged referral program whereby visitors install referral features on their own web sites.. Cash or credit for services can be a viable way to generate new sales leads and revenue.

Next, you must realize the placement and usability of your tell-a-friend feature. Placing it on every feature item that a visitor may wish to refer is essential to developing a successful program. Ensuring it is properly placed within your website design while failing to create a visible distraction from your site content is also a major concern. Before posting the feature on your live site, experiment with placement to ensure you are comfortable with its layout once the feature is in place.

Finally make the actual referral process as smooth as possible. Requiring only a name and e-mail address is one effective way to create a successful referral while still retaining an air of personalization. Just to add, the user should be provided with a pre-formatted explanation of your service or website that they may alter to their taste. This prevents any appearance of undue effort or concern on the user’s part during the process.

Creating a ‘refer a friend feature’ can generate a great deal of additional web site traffic when implemented correctly and efficiently.

Do not hesitate to install a referral program on your web site.

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Posted under Site building.