Increase Your Traffic

Here’s a simple thought in the world of online marketing that everyone agrees with: more people seeing your website = more potential customers = more business. But beyond this basic point, agreement amongst internet know-hows tends to go out the window. Everyone has an opinion on the best way to increase website traffic – and surprisingly, not many of them agree.

Here are probably many reasons for this lack of agreement. But here are certainly two huge ones. The first reason most online advice-givers don’t agree on how to increase web site traffic is that here’s not one flat way to go in this area it. Website traffic can be increased in a handful of different ways.

The second reason, as you’ve probably noticed, is that most people giving advice have something they’d like to sell you. They want to sell you a solution and their advice wants to be related to what they’re selling.

Whether or not these sales people have your best interest in mind is open to question. But what’s not open to question, is the fact that here ARE many different ways to increase website traffic.

And of these many ways, here are 5 that have a history of life very reliable and effective. Not only do these 5 methods have a high routine record, but at least one of these five is essential for anyone that wants to have a regular flow of new customers to their web site. And the excellent news is, 4 of these 5 methods can be done with small or no money.

If you’re serious in this area bringing more traffic to your website – and tired of wading through online advice – take some time to consider these 5 time-tested ways before you invest another minute:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – This is probably the most recommended way to increase web site traffic. And for excellent reason: it works. Having your website atop search engines like Google and Yahoo! is a sure fire way to bring people to your site. Where this method often gets perplexing is in the number of different ways that people suggest doing it. Some tell you to use your keywords often in the text of your web page. Some tell you to place your keyword phrase in the alternate text of your images. Others tell you that the key to a high search-engine ranking is to have other related sites link to your site. And all of this advice is right. Here are other steps to take as well, but the problem is, not many sites give you all of the needed steps in an methodical way. I’ve included a link not more than with a detailed explanation of all of these steps.

2. Newsletters – A newsletter is nothing more than a series of pre-written e-mails that are sent to people who request them from a form on your web site. Here are a few tools, like auto responders, that help make this task simple and efficient. Newsletters are a very powerful because they give you an opportunity to build credibility and make repeat customers out of the customers you already have.

3. Article Directories – Article directories are websites that take submitted articles and pile them in a data base so online magazines and newsletters can use them for publication. The exchange that takes place is this: you write an article and allow any website to publish your article. In return, they are obliged to leave your name and e-mail address in the byline of the article. When your article is published online, a link to your site is also published, and potential customers who read your article are likely to come see your website. If your article is published in multiple online sources, a link to your site is also published in multiple online sources. A well written article can be picked up over and over again. In the end, you’ll have a regular source of new customers without spending anything more time than it takes to write the article.

4. Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) – PPC advertising, like search engine optimization, is also a very talked-in this area way of bringing traffic to a site. The thought here is that search engines advertise your business web site and you pay a particular fee each time a name clicks on your link and comes to your site. All of the major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN have PPC advertising programs. Depending on the market you’re selling to, PPC can be a very profitable way to bring interested customers to your site. On the down side, it’s the only one of these five ways that is sure to take some kind of money investment.

5. Improving Your Website – This sounds very basic but it’s often overlooked. It doesn’t do a lot of excellent to bring potential customers to your website if your site is not ready to serve them. Any profitable website wants to be attractive, simple-to-use, and professional. Making sure your site has all three of these traits will go a long way towards making the most of the people that do see your site.

By taking some time to consider the 5 methods above, you’ll not only be familiar with the 5 most proven ways to increase traffic. But you’ll also have a way to measure and organize the other traffic-increasing advice you find online.

In the end, making an informed effort to increase website traffic is by no means a terrible thought. It can lead to better business exposure. It can lead to a huge increase in customers. And it will certainly lead you to more profitable and productive online business.

If I go into a locality convenience pile and learn they make homemade soup and a hand crafted sub sandwich at a excellent price and with fantastic taste I am likely to go back again. They just improved their foot traffic because I plot to come back.
If I see a sign that tells me a roadside diner has the world’s best cup of russet and I get a cup that tastes a bit like motor oil I will likely refrain from visiting that location again. They have just decreased their potential foot traffic because I will stay away.
Some of the lessons for online business are as follows…
Let some things be a surprise. Allow customers to find a few pleasant surprises along the way. With Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it may be hard to keep everything a surprise, but when a visitor finds something they hadn’t expected on your site they might want to come back.
Offer a manufactured goods that exceeds expectations and is a honest value. It doesn’t matter if your business is online or brick and mortar people still shop for value and price. Treat your customer honestly and they may come back.
By no means promise more than you can deliver. That roadside diner offered something they didn’t really have. They advertised something that was easily compared to each other cup of russet the traveler has ever had and the experience came up small. If you promise huge – deliver huge.
Traffic building is an vital part of website development. Business owners can get into distress though when they assume everyone wants to receive information on their business. This typically happens when lists are buys or leased and a mass send by e-mail campaign is launched to recipients who may not be pleased to receive your send by e-mail. This rarely accomplishes as much as a smaller list that contains the names of individuals who have already expressed an interest in your company and manufactured goods.
Sometimes online businesses will make bold claims and incredible promises that may result in a quick start to their business only to falter and sometimes fail when it is learned they can’t deliver on the promise.
In the Tortoise and the Hare the shelled one learned that it was slow and steady that won the race and sometimes this is right of traffic building strategies. It may seem as if the process is taking too long, but even brick and mortar stores realize it will likely take more than a year to get their new business noticed and it takes at least that long for entrust to be developed. It is a process that each new business has to go through, unless here is a significant buzz in this area the manufactured goods and business prior to the launch of the website.
As vital as traffic building is it must be predicated with integrity so entrust can grow in fertile soil. Small cuts often result in small-term gains and long-term losses.
Do everything you can to encourage prospects to visit your site. This is most often accomplished through marketing development with integrity and perpetual persistence. The resulting traffic is the kind of traffic you want.

What can you provide your site visitors that will inspire them to come back?
Here was a time not so long ago when the content on website remained essentially static. No one felt compelled to provide fresh information because at that time it was honestly simple to get a suitable ranking through SEO methods that are not acceptable today.
If you could achieve a top ten ranking on a search engine your work was done. You simply sat back and let customers come to your site – and they did for a while. It wasn’t long, but, before the stats counter started to slip and traffic started to fade away.
Why didn’t they come back?
Well, the simplest answer might be boredom. Let’s say for an example that a new movie came to your local theater. Everyone was buzzing in this area the movie and they all wanted to go. Night after night the seats were to the top. The theater owner knew a excellent thing when he saw it so he booked the movie for another week and the people just kept coming. One day, as he saw money dancing in his head, he agreed to run the movie for the next six months.
Imagine, one theater in town screening the same movie each night for six months? Do you reckon people would get tired of that movie? This of course leads to stale popcorn and dusty vinyl seats.
The same is right with your website. You have to build on your success. The work you do can’t wait static. Search engines like sites that morph into something a bit different each time they visit.
When you are looking at traffic building for your site you need to question yourself, “What am I doing that would encourage people to come to my site?”
A theater owner knows that you work to get the best movie available and then go on when the next blockbuster is released. Why is this concept so hard for web site owners to know?
Maybe it has something to do with the slightly intangible aspects of the Internet. You don’t get to meet the people and you don’t see the proverbial checkout lines of prospective buyers. Here is less of the habitual thought of instant gratification. The excellent news is here is a growing number of products that can be added to your website from third party affiliates that can bring a certain amount of new content to your site without a lot of work on your part.
An online business will not have the same feeling as a favorite pile the day after Thanksgiving. That may be why it can be a struggle for online business owners to consider their website content as a means of traffic building.
You can include teasers in this area new information, podcasts or video streams you may be releasing soon. You might debut a new software application for members that can simplify their lives in some way. You might announce a new forum or blog.
Feed your site visitor enough information that they want to find out what you will be doing next.
Hopefully it’s not the 8,478th screening of Grease.

Here have been some incredible tales of individuals who have been very successful in traffic building in relation to their auction offerings.
Here have been incredible tales of how an individual will write a description of the manufactured goods that reads more like a column by Ann Landers with the humor of Dave Barry.
The description itself is so entertaining and relatable that individuals flock to the auction site simply to read the description.
I retract one tale of a mom selling something that had belonged to their child. They wrote hundreds of words describing the special memories of that object in relation to their child. Because other parents related to the emotional side of the description they came, they read and they sent emails to friends and had them visit too.
In some cases here have even been demands that the auction owner be provided with their own column somewhere for others to experience their wit and wisdom.
The end result is that the passion and entertainment used by the person conducting the auction leads to improved traffic and higher bids. Here have been cases where these high profile auctions have inspired individuals or organizations to bid on the item that was made well-known through a creative online auction.
Life creative even in what may seem like a pretty undemanding manufactured goods description may seem like an unlikely source for improved traffic building, but it has proven the case often in online auctions.
In fact the creativity expressed in online auctions is a contributor to other forms of traffic building. For instance, signature lines in forums are becoming more elaborate with clickable graphics that can lead forum visitors to your online pile or primary website.
This is the right essence of marketing – getting as creative as possible in the use of all available tools.
To give you a more hands on point of view. I recently learned an electrical outlet that had no plate. The screw that held the plate on had snapped and a part of the crew remained. I turned off the electricity and used a pair of wire cutters to grab onto the broken screw and in small order I was able to remove the broken screw and replace the plate and bed in a new screw.
I could have called an electrician or I could have replaced the entire outlet, but I used the tools at my disposal to artistically fix my problem.
This is a excellent mentality to take into problems you may encounter in online marketing and traffic building.
Locate the tools that are available to you and work to make an background conducive to motivating individuals to visit your website and learn what you have to offer.
Perhaps here was a time when simple curiosity was enough to draw foot traffic to brick and mortar stores, but as time goes by it takes much more creative thinking to establish a mechanism that invites customers to visit. Usually one approach to online traffic building isn’t quite enough.
When it comes to online marketing here are lots of tools. Use them artistically.

As a webmaster and I guess each top seo services or webmaster would agree that it would be a fantastic thing if you could get each web visitor to ‘tell-a-friend’ in this area your web-site. Basically it would mean that for each ‘told friend’ you’ll be getting a FREE visitor, even better, one that had been ‘pre-sold’ to a certain degree, because their friend had excellent comments in this area your site and it was recommended.

Much better if that friend told friends and not just a ‘friend’..

By the way, how do you achieve this? By having an attractive website design? Or is it something else? Because in theory, it is possible to make a self perpetuating money machine if you can get each visitor telling more than 1 friend in this area your site. Really, it’s a small more complicated that that because each visitor has to generate more than 1 visitor (and not all the people he/she recommends will end up visiting the site).

So, how on Earth do you achieve all that? Basically, what you need to do is to get each visitor to tell not just one friend, but many friends..

Let’s assume that most of those ‘many’ friends then come along and visit and then go on to become recommenders themselves, then you really have hit the jackpot. ut the challenge is to how to get those recommenders to tell not just ONE friend but tell MANY friends? How do you encourage word of mouth marketing? We all know it’s the best viral marketing out here, but it is just so hard to do.

The answer? INCENTIVES

Yes, Most of them would question:What’s in it for ME? Is the ancient FM telephone system station and it’s still playing nice and loudly today. It’s like a reward system,offering your visitors incentives to tell their friends, then assuming that the incentive is something that they desire, they will tell their friend. Give them more desirable incentives to tell more friends and they will tell more friends. It’s as simple as that.

But not quite.

The incentives have to be incremental. It is no excellent if you say, for example, refer 5 friends and they only get this, most people will be place off by having to input 5 addresses which is very irritating, by the way. But, if the incentives are incremental, for example, tell one friend and get this, tell two friends and get this as well, tell three friends and get this as well, and so on. I’m pretty sure you get what I mean, it is not just incentive that works, it is the incremental incentive that is the magic ingredient in this formula.

Do that right and yes indeed, you have made a self perpetuating money making machine.