Online Entrepreneur: Avoid Traps. Expert Advice, Tools & Info. » Traffic Promotion

Targeted Website Traffic – It’s Make or Break!

Richard — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:02:44 +0000

A term you hear about a lot is ‘Targeted website traffic’ -. Most people understand the concept and know what it means. Some people actually strive for it and some don’t.

Plainly, with targeted website traffic, your site has a chance to make some money and there’s a slight chance you might be able to make a living of the internet. Without targeted website traffic however, your site is doomed to die a slow death until it quietly fades away into the dust like so many thousands of others.

If you search on any of the major search engines for ’traffic’ you will get mostly websites regarding automobile traffic, traffic reports, road conditions, road works, etc.

If you search on any of the major search engines for the term ‘website traffic’ you will get mostly websites regarding traffic exchanges, stat counters, web searches, page optimization, how to build a website, etc.

If you search on any of the search engines for the term ‘targeted website traffic’ you will finally get the picture of what it’s all about – making money online. That’s why you are here, why you have a website and why you are reading this post in the first place.

Targeted Website Traffic is King

This may be stating the obvious but without sufficient targeted website traffic to your website nothing will happen – no sales, no rankings, no popularity, nothing. You need targeted traffic in order to generate sales, provide leads, gather email addresses and create advertising exposure.

So many good things happen when one can actually tap into the targeted website traffic market that it’s difficult to name them all. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

* Links
More targeted traffic leads come from links to similar websites than any other source. These can be either links to your website, Adsense links, press releases, blogs, or any other form of advertising that gets your website in front of other people’s eyes.

* Sales
Yes your ultimate objective, sales is what you are after. Only targeted traffic will get you the sales you need to stay in business on the internet.

* Free Advertising
As the search engines pick up on your increasing number of visitors, especially if they come from related linking websites, your rankings will hopefully rise and your PageRank will increase. Having your site on the first three pages of any major search engine is optimum exposure for your site and will bring in customers ‘off the street’, as it were. That’s Free Advertising.

* Even More Links
Another benefit to your rise in the search engine rankings, and your rising PageRank, will be your ability to be inundated with link requests from every other website imaginable. Remember, stick with only those that relate to your own site. Again, free advertising.

It’s one thing to get your website noticed by the search engines but it’s quite another to get your website noticed by the buying public. Just because you have great links, great positioning in the major search engines, and great links will not produce sales.

So, how can you become successful where most of the others have failed? What is the silver bullet key to making all these sales that everyone is talking about? Well….

The (proverbial) Silver Bullet

Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Take a deep breath, and just remember this one simple fact of internet life: The website makes the sales, not you, not your links, not your search engine presence, not even your friends or comrades whom you sent to check out your site’ Unless your site screams out to the world, ‘B-U-Y M-Y P-R-O-D-U-C-T !’, you will not make enough money to buy even one month’s worth of service.

You can buy, grab, obtain, link, and get all the targeted website traffic in the world but it will not sell a single product and/or service unless your website is compelling to do the selling. Design is one thing, content is another and, please remember content is everything. It makes the search engine robots and spiders visit your site on a daily basis, it makes visitors want to buy, bookmark, or return for a future purchase, and it makes one think, ‘Do I really need this product and/or service?

Constantly remind yourself, ‘Design and content, design and content…’, over and over. Plus, once your website is complete, it isn’t. A proper website is always refining itself and a good webmaster knows this. The search engine robots and spider love new content so a little change here or there will make a huge splash with them as they cruise your site on a daily basis.

Targeted Website Traffic – Exploit the HandHeld Market

Richard — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:09:54 +0000

There are dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of sites that offer free downloads for handhelds. And most handheld users are always on the lookout for something to read on that little screen. It will cost less than $50 to pay someone from Guru.com, Elance.com, or Scriptlance.com to format your product for the handheld market. And with over 11 million handheld users out there, that’s a lot of potential viral traffic for your web site.

Combine Survey and Polls with PPC

You probably already know that surveys are excellent for finding out what your target market wants. But if used in combination with cheap, quick and dirty Google PPC, surveys can also deliver a good amount of targeted prospects to your site every month. You must do some keyword research first. You’ll need to find keywords and key phrases that are related to your survey topic but don’t have too many Google campaigns running.

You can do this very quickly with a tool like Jeff Alderson’s AdWord Analyzer, since it will show you exactly how many Google campaigns are running for various keywords at any given time. Second, sign up for an inexpensive survey service like Survey Monkey (www[dot]surveymonkey[dot]com). We don’t recommend free survey services, since they tend to limit the number of participants, and the whole point is to get as many people as possible to take your survey. Now design a survey that will appeal to your target market.

Next, come up with an incentive for people to take your survey. Make it a download, so you can capture the prospect’s email address. And make it viral. Even a simple white paper can be viral. You don’t necessarily have to cram it with sales links. Just make sure your URL is conspicuously listed on every page. Now put up a simple web page that introduces people to the survey topic, offers the incentive, asks for an email address where you can send the download link and the survey results, and links to the survey.

Finally, use at least a dozen of the keywords your researched earlier to set up Google AdWords campaigns advertising your survey. Make sure the ad uses your keyword, and that it mentions the incentive. “Take this photography survey, get a free gift.” You don’t have to be the #1 ad. You can even be on the second or third page. The point is to capture a targeted prospect’s contact information for a very small investment. But there are some additional serious fringe benefits in addition to traffic.

First, you’ll collect valuable information on what your prospects are looking for. Second, you’ll have their permission to contact them with the survey results and the download link for the thank you gift. And third, if you make that free gift a viral report, you’ll eventually get more targeted web traffic.

This Simple Practice is Still One of the Best for Guaranteed Website Traffic

Richard — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:51:48 +0000

Even though nowadays we’re all buried deep in junk emails and spam, it is still possible to make new business contacts on the internet. The recent joint venture craze reflects the simple principle that in the end, people do business with PEOPLE – not with bits, bytes and pixels.

Old fashioned networking is still alive and kicking online. Its the best method for getting some good exposure if you’re just starting out and have no money for marketing. By building strong business relationships, you’ll soon have other marketers offering to link to you, publish your articles, write about your site in their newsletter, and maybe even offer you free advertising.

As with all business networking, look for ways to help your peers or colleagues. If they own a website, offer them a backlink on yours. If they happen to have a subscriber list, you could set up a purposed page, and give them a rebate on any commissions. If they write their own content or articles, perhaps you can turn them into a mini-ebook and offer it to all your visitors. There is no reason you can’t be proactive, and send an email to non-competitors – or perhaps even competitors – whose sites you find admirable. You don’t have to consider every competitor your total enemy. Simply put look for opportunities to assist.

One easy way to help – provided you do it diplomatically – is to point out a problem on someone’s site or in their published article(s). If you find a faulty link or another other problem, drop them an email to let them know. Most webmasters WANT to know if a link suddenly stops working or if their database is generating server errors.

Another way to make powerful friends online is to read your Junk mail. And that is because ALL online sellers will want to know if someone is promoting their products via an illegal practice such as Spam. This is because it’s not just the Spammer who can suffer some stiff legal penalties – the vendor can too. So if you see someone else’s products being sold via Spam, email to them and let them know. Make sure you keep the original Spam, and send it to them as an attachment (not forwarded) so they receive all the mail headers intact for proof.

If you make 20 strong, personal, one-on-one business contacts every month, at least five of them will end up sending you some traffic.

Somehow, someday, they’ll start sending the right kinds of visitors to you, almost guaranteed website traffic. It might be by via linking to you. They may mention your site in a viral ebook or in some of their published content. They may want to do a JV or partner on a money making project. They might do all these things – and many more. Yes, it’s old fashioned. It’s not autopilot. It’s not passive. But networking costs you nothing except time – the guaranteed website traffic that results can be worth gold in the longer term.

The Mega Targeted Traffic System is a proven system to drive guaranteed website traffic for free, from Google.

Increase Website Traffic by Links to Your Site

Richard — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:22:02 +0000

The sole purpose for your own site is for having people on the internet visit it. For people to know that your site actually exists, you must promote or advertise the site within the online community, showing what you do and most importantly what you can do for them. Promoting your website to drive more site traffic is possible by having a quantity of links to your site posted through other websites of related and/or similar subject matter and interests. Today having a top quality website is necessary for all businesses, small or large. Promoting your site to increase the traffic can make or break the venture. At the end of the day, you do not create a website for it to just to be there and have no one look at it. The purpose of having a site is for optimal viewing and value.

If you want to increase your sites traffic with backlinks, there are a few things you can and should do. Since most of the traffic generally comes search engines and directories such as Yahoo!, Google, Dog Pile, and Ask you can register your site(s) with many of the most popular search engines to ensure your site is found in searches. Although some search engines can find your site by themselves, it is best to submit an eye catching, detailed listing yourself to increase your chances. The more directories and search engines you submit your site to, the higher your chances increase of traffic from the online community.

Creating a sign up list for those visitors to your site who may want to receive email contact from you, such as newsletters about your site. Creating a mailing list is a great way to keep in touch with your site visitors and to offer promotions or send regular news and updated information. People like to be kept abreast of what is going on with your web site and they may like to receive special promotions that can drive them back to your site to make a purchase of products or services you offer. When creating a sign up list, a visitor must request information sent to their email address, therefore avoiding the pitfalls of spam. No one enjoys spam mails; regardless of whether it is, a product that you think might interest them.

Forums, Message boards and chat rooms with subjects relating to your offering work are great ways to promote your web site. Although you should never directly advertise on any of these, you can make yourself known and available to answer questions and build up credibility. You can often also include your signature at the end of your posts. Using a signature file with all your contact information as well as a link to your site in every email and forum post is a great way to increase traffic to your website as well.

Everyone loves something for free. Promotional gifts can encourage traffic to your site that can be of considerable value. By offering something for free related to your target market such as downloadable forms, software, consultation, newsletters, articles and other valuable resources full of information, you can draw people in. You may also consider an (free) opt-in, where an entrant must sign up in order to enter into the newsletter.

Purchasing advertising space on more successful sites in the same field as your own can also increase traffic with links to your site. There are many sites with ad space available at affordable rates. You can also choose to place your ad within a search engine or directory, or even in a magazine or local newspaper for a slightly more in advertising costs though. You should have your site and contact information on personalized stationary to use with all your transactions made while you are not on the Internet as well.

There is a large variety of ways to advertise and to increase the traffic to your website. Regardless of the field of interest, there are people out there surfing the Internet that will be interested in what you can offer them. Creating the site was only the first step, now you must find your audience; do not expect them to find you. You must guide them to you through relentless promotion and advertising.

Google is slapping PPC accounts all over the place.

Richard — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:32:57 +0000

Yes, you may of heard about it already. It’s not a new thing that certain policies are reviewed and this is just the latest one of those, for sure. It is though fairly strategic in nature and, worth considering the implications that it could have for your targeted web traffic.

Google has started coming down hard on affiliate advertisers using PPC. Lets understand why? It’s because (in the eyes of google) affiliates offer little or no value on their sites. The users experience is degraded and therefore Google is degraded. Something that is against the Google philosophy obviously.

And it’s not only limited to affiliates, some niche’s such as “Acai berry”, “Weight loss” and Home Business are also being heavily scrutinized and slapped at slightest lack of credibility.

Now this is an interesting twist from the “Big G”, as the initial success PPC also known as Adwords was largely brought about by affiliate marketers and this would still form a large portion of Goggle’s revenue today. However Google is prepared to ‘clean up’ these areas even at its own cost, because its mission first and foremost, is to serve relevant valuable content to it users.

What does this mean if PPC is your only, primary or secondary forms of marketing and Google no longer permits your ads? Your traffic is going down, W A Y D O W N !

Consider this little statement (a favorite of mine) .

“Adwords are temporary, Website Search Engine Optimization is forever.”

Bottom-line If you want to protect your targeted website traffic and ultimately your livelihood from the whims of Google you need to know how the search engines work and how to take advantage of them with good set of Internet Search Engine Optimization techniques.

You need to have your site(s) optimized for organic traffic, not even Google can control all of that. Whilst it may be able to exert a significant influence on this it’s true, but not at the flick of the switch like it can with its own Adwords program.

The knowledge of any policy adjustment is regard to organic search will circulate the community in advance and it will also take time to take effect. So if your site’s prepared and setup for SEO you will be able to adjust where required, well in advance – creating a nice competitive advantage over those that aren’t. If it’s not, well… don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Get Guaranteed SEO and completely dominate the search engines.

Internet Marketing Promotion: How Sponsor Ads Can Increase Site Traffic

Richard — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:06:08 +0000

These days so many websites and E-zines have ads displayed all over their pages. Sometimes these pop up or flashing ads can distort your view and are often hard to get rid of. With time, search engines and directories are allowing increased numbers of sponsor ads, which is good news if you intend to increase site traffic. Whilst those sponsor ads can be frustrating, some are just too compelling to ignore. It’s often true that if it were not for seeing that sponsor ad you would never know about that website’s existence.

The two primary reasons to include sponsor ads in your small business internet marketing promotion strategy are to increase the awareness of your business, product or brand and secondly to drive targeted web traffic to your website and increase profits. These goals are critical to the success of small businesses and their websites. In order to grow, small businesses need to increase site traffic by reaching as many customers as possible.

Furthermore, people like to know what options are available, so sponsor ads provide you with a channel to broadcast to your potential customers, the benefits of your products and why they need them.

Sponsor advertising is an effective small business internet marketing promotion strategy as it generates targeted web traffic resulting in additional product sales and ultimately improves your bottom line. Sponsor advertising is becoming more popular with small business owners, as it stimulates relationship building with potential customers by delivering valued information in advance.

Sponsor ads can either be free, bought, sold or even traded depending where you look and what your objectives are. Of course you are also directed by your internet marketing promotion budget.

There are benefits to sponsor ads for both the website owner and the sponsor. The website owner gains by providing updated and customer worthy information to their visitors. The customer distinguishes the website as being receptive to their requirements and is motivated to return, thus building a more solid relationship with the website.

The sponsor benefits as they leverage off the credibility, relationship, trust and customer database of the website owner to create awareness and thus product sales. The more proficient the sponsor is at developing good customer relationships, the quicker they will see an increase in their sales. Customers anticipate dependability, reliability and outstanding customer service. By providing this to them you can expect to turn your targeted web traffic into long-term customers with incremental benefits to your profits.

Another fantastic resource to gain targeted web traffic is E-zines. There are hundreds of E-zines to pick from, however the secret is to generate targeted web traffic and not just merely increase site traffic, so be sure to only choose those that are consistent with your business goals.

The Internet is the best platform to develop and grow your small business internet marketing promotion strategy. There are literally millions of people searching the internet daily. The more sponsor ads you have out there, the better your chances of increasing site traffic, leading to more potential customers reviewing your products and making purchases. By making your small business available to the world and making it easy to find, not only will you increase site traffic, but you will certainly make more sales and increase your bottom line as well.

Use every opportunity available to promote your website and reap the rewards. The choice is yours – leverage the advantages of sponsor ads and be the next pop-up, flashing, “can’t get rid of” ad online. Your goal is to be the online advert that gets in the face of your potential customers and is just too tempting to push aside. Once you increase the awareness of your business and products, you will generate more targeted web traffic and receive a flood of online sales for your small business, making your efforts and hard work worth while.

Traffic Promotion Trends | 5 Hottest Trends to Get Targeted Web Traffic

Richard — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:34:48 +0000

Keeping on top of the latest traffic promotion trends can be a challenge in itself. However, leveraging these new trends early in their life cycle will provide you with a distinct competitive advantage and drive massive targeted web traffic to your website.

5 Hottest Traffic Promotion Trends to Increase Targeted Web Traffic

1. Blogging

The leading traffic promotion strategy for attracting targeted web traffic is without doubt the use of a blog. Your readers are continually aware of your thoughts and ideas concerning your related theme, business and products. One of the main benefits of promoting your business and products through a blog is the fact that search engines rank blogs highly due to fresh content being added regularly. Selective, targeted keywords will assist you further in ranking higher in search engine results, exposing you even more and massively increasing your flow of targeted web traffic.

When posting information to your blog, it’s important to ensure you contribute information that your customers will find valuable. E.g. business advice, tips, resources, product information and reviews. Such valuable content attracts customer interest and keeps them coming back. Furthermore, providing worthy content results in other bloggers linking their blog to your blog site. This is a great traffic promotion technique as it drives additional customers from their blogs, providing you with more exposure which in turn improves your ranking. Customer loyalty coupled with trust will help develop your website and build your new customer database.

2. RSS Feeds

A critical feature to include in your blog is an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. RSS feeds accumulate the information and deliver it to the subscriber, who requires an RSS enabled browser. One of the key benefits to incorporating an RSS feed on your blog is that you increase your probability of getting your content to the news media. A well-written blog with timely commentary and resources portrays your credibility in your business sphere. RSS feeds are a vital traffic promotion strategy. Prepare yourself though, as you could have reporters queuing up at your door!

3. PHP Coding

Another way to spice up your website is to use PHP coding. A downside to using an RSS feed is that search engine spiders don’t crawl them in time as it is a dynamic page. The PHP language allows you to work with this drawback, thus it’s in your favor to try and learn how to use it and leverage it in your traffic promotion stragegy. For example, using PHP allows you to make your website pages look like HTML files which has major Search Engine Optimization (SEO) value.

4. Text Link Marketing

Links to other relevant and worthy sites is a traffic promotion trend you should consider to give your website more exposure. Since linking is a popular SEO strategy to drive targeted web traffic, many businesses use text link marketing to help rank their site in search results. You can purchase links using auction sites, where you bid on what you need, or through a brokerage, where you can buy and sell text links. As with banners you can also exchange links with other websites of relevance.

5. Social Bookmarking

There has been a rapid improvement with bookmarking technology and its uses. Having your site bookmarked will certainly result in increased targeted web traffic and thus future sales, yet few people ask customers to bookmark their site. There are software programs available that allow you to bookmark your site with ease. In essence all you need to do is provide a link and your customers can bookmark your site easily. A “Bookmark this Page” button is often sufficient to get customers to bookmark it. You can also use Pop-ups to remind your customer to bookmark your site as they are leaving. Your effort in this regard is worth the additional targeted web traffic you will gain.

The Internet is a continuously changing marketing experience. The better you are at executing new traffic promotion ideas and tools – the more money you will make. So learn all you possibly can about these five tips on the latest traffic promotion trends and reap the benefits of targeted web traffic and loyal, life-long customers.

Increase Site Traffic by Taking Advantage of Chatting Trends

Richard — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:46:22 +0000

Every day millions of people use the internet just to chat. Chatting is rated as one of the most popular internet activities today, as once you begin chatting, you’re likely to become addicted to it. On average an online “chatter” logs on at least once a day to chat. There is no crystal clear understanding why people are so attracted to this method of communication, but there are lessons to be learned by their behavior. You can take advantage of this chat “addiction” to increase site traffic to your website. 2 Ways To Use Chatting To Increase Site Traffic.

One requires less time to get started, but more maintenance time by you. The other is the reverse, a longer startup time, but less maintenance thereafter. Consider these ideas and begin implementing chatting to drive targeted web traffic to your website instantly.

1. Free Web Site Traffic by “Chat Advertising”

If chatting appeals to you then you can certainly dedicate a few hours a day delivering “adverts” to chatters. This involves visiting chat rooms with the intention of posting your website link into the chat. This can be done at random, visiting a chat room, posting your link without prompts from other chatters, then leaving and moving on to another room. This approach allows you to reach the largest audience of chatters. The best way to achieve this is to join rooms that are related to your website and its content, thereby driving targeted web traffic.

However, this approach is likely to irritate some chatters, which may have a negative impact on your efforts to increase site traffic. You need to decide whether this risk is worth it for you or not. Alternatively, you can be more personal with your adverts. This involves selecting chat rooms that are more targeted to your ideal audience. For example, if your website is about dogs, then you will visit chat rooms that have a dog theme. Once you have engaged in conversation for a while, then you can begin to freely and more casually bring your website link into conversation. You will receive more respect using this approach but the probability of as large an audience as with the random posts is less likely. If you are a keen chatter, then it’s a good idea to include your website link in your chat profile, for others to review. This is a subtle, yet effective way to utilize chatting to increase site traffic. Those that review your profile may be inclined to visit your site and may refer others to it as well, providing free web site traffic.

2. Drive Targeted Web Traffic

With a Chat Feature Another form of implementing chatting to increase site traffic is to add a chat feature to your website. This is not a simple process and may take a while to set up. However, it’s a great way to draw targeted web traffic to your website. This is particularly true if your website is about a specific interest, passion or job as it encourages conversations and the sharing of information amongst like-minded people. This increases the possibility of your visitors and their friends coming back frequently. It’s good practice to monitor your website’s chat area frequently to ensure chatters are using your room appropriately and are not breaching certain policies you have put in place. Such activity makes your website look unprofessional and has the reverse effect of increasing site traffic. Using chatting is an extremely effective way to drive free web site traffic, thus you will notice other chatters making use of the opportunity as well. When you observe others doing it, take note of those chat delivery techniques that are most attractive to you. This allows you to create a perception from both angles and assists you in developing an effective plan for yourself. The more time and effort you dedicate to this strategy, the faster you will achieve results, so go ahead and start immediately!