Sunday, November 09, 2008
Website Traffic For Free
Q: What is the biggest secret of gaining traffic to your Website? How can I use this to my advantage?
A: This secret really isn’t a secret, but it is really underutilized by most of us. The secret is understanding why the visitors of your Website are really online in the first place. Knowing this will give you an advantage over others.
Here’s the answer: Your visitors are online because they’re looking for information.
Information on what or for what, you ask?
Information on products, services, anything basically that will answer their questions on specific problems, how certain products work, what others think of the products they are thinking about buying, information on anything and everything imaginable.
A popular way to entice visitors to your site is to provide information – in the form of articles – that they might be looking for. Once they get to your site because of the free information you’ve offered, they’ll look around and see what else you have to offer.
Write articles on topics that you know something about such as internet marketing, taxes, or how to get rid of those pesky computer viruses. You will want to write your articles on specific topics that range from 500 to 1500 words. These types of articles will draw you and your site to search engines like a magnet. You will also want to use other people’s articles (make sure they’re royalty free or used with permission or according to the conditions) that are related to your own articles, thus giving your visitors even more information on your specific topic.
The science and key to making articles work even harder for you is to making them so valuable that other marketers will search you out looking for other articles that you have written.
Having valuable information that other marketers find valuable will make them want to offer their own visitors your articles on their Websites. This will drive more traffic to your Website because the original marketer found it valuable and so will their visitors. Of course, you should always have a byline or signature at the end of every article you write with your own Website URL.
While, most of these articles have something useful to someone, in order to narrow the visitor search down to a more targeted niche of visitors, your will want to employ content in multiple forms.
Here are two options:
PDF Special Reports, and
Short Camtasia Videos.
PDF Special Reports are your articles expanded upon with further details and turned into a special report in a PDF (portable document format). You can use a free tool called PDF995 (http://www.pdf995.com/) to convert your Microsoft Word documents into PDFs. PDF995 works as another printer.
By using PDF995, you tell Microsoft Word to print your document and it chooses PDF995 as your printer. Then it turns your Word document into a distributable document in just seconds – one that can be read by anyone using any computer system, as long as they have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader which is loaded on virtually every computer when it is purchased. By using PDF documents, people place a higher value on them because they take longer to create and have a longer shelf life over a regular print article. Thus, your PDF document tends to get passed around longer than a regular article.
Make sure when you set up your PDFs you set up links back to your site. Make sure to make your links hyperlinks. This will give your readers the ability to go back to your site as they are reading your PDF document. Also give your readers an incentive to pass your PDFs around to others. Also if you are using a link that pays you commissions, your document is a brandable document thus making it go viral with no more help from you as your document is getting passed around by your readers if they find your information useful.
Camtasia is a screen capture software that allows you to record whatever you have on your screen. Camtasia Videos are used with your PDFs or articles. Add some pictures and sound with Camtasia and you have a video.
With Camtasia, you can demonstrate a piece of software, make a SlideShow, and add audio to your video presentation.
As you go through the process of what you are doing on Camtasia, you are recording it as you go.
With Camtasia, you are able to let your viewers go to any URL that you have in your presentation or even re-watch the taped piece if they need to. To get Camtasia: http://techsmith.com/.
Another way to create Web site traffic is to create a “buzz”site. This is a site that is creative, inspirational, cute or an information packed site that creates a buzz of people talking about it because it’s good at what it’s presenting. A buzz site is an excellent way for you to incorporate your favorite hobby, something about your pets, or content about what you know that can help people solve problems.
How To Generate Traffic Using Only Free Methods
Putting up a company Website requires many things. To get straight to the point, first you need capital. To make money requires spending money as well. Nevertheless, with the versatility the Internet offers, there are many ways that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.
While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flow, many sites don’t have the resources to spend on advertising that would generate more traffic. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.
How sweet it is to have more site traffic without spending a single cent. Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Typically when you don’t have money to spend on marketing, you should be prepared to take more time to use other methods. I’m not going to mislead you. You get better exposure with paid advertising, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to share with you.
Take advantage of online forums and online communities.
The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits a certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss many things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.
With online communities and forums, you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you can offer and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject. With that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.
You can also use newsletters.
Give people a catalog of your products along with interesting and entertaining articles. If you give people quality content more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who sign up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site to check it out.
Exchange links with other sites.
You don’t have to spend a cent for this one. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. By exchanging links, the efforts of both sites are combined for mutual benefit. All traffic that goes to one site could potentially click on the link of the other site and visit it site too. This works well, especially when both sites appeal to the same niche or compatible niches. A wedding planner’s Website, for instance, would benefit by having links to a Photographer’s Website and a Printer’s Website and a Caterer’s Website. It makes the wedding planner look knowledgeable and efficient, and the other professionals (the photographer, the printer, and the caterer) will certainly benefit from visitors that come from the wedding planner. They might even consider giving the wedding planner’s customers a discount!
Write articles that could pique the attention of people who have interest in your product.
Try to write articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados – give information that will solve their problems or help them with something they’re seeking. Good service and good information from you will help cement your reputation and your readers’ trust.
Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles.
When people find your articles interesting, there’s a good chance they will follow the links in your author signature and visit your Website. Always include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there is a great probability that they will go to your site.
Write good content for your site.
Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your own, but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining and informational.
Generally, Internet surfers use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching to generate their search results. With the right keywords attached to your site, you could get high rankings in search engine results without spending much money.
All these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free.
All it takes is a bit of effort and a good bit of time. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that more traditional paid advertising would incur. Better yet, combine the two approaches for a slam-dunk.
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