March 6, 2008

How To Get More Traffic To Your Website

Everyone who has a website knows that to have sales you need traffic, but not just any traffic - it has to be targeted traffic.

What do I mean by targeted traffic? It means website visitors who have a specific interest in the topic of the website. For example, someone who is planning to buy a wedding ring would be interested in jewelry websites

How do I get targeted traffic? Here are some effective techniques:

Forums: Subscribe to forums that discuss your topic. Answer questions and join in the debates there. Become known as an expert in the field. Place a discreet link to your site in your signature file, which will appear in every reply you make. What can be placed in your signature is often determined by the forum moderators. You can get banned from most forums if you spam them - make your posts helpful or thought-provoking. You should be able to get a fair amount of traffic from a popular forum, and the people who click your link will already be familiar with your writing style.

Linking from/to other websites: Look for websites which are similar to yours (but which do not compete directly). Ask the website owner for a reciprocal link. Be sure to select your link partner to match your customer profile. Software programs like Arelis are useful in this process.

E-Zines: Buy adverts in ezines that target your market. Be sure to have a test run to ensure that the return on investment is enough to cover the expense involved. If you are buying an extended run of advertisements haggle with the e-zine owner over price. You may save a considerable amount.

Newsletters: Offer your visitors something of value, such as an eBook, in exchange for signing up for your newsletter. Write your newsletter so that it's tightly focussed on your subject. You should publish your newsletter regularly, preferably once a week.

E-Books: Often used, these are usually informational books for your clients and for others to give away free. Place links back to your website in the eBook.

Joint Ventures: Online marketers are always looking for products to sell. They may have large mailing lists with eager to buy customers. Usually they are willing to email their list for a cut of the sale price. This works particularly well with info products. It has several advantages. It can give a large boost to both your sales and mailing list in a short time.

Buy Expired Domain Traffic: This may be the most expensive in terms of money, but also the cheapest in terms of time. It gives a traffic boost normally within 30 days. What are you buying? You are buying traffic from expired domain names which the company selling the traffic has bought. These are domain names which are still registered on the search engines which get a considerable amount of traffic. The previous domain name owners have not renewed the registration for whatever reason. This means that the traffic from the expired domain name is redirected to your website. Generally this is high quality traffic as only expired domains with relevant traffic is redirected to you. As always, you should do a test run to see if this traffic is suitable.

These techniques are most powerful when used in combination. When you apply them consistently over time, you will develop a rich source of targeted traffic. This, combined with quality products will ensure the success of your online business.