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10 Ways to Increase Web Traffic
by: Noah Ulrich
Internet traffic is the life of any website or e-commerce
business, and if you are an internet marketer, you already know
that good traffic is not always easy to achieve. There are
however, some simple and effective strategies for getting
quality traffic to your site, and most of them are FREE or low
cost.
1. Good old fashioned search engine optimization. This is
perhaps, the most cost effective way to get many customers to
your site, because it does not cost a thing. A web site with top
ranking on even a mildly popular term, can get thousands of
visitors per month. Visit any SEO forum or article database and
you can find hundreds of effective search engine optimization
tips and tweaks to apply to your website for free.
2. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns (PPC). Almost all of the major
search engines offer some sort of Pay-Per-Click marketing.
This is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site, and with
some bids as low as $.01 per click, it can also be very
economical. Although Google Adwords and Yahoo Search
Marketing (formerly Overture) are the main players in the PPC
market, there are really good deals to be found with some of
the smaller search engines, such as ExactSeek.com and
GoClick.com.
3. Traffic Exchanges. Traffic exchanges offer a website owner
an instant, free way to get traffic to his/her site. Traffic
Exchanges come in all kinds of themes and forms, but the
underlying principle remains the same: I view your site, you
view my site. The ratio of sites you view to your site views can
be diverse, depending on the individual exchange, however it is
recommended you find one with a 2:1 ratio or better. Traffic
exchanges also offer a multi tier referral program that gives you
a percentage of traffic earned by affiliates you bring into the
program. Traffic Swarm, NoMoreHits.com, and
StudioTraffic.com all offer a website owner great ways to
increase traffic, or you can simply search the term "traffic
exchange" in any search engine to find an exchange that fits
you.
4. Link Exchanges. Link Exchanges are a fantastic way to
increase web traffic, and the benefits are two-fold. Not only do
you get traffic from the linking website, you also get the added
benefit of better search engine placement with every link that is
pointing to your site. Reciprocal linking has always been a
major component of effective search engine optimization, with
more and more weight being placed daily on the quality and
quantity of links pointing to your site. Be sure your anchor text is
the keyword(s) you are targeting, but at the same time,
periodically phrase your anchor text differently so that all of the
links pointing to your site do not say the same thing. This
makes your links appear more "natural". Linkalizer.com and
Linkmarket.net are some good, free services to help you with
your link exchange campaigns, or you can also visit any SEO
forum or article/ezine database for more tips.
5. Banner Exchanges. Banner Exchanges work on the same
principle as Link Exchanges, and depending on the banner you
decide to promote, can be very effective at drawing targeted
web traffic to your site. As with link exchanges, look for ratios of
2:1 or better, with some banner exchanges providing a 1:1
ratio. The banner you decide to use is very important, as many
internet users ignore most banners they see. Your banner
needs to be catchy and needs to compel the user to take action
and click it right away, but at the same time you do not want it to
be too flashy as to turn off potential customers. Most banner
exchange programs also have an option to purchase banner
impressions at very low prices, usually a few dollars for
thousands of impressions. This is a great way to put your
business in front of many customers, and helps to increase
your "brand awareness". Click4click.com and
ThebannerExchange.net are some free banner exchanges that
can provide your site immediate advertising and traffic.
6. Write Articles. Writing articles is a great, free way to promote
your online business, and can bring in a substantial number of
targeted customers to your site, usually within a few days. The
key is to submit your article to as many databases and
directories as possible. Hundreds of thousands of
webmasters and other internet users worldwide search these
article databases and directories daily, usually looking for
quality content for their own websites. Every webmaster who
reprints your article has to include your resource box, which
should include a link pointing to your site. Not only will this give
your business tremendous exposure, it also improves your
search engine ranking with a free one-way link that your article
provides. EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com are very
popular article databases with free submission and fast
approvals.
7. Paid-To-Read Campaigns (PTR). Paid-to-Read campaigns
are an extremely low cost method of getting real, guaranteed
visitors to your site quickly. With PTR campaigns, people are
paid to view your site for a certain amount of time. Because
most PTR campaigns are not targeted, this is not the most
effective way to advertise. It is however, a great way to build an
opt-in list or ezine subscriber base inexpensively. Usually for
only a few dollars, you can send an ad out to all of the
members of a program. It is always a good idea to find PTR
programs that are well established, with many members in its
database. Most programs have the number of subscribers and
other stats prominently displayed on the main page of their
web site. Donkeymails.com and Maxprofit.org are well
established, have thousands of members, and low advertising
prices.
8. Email Campaigns and Safelists. Email campaigns and
Safelists provide yet another great option to increase web
traffic. These campaigns can run the entire pricing spectrum;
from free, to hundreds of dollars per email blast. Although
spam concerns seem to have some advertisers reluctant to
use email, if you use a proper third party or safelist, you can
have targeted traffic to your site in hours.
BusinessWorldList.com and Herculist.com are some safelists
with huge number of opt-in subscribers.
9. Create your own Opt-In List. This is a terrific way to get your
own group of ready-to-buy prospects to your site. Getting the
content for your list is as easy as searching any ezine or article
database, and an easy way to get people to join is to simply
give something away. Another way to build a list is through viral
marketing. Sites such as ListFire.com can help you build a
large list quickly with proper advertising.
10. Purchase Web Traffic. There is not a more "hands-free"
way to get traffic to your site, than to just buy it. Pricing for
quality, targeted web traffic can vary greatly from site to site. It is
recommended to look for web traffic campaigns that offer
targeting to your specific audience, and real time stats. This
way you can better manage and track your advertising dollars.
As you can see, With a little effort, and not much money, you
can bring quality web site traffic to your site right away. Although
not every technique is appropriate for every site, choose a few
that fit you and watch your traffic surge.
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