One Way Links Lead to Website Traffic

The name of the game on the internet is traffic and every webmaster realizes this. It does not matter what the niche of your site, if you do not have traffic they will never see what you have to offer them. If your site is an online business the simple reality is that you must get traffic to be successful.

Where can this traffic come from?

Email marketing is one source. You can generate a certain amount of traffic to your website by offering opt-in email newsletters and e-zines. Sending newsletters to your contacts will help keep your website in their mind and keep them returning.

Search engines are a major player in internet traffic and sent around 60% of overall traffic to those websites that are successful. The best thing about this method is that it is free and lasts, but you need to be indexed highly for relevant search terms by the search engine to get any traffic.

Links from other websites to yours can be a major contributor for traffic to your website. Traffic generated this way is typically more targeted to your niche and best of all it helps your site get indexed higher in search engine results to drive traffic in that way also.

The focus of the rest of this article will be on strategies for link building. How do you get those one way links to help you get indexed higher in the search engines?

The first and most effective way of building links is by submitting your site for review in the quality directories such as Yahoo!, Business.com and the Authority Directory. Submitting to quality web directories does not take that much time and will get you a high quality link to your website. You should be aware that there are many directories on the internet and they are not equal. A link from a quality directory can be the equivalent of links from hundreds others.

Another method of link generation is by writing articles that are rich in keywords related to you niche and them submit those to various article directories. Choose those articles directories of quality just like a web directory and Ezines is one of the best know. When you use this method make sure that you write a nice bio for the resource box that contains a link to your website with good keyword text.

Participation in online forums that relate to your niche is another good way to gain links that can bring traffic to your website. Make sure that you use the signature option with the forum to place a link back to your website. By being professional and making relevant and intelligent comments forums can be a powerful tool for your website. Do not make comments just for the sake of spamming them with your links. Comments in forums need to be relevant to the topic and offer something to the other readers. The same rules apply for blog post comments.

Always keep reading and searching out additional information as the internet can change quickly. Links will always be a stable source of gaining attention and traffic for your website.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/one-way-links-lead-to-website-traffic-315455.html

About the Author:
Increase your Websites online presence today by getting listed on The Authority Business Directory. Plus, don't forget to submit link for inclusion while you are visiting.

Choosing Your Keywords

Everyone wants their site to be found easily in the search engines. The use of keywords, therefore, is important when designing the content on your site. The following offers some good advice on this.

These days, our needs for knowledge, information, everyday
necessities and novelty materials can be found just with one
single click on an internet website. It’s no surprise that
people prefer to surf the WWW rather than go to a library or
shopping center to look for or buy what they want. More and more
people use search engines like google to help them go directly
to the website that contains what they need.

This trend sparked a revolution in internet marketing
strategies. Web masters of vendor sites compete with each other
to place their websites in the top 10 search results of a user’s
searches. Various software utilities were created to boost the
chances of high SE rankings. Some of these utilities even
manage to cheat a high ranking out of a search engine even when
the website itself contains nothing of interest to the user.

As more and more web masters arm themselves with rank boosting
software, the effectiveness of their efforts begins to plummet so
much so that they find themselves back to where they started. A
new avenue for increasing their rankings became necessary.
One of these ideas is the saturation of keywords on a single
article. The entire philosophy of keywords hinged on their
relevance. In searching for a Ford truck, what search strings
would the customer use? How many of those search strings will
match the keywords? The more a search string matches your site
or article’s keywords, the higher you place on a search engine
result page. Keywords have gotten to be such a major concern
that private enterprises which offer search engine optimization
(SEO) services are now making a killing in the internet economy.

The first result that comes out of a search engine is usually
the website that contains the most similar number of keywords in
the exact same order as the search. For instance, if I used “DIY
Wi-Fi antenna” for my search string, the search engine will look
for the exact same words and word placement. Now, if I type the
word “ask” and perform my search using google, the common result
would be ask.com. Notice how the search engine immediately went
for the website with the domain name (ask.com) that matched my
query. On the other hand, if I type “asked”, google still comes
out with the ask.com webpage as its top search result. It’s all
about relevance.

To be able to fully utilize your website’s potential as a top
search result item, you need to orient your website towards the
product or idea you want to promote. If you cannot have the .com
name, you can rely on keyword optimization to help you with your
search engine rankings.

You do not need to consult a private enterprise to tell you
which keywords to use. All you have to do is think about your
product or idea and think of how you would look for it in the
internet using a search engine.

Keywords will not work for you if you keep them generic. Most
customers log onto the internet already knowing what they need
or want. Remember, these shoppers can’t hold or examine the
merchandise so they want to find out about them fist hand before
they actually buy. When they do decide to buy, they have a
specific idea in mind. They will use this idea as their search
string in search engines. Ergo, if you have multiple products,
you need to be able to generate a fair amount of literature
containing relevant keywords for each of your merchandise. If
you choose to limit your business to a certain area, be sure to
include the name of your chosen location into your keyword base.

You also need to take care of the literature or articles
you produce for your business. Make sure that they contain the
necessary keyword count. Do not sacrifice the quality of your
articles for the sake of keywords. Always present a detailed,
literate and informative article.

About the Author:

Len Hutton is an information publisher specializing in helping people start their own home based business. You can read up on how to create your own info products in one day without writing a single word by going to http://www.nicheresidualincomes.com/

How To Turn Other Peoples Hard Work Into A Part Time And Instant Internet Business

http://www.nicheresidualincomes.com/underground.htm

Web 2.0, Internet Marketing, The Easiest Way To Generate Massive Exposure

Many people feel that they are running in circles when trying to improve the traffic to their site. The following article looks at the many marketing opportunities that exist in today's Web 2.0 world.

If you’ve ever been involved in a small business, or possibly even a home-based business then you’ve most likely hit the brick wall, just as many people do. No, I’m not talking about start up capital, or operating expenses, because starting a home business is actually one of the most affordable ways for the average person to break into the world of business, and break out of the world of 9 to 5 slavery.

The brick wall that I’m referring to is that of creating exposure for your products and services, and generating traffic for your web sites, presentations, and business briefings. In fact, one can very quickly find themselves pulling out their hair with shear frustration and confusion.

What once was a world of duplication, manipulation, and old school marketing, has in a matter of a few short years been swept aside by those on the cutting edge of the Internet landscape. The cutting edge of what has become the world of web 2.0. Unfortunately, despite the trends, most people really do not know what web 2.0 really is.

Of course, it’s cutting edge, it’s now, it’s happening, but are you using it?

Don’t get me wrong, web 2.0 Internet Marketing is not rocket science, but you do need to be armed with the basics. Just putting a few video clips on your site, or tossing up an audio file or two that people can access or download does not make your site a web 2.0 experience. In fact this has been done for years, but what does make it web 2.0?

Here are a few things to consider before jumping head long into the world of web 2.0 Internet Marketing, and possibly a few suggestions that may make your transition into this world a bit easier.

Architecture of Participation

The first element of a well-designed web 2.0 experience is something called the Architecture of Participation. You might also hear things like RIA (Rich Internet Applications), or even SOA (Service Oriented Applications).

Despite the use of fancy buzzwords, this simply refers to the user experience. Is the site pleasing to the eye, easy to use, and most importantly does the site make it possible for visitors to participate in the content of the web site?

This could best be demonstrated by taking a look at sites such as YouTube.com, EzineArticles.com, as well as social networking sites like MySpace.com. Each of these examples has a very well planned Architecture of Participation.

Mash Ups & Integration

The next element of a true web 2.0 experience is often called the mash up, or content integration. This is actually quite simple. Again, going back to sites like MySpace.com, you’ll see that participants can implement many different sources of web content. You’ll not only see video and audio, but you’ll also see blogs, comments, and networks of friends. Many sites will also integrate content from multiple sources or sites onto a single, new web site that generates fresh content on the fly, ready for eager site visitors.

Mashing multiple streams of content onto a new web site is where the term Mash Ups actually came from, which here again, is not rocket science when you determine what content your visitors might like to see, hear, or read. It’s simply a matter of pulling the appropriate content and mashing it up into one convenient place.

Social Networking

Finally, social networking is a big part of web 2.0. Of course, it’s deeply routed in the Architecture of Participation, and it almost always implements the mash up to create unique content, but the unique factor in social networking is that it’s designed to bring like minded people together.

Networking is the key to building successful long-term business relationships, but if you’ve ever hit your friends and family up with a business opportunity, you’ve probably discovered that they’re not always as like-minded as you might have originally hoped.

Tapping into such social networks can put you, and your business or opportunity in front of literally millions of potential prospects and future business partners, and because you are networking with like-minded people, you’re not forced to go old school when it comes to pitching your opportunity or product.

Over all, web 2.0 is a major departure in traditional marketing, and is light years beyond the days of mass mailing and classified ad submission. It is a whole new mindset in terms of building relationships, by simply rethinking the design process of your next web site, and oh yeah, the best part is that web 2.0 will cost you absolutely nothing to implement into your business.

Basically, the key to web 2.0 Internet Marketing is in the user experience. Gone are the days of sit and stare web sites. With a little creativity, and a touch of web 2.0, it’s now possible to turn a one way experience into a two way stream of communication, which is the key to any business success.

About the Author:

Troy Berlin has been actively involved in the home-based business industry for nearly 15 years and has been a stay at home dady for the past 10 years thanks to his home business. He now helps others develop their own online home business incomes so that they can enjoy more time freedom as well. Learn more about the Prosperity Cast Network, and Troy Berlin at http://www.ProsperityHomeNetwork.com

Understanding Web Analytics- What You Should Know

Web analytics are an important tool for anyone with an online business presence. It is essential to know where your traffic is coming from and what they are looking at. Read on and discover how to put web analytics to work for you.

Then most difficult aspect of marketing a new product or web site is to find enough people that are interested in it so that they are ready to buy. Mastering Google AdWords will enable you to drive traffic to your web site and start making sales immediately. You can create a Google AdWord campaign in a matter of minutes and be making sales within 24 hours.

So you've launched your website and you're happy with the content, the design, and with its placement in cyberspace. Now, it's time to track your traffic. How many people visit your site each month? Where are they coming from? What do you need to know to be an informed analyzer so you can beef up your site traffic? And what tools can help you along the way? Ladies and gentlemen, sit back, relax, and enjoy the following answers to all these questions.

Why You Should Know Your Dinner Guests

Knowing where your visitors are coming from and knowing where they go on your site are the two most important pieces of acquisition arsenal you can obtain. This is because on one hand, knowing where people are coming from will help you focus your offsite advertising and marketing plans. On the other hand, and knowing how visitors navigate within your site will help you gauge what pages work and which ones need to be revamped. Maybe you have important content that would be most appealing to your visitors but it is difficult to get to due to poor design choices and hence no one is going to that page. You can use metrics to figure out what pages are most popular. That is the best way to understand what type of content and design works and will guide the future development plans for your site. The main goal is to reduce what are know as the dreaded "bottlenecks," pages of your site where visitors exit before they reach your purchase or sign up page.

Know the Ingredients

First, acquaint or reacquaint yourself- as the case may be- with the terminology so that you know what you are actually analyzing. If you know that unique visits is distinct from unique visitors, for instance, you will have a better grasp of what figures to use for reporting purposes, setting advertising rates, and a host of other options specific to your company's needs. Learn what an entry point means and where people travel to once on your site. Some tools, like Webalizer, allow you to see what URL people visited before coming to your site. This is an excellent way to learn more about your audience and perhaps point you towards potential advertising or link exchange opportunities.

Know the Recipe

Analytics tools can be tricky. The most important research you can do is to find out how each metrics system calculates its findings. For instance, the company I work for employs several reporting tools to track traffic to the site. When we first started using these tools, we were very confused. Google Analytics told us a very different figure for unique visitors than Webalizer did. In fact, Google's figures were just about half that of Webalizer! After further investigation, we learned that Webalizer was picking up on traffic behind our paywall where Google was unable to track. Some worthy reporting tools that you should check out include AWstats and WWWstats. AWstats presents their data in an easy-to-digest format and tells us things like usage by the hour and a breakdown of what countries our visitors are from. WWWstats presents the data in a pretty raw format, but allows you to track things like transfers by client domain and transfers by URL or section. Both of these services provide fairly reliable information.

Google Analytics is an extensive - and free! - program that can help you measure just about anything on your site. This includes conversion tracking, which allows you to follow a visitor from the point of entry on your site to each subsequent page that he/she visits. This is an outstanding way of gauging your site's navigability index and where work needs to be done to maximize the user experience (and attract more traffic to places on the site where you want visitors most). You can also track how your keywords are performing on the major search engines. Google's reporting tools, though respectable, can be confusing to use. It is not entirely clear how to access certain tools and, although they offer video instruction for some of their services, if you have specific problems or questions, an actual customer service person is difficult to nearly impossible to contact.

Crazyegg.com is another lesser known tool for tracking your traffic. Though there is a fee to participate, you can try their services for free. They offer a full service program for setting up, deploying and tracking tests, advice on how to properly track click-throughs, live reports, and easy-to-read results. Hey, you have nothing to lose so it's worth trying a free test. Be sure to also check out these other good sites that offer reporting and analysis for your traffic: Clicktracks.com, Fireclick.com, NetTracker.com, and WedTrends.com.

Taste the Results

Perhaps the best way to gauge your traffic more accurately is to look at several different reporting tools and make an educated guess. More likely than not, the actual number of visitors to your site- much like the truth between the claims made of two feuding parties- will lie somewhere in between.

Remember, the web is still in its infancy in many ways and there is no one, overarching, epistemologically respectable reporting tool currently available that beats out all the rest. The existing tools may change as our understanding of the web becomes more comprehensible or if sites become standardized or regulated in some way. But for now, use the tools I've recommended coupled with your best judgment and you will be on your way to making your site the best it can be.

By mastering Google Adwords Ads, you can confidently expand your marketing campaign to include other PPC advertising companies ie Overture, FindWhat and also try offline advertising.

About the author:

Download a Free AdTracking Guide and to learn how Adtrackz will improve your http://www.squidoo.com/AdTrackZ-Review/. Read my AdTrackz Review.

How To Get Traffic Without Spending A Dime

A terrific article outlining many unique ways that you can generate traffic to your website.

Starting a brick and mortar business requires an enormous capital investment. Today, online businesses are able to compete with the old school way of doing things and win. Take a quick look at newspaper circulation and free classified advertising online, and you get an idea of what I am talking about. This is because of the versatility that the Internet offers and the many ways a single individual can compete on a truly global scale with large corporations, that only recently could not even be imagined.More...

While there are ways to jumpstart your web site traffic, many sites don't have the resources required to generate web traffic instantly. Do not despair, as I will explain in this article, many ways you can generate huge amounts of traffic, and all of them are Free! All you need is the proper mind set and a the discipline to stick with your plan for at least 4 to 8 months to start seeing significant results. You also must have the ability to learn new things, as the online world is constantly evolving, you need to be inquisitive, and alert to these trends. The actual work is not hard work at all, it is easy and fun!

The truth is, that web traffic builds organically over time. By using free methods you can gradually build a huge traffic funnel directed at your website. Many article directories contain articles that offer tips and guidelines explaining free methods of traffic generation. Start looking for good free information and learn as much as you can. It will take time, to say honestly. Paid traffic and PPC advertising will by far, get better immediate results than free methods, But obviously over the lifetime of your site, the free traffic is where you will see the greatest benefit. It will take time, but with these free methods I'm about to disclose, before long you will generate a tremendous traffic flow to your website.

Search for and join online forums and online communities relevant to your business product or service. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can easily find forums that provide community of people interested in your particular niche. You can discuss lots of things about the niche that are relevant to you business, without being overly commercial. Another great advantage is that you can learn an tremendous amount of consumer information about the business you are in, as well as about your competitors.

With online communities and forums over time you build a reputation for your company. Be confident, but not boastful, but showcase your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and trust with a key demographic of your business.

Make use of newsletters, and provide readers with interesting articles and advice, along with a catalog of your products. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic. Some marketers say all their money is in their list. Love an respect your subscribers, and they will reward you well.

Another great idea is reciprocal linking, i.e. trading links with other sites. This is accomplished by engaging in a partnership with another webmaster. By exchanging links, both parties will benefit. Every click that goes to the partner's site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. Be sure to target and partner only with quality sites that are relevant or in the same niche as your site. Done incorrectly, link exchanging can actually damage your site's reputation in the search engines.

Article writing is a proven method for building web site back-links and authority status, as well as significant free targeted traffic. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people will reward you with new visitors, eager to learn more about your business.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a resource box at the bottom of each article, with a link and a brief description of your company with the article to build back links and laser targeted traffic.

Use well written, unique 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 a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. Copy writing is a skill that can be learned with study and practice.

Search engines are the primary means that Internet surfers use to find information by typing a keyword or phrase, which returns results relevant to their interest. Search engines in return use keyword searching to increase the relevance of their search results. With the right keywords, in well targeted context, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods will drive traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and perseverance. Learn all you can about these methods, and start planting seeds and nurturing them, and don't give up! Before long, your Internet garden will provide you a bountiful harvest.

About the Author:

Christopher Andrew is a Internet Marketing and SEO Expert who has been doing online marketing for the last seven years. http://epicycledigital.com provides Internet marketers free and low cost MRR And PLR products, as well as support to build Internet businesses.

The 3 Most Critical Tools In Affiliate Marketing

A great article looking at the basics of affiliate marketing.

The 3 Most Critical Tools In Affiliate Marketing
by: Steve Sharpe


Although affiliate marketing is touted as one of the easiest and most effective ways to earn money online, it is not as easy as it sounds. The wise affiliate marketer plans every action and executes it the best way he can. He should also maximize the potential to earn by utilizing the right tools necessary for a successful Affiliate Marketing business. We have consulted some of the most successful affiliate marketers in the business and below are the top three tools necessary for a successful affiliate marketing business.

Important Tool #1: Your Own Website

The most important and indispensable tool in Affiliate Marketing is your own website. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website. Your website is the start off point of all your marketing efforts. Thus, you must first build a user-friendly website, which will appeal to your prospects and encourage them to click on the links to the products and services you are promoting and ultimately make a purchase. Therefore, you must first concentrate your efforts in building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.

The most important thing you should consider is that almost all web users go online to look for information, not necessarily to go and buy something. Above all else, make your website full of original, relevant and useful content. People will love articles that are appealing and helpful. Keep in mind that, in the internet, content is still king and good quality content will not only build your credibility, it can also help you achieve a higher search engine ranking. By posting relevant and useful articles, you establish yourself as a credible expert in the field, making you a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is the single most important step in building up a loyal consumer base.

Important Tool #2: Incentives

Competition is extremely high in the internet world. You must always be one-step ahead of your rivals to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market. Therefore, you must use every possible means to encourage people not only to visit your site but also to click and proceed to the websites of the products and services you are promoting. Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather prospects. Offer a newsletter or an e-zine. Better yet, offer incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can present free software, access to exclusive services and other freebies that will be helpful to your prospects.

Important Tool #3: Link Popularity

The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be emphasized enough. The all-important web traffic is at the top of the list of the most important entities in the internet world. Attracting people to your site should be the first step you should carry out. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use to determine search engine rankings. Therefore, to enhance your link popularity, you must launch an aggressive reciprocal and one way link campaign.

One of the best ways to do this – at no cost at all – is by submitting articles, with your website's link at the resource box, to e-zines and free article sites. You will not only gain exposure, you will also have the opportunity to advertise for free, just include a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity is. Make your articles original, relevant and useful so that more websites will pick them up and post them.

These are but three of the many tools that an affiliate marketer can use to maximize earning potential. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by your imagination, creativity, resourcefulness and determination. You can always explore other ideas and adapt other strategies, which you think might help you become a high rolling affiliate marketer.

About the Author:

Steve Sharpe has been in internet marketing for many years. For further information on affiliate marketing please visit http://articleland.co.uk/adtrackz/go.php?c=altsam . He can also be reached for further information at his website http://www.articleland.co.uk.

Website Marketing- Stand Out From The Crowd

Website marketing has evolved in many ways over the years. Way back when, website owners depended primarily on search engines for their survival. Today, the advances in technology have made the marketing game more competitive than ever. This article sums it up pretty well.

As a web site marketer these days, in the 21st century, you have to work harder than ever to stand out from the pack. Everybody's sending out ezines. Nearly all of us hold teleseminars.

Add your ezine and teleseminar and you're joining a parade down Main Street. Sometimes you can generate leads even more effectively if you also run through the alleys and knock on back doors.

Often these back-door "sneaky" strategies seem too easy to be effective. But simplicity can be deceptive. You need to plan carefully to avoid wasting time. Used incorrectly, the back-door approach can backfire. You have to play by rules that change overnight and that aren't easy to figure out.

Strategy #1: Contribute to a discussion list related to your topic.

For lead generation, join a group whose membership matches your target market as closely as possible. Choosing the right group can be challenging. For example, you may be eligible to join a forum after attending a workshop or purchasing a manual. Or you may pay to join a mentoring group. These groups create forums and discussion lists directly related to your interests, but moderators tend to be extremely cautious about self-promotion.

You can also search through yahoo or google for groups. For example, you can search on "professional women discussion list" or "work at home dads discussion list." Some websites feature lists of discussion groups, often arranged by topic. Searching through listings takes time but, with patience, can produce some good results.

Tips:

Once you join a forum or discussion lists, it's a good idea to "lurk" for awhile. Get a sense of the group's mood and style. Introduce yourself. Evaluate your responses. If you sense a lack of interest (and occasionally even hostility), consider withdrawing from the group.

The challenge is to draw a fine line between contributing proactively and becoming a nuisance. Success depends on finding just the right blend of asking questions and providing expertise.

Example 2: Write reviews for online bookstores.

As an avid and eclectic reader, I began writing reviews for one of the online bookstores. Originally, I was just having fun and actually felt guilty for taking time from my "real" work. I wrote about everything: mysteries, business books, nonfiction.

To my surprise, these book reviews began to attract subscribers, clients and invitations to be interviewed by professional reporters and writers. Recently one of my reviews was quoted in a blog, giving me valuable (and totally unexpected) publicity.

When these readers came, they were highly motivated. Unlike readers of ezines, they were prepared to pay or resources. After all, bookstores don't give away books! I suspect many hold a credit card in one hand as they surf with the other.

Tips:

Choose best-selling books related to your topic -but not exclusively.

Write carefully, using correct grammar and style. I've found that I get the most response by being edgy but thoughtful, and not too long or too short.

Follow the guidelines concerning what you can disclose about your business. Your review can be edited or removed entirely if you appear to be selling or if you use inappropriate words.

Bottom Line: Often we find our most successful back-door strategies by accident. But applying those strategies callsapplyin for planning, flexibility and responsiveness to change.

About the Author:

FREE 7 Best-Kept Secrets of Websites That Really Attract Clients: My Special Report gives you insider tips to convert tire-kickers to buyers and earn money while you sleep. From Cathy Goodwin, The Content Strategist, at Website Marketing Strategies.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directlyis a recent release that discusses in detail new marketing and PR strategies today. From the review:

Though it may not yet have affected the value of 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising, PR insider Scott argues that understanding the growing irrelevance of marketing's "old rules" is vital to thriving in the new media jungle. Already apparent in newspapers and magazines (with sharp downturns in circulation and ads), radio (on the losing end of the iPod revolution) and direct mail (digitally replaced by spam), the imminent fall of traditional mass media marketing means new opportunities for legions of smaller companies and independent professionals who need to reach niche markets cheaply and effectively. The way Scott sees it, this is also good news for consumers: the online culture of integrity and information tends to produce quality content for less, as opposed to the vapid, one-sided and pricey advertising of print media and television. Scott provides the technical novice a thoughtful and accessible guide to cutting-edge media arenas and formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing, without neglecting the fact that technological wizardry can't substitute for a well-thought out marketing program. Besides emphasizing fundamentals like defining one's audience, Scott also drills home the ethos and etiquette of the web, encouraging content that's both useful and unobtrusive. This excellent look at the basics of new-millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition.

Driving Traffic to Your Website

Simply having a great website and product line will not translate into success online. You must have good traffic for people to see your great site and products. I found this article which gives some great tips on how to increase your website traffic.

Take the Wheel - Drive Customers to your Website

So you own a small business and you have made the decision to build a simple website to gain internet exposure. Or maybe you already have a website that no one visits? You can be the proud owner of the slickest website you have ever seen, but if you aren’t getting any traffic because it’s not properly optimized you have wasted a good chunk of change and a lot of your valuable time. Weather you are building a site from scratch or tweaking one that already exists, consider these web hosting and marketing tips to help drive traffic to your website:

For Web Hosting:

1) Start with keywords - Think about terms potential customers would use to find you in a search engine. What would you type in if you were looking for your business?

2) Use a keyword selector tool - Type your keywords into a keyword selector tool to see how many people have searched on the term in the last 30 days. Look for terms in the 2k-10k range that are relevant to your site.

3) Use domain names which match your keywords – My client advertises products that are geared toward leadership skills development. In addition to leadingonedge.com he also has leadership-skills.info and a handful of others.

4) Use keywords throughout your web pages - Put your keywords in the title, description, keywords, graphics, and written text.

5) Use a keyword density analyzer - Check your website against a keyword density analyzer to see how frequently a specific keyword is used. Shoot for 3-15% density.

6) Slick and sexy doesn't get you traffic - Don't waste your money on slick graphics or things that fly across your screen. Most visitors find them annoying and search engines don't care for them.

7) Use Google AdSense on your website - Whenever someone clicks on a Google ad in your website, you get revenue. And the ads are relevant to your content. My websites now pay for themselves with ad revenue alone.

8) Advertise Amazon books and products on your website - Set up an Amazon Associates account and put relevant books and products on your website. When someone buys a product you get referral revenue.

9) Consider using a website starter package - If going it on your own, think about using a website starter package which can have you up and running quickly.

10) Decide where you want to spend your time - In any business, time is money! Small business web hosting is very doable, but it does take time. Decide if you want to do it yourself or have a professional help you.

For Marketing:

1) Get an automated eCommerce system - These can be really good, very comprehensive and very inexpensive. The good ones can do everything from customer base management to product management to shopping cart to newsletter broadcasts.

2) Get a cheap and reliable merchant account provider - You can get merchant account providers that do both the merchant account and internet gateway for you.

3) Put a link back to your website in your email autosignature - This doesn't need to be obnoxious, just a simple link that email recipients can click on to reference your website.

4) Do selective link trading - Link trade, but make sure the content on the other websites is similar to your own. Don't touch "link farms" with a ten-foot pole; search engines hate them.

5) Write articles and include your website address – Every business owner has something to say that someone would love to read about! There are a number of article databases out there that are researched for website content. Find some article databases which house content similar to yours and write a few articles. You'd be amazed at where your articles show up!

6) Write newsletters - Allow for customers and visitors to subscribe to a newsletter to get regular visibility to you and your company. This is also a great way to compile a customer email data base for your business.

7) Consider using a search engine submission services - These services submit your site to multiple search engines & directories. This can be helpful particularly if your website is new.

8) Set up an affiliates program - Allow for others to promote your products on a commission basis. Again a good eCommerce system should already have this built in.

9) Download the Google Toolbar – I am a Google toolbar fanatic! The Google Toolbar has a nifty feature which shows you the page rank (0-10 scale) of every site you visit; the higher your page ranking the higher your placement in search engines.

10) Set up multiple websites - Got three services you perform? Set up three different websites with domain names that match your keywords. Super cheap to do and can be very effective.


Lori Quaranta
http://www.consetta.com
http://www.consettapr.com