Posts Tagged ‘free articles’

The buzzwords are changing in the world of Internet marketing.  Your customers do not want to see the big flashy banner ads.  They want to know you as a person.  People want to do business with people they know and trust.  While conventional advertising has its place, being a trusted expert in your industry is critical.

The most challenging part of having a website is getting quality traffic to your website.  You build it, and then nothing!   What does it take to get people to visit your website?  This challenge is further compounded by all the empty promises of the so-called experts out there.  There has got to be something you can do, but what?

Whether you are looking for random strangers or whether you are looking for more visits from your warmer local markets, there are things you can do that will help you build up your traffic.  There are no shortcuts.  No magical mystery techniques.

Choose one or two techniques and build it from there.  The more of these techniques you use, the more results you are likely to get.

Search Engine Optimization – Choose good keywords and incorporate them into your website.  This requires some expertise.  This will help the search engines learn how to prioritize your content into their search results.

Advertise – Promote your website in print and online advertisements.  Include magazines, radio, electronic newsletters, and other websites.  Be sure to use techniques that help you track the effectiveness of your various campaigns.

Publish – Write your own newsletters, produce your own podcasts, or write free articles for the various free article websites.  Put your expertise on paper and always include a link to your own website.  Press releases can be helpful for some companies.

Participate in the Community – Contribute comments into various other forums or blogs.  Anywhere you can embed a link to your own website is a potential place for you to contribute.  Many communities welcome your self-promotion as long as you also contribute valuable content.  Support the community and they will support you.  One great method is writing book reviews for books on Amazon.com.

Add Community Features to Your Website – Add a forum, a blog, surveys, or anything that adds enough fresh content that visitors can’t wait to return.  Consider how youtube.com works.  People go there every day to see all the new videos.  Do not host your blog on another website.  Configure their blog tools to publish into your website.

Viral Marketing – Create a system that encourages your customers to share some opportunity with their friends and family.  Offer invitation only benefits substantial enough to encourage current members to invite all their friends and family with urgency.  You could offer a limited time only free whatever to the first 100 people who register.   There are hundreds of variations to consider.   Or create a member feature that people want to share like video sharing or photo sharing.  Use a feature that pertains to your business.

Partnering Strategies – Join forces with other businesses.  You can advertise their products or services and they can advertise yours.  Create joint promotions.  Sponsor each other’s newsletters.   Form a mastermind team for creating promotions.  You can all help each other come up with powerful ideas to try.  Create an affiliate or referral bonus program and pay others to promote and sell your products.

There are so many great ways to promote your website.  Many of them work best when combined with others.   Hire a professional, form a mastermind group, or do it all yourself.  The sooner you get started the sooner you will have hundreds or even thousands of visitors on your website every month.