Tips To Help You Increase Website Traffic
In the previous post I made it clear that the key to success online, is ones ability to generate traffic. Sadly, this is the Achilles heel for many aspiring marketers. You can have some of the best ideas in the world, but they don’t mean anything if no one is around to see them. With that said, here are some different ways to generate traffic to your site.
Social Media:
Whether or not you are successful with social media is highly dependent on the type of site you are promoting. With social media, it’s important to focus on the “social” aspect of the site. Don’t hard sell to your visitors or you will lose them. If successful, social media can help turn your website into a thriving community full of repeat visitors.
Search Engine Optimization:
If social media is not your cup of tea, perhaps you are better suited for SEO (search engine optimization). With SEO, traffic is generated by means of the search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc). This method of traffic generation requires no monetary investment. All that is required is time. Success with SEO boils down to two basic qualities; Understanding keyword research, and knowing how to build backlinks.
Keyword research is crucial for the success of any SEO campaign. When carrying out keyword research, it is important to look for the following; the amount of traffic that the keyword generates, and how difficult it will be to outrank other websites promoting the same keyword.
Backlinks come into play once keyword research is completed. The amount of backlinks needed to rank well in the search engines, will be based on the strength of the websites that you are competing against.
Pay Per Click Advertising (ppc):
The methods described above are free to implement with time being the only requirement. If you want to see results quickly, then ppc may the right advertising method for you. With ppc advertising, you will also carry out keyword research and set up campaigns based on those keywords (somewhat similar to SEO). Since there is money involved, I highly recommend that you do plenty of testing before going all out on a campaign.
The general rule of thumb is to have at bare minimum a 1% conversion with your campaign. So for every 100 visitors, you must at least have one sale. The ultimate success of your campaign is based on your return on investment or roi. When testing each campaign, figure out how much you are spending and how much you are bringing in. If the returns are greater than the costs, start to scale your campaign.
PPC, can be a very stressful game. Proceed with caution.
Other forms of traffic generation:
Forums – are a great place to network and get in touch with like minded individuals. Find a high traffic forum that caters to your niche and become an active participant. Some forums have an advertising section from which you can promote your products. If that’s the case, build your reputation and post count and then head to that section to start offering your services. If your particular forum, does not have an advertising section, you can always bring in extra traffic to your site by placing a link in your signature. Make sure you abide by the forum terms and conditions to avoid getting banned.
Traffic Exchanges – I am not a big fan of traffic exchanges but I’ve read that some marketers have had success with them. If you are not in the biz opp niche stay away from traffic exchanges as they convert poorly. Generally speaking traffic exchange users are looking for two things; and that’s traffic and get rich quick schemes.
Guest blogging – If you are an authority in your niche, consider looking into guest blogging. Browse the web to find a high traffic blog that focuses on your niche. Reach out to the admin and offer to write a guest blog post free of charge. To be more effective, have some sample work ready. You will write a blog post in exchange for a plug to your site.
There are countless other ways to generate traffic to a website. The key is to be creative and to continually test different methods out. Remember that time is finite, so don’t spend too much time and failed efforts.