No matter how cool your site or how fabulous your product,
you're not going to generate enough sales to make your business
viable unless you can generate traffic. You have to get the word
out about your site and give people a reason to visit it, or else
you'll go the way of the dinosaur.
The good news is, there are lots of ways to effectively
advertise your site online and drive tons of qualified traffic to
your site, all for free! And by qualified, I mean people who belong
to your target market and who are most likely to buy the products
or services you offer. These are the people you want coming to your
site.
Without further ado, here's our countdown of the top 10
traffic-generating tactics:
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Traffic Generation Tactic #10: Use viral marketing strategies
to "infect" people with the desire to learn more about
your product. These days, viral marketing messages are
spreading through the Web like wildfire. Viral marketing is any
type of advertising that is self-perpetuating, compelling people to
share it with others so that it spreads through a community like a
virus-but a good one.
The story of Hotmail.com is a textbook example of viral
marketing on the Internet. Hotmail was one of the first free e-mail
services on the Web. In its first year and a half in business,
Hotmail managed to sign up an incredible 12 million subscribers!
How did it accomplish this? Simple: At the end of every e-mail,
Hotmail included the following message: "Get your private,
free e-mail at http://www.hotmail.com," encouraging everyone who
received an e-mail to sign up for the free service themselves.
Large companies use viral marketing messages to perpetuate
awareness of their brand, often by creating humorous videos or
animation clips that people send to their friends for a laugh. Some
smaller companies have also used this strategy successfully. An
example is Homestar Runner, a small business that's created a
set of cartoon characters and animated shorts that circulate around
the Web, encouraging people to visit the main site and buy the
company's merchandise.
If you like to play around with video or animation, you might
think about adopting this strategy to generate interest in your own
product. Just keep in mind that it can be very difficult to
determine the exact return on investment for viral marketing
campaigns, since it's impossible to keep track of where the ad
goes. And while this type of marketing is good for generating
interest in your site and products, it doesn't always translate
into immediate sales.
To see more examples of viral marketing, check out the following
sites (Warning: Part of the popularity of some viral ads is their
"cheeky" or risqué nature. Some viral ads contain
material that viewers may find offensive.):
- ViralBank. Go here to discover "the web's
most entertaining e-mails." This site features images, video,
games, microsites and text e-mails that have spread virally through
the Internet.
- ViralMeister. This site features a list of news items
concerning the latest viral ad campaigns as well as a sampling of
popular viral ads circulating on the Web. Visitors are invited to
submit "funny or cool videos, images, jokes or anecdotes"
to be featured on the site.
- Lycos Viral
Chart. This site offers a top 10 list of "cheeky"
viral e-mails, as well as viral campaigns listed under other
headings, such as "New Releases" and
"Celebrities." Visitors are invited to submit viral ads
for review and also vote on the best campaigns.
Traffic Generation Tactic #9: Employ online business
networking communities to hook up with other entrepreneurs for link
swaps and joint marketing ventures. Business networking
communities are springing up all over the Web. They're similar
to dating or social networking sites but are used by entrepreneurs
to find other businesspeople with whom they can establish mutually
beneficial business relationships.
Sites like these can offer great opportunities for entrepreneurs
to establish joint marketing ventures with like-minded businesses,
or simply to find link-swap partners who can help drive more
traffic to their sites. (We'll be looking at link swapping in
greater detail later on, in case you're not familiar with this
effective traffic generation tactic).
Business networking communities can also help generate traffic
by allowing their members to create personal profile pages with
links to their main business sites. These links can improve a
site's ranking with the major search engines.
If you decide to join a networking community, be sure to partner
with people whose businesses are complementary to your own. Their
sites have to attract visitors who are likely to become your
customers as well. For example, it probably won't do you any
good to have your all-vegetarian tofu burgers featured on a cattle
rancher's industry association site.
Here are some business networking communities you may want to
check out:
Traffic Generation Tactic #8: Become a recognized name in
your niche market by participating in newsgroups, discussion forums
or blogging networks. A great way to establish an online
identity and develop relationships with your potential customer
base is by taking part in newsgroups and discussion forums or by
starting a blog related to your niche market. These tools can help
you communicate directly with your target market and discover what
their wants and needs are.
For example, if you sell mountain biking shoes, spend some time
hanging out in mountain biking forums-that's where your target
market's going to be. Or start your own blog in which you
describe your latest mountain biking adventures, complete with
attention-grabbing photos. You could even combine the two tactics
and generate interest in your blog by mentioning it in forums and
newsgroups.
However, most newsgroups, blog networks and discussion forums do
not allow people to blatantly advertise in them. If you want
to generate traffic through these sites, the best way to do it is
to offer friendly, useful advice to people who express a need for
something, and then include a subtle link to your site at the end
of all your messages. If people like what you say, they may decide
to visit your site and check out your products or services.
Traffic Generation Tactic #7: Get your visitors to tell their
friends about you. A good way to drive visitors to your site is
to ask your existing customer base to do it for you. There are lots
of sites that offer free "tell a friend" buttons you can
place directly on your site in order to encourage visitors to send
e-mails to their friends telling them about your site.
If your site offers a free opt-in newsletter, contest, quiz or
"tip of the day"-in other words, any information that
people will want to share because it's fun, valuable or
exciting-include an "E-mail this" button in that feature
as well. There's nothing more powerful than a personal
recommendation from a friend or colleague.
Here are just a few sites that offer free "tell a
friend" tools:
Traffic Generation Tactic #6: Encourage
repeat visits with interactive traffic generators. One of the
best ways to get traffic to your site is to offer valuable content
that's updated on a regular basis so that your visitors are
prompted to pay frequent return visits to see what new information
you have available. Provide content that's relevant to your
industry, such as articles, product reviews or "how-to"
advice columns-anything you think your visitors will find useful or
entertaining.
As you develop your collection of written content, consider
placing it in a searchable archive so your visitors can access past
articles and product reviews. This will encourage people to think
of your site not only as a place where they can buy things but also
as a valuable source of information.
You should also consider offering other free resources to
attract your target audience. Remember, the most powerful word in a
marketer's arsenal is "free." The more useful tools
and resources you offer your visitors, the more they'll
appreciate your site.
Offer fun or helpful interactive tools that relate to the
purpose of your site. For example:
- If you sell recipe books or kitchenware, include a measurement
converter that easily allows people to convert imperial
measurements to metric and vice versa.
- If you sell clothing, include a size converter that shows how
the clothing sizes compare to measurement systems used in different
countries. (For example, a woman's size 10 in the U.S. is equal
to a size 12 in the UK and a size 40 elsewhere in Europe.)
- If you sell scuba gear or sailing goods, link to current tide
and weather information.
- If you sell books on philosophy or self-improvement, include IQ
tests or quizzes that determine personality types.
- If you sell education products, include interactive math or
grammar games and other fun learning tools.
This strategy tends to be better for getting repeat traffic than
for attracting new visitors, but if you include a "tell a
friend" button with your interactive traffic generator, you
may prompt visitors to share the news about your site with
others-and get them to drive new traffic to your site for you!
Traffic Generations Tactic #5: Increase your site's
exposure by swapping links with other sites. If you want your
site to be seen by as many potential customers as possible, try to
get it mentioned on other sites they're likely to visit. Look
for sites that are related to yours but don't compete with it
directly.
For example, if you sell ski goggles, try to get your product
mentioned on alpine tourism sites, sites that sell skis, boots and
poles, and sites that sell winter clothing-but not on other sites
that sell ski goggles. Or if you own a souvenir shop, see if you
can get your site listed on local hotel and restaurant sites, as
well as other travel and hospitality sites tourists are likely to
visit, but not on other sites that sell souvenirs.
A great way to get your site mentioned on other sites is to
contact those sites directly and offer to "link swap"
with them. (Be sure to look for sites that get a lot of traffic.)
Tell them you'll put a link to their site on your site if
they'll do the same for you. Not only will this generate a lot
of increased exposure for your site, it can also boost your ranking
with the search engines.
Traffic Generation Tactic #4: Get the message out about your
site by giving away free content. One of the best ways to make
sure your site gets mentioned on other sites is to offer them
valuable free content.
Many online business owners are happy to get quality information
to put on their site or in their opt-in newsletters, so offer them
some of the regularly updated content you've posted on your own
site (as suggested in Traffic Generation Tactic
#6. By providing other sites with free articles, product
reviews or advice columns, you'll be doing them a favor-as well
as increasing the exposure of your own site.
Try to get your content published on popular websites or in
newsletters that have huge mailing lists. So before you offer your
content to any site, do a little research to discover how much
traffic it gets or how many people subscribe to the site's
opt-in newsletter. And try to determine which sites are the
"hot spots" in your niche market-that's where you
want your articles to be published.
It's important to remember that this tactic will only work
if you include your contact information and a link to your site at
the end of every article. That'll make it easy for people to
visit your site and learn more about the products or services you
sell, so make sure every site or e-zine that publishes your content
includes this contact info and link.
Traffic Generation Tactic #3: Be one of the first sites
people see listed when they search for your keywords in the free
search engines. The free search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN are still one of the
most effective ways to get the word out about your site. There are
lots of different techniques you can use to ensure you get a good
ranking with the free search engines. For example, you can...
- Submit your site to the free search engines and online
directories.
- Optimize your web site so that it's easily indexed by
search engine spiders.
- Pay close attention to your keyword inclusion and
placement.
- Create content-rich "information pages" to direct
traffic to your site.
And these are just a few tactics that will help you improve your
search engine ranking. You can do all this work yourself, or you
can use software that will do the job for you. (To read more about
search engine optimization strategies, see "The Dos and Don'ts of Search
Engine Optimization.")
Traffic Generation Tactic #2: Use e-mail promotions to
present your visitors with offers they can't refuse. Yes,
it's true: E-mail promotions are one of the top two ways to
attract qualified traffic to your site. If you have a list of
customer or subscriber e-mail addresses, then you're ready to
get started.
People who've visited your site and signed up for your
newsletter (or a contest or survey) are far more likely to buy from
you than someone who's never heard of your site before.
It's essential that you stay in touch with these people!
Encourage visitors to frequently return to your site by
e-mailing them attractive promotional offers, such as e-coupons or
discounts on new products you're offering, notification of a
sale or a contest you're running, or even free services or
products you've decided to give away to a limited number of
people.
You can manage your mailing list and automate your e-mail
promotions using existing software programs. To learn more about
how to build a substantial list of opt-in e-mail addresses, read
"Attracting
Newsletter Subscribers."
And now, the time has come for...
Traffic Generation Tactic #1: Build an army of affiliates to
drive traffic to your site for you. Without a doubt, an
affiliate program is the probably the best way to increase your
site's exposure. You can get your affiliates to drive qualified
traffic to your site using all the techniques we've mentioned
so far, as well as other effective advertising techniques that
require an initial investment.
You can literally get your affiliates to do all your marketing
for you. In fact, one of my most successful clients doesn't
spend any time optimizing his site for the free search engines-he
lets his affiliates do it for him. Many of them go to great lengths
to make sure their sites are highly ranked, and because they all
link to his site, they boost his search engine ranking as well.
The best thing about affiliate programs is that you don't
pay your affiliates a dime for all the work they do unless they
help you make a sale. It really is a win-win proposition: The more
sales your affiliates help you make, the more money they earn as
well.
Final Thoughts
In order to maximize your site's exposure, it's best to
use a combination of the tactics listed above. For example, if
you're sending out an e-mail promotion, you may want to include
a "tell a friend" option in the e-mail so the people on
your mailing list will send the promotion to others. If you have an
affiliate program, you should ask your affiliates to post your
articles and product reviews on their sites in order to help you
build a reputation for yourself as an industry expert.
Remember: When it comes to online marketing, there are three
words you need to keep in mind: location, location, location. Your
site has to be mentioned often in places where your niche market
hangs out if you want your site to be seen by as many potential
customers as possible.
If you think you could be doing more to boost your site's
traffic numbers (and really, who couldn't?), start putting
these top 10 traffic generation tactics to work for you today-then
sit back and enjoy all that free traffic coming your way.
Corey Rudl, author of Insider Secrets to Marketing Your
Business on the Internet and founder of www.marketingtips.com, is widely recognized as an
Internet marketing expert because what he teaches are not
theoretical approaches to online marketing but real examples of
what works.