Squeezing Value From Site Traffic Try these tips for improving your visitor-to-sale conversion rate.

Q: I need help with using viral marketing to promote my Web site. I'm using newsgroups, chat rooms and free press releases, and I can see traffic coming into my Web site. But none of these submissions have added value. Can you make any recommendations?

A: It sounds like you've made a good start. Newsgroups, chat rooms and press releases can all be good sources of free traffic, and you're obviously taking advantage of this. What concerns me, though, is your comment that none of these submissions have added "value." I'm going to bet you mean these visitors aren't taking the action you've been hoping for--be it purchasing your product or subscribing to your newsletter.

Below, I'm going to give you a simple viral marketing strategy you can use to drive more free, targeted traffic to your Web site with powerful friend-to-friend recommendations. But first, I think you need to critically examine who your Web site visitors are, what's attracting them to your Web site and what action you're asking them to take once they've arrived.