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Each of these warrant their own article, which I will also do, but to help guide you in general, the following are the top five FREE ways to drive traffic to your website:
1. Signature Files
They say, "There's no such thing as a free lunch, but by using your email signatures, that simply isn't true.
Signatures are those little messages that appear at the bottom of your email. Typical examples are your name, email address, company and position, but in the world of Internet Marketing, this is free advertising.
For Signatures the things you want to consider are:
1. Always add a signature because they work great and are absolutely free.
2. Depending on who you are sending an email message to, have multiple signatures you choose from.
3. Make sure you are including a signature for each and every email, whether it is personal or business.
4. Make the signatures work for you. Be aggressive, and if you have a landing page, drive every email to that so you can capture them in your autoresponder sales cycle.
5. Only have one link for them to choose from and make them want to go to it.
2. Links – In Google PageRanks, Google looks at the popularity and keyword ranking of a website in order to determine where it appears in the searches. This could be as great as page 1, or anywhere after that.
Most links occur in the following manner:
1. Word of Mouth, referrals from friends, promote in the bottom of your email
2. Free Link Exchange Program - This is where you go through the internet in search of appropriate sites compatible to your industry, and offer to list their website, if they list yours. Time consuming, but free.
3. Affiliate Links - If you have the type of product that can be sold by others, where they make a percent of the sale, make sure they set up a website link back to your site. They will also have a page on your site with a unique identifier so that the sale can be traced back to them. This is a great way to not only increase your links, but get your product out there faster.
4. Purchased Links
5. Testimonial Links
6. Articles
7. Press Releases
The ultimate key with link is you want a site that has content similar to yours, they are credible in what they do, and they are in the same keyword area you are. That way it will benefit extensively.
3. SEO - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Keyword Optimization
SEO is a fancy way of saying make sure your web pages, titles, meta tags, and descriptions, and your page content contain the key words you want to appear in for your particular market. When considering your internet marketing strategy, make sure
you optimize your pages for keywords.
Many people rush off to Google and Yahoo and do pay per click campaigns (we'll get into these at a future date), but forget to use the old-fashioned free route of making sure each webpage really uses these tools.
I have visited so many sites, and randomly checked to see if they use them, and they don't. This is a missed, free opportunity at 'true rankings' improvement.
Now it can take a while for search engines to start to notice you, and this is where PayPer Click programs come into play, when you want a fast rank while the search engines start to take notice of you. But if you haven't optimized your page, that time
will never come.
Getting your site listed for the keywords you want on the major search engines is a key to receiving the traffic increase.
When putting together the content for your page, remember that content is a major difference to appearing on page 1 or page 15 on the searches. Have your keywords appear as much as you can.
Then make sure your title has a keyword phrase you would enter if looking for your site, and that your meta description is a nice sentence about what your site is (and contains your keywords), and the meta keywords (contains your keywords.)
With all 4 of these elements considered, you will have taken a big step in creating a relationship with the search engines.
4. Message and Social Boards – Make posts on relevant message boards and Social sites. Make sure the posts are informative and not direct advertisements. In other words, post on message boards related to your site and offer the other viewers real
advice and information to solve a problem. Make sure you are including a signature on each post that holds a link to your website.
5. Articles – The rule of thumb is create 10 articles for your industry, and get them out there fast. Then you can sit back and wait for the reaction.
One of the best ways to promote you, your company, and your products or services is to give information away, with no strings attached.
There are hundreds of free article submission sites and ezine lists on the internet, with tons of sites hungry for free content.
As long as your article provides readers with useful information and are not for the purpose of selling, sites will accept them for publication. In turn, they will then make those articles available for reading--and for publication--for anyone else browsing their article sites. Free exposure for you. Articles have real power when it comes to traffic generation. You can use products such as ArticleSubmitter Pro, or go to each site you want and upload for free.
Then, another little tip is you add your article to your blog. This creates activity at your blog, and another link opportunity, back to your website which should be a landing page.
6. Press Releases – A press release is information supplied to reporters or media that is an official statement or account of an event that is specially prepared and issued to make known to the public.
It is generally done when you have a newsworthy event such as a new product, website, grand opening, upcoming event, new product feature - but whatever is going on, the key is to write about it, and let everyone know through a press release.
The success of press releases comes back again to links. These are a great way to get links back to your site. You don't get the meaty 'author or resource box' that you do in an article, but it can ultimately appear on some really great sites.
Any aspect of your business that is interesting or unique should be added to the internet. The internet is one of the largest and easiest ways to get news out there, fast.
There is a press release format, although each website has their own instructions that you should follow to increase your chances of being accepted, and being successful.
When planning your press release, consider the headline, subheadline or summary paragraph, and then the actual body of the article.
There are tons of free services out there, but a few you can get going with right away are:
www.free-press-release.com
www.prleap.com
www.i-newswire.com
All of the above are free methods of generating traffic to your website. By implementing them, you will have the opportunity to enjoy a surge in traffic, without any cost. Now you just need to convert them with your site.
Category: Traffic GenerationTop 6 Ways to Drive Free Traffic To Your Website was written by:Author:Tracy RepchukAdded: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:49:09 -0500 This Article Has Been Read 1542 times View all Tracy Repchuk's articlesAbout the Author: Tracy Repchuk is the "Marketing Makeover Maestro" and specializes in product and corporate launches and growth strategies using internet marketing tools such as landing pages, traffic and internet marketing campaigns. She has been an entrepreneur for over 21 years, and nominated for awards such as Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year, and Chamber of Commerce Business Woman of the Year. She is also an esteemed writer, particularly with sales and search term materials, and is the author of "The Poetry of Business." Find out more at http://www.marketing-makeover-miracles.com Taking your web experience to the next level. *Feel free to post, send this or use in your newsletter, but only as is. |
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