Keys To Generating Website Traffic

If someone were to tell you that no matter how great your company’s website is, no one is ever going to visit it, would you bother spending the time, resources and money to build one? Chances are, you wouldn’t bother. That’s because you know without Website Traffic, you won’t make money.

If you are going to go through the effort to make your own website for your business, you better be sure you are armed with a little know-how about how to drive traffic to your site. Fortunately, all you need to learn will be explained in the next 7 steps.

1. Content Is King

Before you worry about learning how to drive traffic to your site, make sure there is something worth reading on your site. Don’t let your content stagnate! Update and refresh your content often so visitors will be inspired to visit your site again and again. An easy way to stay current is by having a “News” section on your home page. Here, you can update visitors with new products, services, articles and other relevant content.

2. Embrace Social Media

How many times has someone emailed you a link from a video they saw on YouTube? You get the link one day, and the next you get the same link from someone entirely different, then maybe a month later you get it from someone else altogether. That’s the “viral” nature of YouTube, and it can be an invaluable asset to your business. Create a video about your product or service will help not only to drive online traffic to your site but it will help increase targeted traffic to your site.

There is huge difference in traffic by a casual browser and traffic by someone who has clicked through to your site because they are particularly interested in your service or topic. Make sure your video is the very best it can be. A high quality video will give you more credibility and that translates into more traffic. More online traffic means more opportunity for sales.

3. Be An Expert In Your Niche

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your site is to write articles about your niche topic (or have someone write them for you, if your writing skills are limited). Don’t specifically mention your product or service, cover the topic in a general way. For example, let’s say your business is floral design. You could write an article about “The Language of Flowers” and then, at the end of the article, say something like: “Tell that special someone exactly how you feel. Send flowers from…” and include your site’s URL. If the article is good enough, you’ll get readers to “click through” to your site to find out more.

The article should establish you as an expert and give you credibility. You want your readers to be saying to themselves as they read the article, Whoever wrote this article really knows his stuff. And then at the end of the article you will provide them with the answer to the “who” and a way to find out more.

4. Get The Word Out

Just as it is with offline businesses, word of mouth advertising is critical to the success of an online business. To drive traffic to your site, get the word out about your site anywhere you can. Post your URL to relevant blogs, forums, and any other public gathering place online. Strategic placement of these links (that is, placing them on blogs, forums, etc. that are related to your site’s topic) is a great way to increase Website Traffic.

If you have more than one website, include links to each of your websites on each of your other websites. That will encourage visitors to keep clicking through a chain of links that will increase traffic to all of your sites!

5. Take Advantage Of Free Advertising

There are tons of free advertising sites online now, such as Craigslist and Kijiji. One of the best sites is Google AdWords. The sites are there to be used. Use them.

6. Get A Quality Domain Name

In the world of generating website traffic, that means buying a custom domain name. Using a free web hosting program may be free and convenient, but those domain names don’t portray the same kind of professional image as a custom (.com) domain name does. What’s more, custom domain names are more search engine friendly (which means you’ll get ranked higher in search results) and they are easier for visitors to remember so they can return more often.

7. Invite Your Friends To The Party

Who better to visit your site than your friends and family? Take advantage of the Facebook and Twitter craze and invite your friends to visit your site. They can give you feedback, sign up for your newsletter, and start people talking by “seeding” your message boards and forums.

There you have it. 7 things you need to know to start building Website Traffic. Stand back, you might just get run over.

Thanks for stopping by!
Scotty S. ©2009

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