10 Website Traffic Ideas

If there is one thing that every Internet marketer wants it is more visitors to their website. This topic has been covered in various ways in the past. As a refresher here are 10 of the most popular ways to get more website traffic.


1. Pay per click advertising. Google Adwords continues to dominate this advertising strategy. However Yahoo Marketing, 7Search, Bidvertiser, and many other paid search engines offer affordable alternatives.

2. Blogging. A well-written blog article can bring search engine traffic. It can also increase the number of subscribers to your RSS feed which can lead to repeat visitors and more traffic.

3. Social bookmarking. To bookmark your blog URL into some of the top social directories use a bookmarking sites such as Social Marker. This helps the search engines to find you and can lead to more website visitors.

4. Article marketing. This is still a great long term strategy for promoting a website. So the reader can easily find you include a link to your website in your resource box.

5. Article videos. There are services such as Article Video Robot that will convert articles into videos. You then submit it to the top shared video sites such as You Tube and Yahoo.

6. Video marketing. Google owns You Tube which gets 85% of all video traffic. Doing video marketing is a good way to show up in the search engines and create website visitors.

7. Email marketing. Anytime you send a mailing out your list you can include a link back to your website. This should include blog updates and announcing new products.

8. Publish a newsletter. These are known as Ezines and have been around now for almost 15 years online. This is a good way to provide useful information to people as well as promote products in your online newsletter.

9. Viral marketing. It is a good thing anytime you can get somebody to tell somebody else about your Internet business. Ways to create viral marketing include reports, articles, ebooks, and so on. This could also include posting the video on You Tube that goes viral all over the Internet.

10. Go offline. You can still drive traffic to your website the old fashion way including flyers, business cards, newspaper advertising, and radio. Many times this is dependent upon what your actual budget is as off-line marketing can be expensive.

These are 10 ways to get more website traffic. Rather than concentrating on one specific way if you spread your advertising tactics around your traffic will increase

BY: Website Traffic

How to Attract Links and Increase Web Traffic – The Ultimate Guide

Links and traffic… who wants some?
The number of excellent resources that have come out since the beginning of the year on attracting links and building traffic has really mushroomed. Plus there are some timeless classics that are still very relevant today.
I think it makes sense to compile the very best in one handy location and share it, so here’s my entire collection. If I missed your link and traffic resource let me know and I’ll take a look.
Now, it doesn’t matter if you like the term “link baiting” or not. It’s the process that one goes through to attract links that matters, not whether you prefer to think of your content as bait for links. I like to think that creating content that increases web traffic and builds links simply falls under the general social media marketing buzz phrase that is gaining in popularity.
So, here’s your ultimate “how to” guide to creating content that attracts links and drives traffic in the social media environment:
101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006 | SEO Book
101 Web Marketing Ideas and Tips | SEOpedia
25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog | Online Marketing Blog
10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic | SEOMoz
8 Reasons Why Lists Are Good for Getting Traffic to Your Blog | Problogger
7 Ways to Get to the Top of the del.ico.us Popular Page | Problogger
3 Ways to Immediately Increase Search Engine Traffic | Performancing
How to Get Traffic For Your Blog | Seth Godin
The Art of Linkbaiting | Performancing
The Art of Blog | SEO Black Hat
What is Linkbaiting? | Modern Life is Rubbish
SEO Advice: Linkbait and Linkbaiting | Matt Cutts of Google
Problogger Link Baiting Series | Problogger
Secrets to Beating the Sandbox 2.0 Revealed | Link Building Blog
What Makes a Site Link-Worthy? | Eric Ward
Using Digg to Attract Hits | Slate
Using Digg and Netscape to Get Traffic | Pronet Advertising
Social Bookmarking for Traffic | SiteProNews
The Sandbox and Delicious | Graywolf’s SEO Blog
Unleashing the IdeaVirus | Seth Godin
Viral Copy | Copyblogger
Building Traffic to Build Your Fan Club | Copyblogger
Trust Rank and Your Domain | Link Building Blog
Generating Buzz With Link Baiting and Viral Campaigns | Search Engine Watch
Linkbaiting for Fun & Profit | Search Engine Journal
Link Building Guide | Jim Westergren
Link Baiting & Effective Link Building | Search Engine Journal
Link Baiting and Viral Search Success | Search Engine Roundtable
How Much is Link Bait Worth? | Cartoon Barry
Link Baiting (How Nick Wilson Created SEO Even Seth Godin Could Love) | Stuntdubl
Link Baiting Case Study from Search Engine Journal | Search Engine Journal
Link Bait | SEO Book
The 8 Free Things Every Site Should Do | Seth Godin at Squidoo
Building Traffic With Article Marketing | Copyblogger
Link Building Blog | Text Link Ads
Link Building Wiki | Text Link Brokers
Advanced Link Building Tactics | SEOMoz
Let me know in the comments if I missed something that isn’t covered by one of these resources. Happy reading!

BY: Internet Marketing Live Updates

Ten Reasons Why Good Link Builders Fail

A good website builder knows that solid links mean solid rankings, but it’s an ever changing challenge to get them. Learn how to avoid a loss of link juice now.


Links are incredibly important in getting relevant traffic and good position in search results, but links are like any other relationship… they can go sour. Here’s a list of ten reasons why otherwise knowledgeable link builders blow their efforts. Pay attention and don’t fall into any of these traps. As a website builder you have got to get this part right or you are heading for disaster.

1. One Hit Wonder 

The worse thing that can happen to websites that stumble onto a source of links or who only rely on one method of building links is for that accident or that plan to actually work. That sounds counter intuitive, but if you convince yourself that only one method is needed, you’re heading for a fall. You need to diversify your efforts and not have all your eggs in one basket.

2. Quantity Not Quality 

The link builder who writes an article, spins it and then uses article submission software can easily develop 1,000 links to a web page in no time at all. The only problem is those links will be worth next to nothing. Building links is not just a numbers game. Links gain their value from the value of their source. A single link from a PR 4 is worth 1,000 links from PR 0 websites.



3. Forgetting that the Webmaster is a Human 

Email requests for a link that are addressed to “Dear Webmaster” are the first to be deleted. If you want to pitch a website for a backlink take the time to find a name to address the request to.

4. Staying Strictly Digital 

If you are an expert in your field don’t be afraid to tell the world… face to face. Volunteer for speaking engagements for your professional organization or even your local chamber. The story on their website will inevitably carry a link to yours.

5. Reliance on Black Hat 

Black hat tactics will work. Time after time somebody has found a way to manipulate the system and anyone who has used it has experienced short term success. But the success is short term and sometimes comes with penalties that get your web pages de-indexed. Black hat isn’t worth the loss of listing.

6. Failure to Keep Up with the Industry 

Link building, like so many aspects of internet marketing is constantly changing. Don’t allow yourself to get complacent. Don’t rely on a strategy that could become ineffective tomorrow. Take an interest in the industry and stay current.

7. No Support Network 

This is a real risk for the small business website in more ways than one. You’re not working in a big SEO shop and you can’t stroll over to a colleague and bounce an idea off them. Try to develop a network of talented website builders that you can call on for help and be ready to help them when they call you.

8. Loss of Creative Spark
 
There’s more than one way to skin this link cat. Keep your mind open to creative ways to get other quality websites to link to yours. Doing something that is newsworthy for your industry is a sure way to get relevant links back.

9. Building the Perfect Link that Doesn’t Get Implemented

Action and consistency are more important than perfection. If you’re one of those people who are afraid to click on the submit button because you think your link request isn’t absolutely perfect, then just get over it. Live wild and click that button. An imperfect link request has more value in building relationships than a perfect request that is never sent.

10. Becoming Lazy 

OK you could change lazy with complacent, but it’s the same thing. Link building is a tough skill and not nearly as much fun as website design or even creating content. If you have built a few successful links don’t count on those being around forever. Continue your efforts and you’ll continue to enjoy quality traffic.
Link building is a task that every website builder has to have at least a working knowledge of. If you see yourself slipping into one of these ten common symptoms of link trouble, snap yourself out of it and double up on the building efforts. The leads and conversions that you gain from the relevant links are your reward for diligently performing this important function.

Five Tips For More Efficient Business Blogging

You Don't Need A Lot of Resources to Write a Good Blog
“Why should we have a blog?”  It’s a reasonable question.

Nevermind the fact that millions of businesses are blogging and multiples of those millions of customers are reading said blogs. In fact, 23% of the primary Fortune 500 corporations have an external corporate blog.
Blogs as a content management system make it very easy for content publishers within a company to surface informative, useful content directly to their “customers” and indirectly via search engines and social channels. Business bloggers report their activities have resulted in greater industry visibility, new customers & sales and thought leadership.

My take is that if a business has something interesting to say and stories to tell, then a blogging platform can be one of the most productive channels/methods for publishing and engaging. If not, then there are other, more important problems to solve.

For companies that are new to the idea of blogging as a brand, vs. individuals going out on their own and blogging about their professional passions, the notion of starting and maintaining corporate blog often invokes fears of being sucked into a black hole of “counterproductivity”. Writing, researching, IT support and hosting, plus marketing and measuring something that wasn’t forecast in the first place and without certain returns, can seem a lost cause.

For those remaining optimists that are cognizant of the benefits of a blog communication channel but don’t have the forecast resources for it, here are a few tips on blogging  that will get you started in the right direction in a manageable way.

1. Become a blog reader. I can’t stress this enough. If you don’t understand blogs from a consumption point of view, it’s debateable whether you’ll be able to produce one of your own.  If you read certain magazines, newspapers or email newsletters from certain sources, try subscribing to their blogs instead – or as an alternative. That way you’re spending nor more additional time (outside of a few seconds subscribing) and you might even save some time.

2. Set goals for your business blog. If you don’t have a destination for your blogging effort then “time suck” will become your unwanted friend. Don’t waste time trying to serve everyone. Be purposeful in your blogging effort by identifying a few, reasonable business outcomes and timeframe.  KPIs (key performance indicators) are a good starting point for measurement that can lead to outcomes.

For example, a common business outcome for blogging might be “increase relevant traffic to the corporate website”.   A blog that publishes useful, customer centric content a few times per week gives reason to come back and to visit more detailed information on the corporate website.

Set a goal for a percentage increase in blog and keyword referred traffic to the corporate website.  Create a blog editorial plan that pays attention to linking to corporate pages from topical blog posts and use keywords in the posts and links that are relevant to the destination pages.  Over time, search engines will see those links and send more visitors to the corporate website by ranking the pages higher in search results. The links can also attract visitors directly.

The common mistake companies make is to set a goal like, “attract more blog referred traffic to the corporate website” and then start blogging personal or corporate centric information: announcements, product and press releases, PR speak and other chest beating.

Ignoring what would be of interest to customers is a FAIL when it comes to marketing, let alone blogging. How to find out what customers want on your business blog? Ask them. Ping customers in the corporate newsletter, ask them in person at events, talk to your sales and customer service departments for customer topics and trends. Look at successful competitor blogs and topically relevant industry blogs as well.  Then create an editorial plan that gives your corporate blogging effort a chance to be successful by planning blog topics that serve customer needs and indirectly, business needs. As a result, the blogging effort will be more focused, intentional and likely to result in the desired business outcomes.

3.  Create a schedule. A blog editorial plan serves multiple purposes, including putting into action the above suggestion. It also helps direct content creation for business blogs with multiple contributors. It keeps writers on track with content that will most likely meet customer and business needs.  A planned blogging editorial schedule also helps when writers run into dry periods.  Yet another benefit is that it creates a set of expected editorial for readers. It creates an element of predictability they can count on to return to week after week.
For example, Mondays might focus on a message from the CEO or other business leader. By the way, if they won’t write it for you, call them and record a discussion on the topic. Then transcribe that recording into a blog post.  Wednesdays might be a tips post about your product or service and Fridays might be a news roundup for the week.  Tuesdays and Thursdays can be wildcards or days where you don’t post at all.
As time goes on, you can experiment with different schedules to see what works best.  Creating a schedule and executing on it does add time, but it does so in a way that makes your business blogging effort a lot more efficient and productive. Showing measurable outcomes from early wins can help you gain additional support and resources for the blogging effort.  Along those lines, why not do a little blogger outreach with some connected friends in the media? Getting mentions of your new business blog on other high profile websites or blogs can inspire internal support.

4. Be efficient with content. There are many ways to get more out of less with content creation and knowing what does well already in combination with an understanding of what your target audience is interested is essential.

One implementation of this kind of efficiency is the Oreo cookie news post.  Set up Google or Twitter style alerts on topics you’re covering to identify potential sources. Setup the issue/topic (top of cookie), excerpt the topically relevant article/blog post (white stuff) and conclude with your own observations and a call to action for reader opinions (bottom of cooke). That’s a classic blog post and if the writer can be engaging with the setup and conclusion, it works very well for a corporate blog.

Another type of post that’s efficient is the blog review. Find ranked lists of blogs in your industry and pick a handful of blogs to review every month or whatever interval works for you. Create some basic criteria and score each blog. Include screenshots of each blog and describe what you like about them. Link to those blogs and offer a badge for them to use as “flair” if they want.  Compile all those blogs into a list.
Interviews and guest posts (from internal sources, marketing partners, customers) can be especially effective and efficient.  Writing interview questions takes time, but the responses are written for you and that can be the bulk of the post. Guest posts of course are entirely written by someone else, you simply need to source the writer and edit.

5. Make blogging a team effort. Our 7 year blog birthday for TopRank’s Online Marketing blog is coming up in a few days. After 7 years of blogging, I can tell you that very few individuals have what it takes to create unique, useful and compelling content for more than 6 months, let alone 7 years. That’s why a corporate blog really needs to be a team effort in the long run.   It might fall on the shoulders of one person to start, but a smaller amount of effort from multiple people is more interesting, expands audience reach and it’s far more sustainable.

If you’ve started a business blog and weren’t successful with it or you’re thinking of how to implement a business blog efficiently with your online marketing mix, I can’t recommend enough the expertise of the team at TopRank Marketing. Few agencies have been involved with setting up business blogs as long as they have.  Also, be sure to check out the blogging category here for numerous “how to” posts on many aspects of blogging for business.

Originally published on the TopRank Online Marketing Blog.

Read More: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/12/25/five-tips-for-more-efficient-business-blogging

More Opportunities To Gain Traffic From Facebook Likes

Facebook continues to make changes that have implications for benefiting businesses and driving traffic. They have now launched three new updates to its Like button social plugin. First is the ability to like canvas URLs for Facebook apps that represent things like causes, movies, or other real world objects. Second is the ability to link a Like button to a Facebook Page. Third is the "box count" layout that displays the total number of likes above the button.

Do you consider Facebook likes important to your online marketing strategy? Let us know. 

"Since we launched social plugins in April, we've been listening to user feedback and working with developers to optimize the Like button to make it as seamless as possible for people to like content around the web and share it with their friends," says Facebook Platform engineer Jerry Cain.

 

The ability to like canvas URLs in apps means that app users can like pages from within an app. This will then place a like in the user's newsfeed, linking to the app. This could help app growth tremendously.

 

Page owners now have the option to either use the Like button or the Like box to encourage user engagement, with like buttons linked to Facebook Pages.
 

 

As far as the box count format for the like button, Cain says, "This layout provides another option to suit different website designs. To determine which Like button is most effective at driving referral traffic for your site, use our ref attribute for tracking."

Some Other Things to Keep in Mind

 

1. Consumers want to interact with brands on Facebook (and Twitter for that matter). WebProNews reported earlier this week on a study from ExactTarget, which found this to be the case. 

 

"Consumers don't isolate their communications to email, Facebook or Twitter and expect brands to communicate consistently across the channels," says ExactTarget's Jeff Rohrs.

 

The study found that 93% of online consumers subscribe to email marketing messages, 38% are fans of brands on Facebook and 5% follow brands on Twitter.

 

2. Facebook has been testing a feature that would make it much more valuable for search. The feature has Facebook showing all liked articles in its search results. The results, as AllFacebook describes, show content based on the number of likes and the number of friends who liked that object. 

 

"The search results have now become dramatically more relevant with the inclusion of recent news articles, something that previously wasn't accessible via Facebook's open graph search results," says AllFacebook's Nick O'Neill. "Currently, the search results only appear within the drop down from Facebook’s search box, however I’d assume that this will eventually shift to Facebook's search area, which has yet to undergo a significant overhaul."

 

3. Facebook is also testing subscriptions, which would let users "subscribe" to others. This means they would get notifications when a new status update is made. You can clearly see the advantages of this from the brand standpoint, no doubt. 

 

Facebook likes have quickly become an integral part of online content marketing and driving traffic/engagement. It is good that Facebook continues to add options around its social plugins, and the company will likely increase those options has time goes on.

Which feature that Facebook has launched or is testing do you think has the most potential to help you get more traffic? Share your thoughts.