Hot Traffic System by John Mark - HTML preview

CHAPTER SIX

Additional Traffic Generation

Now that you understand the basics in SEO, PPC, social media and article marketing, it’s time to use the rest of the World Wide Web to generate traffic. There are plenty of other ways to gain traffic with simple little tricks of the traffic trade.

These traffic generation tips are straightforward and easy to do; furthermore, they can boost your website traffic heaps. Some are as simple as opening your mouth while others take a little more effort. However, one thing is for sure, these additional traffic generation tips will get your website noticed and fast!

80. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your family- it is one of the simplest tips we can give you, but it cannot be overlooked. At family dinners, discuss your website and ask for input. Many people will have a quick look and, if they like what they see, they will most likely recommend it to friends who could use your products. Word of mouth is a simple, yet powerful tool.

81. Analyse- you need to know who is visiting your site in order to make the most out of your traffic generation marketing strategy. Google Analytics is free to use and can tell you the demographics of who is visiting your site. This is vital information for ROI and niche market campaigning.

82. Use RSS feeds- syndicate your sites content with RSS feeds which can keep your clients updated on the latest news and sales.

83. Use aggregator sites- Aggregator sites will have your content all over the net. Sites such as Feedburner, Squidoo, Feedboy and Jordomedia are great RSS feed syndicators.

84. Offer a monthly newsletter and mailing subscription list- mailing lists are great ways to keep your customers coming back to your site. This is an important aspect of gaining traffic- after all, recurring customers are often your most loyal and best customers. Offering a monthly e-letter to a subscribed mailing list will keep your customers connected with their favorite products. Offer great content, sales, new products and lots of pictures to keep your customers happily reading and visiting your site. And, don’t forget to include plenty of links!

85. Use free search engine site directories- the most important aspect of generating traffic on the site is making use of the search engines. You can submit your site to free search engine friendly directories, you just need to know where to look. Start your search at “Info Vilesilencer” which can give you a great list of all free search engine directories.

86. Discover the benefits of Craigslist- Craigslist offers free advertising so why not? Advertise your website on Craigslist and you just never know you might stumble onto your site. Craigslist is one of the most popular resources to find just about anything.

87. Launch a video- YouTube and Google Video are both great resources to submit a relevant video that links back to your site. Essentially, it’s like free television advertising. Videos that are controversial or humorous are often the ones most clicked.

88. Include a video on your site- another great idea to generate traffic is to include a video on your site. A ‘how to’ video, a ‘tips and tricks’ power point presentation or anything else that is visual can gain a lot of attention. Many people also choose to use an interactive person speaking directly to the client; however, a lot of people hate these things with a passion so it’s best to tread lightly.

89. Submit a site map to Google- if you use XML site map, then you can submit it to Google, which can bring you a lot of traffic. Google can easily find your pages relevant to different site searches.

90. Donate money to a charity- if you donate money to a charity, they will include a link back to your website on their thank you website. This can be a great way to receive free publicity, plus you are helping a good cause.

91. Use Flickr- upload some product photos to Flickr and other free photography sites. That way, when someone searches for an image related to your product, they will find your product and your site. Flickr is a type of social networking that can have great benefits to your traffic generation. Keep in mind that there are more things to search for than just content. With Flickr, you are taking advantage of the multi-level facets of the Internet.

92. Use Favicon- Upload a favicon.gif file so that your users have a nice icon when they bookmark your site. This is a simple yet effective tool that can make a lot of difference. It’s the small things that count, after all.

93. Keep in Simple- there are so many different scripting types out there. However, the best is still CSS for control layout, style and color, and HTML for text. If you want to go into the heavy weights such as Flash and Java, then make sure you include a “skip intro” section during your big introduction debut. Although some people want to sit through a 30 second trailer, most just want to get to the product.

Re-Vamping your Website

You’ve learned the tricks of the trade on how to generate traffic with article marketing, blogging, PPC and SEO; however, now you need to put it all together. Getting people to click onto your site is one step- the next step is re-vamping your website to make it traffic-worthy. You are rereleasing your website back into cyber space. To make sure you are ready for the grand cyber-opening, follow these heavy weight traffic-generating tips.

94. Conduct a survey- everyone wants to put in their two cents and with a survey, they can. You can conduct a survey about your niche both on and off line. Publish the results on your website.

95. Bookmark- Add a De.lic.ious, Facebook and any other bookmark to your website for easy access from social networking to your webpage.

96. Include Forums or Comments for your clients- another great way to generate traffic on your site is to include a customer-friendly forum or comment center where your customers can put in their two cents. Ask questions, set up online chat rooms or games and give your niche market a reason to come to your site. If they are a part of the action, they will most likely visit.

97. Include testimonials- let your potential customers see what others have said about your product or service. Testimonials can help your customers make that final decision about what to do- although the traffic is already there, testimonials help push this traffic into actual profit and sales.

98. Offer something for free (if you can) - everyone loves free stuff. A website that offers free goods is a website that gains traffic. Think of it like this- more people are likely to stop by a Baked Goods store if they are offering a small sample table where they can taste a piece of Danish. You cannot exactly give away Danishes in cyber space. However, you can give away information such as eBooks or online coupons to use in stores or through the e-cart checkout. Be creative.

99. Make sure your contact information is widely available- many people use the Internet as their yellow page directory. Often they are simply using your website as a way to find your store location or your contact information. So include this important information on the main page, bolded so everyone can easily see it.

100. Change the content frequently- make sure you are always updating your websites. This is important as a way to compete with the other constantly changing World Wide Web. Set up a certain time once a week or once a month where you completely re-vamp your website. Keep the logistics the same (for easy navigation), but feature different products, offer different sales, and include a news feed with various publications and events.

101. Offer various ways to contact you- phone is not good enough anymore. More people are turning to the web for contact information. So, instead of just including a phone number, you need to include an email address, Skype, MSN and anything else that you are a part of.

102. Pictures, pictures and more pictures- websites with pictures are proven to be more successful. In fact, aim for at least one to two pictures on every webpage. Pictures bring color and vividness to your website. If you have a catalogue of various products, make sure you include pictures of these different products. This is a great way to multiply your traffic and your ROI.

103. Make your website user-friendly- perhaps Granny is not going to be your main niche market; however, consider the fact that not everyone grew up in the cyber-savvy world. Some of your customers may not be familiar with browsing, YouTube, Facebook and other Internet phenomena’s. That’s why you need to ensure that your website is as simple and easy to use as possible. If it’s not, no one, not even the super-savvy will put in the effort to find what they are looking for. They will simple click onto the next search option on the list.

104. Create a Custom 404 page- no one likes to see that ugly ‘Page Error” page. With a custom 404 page you can re-direct your customers somewhere nice if there is a broken link or the web hosting is down. This is much nicer than that annoying ‘Error’ page.

105. Set up a 301 re-direct page- another great idea is to get a 301 redirect page that can take traffic from your non www. Address to your www address. Some web hosting companies offer 301 redirect pages with their plans. However, you can also search online for 301 re-direct page options.

106. Use an easy to navigate menu option- there is nothing more frustrating than having to look for the information that should be right in front of you. Make it simple by always including a Menu tab on the left hand side, or across the top. Your customers do not want to waste their time scanning through pages trying to find what they want. So keep it simple!

107. Spell check- avoid silly errors by spell checking all content that goes on your site. If you don’t, then you can end up looking unprofessional. Furthermore, it’s incredibly annoying to have to go back, edit and re-launch because of the wrong ‘there.’ So get it right the first time and spell check.

108. Buy enough hosting- there are many different web-hosting plans out there. In fact, it is quite overwhelming picking the right company and web-hosting plan. Make sure you choose something that offers enough bandwidth per month that your customers will not have to succumb to a slow website. If you find the website is simply too slow, upgrade or think of switching web hosting companies to something a little more advanced and reliable.

109. Respond quickly to enquiries- if someone emails you looking for answers give them the answers they need, in less than 24 hours. You need to be on the ball when it comes to email enquiries.

110. AND FINALLY…. Test your site- it’s one of the simplest tips I can offer you, but it’s also one of the most important. You need to make sure everything is absolutely 110 percent perfect before you launch.

Even if you combine all 109 of the above tips, if you miss out this last tip, then it’s all wasted. After all, website traffic generation starts at your website- so test it to ensure that it’s working the way you want it to work, each and every click.

Recommended resources.

Lifetime.host: A new network hosting service that will host your domains and hosting forever without you renewing your host plan and your domains. Try it out. Thousands of internet marketers are turning from other hosting services to this one. Check it out here lifetime.host.