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I’ve updated the Traffic Tips page at this site, so it’s in the new design and re-written. This is basically my master sheet of traffic generation methods. It’s every method that works, all on one page.

So if I get asked “How Do I Promote My Site” again, I can just point that person right there.

Seriously, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about driving traffic to your site. Although there are a myriad of more specific techniques, such as those that work for one specific service, or those that work for one obscure niche everything really falls into one of the categories here:

Traffic Tips

I’ve kept that page as clean and informative as possible and I’ll update as the need arises, so if you want to point your visitors somewhere for traffic tips, consider mine (hint).

I was going to make that into a blog post, but that would bring all of the rest of the blog (sidebars, etc) with it. And I really wanted it to be clean and quick loading for those that need it.

Technorati Tags: advertising, hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, seo, traffic tips

Tags: advertising, hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, seo, traffic tips

Having your own blog is a wonderful way to generate traffic. A simple wordpress installation gives you a platform on which to build a content site. Google loves blogs.

Just writing content will over time give you traffic. You can also help this process, by pinging blog directories so they know about this content. You can also write specifically with a view to getting even more traffic - such as writing for popular search-terms, courting controversy, and writing about topical news. You will also find yourself getting traffic for terms you are not even targeting.

However, other factors determine where your content will rank. The major one is “Pagerank” - which is at the heart of Google. This is a way in which it ranks websites. Every link to your site counts as a vote, and links from sites that have a high pagerank themselves will weigh more heavily in your favor.

Note that targeting popular search terms is not always the best solution. You are unlikely to rank high for the term “Credit Card” for example, because of the competition. It is far better to target a large number of less-popular search terms rather than focus on one or two of the most heavily used. So - in this example - a terms such as “Credit Card Interest Rates” or “HSBC Visa Card” would be better options. These are sometimes called “Long Tail” searches, in reference to the shape of the graph plotting these results.

To show up high in the results for “Credit Card Interest Rates” you should write posts with that term in the title, description, and content. Wordpress or your blog software will handle the rest - with the actual page address also including that term. You need to enable “Pretty Links” in Wordpress to do this, otherwise the page address will have a much less useful name such as www.yourblog.com/?p=100

So you have the content, targeting terms used by your niche - it’s time to get back to Pagerank.

As we discussed Pagerank is counted by links to your site. Therefore it makes sense to get as many links to your site as humanly possible.

Don’t overdo it. If you grow your links too quickly, Google will penalise you. This is because if it happened naturally your links would grow slowly, over time. Here’s some tips on getting linked to:

1. Interesting content will get linked by other blogs. Unfortunately, the other blogs have to be aware of this content in the first place. It’s a circle: the more popular you are, the more you will get linked. One way to kickstart the process is to actively promote your content yourself - at least when starting out. The social networks are ideal for the process.

2. Proactively get these links yourself. You can post comments on other blogs, post in forums, write in guestbooks, create content at other sites such as Squidoo and Hubpages and even build secondary blogs that are remotely hosted - at wordpress.com, blogger.com and typepad.com for example. Some blogs use a special attribute in their links called “nofollow” which means you get no pagerank credit at those sites.

3. Use “Trackbacks”. This is where you link to other blogs, and once those blogs notice you have done so your link gets shown at the original post.

4. Use Linkbait. This is a method where you deliberately write about controversial subjects in the hope that it sparks an interest at other blogs, who then link to you. Gossip and rumours work well, as does news if you are the first in your niche to post that news.

5. Use press releases. Many places monitor press releases for relevant content in their niche and then post and link to that news from their own sites. A new product release, a human-interest story, or simply “news” in the real sense of the word can become a press release. You need to write in a specific style for this.

6. Write articles. This can benefit your pagerank in a number of ways, but you should ensure your link is clickable in the article. Submit that article to the major article directories and you will get a pagerank boost from the directory itself, as well as from any other sites that go on to syndicate that article. Google will penalise duplicate content, so if you use the article at your own site consider rewording it for distribution.

7. Use Anchor Text in your links. This can greatly influence your pagerank: instead of simply linking to netpreneurnow.com for example, have the text “Internet Marketing” linking to netpreneurnow.com - so it would be Internet Marketing and not NetpreneurNow.com even though both lead to the same destination.

8. The age of a site also has weight in regards to pagerank. The older your site, the higher it is valued by Google. This also transfers to links from other sites, so links from older sites to yours are valued more. Age isn’t really something you can influence - but it is possible to buy expired domains that in effect are already aged. Whether or not they retain their pagerank after you reuse or recycle them is another matter.

9. Favour one-way incoming links - this basically means if Site A links to yours, but you don’t link back, it is worth more. The thinking behind this is that for a site to link to you the content must be useful, but if it links to you and you to them it may be a simple link trade, and therefore not as valuable.

It’s worth remembering that Pagerank is just one way to influence your search engine rankings, but it is probably the most important. And all those tips will also generate direct traffic as well from people who click your link, so you get two traffic sources for the price of one

A search engines overall goal is to provide a searcher with the content they are seeking. There’s no point trying to cheat the results, but with a little knowledge of how a search engine works you can certainly influence them. All of Googles ranking algorithms are simply an attempt to automate the process of deciding which are quality sites, and which are not. The process isn’t perfect - but it works.

Technorati Tags: google, pagerank, seo, traffic tip

Tags: google, pagerank, seo, traffic tip

Tell A Friend systems have been around for a while, and the process is deceptively simple: the visitor recommends your site to his/her contacts.

This is a very powerful concept: It’s social marketing, to the nth degree. It can mean 2,3,4 or any visitors to your site per visitor that arrives. It can literally multiply your traffic.

Of course, not everyone will recommend their friends, so that is where an ethical bribe or two can come into play. For recommending, the visitor will receive a gift or bonus from you.

You can even direct new visitors to a special welcome page, with even more gifts, and ask them to refer their visitors too!

So this not just social marketing, it’s viral marketing.

While tell a friend boxes used to be prevalent on websites in the early days they’ve fallen into disuse lately. There is no good reason for this, yet it means the idea is not oversaturated. More chance for you!

There are various tell a friend scripts available, for free and for a fee, and there are also some commercial offerings. In fact, I’ve just come across a brand new program that does all of the above along with many more unique features. How about automatically importing the users address book for starters… Imagine the possibilities there.

Beware untried scripts: Some years ago I installed a “free” tell-a-friend at my site, and while it worked a dream it later became spyware, and tried to install more spyware and spawn popups on my visitors. The same thing happened with an exit-exchange I used at the time.

I’ll post a review of the new system soon. But this is a very useful traffic generation method you should be using on your website.

Update: As mentioned by Sean in the comments below, there’s a cool widget for wordpress, which I’ve started using. Roll over the button to see it in action

Technorati Tags: hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, tell a friend, Traffic, traffic strategy, traffic tips, visitors

Tags: hits, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, tell a friend, Traffic, traffic strategy, traffic tips, visitors

Most people are aware of the major ways to drive traffic to their sites.

The biggest and perhaps best source of traffic is the Search Engines, so SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is always an issue. Then there is writing articles, promotion via forums and blog commenting, feeds, and social networking.

But there are other lesser used methods. One is using Download Sites.

To use a download site to drive traffic you must have a product, an application or software program, to put there. Luckily you don’t need to know how to program. You can compile an eBook or create a simple tool using something like Software Maker.

Then you only need to submit that tool to major directories such as:

Download.com
Tucows.com
Versiontracker.com
Jumbo.com
freedownloadcenter.com
regnow.com
regsoft.com
5star-shareware.com
shareit.com
topshareware.com
passtheshareware.com
sharewarejunkies.com
softpedia.com
shareware.com

You can promote your website directly in your application, and even require “registration” if you wish to collect e-mails for your list.

More traffic tips soon!

Credit where credits due: I extrapolated this tip from this post in the Warrior Forums.

Technorati Tags: advertising, hits, internet marketing, promotion, seo, Traffic, traffic tip

Tags: advertising, hits, internet marketing, promotion, seo, Traffic, traffic tip

I know I said I wouldn’t mention STSE2 any more, but I couldn’t resist - because the next stage of the incredible offer is now live.

Instead of “just” getting the Stomping The Search Engines 2 DVD and a trial issue of the new “Net Effect” magazine for free, the guys are now throwing in over $10,000 worth of bonuses!

Ok. Reality Check Time. We all know these bonuses are mainly there to help sweeten the deal, and are provided for free by marketers as it’s exposure of them. It’s probably safe to say no-one in their right mind would actually pay $10,000 for this lot, either. Even though that is what it would cost were you to buy them individually. Some of these products were originally $2,000 + seminars and similiar, which is where the cost comes from. But hey - the content still rocks! In fact, many of the bonuses such as those by Rich Schefren are part of their own main businesses.

Since STSE2 is truly an awesome deal these bonuses are just the icing on the cake. If you were planning to get a copy anyway (please do!) then the extras now on offer should be a welcome gift. And if you were sitting on the fence, there’s no better time than now to take the plunge.

Remember: You only pay P&P. You get the full twin DVD pack, plus the issue of “Net Effect”. And now the bonuses!

Go to the webpage for this offer and watch the first video to see what you’ll get.

These bonuses won’t last. It’s only for the limited promotion (until Sep 15th). They all compliment the core ideals of Stompernet and mainly consist of training material you can put to choice right now.

So if you want some top-notch bonuses, on a free product, take advantage today.

Bonuses include:

Jeff Johnson’s own SEO Videos from his high-priced workshop.
Eben Pagen’s Copywriting and Persuasion training.
A Month with Ed Dale
Brad Callen’s Article Submitter Gold.
Shawn Casey’s Super Affiliate masterclass.
Yanik Silver’s “Underground Secret Society Dossier”

And much more. I won’t go on (watch the video for all the contents) but you should note from this quick review two main facts:

1. Stomping The Search Engines 2 is Free, apart from a small P&P. You can choose to cancel “The Net Effect” right away if that is what you wish.

2. The bonuses end on Sep 15th. These are NOT your average bundled-in ebooks. These are full courses, seminars, and training materials.

Go here for the videos, and to claim your copy.

You can read my original review here.

Technorati Tags: andy jenkins, brad fallon, internet marketing, marketing training, marketing video, search engine optimisation, seo, stompernet, stomping the search engines 2, Traffic

Tags: andy jenkins, brad fallon, internet marketing, marketing training, marketing video, search engine optimisation, seo, stompernet, stomping the search engines 2, Traffic

Brett Ingram has just released his new Web Traffic package.

This is a collection of tools that can help you increase the traffic to your web pages, in many unique and interesting ways. And, since traffic = profits , this is a very useful collection.

There are 15 products included in total, such as:

Give-A-Tron - How to get happy subscribers.
Intelligent 404 - Put your error pages to work
Exit Feedback Trapper - Interesting take on exit-traffic
PR Ninja - Boost your PageRank
SEO Spider - Essential competitor research
Content Clamp - Squeeze content!
Squeeze Buzz - Squeeze page maestro

Plus: a selection of top guides on List Building, Advertising and S.E.O. , the Multi Media Autoresponder software, and much more.

To see the full contents and to grab your copy, please click below:

Web Traffic Tools

(And… Shhh! …. Brett is offering 100% Commissions!)

Technorati Tags: advertising, affiliate program, affiliates, commissions, hits, home business, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, Traffic

Tags: advertising, affiliate program, affiliates, commissions, hits, home business, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, Traffic

We all know the big social networks can drive massive amounts of traffic to your own site. Unfortunately, for the small site owner, these networks tend to be dominated by big players.

The effect of the networks tend to snowball: traffic drives even more traffic. For example, the more stumbles or diggs you have, the more votes you will get.

The usual advice rarely works. Get in first with a big story, break news yourself, or have a unique page that will tweak the interest of the notorious fickle internet browsing crowd.

Luckily, there is a way to start the process off, and grab yourself a few diggs or stumbles. Swap votes with other people!

The idea is simple. In exchange for voting for someone elses site, they will vote for you.

Technically, this is an abuse of the system. The sites are supposed to rank popular pages higher, but in reality the system is already flawed. Popular sites will always rank high no matter what the content.

Here’s some sites you might want to try to get those all important first votes, and get your page rolling. These are either forums, or automated exchange services.

Please, Please, Please: Do NOT use these sites to submit spammy articles and links. I’ve listed these to help you get genuine, useful content into the systems.

The big networks that drive the most traffic are Stumbleupon, Digg, and Reddit . and most exchange sites work with these. Other networks that are often used include Yahoo Buzz, Propeller, Mixx, Technorati, Furl and Delicious.

If you want to promote a post or page, you can also include Digg, Stumble, or whatever buttons on the post to encourage visitors to vote. You can also arrange single exchanges yourself, in the popular forums covering marketing and seo topics, such as Digitalpoint. Just post your site and ask for votes.

Digible
SU Exchange
Social Traffic Exchange
Firestorm Forum
Social Exchanger
The Links Exchange
Piqqus
Stumble Swap
SU Magic
Trade Stumbles
Entrecard’s Forums

The Link Back Project

Forum Finder

Blog Engage - is a “diggg-a-like” that actively encourages bloggers to share comments, visits, etc.

Let me know of any others in the comments, and I’ll add them to the list.

Technorati Tags: advertising, digg, digg traffic, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, reddit, social networks, social traffic, stumbleupon, stumbleupon traffic, Traffic, traffic exchange, yahoo buzz

Tags: advertising, digg, digg traffic, internet marketing, marketing, promotion, reddit, social networks, social traffic, stumbleupon, stumbleupon traffic, Traffic, traffic exchange, yahoo buzz

I’ve already written a comprehensive review at this site and don’t worry - I’m not going to keep on. By now you’ve decided whether this is something that will benefit you or not.

I have been asked why I am promoting the product so enthusiastically - as I’ve only written good things about it. What are the bad things?

Well - it’s not 100% perfect, but it’s one of the best you will get. What don’t I like?

For one, it’s a video product. To be honest many people like this better, as you can kick back with a cup of coffee and absorb the information given to you. The videos are more of a slideshow format, so the cards you see on the screen in front of you always show a summary and the salient points of what is being discussed.

I myself would have liked a PDF document or a transcription as I can scan that quicker. But whatever rocks your boat

And the second “bad” point is the bundled magazine subscription. The magazine is excellent, I won’t deny that, but why market it via a trial procedure?

The fact is trial offers for magazines have, are, and always will be a very effective marketing method. It’s too expensive to produce a free magazine that is sent to your door - unless it is heavily ad supported. Paying for contributors and columnists will always take a heavy monetary cost.

This trial works by giving you a free copy, then letting you decide whether or not you want to continue. It’s try before you buy. It’s worth noting there are very few - almost none in fact - print journals that are specifically for Internet Marketers and website promoters. And as I said in the review, nothing beats a hard copy for ease of use. How many downloads do you have on your PC you’ve never read?

In any case you can cancel easily whenever you want, even before the second issue (so you won’t pay anything- ever).

I stand by my review, and if I had to give the product a rating, it would easily get 9 / 10. And that’s only because 10s should only be handed out to the best of the best, the ultimate in the field, and this field is still young.

Stomping The Search Engines 2

Technorati Tags: andy jenkins, brad fallon, internet marketing, seo, stompernet, stomping the search engines

Tags: andy jenkins, brad fallon, internet marketing, seo, stompernet, stomping the search engines