DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITES OR OFFERS TIPS

    INTRODUCTION

 One thing I quickly realized when I got started online was the fact I needed to generate quite a lot of traffic to my websites if I was to make any money online.

 In the early days I fell for the paid traffic scams that promised a huge amount of traffic for a small investment! None of those methods delivered any results, the ‘hit’s were probably automated or from visotors that were so un-targeted that they would never bring any real results.

 So I tried my hand at PPC (Pay Per Click) traffic, mostly Google AdWords, with that comes a whole new level of stress, first of all you have to set up your campaign, have it approved, bid for keywords, track results, etc.

 This was something I was never able to turn into a profit as I was always having to pay over 50 cents per click for decent keywords. So after losing a few thousand dollars and wasting hundreds of hours researching and testing I decided I wasn’t going to pay for my traffic. 

Then I tried my hand at SEO. (Search Engine Optimization) Unfortunately, with the vast amount of competition out there, there’s just no easy way to approach SEO.

 Plus I have heard horror stories of people spending years perfecting an SEO method that starts to bring results only to see the mighty Google change its algorithm and the traffic stops overnight. 

 You see, the problem with paid traffic and organic search engine traffic is it can disappear overnight. If you remember the famous Google slap a few years ago that basically put thousands of marketers out of business overnight by making PPC keywords so expensive they couldn’t be bid on you will know what I mean. 

 Then we’ve had the famous penguin and panda updates that have seen poor quality websites disappear off the search results altogether. While this is not a bad thing if you provide quality content it did kill off thousands of businesses. 

 Thankfully I don’t have to worry too much about anything the mighty Google does, in fact Google could close tomorrow and it would have very little impact on the amount of traffic I receive. 

That’s because I have learned tons of traffic generation methods that bring in thousands of visitors to my websites every single day and most of them don’t involve Google, and it’s these methods that I want to share with you in this eBook.

 In fact, once you learn my proven techniques for traffic generation, you will be worlds ahead of the web amateurs who want to buy their way to real success. 

(Someone I used to be) Once you finish this book, you will be capable of generating thousands of visitors per day to your websites and you wont owe anyone a cent! Let’s get started... 

You’ve Built It…But They Will Not Come! 

 Didn’t the old expression go, “If you build it…they will come?” Yes, so imagine how disappointed website owners are when they spend thousands of dollars on a new website (probably complete with flashy animation, cool artwork, tons of photos and a great online store)and yet no one comes. It’s discouraging enough to kill a web marketing campaign entirely.

 However, it’s important to understand that building a website is merely "step one". Creating great content is "step two", and then there all of the steps afterwards, and this is what many website owners forget. 

Creating a website is just the first part of an aggressive campaign of content development, community outreach and linkbuilding. So, if you have created a website (perhaps even overseen its development for a few years) and yet things are stalled as far as traffic, it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy. 

Understanding the Role of the Website 

 One common misconception is that a website is like a brick and mortar store built right in front of a crowded highway. Chances are, if you build a McDonald’s in front of an old highway you’re going to get some decent foot traffic, because they all see the development. However, a website’s development is practically invisible to the masses, unless you happen to buy the “JustinBieber.com” domain. 

 Instead, websites have to be "discovered" and there are only a handful of ways to do this for free. Furthermore, the website is not the catch-all solution that web hosting companies and marketers make it out to be. A business website is just one avenue in a complete set of business applications that can be used online. In the coming chapters, we are going to discuss multiple traffic generation methods that can be exploited, and all without you having to spend more than a couple of dollars.

 How Websites Are Found by Search Engines 

 A refresher course on how websites are discovered may prove helpful as you start your free traffic campaign. No website is instantly “Googleable”. Rather, a site’s content is written and then you as the webmaster will "inform" the major search engines that there is new content to “crawl” and then “index.” Based on each search engine’s unique algorithm, your site will then be ranked and your Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) returned based upon keyword requests from users. 

The question is: "How do you get the attention of search engines?"

 When the Internet was young, the best way to do it was to simply submit your URL to a search engine’s “Suggest” page. However, times have changed and there are simply too many sites and too many pages to take into consideration. Now, companies prefer that you notify search crawlers by way of “pinging” search engines when new content is available. There is an automatic way to do this (which we will discuss a little later), as well as a manual submission method involving visiting the site you want to be indexed by, and submitting your sitemap document.

 Keep in mind that just because a search engine has been “pinged” does not mean you’re going to get the royal treatment. While some popular sites and search-friendly sites have the privilege of practically “live” search results, less popular, new and rarely updated sites will only be crawled and indexed on a periodic basis.

 For that matter, if your optimization methods are poor, you may actually be listed…but appear far down in the rankings that you might as well not be listed at all. This usually happens when you disregard advice about proper "optimization" techniques. For example

: • Each page should have a proper title; 

• Each page should contain meta tags and descriptions; 

• The domain should be keyword friendly; and

 • The website should be updated on a regular basis.

 You also have to remember that some search engines customize their own SERPs. Thus, while Yahoo is powered by Bing, results can vary. Yahoo definitely plays favorites and favors websites that: (A) pay the Yahoo business listing fee, and (B) link to multiple subdirectories within the Yahoo URL universe. Many search engines are powered by Google, but actually individualize search results based on various algorithm "tweaks", and their own human editors’ judgments. 

There are multiple factors a search engine application will consider when listing your site for various domains 

and they can include everything from content-centric reasons, to keyword usage, to local interests or even personal affronts—that’s right, you can inadvertently annoy the search engines and they will penalize you! 

Free Vs. Paid Traffic 

 Of course, this book is about free traffic generation, but just in case you’re second guessing the decision to buy traffic outright, let’s just cover the basics. 

 Paid guaranteed traffic is 99% scam. Sure, there is a 1% variable in there somewhere, however, statistics show that if you force users to view your website (usually through black-handed techniques like URL hijacking, malware installations, 

pop up ads and the works), they are NOT going to be the least bit interested in what you have to offer. Unfortunately, this is what most paid traffic sites give you.

 You can also take the commercial traffic approach and blindly advertise your website with local signage, TV/movie commercials, print publications, radio spots or even banner ads on a major search engine. True, you will get guaranteed views…but there is no telling whether you will connect with your audience. 

 The best way to market your website is through text related content (or SEO, to generalize a term), because this means targeted advertising. You only interact with traffic that admits to being interested in your products or services. Statistically, this is a no brainer. You are directly connecting with your best audience. All that matters now is the presentation.

 Building Your Traffic Generation Strategy

 In the next chapter, we are going to discuss why Search Engine Optimization is the best technique for web advertising. This will be followed by a discussion of other online avenues.

 Long before you start trying these techniques, however, it is important to build an effective traffic generation strategy. Consider it a sort of mini-business plan, focusing exclusively on your online marketing methods. Without a traffic generation strategy, you will not really understand how effective your marketing is…nor will you be able to figure out the ROI - Return On Investment - for all of your time spent. 

Your basic need here is to create a comprehensive plan, and then track your success, just as you would with an operational business plan. Based on the results you observe, you will be able to determine your next course of action. 

 Truthfully, (and as we are going to emphasize in this book) the best way to approach any marketing strategy is to work on as many traffic generation methods as possible, rather than intensifying efforts in one area—a plan that could very well backfire. (It’s the old, all your eggs in one basket analogy)

 You want a complete web marketing plan that is going to establish your website through diversified content development and linkbuilding.

 Ultimately, the Internet is only a collection of connected links. Within your site are a number of internal pages that allow viewers and search robots to find all the pages available. When your site links to another site via an external link, more connections are made, making it easier for people to discover you through this large collection of links. It’s basically a computerized version of the whole “friend of a friend of a friend” dynamic. 

 You want your company, indeed, your brand, to be all over the place—all over the Internet! This is precisely what huge websites like Wal-Mart, NBC, Disney, Exxon-Mobile and so on have. They spread themselves thick and they do it everywhere. So let’s discuss how to do just that!

 Steps to a Successful Traffic Generation Plan 

Step 1: Develop a complete step-by-step strategy, based on the information we are going to uncover in Chapter 2-6. 

 Step 2: Create a list of realistic goals, specific and based on your online progress. (i.e. total number of links, PR rank, #1 for targeted keywords, total traffic, sales conversions, leads, total sales, profit in sales, etc.) 

 Step 3: Create a means of tracking investment for time spent, any expenses you use, and compare profit/loss to determine if you are generating cash flow.

 Step 4: Install analytics software on your site; either through individually pasting code into each page, or installing an application that analyzes your log files. Note trends and discuss these with your leadership team. Most web hosts offer site analytics for free, though Google also has its own 

 Step 5: When you are ready to begin the campaign, make changes to your site (based on our upcoming recommendations) and notice positive trends that you can capitalize on.

Search Engine Optimization—Keywording Your Way to More Traffic 

 Without SEO (Search Engine Optimization) your site is nothing but a store in the middle of the desert. You know it’s great, and anyone who happens to be in the middle of the desert also sees its great features. However, until word of mouth gets around, your site is stuck in virtual limbo. This is the entire basis of SEO theory—that you must reach out to your audience.

 Sure, you could take a traditional advertising approach and post a banner ad or an offline ad but when you do so, you are losing one of the best advantages of SEO—targeted advertising. Targeted advertising means you maximize your time and investment by only selling to customers who have already indicated a strong interest in the products you sell. Enter the search engine (Google, Yahoo and Bing), the only true way to reach targeted traffic. 

You target, or qualify, your audience by the keywords you focus on. Each search engine company has a web crawler application that scours the Internet looking for fresh new content. As the search engine finds new content, it will “index” each of the pages found, saving the content in a large database. And if the Internet truly were omnipresent it would be an awesome thing. Unfortunately

 for new webmasters, the Internet entity is not all knowing and does not have access to every computer in the world. No, this emphasizes the point that you must alert the search engines whenever you publish new content.

 We’ll talk a little more about this later. For now, just try to grasp the concept of a worldwide series of link connections, which is basically what the Internet is. When you create a link, you create a connection to another website page. It is essential to understand that without links (yes, even linking your own pages together) no search engine can possibly find you. Therefore, effective linkbuilding and properly formatted HTML pages are just as important as the development of new content. 

At this stage, your reader types in a keyword request into the search engine and based on this request (how it matches with text content within your webpage) the search engine is going to send back SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages. What determines which websites are ranked higher than others? 

This is indeed a contentious issue in the world of advertising, as most of the major search engines are intentionally vague about what factors their “algorithms” consider. Still, the overwhelming message is clear: if you want to be highly ranked (and everyone does, since most users never even click past the first two pages) you must develop high quality content. That brings us to the first point of effective SEO marketing. 

Creating New Website Content 

 The best way to be noticed by search engines and to reach your audience to is create excellent content. Now we’re not going to spend dozens of pages taking baby steps. You probably already know the difference between good content and low quality, keyword-inflated “fluff”.

 Good content is: 

 • Professional (Grammatically correct and with proper spelling) 

• Readable (In the same sense as news articles or magazine articles)

 • Informative (Teaches the audience something about the subject) 

• Entertaining or Conversational (Not merely dry information) 

• Original (Is not merely a copy of another article) You know good content when you read it because the language is riveting—it keeps you interested.

 This is the type of writing that is rewarded—and that’s regardless of how many “Panda” or “Penguin” algorithm updates are invented.

 More and more, we see evidence that low quality sites, particularly content mills and some article directories (notorious for low quality “expert articles”) are being penalized by rapidly improving search engines. It’s important to remember that search engine companies are striving to invent artificial intelligence with their algorithm changes, so that robots can start picking up on poor quality writing, as well as other unethical practices.

 Poor quality content is very quickly losing its value online. Customers are not finding it helpful and in turn, search engines are burying the pages (and in some cases the entire site) in SERPs. 

 What is poor quality content?

 Who is to say what is low quality content and what is “magazine” or “expert quality” writing? Poor quality writing can be identified by the following trademarks. 

• Many sentences that merely take up space 

• Various grammar or spelling errors 

• Hyperbole and “sales” type writing rather than thorough coverage

 • Common knowledge rather than expert insider tips 

Here we see what is at the root of the problem: lazy writers and company heads that really don’t care enough about human traffic. 

They prefer to play games with “robots” (the web crawlers looking for keywords) rather than to create interesting and lively content. So ask yourself, “Is the content I am paying for or writing about truly informative? Is it written for human beings, just as a magazine or a newspaper article?” We can safely say that if you’re planning to launch an SEO campaign built on high keyword density and “filler” articles, you are wasting big money! 

Your readership is demanding…don’t let them down! 

The Importance of Proper Keyword Strategy

 Not only should you be striving for higher content but you should also be focusing on popular and niche keyword phrases.

 After all, regardless of what great content you come up with, if you don’t strategize with your keywords you are not going to reach that targeted audience. Targeting your traffic is key…otherwise, you might as well be buying mindless, redirect traffic.

 (You know the type of user that closes your window before he or she even reads the first line) Devote some time to keyword research using a Google keyword research tool or any number of other research applications. It is best to factor in all avenues including:

 • Estimating what phrases your customers search for; 

• Viewing the chosen keywords of your competitors; 

• Looking up low competition keywords;

 • Looking up high request keywords; 

• Taking online or offline surveys of some of the market segment;

 • Researching keywords that tie seamlessly into a sales presentation; 

• Keywords for local area traffic; an 

• Niche keywords or “long tail keywords” (long phrases or entire sentences). 

Once you determine the most important keywords to your campaign, you can begin building content. It is far better to use this approach rather than prepaying for content and then trying to work in strange keyword phrases in at the last minute. Search engines place high priority on articles and features that read “naturally.”

 This is an important factor to remember when planning keyword density. In the past, a high density of 5% or more was acceptable. This manipulated outdated algorithms and helped build site popularity in a short period of time. However, the newest algorithm updates penalize sites for the practice of “over-optimizing.” Besides the implication of low quality writing (or “recycled writing”), that phrase likely refers to the overuse of keywords.

 Ideally, high quality writing does not require “keyword density.” Quality writing is governed by the theory of natural repetition—using recurring words and statements only for emphasis. This was a flaw of the early Internet world, which could only index webpages based on their page titles and high density of recurring keyword phrases. 

The newest algorithm updates seek to correct this issue and actually penalize websites that needlessly increase keyword repetition. Your safest bet is to research your keywords carefully and aim for below 1% density—whatever the article dictates based on intelligent human reading. So let’s say you’ve got the writing and the keyword research down pat. What comes next? Beware that improper optimization techniques are not bringing down your otherwise ready website. Let’s talk about consistency.

 Free Content Management Systems

 One of the most common problems of yesterday was keeping up consistency in all of your web pages. On any given page, you could find issues with broken links, improperly formatted text, badly devised HTML (which could easily block communications with search engines) and even complex issues of canonicalization (or bad domain pages). 

It was a headache for sure…and this type of mess drove some companies to pay thousands of dollars to a webmaster to take care of all web related issues. Times have changed! What Windows and Mac OS did for operating systems, now CMS (Content Management Systems) are doing for building a website. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are the top quick build sites and they go one step further than the old Front Page Express tool (or MS Word), which used WYSIWYG technology.

 With CMS, you don’t simply cut and paste…you standardize the entire site by way of a customizable template. 

You can customize, add or change with ease, and without having to individually create pages. Besides convenience and, of course the fact that CMS is completely free, the second best reason to create a CMS generated site is because of traffic-generation features. For example, installing a WordPress site provides these advantages: 

• You can automatically insert META tags just by typing; 

• You can easily name page titles and highlight subtitles, both crucial for SEO;

 • Auto canonicalization and link creation of all pages;

 • Auto plugins for search engine submission;

 • Auto integration of your site to your other pages (like social network pages); 

and

 • Automatic conversion from website to mobile website.

 Lastly, using WordPress for creating an official website or a blog site can benefit you because of the site’s huge popularity overall, and their link popularity. Both of these factors are important in establishing high SERPs. Using link positive associations for your site, like the top 10 in the world caliber WordPress site, 

can only help you, whereas staying in the virtual ghetto of a small webhosting company using only a simple WYSIWYG editor will not do you any favors.

 Free content management tools will make it easy for you to create, save, edit and publish new content for sales copy (your pages) as well as for posting content.

 Creating a Blog(s)

 That brings us to the next question. Should you start a blog or should you be content to create multiple posts on your website? Blog posts, in general, are company sponsored articles that are often (A) conversational, (B) highly focused, and (C) of higher quality, representing the company’s expert opinion. There is no real philosophical difference between a blog or a web article (or a directory article for that matter). It’s simply that some users hold their most in-depth posts for blogs, as blogs have a certain prestige to them when it comes to search engine friendliness. (According to many in the SEO industry, blogs are actually considered a more reliable source of information than article directories, as they have more quality control)

 Some websites will differentiate their blog from their website posts by either creating a subdomain within the same site, or by starting a blog at a free site like Blogger.com. True, creating an external blog site may help you create more quality links…but creating a blog domain within your own website will help you with domain leverage, very important in matching keyword requests.

 When writing a blog, and with a specific eye towards traffic building, be sure to tag your blogs, not only going after mainstream traffic but also targeted traffic—as if qualifying the readers who are going to eventually find your blog. They may stumble upon your site and then bookmark it, visiting it to see whenever you publish new content. They can even configure their computer of choice to receive automatic updates as soon as you publish new content via an RSS feed.

 Of course, this is dependent on playing it smart and focusing your attention on your blog. If you blog about random things, without any sense of structure, you will never build a large audience base. By focusing your theme, and discussing one industry or one avenue of your industry (even better), you can build niche traffic and eventually start a relationship with your readers, who will soon take your blog as a legitimate source for new information. 

 Blog Commenting, Blog Hopping and Blog Guest Hosting 

 Starting a collective of “fans” is what is meant by the term blog hopping. Like any niche market, you may find that the people who do discover you will remain loyal—and perhaps even befriend one another—as bonds form easily when there is a common thread. Take full advantage of this and make every attempt to be accommodating. 

We are going to consider social media marketing in the next chapter, and this is where we will really discuss being very outgoing. That said, even in the context of a blog, where your main concern is creating valuable content, do everything you can to encourage the creation of a community.

 Always create posts that ask questions of the audience and encourage interaction. When someone replies to the post, make an attempt to follow up on that person’s thoughts. Always remain respectful of others, even if you plan to use controversy and disagreement to your advantage. People actually love to argue…they want to feel as if they have a voice in this public forum. 

They can earn publicity through your blog while also showcasing their own abilities. (The only exception…don’t be so generous with spammers. Spammers leave nonsensical comments in the hopes of establishing cheap links...they do no one any good and may actually chase away your real readers.) Not only should you try to follow up on comments, but you should also try to reach out to the blogging community and comment on your visitors’ own blogs. 

If you use a system like Blogger, or even WordPress, you can easily link your site to the other bloggers’ sites, and everyone can benefit from the mutual exchange. Before you know it, friends of friends bookmark your blog (or simply click their way to it through mutual friends) and you have a big party line.

 Make no mistake; this is the secret to blog traffic—not simply writing great content. Do you ever notice how all the top blogs on the Internet (that is, quality writing blogs…not celebrity blogs!) are filled with comments? They are on top because they stimulate conversation among a devoted audience.

 Article Directory Marketing

 Article directory marketing refers to the process of writing articles for top ranked directory sites. These directories don’t really have a theme…they are a virtual playground of knowledge where practically anyone can write on a topic and receive expert accreditation. In a way, they are no different from blogs (at least when it comes to writing technique) besides the fact that they are located on a neutral site and thus cannot blatantly advertise the user’s company.

 (Instead, writers/site owners receive one or two links in exchange for an article) Within a matter of months, a site could create hundreds of backlinks, and thus earn the attention of Google. (Oh yes, you will get their attention… but…) 

 Just a few years ago, article marketing was the all the rage. Linkbuilding (which is basically the process of building links across the Internet that lead back to your site) was of vital importance, and while links do matter, recent algorithm updates have changed the way links are counted—particularly “low quality links”

. One of the easiest ways to identify low quality links, or so thought Google in May 2012, was to discriminate against the article directory website. It’s easy to see why Google made that assumption, even though it might not be entirely fair. While there are some quality features on article directory sites, many other low quality pages can pollute the site and bring the search rankings down. Article directories claim to have an editorial process, and truth be told, you can still find some top rated SERPs from article directory pages. 

However, experts within SEO have noticed a trend of article directory penalization. So, the safest thing to do is to diversify your linking strategy, perhaps investing a little bit in article directory marketing, as well as blogs, guest blogs, and press releases.

 Press Releases 

 Press releases are articles that are written solely for news purposes, and are intended to get attention from editors, website owners, agents, and all sorts of other news sources. Whereas writing a press release that gets picked up by a national magazine is somewhat difficult, writing a press release that passes online syndication’s standards is fairly easy.

 Press releases have to be: 

 • In professional article format, not conversional text or sales copy; 

• Newsworthy, as in a mainstream news story; and

 • State an item and then provide increasing detail with a link and contact information.

 Press release distributors will not pick up poorly written press releases, and this is an especially rotten feeling to experience—especially if you’ve spent big money on press release distribution. (Some sources like PRWeb charge upwards $200 for each submission.) The good news is that a press release can easily make the “news” tab and receive maximum exposure in a small period of time, if it is deemed truly newsworthy.

 Topics for news angles could include subjects like inventive new products, customer incentives, celebrity endorsements, big name client signings, news trends, charity partnerships, and the like. Stuff that would actually make the news and not just a conversation between search bot and WordPress! In fact, sources like Yahoo and Google only pick up popular stories that are published and syndicated. 

Most of the top press release distribution sites don’t archive old press releases, and so are limited to 30 days of maximum exposure. Some press release sites do archive old stories permanently and these are usually free sites, not major publicity companies. Still, free press release submission can certainly help you build quality links, and certainly cannot hurt your standing as long as you keep the content high caliber.

 Choosing Your Links Wisely Last but not least, let’s share an important lesson about linkbuilding before you start spreading links everywhere you go. It’s not the quantity of links that matter but the quality. This means not only paying close attention to the article writing itself, but also to the anchor text (as in keyword placement and not just “click here to learn more!”) and to the site you are linking to. The search engines are looking for quality links all around so you do have to protect your reputation.

 Search engines can actually penalize you for hanging out with the “wrong crowd”, and that could include anything from poorly ranked article directories to spam sites or content mills, backdoor sites, plagiarists (or “scrapers”) and even web hosting companies that support such unethical sites. So, think twice before you so generously accept a random person’s request to exchange links. Your own reputation is on the line. Sometimes a new company site can have more leverage than a site that has suffered massive search engine penalties. In the next chapter, we’re going take SEO into the new age…the age of fast, accessible and fun social networking.