Copyright 2006 Angela Booth
Millions of people are online, and all those people mean you've got hundreds of thousands of potential customers who are looking for your products and services. Your site should get around 500 visitors a day without spending a cent on advertising. However, the number one question I get from Web site owners is: how do I get more traffic?
Here are the top ten ways to market your Web site. I guarantee you, if you use all these tactics you'll get at least 500 visitors a day within a couple of weeks. From there, if you keep implementing the tactics, your traffic will grow into a flood, and you'll have more business than you can handle.
=> 1. Send out press releases
Word for word, press releases give unbelievable value -- more value than any other tactic you could use to promote your business. And yet, many business owners don't use press releases. One owner told me: "It makes me look as if I'm begging for attention..."
I've been a tech journalist for years, and as a journalist, I scan news releases eagerly. I want a story! I need news, and I need it every day. If you send me a news release, I'm grateful. I might not use your story, but the next time I hear your business's name, I'll remember it. If you keep sending me story ideas, sooner or later I will get in touch, either to interview you for a story I'm writing, or to do a story on your business.
Sites like PRWeb will publish your news release free. Use this incredible publicity resource.
=> 2. Write articles
Articles are content, and the Web thrives on content. If you write an article a week, and publish it on several of the many article directories online, you'll drive traffic to your business.
=> 3. Network -- use your friends, family and colleagues and THEIR friends etc
Got friends? Of course you have. You've got friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Use your address book. Send out a message which says: "Hey -- have you seen my new site? I'm trying to get the news out about it, and would appreciate it if you'd visit, and would let your friends know about the site too. Thanks."
See? Easy.
=> 4. Classified ads in newspapers
Take out a weekly classified ad in your local newspaper with your site's name and URL, and a one-sentence description of the site.
=> 5. Get more content onto your site: blog
The search engines are indexing software. They need words to index. Google especially loves blogs. So start a blog on your site, and blog several times a week. Think of your blog as a "News" page for your site.
=> 6. Run a contest
Everyone loves contests. Run a contest on your site, with an Apple iPod as the prize, and you'll get lots of traffic.
=> 7. Use the social networking sites
There are dozens of social networking sites online. The best known is MySpace, but there are many others, like Gather and Ryze. Join one of these sites. Network.
=> 8. Word Of Mouth (WOM)
There's a saying that you can't buy WOM. Well, guess what? You can. Develop a process in which you reward WOM. You could offer ten per cent off your services to anyone who introduces three friends. Or ten per cent off a product, if the buyer buys a gift token too. There are many ways you can encourage people to spread the word about your site.
=> 9. Join barter networks
Barter networks are deservedly popular. Join a business barter network, and barter products and services for what you need. You're doing it not as much for the benefits of saving money, you're doing it to spread the word about your business and Web site.
=> 10. Barter advertising
There are many business networks which barter advertising through the network. You can run banner advertising on others' sites, and run banners for them on your own.
"Banner exchanges" were all the rage five years ago, and people went mad with them. This led to banners becoming ineffective. Don't join a large network. Join a small network, or start a small network yourself. Don't run more than one banner on any page.
There you have it. Ten ways to get traffic to your site. These methods work. Please try them, and become a business owner who has no trouble generating traffic.
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Angela Booth is a veteran copywriter and marketing expert. She writes Web site copy and content, and develops marketing plans for Web sites. Visit her creative copywriting site at
http://angelabooth.com/ and her Creativity Factory marketing copywriting blog at
http://www.angelabooth.com/wp/
