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Don’t Go Broke Trying to Build an Online Business

Written by Marie on Jun 17th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

Forty Thousand Dollars Later

Are you a serial IM product buyer? Are you spending cash hand over fist in pursuit of an ideal approach to implement your business idea? Do you have a habit of buying everything you can, hoping to find the one last piece of your profit puzzle?

You’re not the only one convinced that the only way to make money involves spending it in copious quantities. Far too many Internet marketers are doing the exact same thing.

And that’s totally understandable. It makes perfect sense to purchase new information and products to keep your business rolling right along. It’s sane and sensible to invest in new strategy guides to stay abreast of changes in the industry and to get your hands on innovative ideas. Spending that money when you’re struggling is a different story.

There’s a big difference between the person who’s staying on the cutting edge of new developments and the person who’s spending like a madman in hopes of finding a magical solution that will turn things around.

You want to spend your money the smart way. You don’t want to be the person who’s spent $40,000 on IM products and still isn’t making regular sales.

Buying the Right Way

How do you prevent yourself from unnecessary overspending? It starts by building a rock-solid foundation. If you ignore the bells and whistles, you’ll see the IM is really based on a few simple premises.

You need to have something to sell. You need to have a strategy to sell that product. You need to bring traffic to your the site you’ll use to make sales.

That’s it. All of your efforts should relate to one of those basic needs.

As such, you need to focus on building strength in all three areas. When you buy something, it must directly address one of those three foundational needs.

Before you start reaching for details, tweaks, adjustments and tricks, you need to develop your core means of making online money. When you have a foundation in place, you will make money. After you’re making money, you can being looking at those extras and adjustments.

Smart Foundation Building

Getting the core of your business in place doesn’t require a massive investment. Here’s what you need to do.

 

  • Learn how Internet marketing works on a holistic, big picture level. You need to learn how things work from someone who’s spent time in the trenches.
  • Focus on ways to boost traffic. As noted, traffic is one of the three keys to a solid foundation. It’s arguably the most important component. Until you have adequate traffic, you won’t be able to find out if your products are attractive or if your copy is converting. You need to put eyeballs on your pages right away.
  • Find a source of ongoing assistance. A good ebook can be helpful. Solid tutorial videos are a great idea. However, developing a real relationship with a successful mentor is much more valuable than any ebook or video series. Good mentoring increases efficiency, makes it easier for you to build a foundation, and allows you to avoid common mistakes.
  • Don’t overexpose yourself. You want to meet your objectives without risking significant losses. Find opportunities to get the essentials at bargain prices. Find a small business coaching opportunity that doesn’t require a fat up-front commitment and that doesn’t lock you into a multi-month contract.

How and why to build an email list

Written by Marie on Jun 15th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times. The money is in the list. List marketing is probably the most powerful way to create a profitable home based business. You must learn how to build a list in order to reach your potential.

Why it works

Most people won’t open their wallets after seeing a marketing message only once. Repeated exposure is usually necessary to inspire action. The best way to reach someone more than once is by making them a part of your subscriber list.

Plus, most people are more likely to make purchases from people they feel they know and can trust. You can use emails to your list to forge a personal connection. That increases your credibility, producing more sales.

How to do it

Internet marketing is a proven winning home based business for women or men when you implement a simple squeeze page. A squeeze page is a landing page designed with a single purpose. It should persuade the reader to become part of your list. Everything else is irrelevant.

The use of a free gift is an effective way to persuade visitors to join your list. You can use this proven approach to build yourself a serious.

It’s not enough to have a good freebie, though. You also need to build your squeeze page the right way. There are certain squeeze page strategies that produce the best results. You should emulate those proven techniques. As such, you’ll want to rely on these three strategies.

Squeeze page basics

First, keep your squeeze page free of any links leading to other sites of pages. You want your squeeze page to inspire sign ups, not to provide guests with an avenue to move on to other sites or pages.

Additionally, your squeeze page should have a concise, strong message. You want your squeeze page to generate those sign ups – everything else is extraneous and will decrease effectiveness. Remember that your squeeze page is there for a single reason – to build your list. Every word on the page should serve that function.

Third, you need to treat the sign up process like a sale – you must “close the deal”. As such, your squeeze page’s sign up form should feature a powerful call to action. Make it clear to readers that they’ll benefit from the simple, free act of filling out your subscriber form.

Summary

If you follow those three recommendations and offer an attractive freebie, you’ll be well on your way to building a list. That will give you the opportunity to develop an effective relationship with prospects. It will also allow you to reach them with your marketing messages on multiple occasions.

You will take your Internet marketing efforts to the next level if you learn how to build an email list. The best marketers in the business rely on list building for a reason. The money really is in the list!


Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic

Written by Marie on Jun 13th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

There is no doubt that website traffic is critical to your business success. And nothing beats free traffic. So where do we get free traffic? Google and other search engines. But getting it done right from the start is key.

How do we get free traffic from Google?

This is something you’ve experienced first hand countless times. You load up Google or another search engine. Enter in a word or phrase you want to research. And click one of the links that shows up. Turns out that the website you visit just got free traffic from the search engine. What need to figure out is how to get you free traffic.

Most people only click results from the first couple pages. The truth is that this first page of results receives nearly all the clicks. And believe it or not, the first 3 results receive over 70% of the traffic.

So, obviously your site needs to be in the first page of results to get free traffic from Google. And this means Google needs to “rank” you as a top 10 result. And this bring us to…

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization means that Google thinks your site matches what people are typing into their search box. The formula Google uses to determine this is known only by Google. There are several factors that we do know.

Getting indexed

First, before you can get ranked highly, Google has to know you exist. This is known as being “indexed.” This is when Google looks at your site and take notes about it, which are stored in their database.

To get indexed, you have to help Google find your site. And the best way for Google to find you is to get inbound links from other sites. Because Google already knows about these sites, it will follow the new links to you.

Twitter and Facebook updates are great places to put links to your site. Google visits these sites many times every day. So any new links will be followed right away.

Gaining ranking

After this first hurdle, you need to start gaining ranking. Just getting indexed does you almost no good, considering that Google has billions of pages in their database.

Here’s what’s important in ranking:

  • Content
  • Links
  • Activity

Optimized content

This is the SEO work you do on your page. It’s critical that your page content is consistent with the keyword phrases you’re targeting. The topic of this article is clearly SEO. One way Google figures this out is from the fact that it contains the term SEO. Another reason is because there are related words, like website traffic, too.

You also need to make sure the title tags, outbound links and the domain itself match the topic of the page. These all play a part in helping Google determine what your website is about.

Your links

The second factor is your linking. The links to your site, as well as the sites you link to are important. It’s very important that you have more links coming in than you have going out. The more inbound links you have the better your ranking will be.

A very easy way to get a lot of links to your site is through article marketing. With this strategy what you do is write an article about the topic you’re targeting. You have to also write several different versions of your articles. And then upload a different versions to a bunch of sites that allow you to add content. And the more you do the better.

Increasing your activity

Finally, we know that Google gives you credit for the activity on your site. You can’t just put up a page and leave it alone and expect it to rank well. Regular content updates to your site are expected. You can do this with RSS feeds and news posts.

Comments from other people on your page are another fantastic way to keep your content updated. To get comments from others, you need to get others to visit your site. One simple method for doing this is to use forums.

Set up forum profiles with the ones related to your website. And post their often. Then put a link to your site in your profile. This gets you inbound links. And it also gets people to your web page.

Conclusion

Each step listed above is critical. Unfortunately, rewriting your articles again and again. And creating a bunch of forum profiles. And visiting all the sites to post up your comments and articles takes a really long time. And the bad news is that you probably won’t do it.

Fortunately, you can get rank builder software to do all the grunt work for you. So my best advice is to automate as much of this as you can. And then you’re sure to get it done. And if you don’t do it, you simply will not ever get free traffic from Google.


Affiliate Marketing Revised

Written by Marie on Jun 11th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

Everything you think you know about building an affiliate business is wrong. Everything you’ve been taught is simply out of date. You need to adapt and change or perish.

The promise

You’ve been told it’s easy to get started as an affiliate. This is partially true. There’s no doubt it’s easier than starting your own business. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Here’s the ugly truth

And to make matters worse, you’ve taught to do it the hard way. The first thing you’re taught is to pick some great products. Next to look for easy keywords to target. Then buy some keyword ads that send traffic to the product. And just enjoy the commissions. But it doesn’t work.

Forget keywords

There was a time when this worked. But the competition has shot the price of keywords through the roof. It’s time for a paradigm shift.

A better way

All is not lost. Here’s how to win at this game.

  • Get into cost per action marketing(explained below)
  • Do demographics research
  • Do image ad marketing

Start using CPA marketing

CPA means Cost Per Action. It’s so much easier than promoting products. Because you don’t have to get people to spend money. Your commission is generated when they complete an “action”. Entering their email into a form, for example. Which is much easier than getting them to buy something.

I teach all about cost per action in my FB Warrior Secrets course which shows you how to marketing on Facebook.

Instead of researching keywords, research demographics

Keywords are no longer relevant (you’ll see in a minute). So spend your time doing demographics research. First you select your CPA offer. Then go to a site like Quantcast.com. And research what kinds of people will be interested.

Use image ads

Now you have your offer and your demographics. You can target these exact demographics on display networks. And use images as your ads. And you don’t need to know or buy a single keyword. And you’ll save a fortune. Keyword ads are expensive, but image ads are still cheap.

Summary

This is a great way to make money fast. Because you can start CPA marketing for free. It’s much cheaper to do image ads than keyword ads. You can use demographics to target your ideal prospect. And you get paid for having them take a simple action.


7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product

Written by Marie on Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

Think about this: What is the number one reason people get online everyday? The answer is simple – they’re looking for information.

Information seeking is so huge that Google alone hosts 400,000,000 searches every day! OK, so what’s it to you? It means that you have a massive opportunity to give people exactly what they’re looking for – information. And when done correctly, you can get paid for it, too!

What is info marketing?

First, understand that this is the simplest kind of business there is. You create a product that provides information. And people pay you for the information inside it.. Pretty simple, wouldn’t you say? Here’s an example of a branding product that helps you create a product or lead driven site for residual sales.

But how does it all work?

We’ve established that it’s a simple concept. In order to be successful there has to be value in the info you’re selling. So the key is to figure out what people want. How do figure that out?

One easy way to figure it out is with a simple search. Head over to ask.com or Yahoo! answers and see what kinds of questions people are asking. You’re looking for popular questions or common themes. Something that most people don’t already know. Then just give them the answer in your ebook.

Power tip

If you’re concerned about information product development,  Put it this way: An info product is just a bunch of articles strung together or videos on a how to topic. One method is to write some articles for your blog. And when you have a collection, refine and expand on them and put them together into an ebook. Easy peasy!

So, what’s so great about ebooks? Funny you should ask . . . Here are 7 reasons for you:

1. Simplicity and ease

Once it’s built it runs pretty much on it’s own. Custom support is all but non-existent. So you can just set it up and let it run. It’s like having an automated cash machine.

You don’t have any inventory. You don’t have to ship anything. Your business is 100% digital.

2. Product combos

When you have a created a few information products. You can just combine them into a more expensive product. It’s nothing to combine the content from several ebooks. And your new product will be able to carry a much higher sticker price. People will be willing to pay a lot more for one big ebook. Versus multiple smaller ones.

3. Resellers

You can grant other people resell rights to your own products. This is a very popular topic right now, because most people simply don’t have the time, money and effort it takes to create their own products. Plus, you’re selling the same product . . . but for 3 times the price for the rights!

4. Leverage

It’s your content, so you can use it in as many different ways as you want. Use part of it to make an autoresponder series. And build an email list that you can sell other products to.

5. More leverage

Don’t stop there . . . break it into several smaller reports. Then you can use the reports as the front-end of your product funnel. You can make these low cost or even free. And it still benefits you because it in a lead-in for the main product. And if you’re really clever, you’ll let your affiliate use these reports as marketing tools. Affiliate, you say? Yes!

6. An army of affiliates

This is a real power strategy. If you’ve got products you own. You’re able to let other people market it for you. How would you like to have an army of affiliates selling your products? Well, you *need* your own product to get affiliates.

7. Joint Ventures

I’ve saved the best for last. Setting up joint ventures is the fastest way to gain success. Period. So, I’d say this is the most important reason to have you own products. Without your own products, you can’t do JVs.

Summing it up

If you’re not convinced to start selling information products, then you’ve probably been sleeping. You’ll become the ruler of your own fate. Because you’re 100% in control. So, decide to just start:

  • Head over to Yahoo! answers
  • Discover what questions are being asked
  • Start writing

Information product development really is that simple. Before you know it, you’ll have your own info product.


Using Web Audio for Success

Written by Marie on Jun 7th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

There is no doubt that web page audio significantly increases results. If you’re not using audio on your sites, you’re making a mistake. It will boost your opt-in rate. Audio increases sales.

But why?

It’s not hard to figure out. Audio breaks the silence of the web. It adds a human touch to your site. And adds the feel of a real live person. In short, it makes your site come alive. And this aliveness creates more interaction with your visitors.

Some more benefits

There are actually two profit boosts from using audio. You’ll convert more visitors into buyers. And you’ll spend less getting those customers. Instead of having to pay a professional to write you a great sales letter. You can just add your own audio. An authentic message from you will do more than the best ad copy.

You’ll get more subscribers, too. The reason this works so well is because people need to be told what to do. So you make an audio recording that says: Enter your email address in the form. A simple message like this will increase your opt-in conversions by 305% or more!

Some web audio ideas

Add a welcome to my site message on your main page. Most websites are cold and in-human. Grabbing their attention like this helps you keep them on your site.

A guided tour. Just like in the opt-in example. Use an audio message to lead your visitors through a process. And take them all the way through buying your product.

Product testimonials are great. A written testimonial is good. But what’s even better are audio testimonials. It’s pretty easy to fake a written testimonial. Using audio makes it much more believable. And that increases your results.

Here’s a bonus tip

What about creating an entire product using audio? You’ll be able to produce audio products faster than any other kind. And your customers will be very happy with the product. Podcasts are still popular, so this is a great format. And once you record the audio, you can pay someone to transcribe it for you. This much easier than writing the eBook yourself!

Is adding audio hard?

It’s actually really easy. You can find a lot of programs that create audio buttons for you. There’s no knowledge required on your part. The software records the audio, creates the button code, etc. Just paste the code you copy from the software. You don’t need to even consider this part.

Summing it up

Here’s a recap of the benefits. Setting up some web audio will do wonders for all your results. No doubt your sales will go up. You will also increase your subscriber opt-ins. And you can quickly produce products and website sales copy. You’ll be one of the few you use these strategies. But you’ll save a lot of time and money. Don’t be lazy! Add some audio today. ;-)


Sneaky Affiliate Tricks With Video Marketing

Written by Marie on Jun 5th, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

Yes affiliate marketing rocks, but it’s really hard to get started. The reason is because there is a lot of competition. What you need to do is come up with methods no one else is using. And the sea of information about this doesn’t make it any easier. But here’s one tip that almost no one is talking about.

Video marketing

You can’t deny that video is powerful. Video online is everywhere because people love it. About the only thing that keeps people’s attention anymore is video. So you can put this to great advantage in your affiliate marketing.

Examples of how to use video for affiliate marketing:

  • Record your testimonial
  • Walk-throughs
  • Record the order process
  • Sneak peak

Testimonials

This one is super simple. Just click record on your web cam and start talking. It doesn’t have to be professional or polished. Just seeing another real person endorsing a product helps your viewers decide to buy. In truth, mistakes and mess-ups just make it more believable. You can literally just press record and talk. If you don’t want to be in front of the camera use one of the other methods.

Do a video walk-through

This technique works slightly more subconsciously. Basically you’re doing a tutorial on how to use the product. And seeing it being used is a great way to make people want to buy it. If the product is useful, watching the tutorial makes them want to buy it. So pick some really helpful aspect of the product and show how to use that.

Ordering

This one is killer! Record a video of yourself actually buying the product. Watching you make a live purchase will inspire your viewer like nothing else. First, it’s social proof. In general people are more likely to something they’ve seen other people do. It also build your viewers trust. People believe you’re giving them good advice if you take that advice yourself. And let’s not forget about good old fashioned envy. They see you getting the satisfaction of making the purchase and that makes them want it. You can add additional juice to this one with: You’re gonna have to place your own order if you want to see the members area.

Do a preview video

Here’s an easy way to show the value of the product. In this case you record a screen share of the inside of the product. They get to see everything they’ll receive when they order. It also reduces the reservations of skeptics. It’s much easier to trust they’re getting something if they actually seen it.

It’s easy!

No special skills are required. Anyone can create stunning videos with some easy-to-use software. Really, the software does all the work. So you don’t have to worry about the technical part of this at all. Keep focused on the rewards:

  • More sales You’ll earn more affiliate commissions when you add video. People like video, so start using it.
  • Lower refund rates You’ll also have less of your commissions taken back. Your customers will know what they’re getting into ahead of time. So, very few of them will cancel their order.
  • Beat your competition! This is a really easy thing to do. But only a very small percentage do it. So, you’ll be way ahead of the crowd.

Take your affiliate promotions to a higher level and getting started with this now. It’s your profit that’s affected by not taking action.


Email List Building Strategies

Written by Marie on Jun 3rd, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

You need a list. That’s a given. It’s the one thing above all else that matters most. After it’s built, it’s yours to use any time you want. It’s a resource you can tap at any time and generate income.

Now you now why. Here’s how:

Here’s what you need to build your list:

  • The Squeeze Page
  • The Bribe
  • Your Confirmation Page

Your Opt-in Page – The landing page is the page that has your opt-in form on it. This page is the one that asks them for their email. This page needs to look professional. And it needs to be simple to see how to opt in. And your call to action must be clear!

The biggest mistake you can make is not having a clear call to action. This is a definitive message that tells your visitor what to do. And if you don’t include it, they won’t opt in. The funny thing is that people just don’t know what to do unless you tell them.

One way to really spice up your squeeze page is to add a compelling video to the page. This will grab your visitors attention and keep it. It also allows you to tell them what to do several times. And you can have the video just tell them to fill in your form after it’s done playing.

Now, don’t worry if you have no idea how to make videos. You can hire freelancers to do this for you for a few hundred dollars. There are also list building systems that have everything pre-built for you.

Your Bribe – The next thing you need is an incentive to subscribe to your list. People need a good reason to part with their email address. Nobody likes spam, so most people guard their email closely. So make your “bribe” a good one!

The key to a good bribe is that is has value. It has to be something that people actually want. And something from which they can derive a benefit. Here’s some examples:

  • A free report
  • Some useful software
  • A video
  • An email training series

You’ve got to create some great content. Something that’s useful and helpful to your visitors. And of course it has to be free. But to get the email, it’s got to be a good offer.

If you’re worried about creating this content, don’t be. Here again, you can hire freelancers to create this for you. Simply tell them what the topic is and they can write the content. One easy and effective bribe is a 5-part email training series. Each email will cost between $20 and $25. So, you’ll get the whole series written for under $150.

There are also list building products that include the follow up email series. Two things to keep in mind when writing (or buying) and email training series. The first thing is that it delivers value to your subscribers. And it’s nice if it earns you some money, too. ;-) One very easy way to make some money from your list is with affiliate marketing. Affiliate products are easy because you don’t have to do anything at all. And you can earn some commissions immediately from your emails.

Your Confirmation Page – The last bit is the thank you page. This is the page your subscriber sees after they opt in. A great thing to do here is provide some immediate value. That way, they feel glad that they gave you their email address. And it helps you establish the relationship. It also makes them more likely to open your emails.

This is another case where you can get a complete marketing package. You can also put the whole thing together on your own. And do your own writing for this content. Or pay a freelancer to write the content for you.

Summary

It makes no difference whether you build your opt-in, bribe and thank you page. Or pay a freelancer to write produce it all for you. Or if you get a ready-done package. It’s just important that you start today building your opt-in list. Once you’ve got it built. You can basically write your own meal ticket.


Affiliate Business Tips

Written by Marie on Jun 1st, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

If you’re not preselling, you’re losing money

If you want to make more money as an affiliate, you must presell and that’s where great training comes into play..

Before we begin, we need to first define what preselling is. Preselling is both an art and a science. It’s a process of taking your reader and getting them ready to buy. Then you send them to the site that sells what you’ve prepared them for. If you do it well, it’s completely invisible.

In a nutshell, you provide value. And give them a link to the product you’re preselling. In just a minute, I’ll explain exactly how to presell. Before we get into that, you should understand what’s in it for you. Here are a few benefits of preselling:

  • Preselling creates trust – And gaining the trust of your readers helps them want to click your links. Which obviously means you’ll make more sales.
  • It disarms your reader – When you’re preselling vs. pitching, you’re reader doesn’t feel the need to be guarded. Unguarded reading means they’re not filtering what you say. And your intention is conveyed more easily.
  • It puts them in a buying mood – Your readers are now receiving your message. Being open means, they are open to everything you give them. For example, the sales message on the page you’re linking to. Sending them to the sales page in this state makes them more receptive to the actual pitch.
  • It increases your sales – You’ve prepped them and referred them in the right state of mind. Open to the sales message and feeling safe. The only possible result is more sales!
  • It increases customer satisfaction – People like to make their own buying decisions. Instead of being manipulated into buying. So they are happier with their purchase.
  • Preselling increases your bottom line – A satisfied customer doesn’t ask for a refund. Less refunds means more affiliate money stays in your pocket.

The need to presell is clear. You increase your profits. Your customers are happier. It’s a win-win-win!

OK, so how do you do it?

OK, now you understand why it’s so important. And hopefully you’re convinced you need to start doing it. So, it’s time to break down how it works. Like we talked about before, it’s an art. And it’s a science.

Becoming an artist

Effective preselling requires gaining your readers trust in order for them to let down their guard. And the only method of doing this is to give exceptional value to your readers. The art of this is to provide enough information to be of value, but not enough to satiate the hunger. The idea is that they want more and the sales page you send them to gives them more. And since they’re more open, they are more likely to make a purchase.

The science component

There are also several key elements that need to be included.

The first is how you present the information. You’ve got to map out your strategy before you start writing. Your end goal is to make a sale of the product you’re preselling. You use the information to do this in one of two ways. The first method is to provide enough info to get them started, but not enough to finish. The second way is to provide all the information and let your reader discover how hard it is to actually implement it. Either way, the product sales page solves the problem.

Next, you have to use “convert linking” methods. Instead, you use a direct link to the product website. This increases your clicks. But, without your affiliate link, how do you get credit? Well, that’s part of the science of this whole process. You “pre-cookie” your reader before sending them to the sales page.

You also want to link to the sales page from inside your article’s content. It’s habitual to click on words and phrases that are hyperlinked. And when the words are in context like this, it makes perfect sense for your reader to click them.

What you have now is a super powerful system for affiliate marketing success.

Now for the bad news…

This process is not easy – at all! Let’s look at the skills required to pull it off: Great content. First and foremost, you have to be able to write a great article that provides valuable information. This means you have to be able to write well, and have enough knowledge to be useful. Strategic writing. First, you have to give good information. And you have to make the content accessible in order to provide value. And still leave them wanting more. The other approach is to reveal a self-evident problem through the information.

Choosing your products. You also need to determine what products you’ll be preselling. Even if you can pull off writing and great article. All your efforts are wasted if you send your reader to the wrong sales letter.

Techie stuff. And finally, you need the technical know-how to embed your image tag and make sure you get credit for the sale. This is fairly simple – you use a 1 X 1 image and set the “source” to your affiliate link. (But if you do it wrong, you won’t get paid for the traffic you send.)

Summary:

Now you know exactly how to presell effectively. And doing this increases your affiliate commissions by over 500%! It’s absolutely critical to do this every time – and to do it correctly. Take action now. Put in the effort to reap the greater rewards.


Traffic Generation Tips

Written by Marie on May 31st, 2011 | Filed under: All Posts, Internet Marketing

If you’ve got traffic coming to your site, you’re 99% there. Of course you also need to have a valuable offer for your visitors – a reason for them to transact with you. Once the visitors arrive you can have them join your mailing list, purchase a product or subscribe to your RSS feed. The important thing is getting the traffic and sustaining it.

How, then do you get traffic to your site?

Here’s a short list of great, free traffic generating methods:

  • Web 2.0 Methods
  • Articles Directories
  • Video

And here’s how to use each method…

Web 2.0 Methods

The term “Web 2.0″ is associated with websites that facilitate interactive information sharing and collaboration in a social media setting. What this means for you is that you can join into the community and add your own content. The other interesting thing about these sites is that all the search engines (including Google) treat them as “authority sites”. The benefit of this to you is that your content is now considered as part of these sites. And any links in your content that point to your own sites count as a strong “vote” in favor of your sites – lending you credibility in the search engines. That’s the real benefit of adding content to this sites – search engine ranking means ongoing free traffic. Getting free web 2.0 traffic is a big topic that we’ll discuss more later. This is good overview of the reason to get into it, though.

Article Websites

The natural next topic is article marketing. This is because article websites are really web 2.0 site. Just like web 2.0 sites, article websites allow you to upload your own content – as articles. And just like other web 2.0 sites, you get all the SEO benefits from having your content on them. And in addition to this, other users can take your article and place it on their own website. And along with your article, they have to include your author information and a link back to you – so you get more free traffic and SEO benefits. If you want to generate traffic from articles follow these steps:

  • Do your keyword research
  • Write your article for the keywords you’ve chosen
  • Use anchor text links in the article and the “resource box”

Video Marketing

Our discussion would not be complete without talking about video. Just like article directories, video sharing sites also rely on user-generated content. And just as article directories give you great SEO benefits and allow others to redistribute your content on their sites. video sharing sites give you all these same benefits. And in addition to this, because Google and the others love video so much, you can get listed for highly competitive keywords much more easily.

Here’s how to get free traffic using video…

  • Set up your YouTube account
  • Turn off all the modules in your account profile
  • Use the tags in your profile to enter the keywords you want to rank for
  • Include a link to your main site in your profile
  • Add 1 or more videos to your profile
  • In the title, the description and the tags for each video, include your main keywords

Summary:

This is a great overview to get your started generating massive traffic to your site.