Traffic Question #2
from your traffic questions
A Noni Mouse asked:
What is the best and cheapest way to get lots of people to your website if you have no people to email your link to and you don’t want to spam?Matthew Bagley asked:
What is the best way of increasing traffic flow to your website free of charge?
10 Free Ways to Drive Traffic To A Brand New Website
Once you create a website, the next step is to get traffic! But how? You dont have an email list yet, so you cant use that method. And you dont have bottomless pockets for paid advertising. Should you just sit there and wait for people to find your new site? Certainly not! Here are 10 free ways that you can drive targeted traffic to your new website...
- Article Marketing
Write 3 articles that are related to the topic of your website. Include a brief bio and link to your website at the end of the article. Submit each of these articles to article directories, and also to webmasters and ezine owners that rank well for your keywords. - Forum Marketing
Do a search on Google for keyword+forum. If you have a pet related site, for example, search "pet forum" (without quotes). Find the top 3 forums in your niche and join each of them. DO NOT SPAM, but do set up a profile (and signature, if allowed) and post an introduction. Get involved in each of these 3 forums by posting at least one thread or response each day. This will help you gain exposure in your target market, and people will naturally be interested in your related website. - Yahoo! Answers
Go to http://answers.yahoo.com and find questions related to your niche or website. If you can provide a legitimate answer to their question, you can include your link as the resource or reference URL. Again, without spamming, if you can contribute to the community you will interest them in your related website. - Viral Marketing
Write a Report that would be of great interest to your target market, and sell it cheap. Include your bio and information about your site within the report (briefly in the Introduction, and fully in the About The Author section at the end). Offer 100% commission to Affiliates, and you will have all of your competitors sending traffic to your website for you. To make this super-easy, you can get the instructions and the script to do this (here) for only $7 - it's well worth it 😉 - Social Networking
Set up profiles at popular social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Ryze.com etc. Network with people in your niche and get established on these sites with a customized profile. It is very easy to grow your network, and people who are interested in what you offer can find you easily. If you can use "photo marketing" to your advantage (cute pet pictures for a pet site, for example), include Flickr.com in your networking list as well. - Blogging
Blogging can be considered another form of Social Networking, and enough so to be considered a stand-alone marketing technique. You want to set up a blog that is directly related to your website's topic, and post content to it frequently (3-5x/week minimum). If you have a pet store website, for example, you can create a blog on Pet Tips (dog grooming, dog training, etc). - Press Releases
You can write and submit a press release free of charge. While some websites charge to publish your press release (and this may be worth the investment!), many also offer a free submission option. You want your press release to be newsworthy, so you choose your angle carefully. Do a search on Google for press release tips. - Search Engine Marketing
Learn all that you can about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and take the necessary steps to optimize each of your web pages. It is not complicated or impossible, but there is a lot of mis-information out there about search engines. I can help you with this personally if you like (free) at my discussion forum. - Get Links!
Submit your new site to appropriate directories, and get it listed on niche resource pages. Link farms and exchanges on "link pages" are a waste of your time, but do seek out quality linking opportunities. You want a variety of links pointing to your site, not only to your main page but also to internal pages of your site as well. - Funnel Traffic From Other Sites
This strategy may require a little creativity, but you want to consider ways that you can funnel traffic from popular websites such as: craigslist, ebay, youtube, wikipedia, etc. These are very popular websites that are established and bursting at the seems with live visitors. Think of ways that you can add something of value, and (without spamming!) lure these visitors to your website.
Use these 10 strategies as your initial Action Plan. Once you complete all 10 steps, go back to the first and begin again. Consistently marketing your site in a variety of ways is the key to gaining exposure and getting a consistent flow of traffic into your website!
Have a question about Website Traffic?
Post it here: Traffic Questions!
Best,
About Lynn Terry
This post has been included on NoLibel.Com as one of 22 Killer Articles On Making Money Online. Thank you for sharing this information with the community!
Nice to see that some-one is breaking it down to simple to use steps.
I have found that by adding a monthly news letter to my subscribers that it keeps me in touch with them and builds a two way relationship so they are more likely to purchase when I use my email sales campaign.
unfortunately the forums i've joined don't allow any type of linking back to my website.
i thought forums were going to be my traffic saviour, instead i spent months posting, months developing my site, only to find out i wsn't allowed to link in anyway, shape or form.
the reason was because i have affiliate programs on my site, which would be in direct competition with the forums.
i tried to be creative and launched an article both for the readers on the forum, and on my site (blog). that got me banned, so be careful.
of course i emailed the forum first, so as to not fall foul of their rules, you have to be very careful. some forums will allow links some won't.
so now i find other blogs in my niche and leave comments. i've had some good responses so far, and someone emailed me yesterday, which could end up in a joint venture........ which is nice.
if you won't to find like minded bloogers, then do a search in technorati.com.
i believe i've put some harsh comment about article writing on Lynn's forum. it didn't really yield enough results for me to devote my time to it. for me, there were better things i could be doing.
sorry Lynn, hope i haven't put a dampener on things.
Not at all Matthew. Different things are going to work better for some sites, or in certain niches, than others.
The key is to figure out what works best for *your* site and to be consistent with your combination of marketing methods.
hi lynn
mine is about driving traffic to a "million dollar homepage" like that of alex tew using search engines.
we know search engines like content and less outgoing links from a site.
since i want my site to sell many pixels, which means many outgoing links on the homepage, which SEO technique would you recommend.
regards
Lynn,
This is a very useful post. I'd just created a couple of brand new sites and was wondering the easiest ways to drive traffic to the sites. Your post explains the simple techniquest one can adopt. I have just started using Yahoo Answers to drive traffic to a niche site and I have seen a dramatic increase in traffic.
Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome Ade, and thank you for the comment! I actually used a combination of Yahoo! Answers and niche forums to promote one of my smaller sites last year and the results were great.
Those things take time, of course, so after ideally we could find someone that enjoys the topic well enough and pay them to answer questions and become active on forums and groups - on a pay-per-link or hourly basis.
Just made a donation to the tip jar, as I enjoyed reading your traffic tip.
I'm building my list from scratch and just started a few days ago and didn't go as well as I expected but it's still early and got another life time to go.
I want to learn how to create a newsletter like this, so if you have a few minutes to spare, drop by my blog and give me some advice pleeeze!
Thanks.
Thank you, Paul!
Are you referring to my blog (clicknewz.com, which you are viewing now)? If so, I am using WordPress and the free Presscut Theme as a template.
As for lists, are you trying to build your feed subscribers or your email-based list? I'll stop by your blog and have a look around 😉
~ Lynn
Hi Lynn! What great and easy advice for people that are just starting out or anyone that just hasn't understood how to get visitors to their site! I applaud you for all your wealth of information. I know it has helped me.
Thank you Kelly 🙂
Great information. I'll have to stop back by here when I'm ready to launch my website. 😀 Thanks for sharing.
This information is great, the blog is probably the easiest thing to do. Sometimes just blogging about the struggles of getting traffic to a new website will hit home with other readers and result in new traffic.
Thanks for an informative post.
wish i read this earlier
gained a few notches on google n yahoo
*~8-)
big thanks
Thank you Lynn for sharing these simple to use steps to marketing.
I think marketers in general, myself included, forget the last point you made "Use these 10 strategies as your initial Action Plan. Once you complete all 10 steps, go back to the first and begin again. "
Thank You, Jim
You're welcome Jim - Welcome to ClickNewz 😀
And you're right... that's probably the most important step of all!
That is THE best break down I have ever seen on traffic building. And I've been at this internet marketing thing for over a month!
I like the Yahoo! Questions idea. I'll definitely look into that!
Sincerely,
Devin T.
Thank you, Devin!
Welcome to ClickNewz 😉
You're welcome!
I'd also like to point out that Wiki now has "nofollow" links...so that option is no longer an SEO way to link build.
Another way I don't think you have mentioned is through link directories. There are a few good ones out there. I've got 33 of them I have rated and reviewed into an eBook... is that kind of like a viral report?
,Devin T.
Yes, that would make a good viral report I imagine, Devin. As for wikipedia, there are a lot of other wiki's out there (just do a search) and also... those links are great for targeted traffic + yahoo search doesnt use the follow/nofollow, so its still worth it to publish your links on relevant wiki pages.
I thought all Wikis did nofollows?
You bring up some good points. I didn't know that about Yahoo! searches.
Not all, but regardless the links are still incredibly value if relevant and well-placed. And Google is the only engine that uses the follow/no-follow so there is still plenty of potential there.
Thank you. I did not know that. 🙂
Hi Lynn, just wanted to say thanks, you refered me here on your other page and it didn't even took a day to get an answer from you! thanks a lot, these tips will be really helpfull
You're most welcome 😉
Another great article by Lynn Terry. Did a Cut&Paste of the actual article for my swipe file. Would only add that last time I checked Lynn Terry was still encouraging links to her sites , so that is one place to have a link to.
I have learned that the best results comes from Articles Marketing, Highly Optimized Pages with Unique that gets indexed in no time, Links on Related sites, Blogs and Forum Posts with high PR.
Thank you for your generosity in sharing information. Generating traffic without PPC to my website is one of urgent things I decided to concentrate on. I have been burned by PPC for not knowing what I was doing so now I have no choice but get free traffic to my sites.
I am also concentrating on SEO strategies.
Again, thank you.
You're most welcome, Violet - glad you found it helpful 🙂
Good stuff Terry. I created my site 7 months ago and it has skyrocketed on Google using most of the tips you shared. My site took a nice jump when I posted a home listing on Ebay. I actually received over 1500 visitors from Ebay to my site on just that one listing! Another great tool that continues to help me is http://www.commentkahuna.com If you have not seen this please check it out. It is an incredible site that allows one to comment on high PR ranked sites in minutes and inserts your URL. I can't tell you how much I love using Comment Kahuna. Not only do I love the SEO benifit but I have learned a lot by reading some of the information posted. Thanks for a great post.
I agree George - Comment Kahuna is a cool tool. I have it myself, and have it in queue to post a full review on here at ClickNewz. Thanks!
Very cool Terry. I also found http://www.seoiseasy.com/articles_back_links.php
over month ago and wrote articles like the author suggested and I have already had 3 ezine articles shoot up to the first page of Google for the topic I chose which just thrilled me! I added my URL as the author suggested and this alone jumped my site a full page on Google. Sadly, I have seen many Realtors write articles on these sites but don't add their URL as the author suggests.
Agreed - article marketing can be a great strategy, done right. Thanks for the friends request on MySpace too, by the way - great to add you to my personal network there!
You break this down to edible pieces!! I have not thought about Forum marketing, thanks so much for the idea!!
I'm a little late in responding to this blog post but it's still a good post. These tips can still be used effectively today.
It's amazing when I think of the guys I learned from first online like Jim Daniels and Terry Dean...not much has changed when it comes to the best ways to drive free traffic - except maybe video.
I'd also recommend people pay attention to the "Funnel Traffic from Other Sites" piece Lynn put up - there is MAJOR traffic to be had from those places when done right.
Guys this is all basics and PERFECTLY passed on by Lynn. I am an experienced internet marketer and till today I use the basics. Why? Cause it works. If i may Lynn I would like to direct people to my FREE ebook on internet marketing called "Marketing Successor". This would be a great source of information for those that need some extra help. Check it out at http://www.monkeyprofit.com
Thanks Lynn, keep up the good work.
Hi How do I drive job seekers to post their resume on my new job board site, if I don't have a lot of job postings as of yet?
Which do i do first?
Top class as usual Lynn
Thank you for sharing this Vital information. I just launched my own online store and for some reason I thought this would be sooooo easy to do especially when you offer the customer a quality product. I actually thought the 1st week I opened orders would flood through and I wouldn't be able to keep up! Boy was I wrong! I've come back to down to Mother Earth now!The easy part is opening an online store The hardest part is getting customers to your store. My ranking went from 20 million to 9 million in one week hmmmm that looks promising (LOL) I will keep searching for articles like yours and Follow the Directions!
Thanks for listening!
Jenny
bring in traffic is my most difficult in my internet business. but now I have been a topic of study that you, thank you
Lynn just stumbled across your article - excellent job! I have taken a keen interest in SEO as it benefits my business greatly as a Realtor. I do many of the things you mention. Blogging of course does a lot for ones online presence.
Lynn, Thank you for this article. It is easy to understand and follow. I have missed a few steps in my own efforts, so this is a great resource for anyone looking to get traffic to their site without buying expensive products that promise a magic button of success.
Clay
PS: I wrote an short blog post about increasing page rank that compliments this post and included the link in my names hyperlink above.
As I am scanning your site I am sure learning a lot. Some of the info is very enlightening to say the least. Maybe you could write another post that explains how to our links added to "link resource pages". It would be great info to have.
Thank you.
Honestly, I dont use link pages anymore...
Startup Blogs especially have problems getting traffic and receiving comments on their blogs. When you started this blog you proberly also had a tough time receiving traffic and comments on your blog, right?
From which source do you generate most of your traffic from?
Thanks.
I use SEO & Social Media to generate the majority of my traffic. My two best sources are Google & Twitter. You can download SEO Fast Start free at http://www.seofaststart.com to learn SEO (search engine optimization).
Of course, SEO includes doing other things in the list like forum marketing, article marketing, etc.
I am trying to get traffic to my website! I purchased a seo optimization prog.thru go daddy it has helped somewhat but truthfully I don't understand a lot of it. I have tied up all my funds at this point and have no traffic.I'm sure you have heard this before.I realize i need help any ideas? what about burn your to do list? Can i really get up and running for minimal cost? THANKS:David
Download and read the guide I mentioned above:
http://www.seofaststart.com/
I do not pay for any SEO programs or services - ever. SEO is so super simple, and once you understand it basically becomes second nature as you are creating & publishing content.
Thanks for the nice guide. I have also looked into exchanging trackbacks but for some reason it isn't that effective..
I bought a fairly expensive piece of software that enables me to locate sites similar to mine, I then add links to them on my pages, send trackbacks and hope they publish them but I am getting one successful trackback every 30 submissions.
It means I then have to go back to my site and take 29 links out of 30 off.. it's a lot of work for nothing.
You'd think people want to exchange links with similar sites but nope..
This is also a recipe site I was testing it on, hardly a money making venture.
Also after a while they take my link off so I am left linking to them for nothing.
The net seems to have become a cut-throat place.
I actually use the trackback method quite successfully, though I have not invested in any software for that purpose. I'd be interested to know which software you're using.
It works best when you link to highly relevant posts with a descriptive paragraph about that post, as it relates to your own...
These are all great sources of traffic especially blogging. The SEO benefits of all of these places mentioned is also great. Finding good niche blogs that are do follow will also add some good link value over time.
What a great checklist this is, thank you. I found a few tips I need to work on. Now I'm off to read your other posts!
Nice blog you have here. I'm perusing Google University to learn about driving targeted taffic to my blog. I currently rep an MLM opportunity in domain names, and I'm truly interested in having fun and making money on the internet. I LOVE to create...love to write, love to learn the tools that allow me to create online...creativity and connecting with others drives my will for success online. I appreciate your information. It's inspiring.