Promoting Your Website Business...

Now that you have managed to purchase or build your own website business, whats next? In order to succeed online, you will need to apply some sort of website promotion so that your website will be visible to anyone searching the Internet for your type of product, niche, or service. It is a popular belief that all websites are searchable by search engines, but it is not as simple as one may think. Website promotion can require a lot of work.


Website promotion suggests that submitting your site to directories first is more important than submitting to search engines. These two are different in such a way that sites submitted to directories are only approved if it has high quality and useful content, where search engines will just simply accept submissions of sites or pages. In submitting a website to a directory, make sure that you read and follow the directory’s rules, policies and instructions. Keep in mind that the editors will do a thorough inspection of your website content.


Submitting to search engines definitely helps in website promotion but this can take quite some time, usually around 3 to 6 months. There are a number of things to consider when submitting to search engines, you must prepare your website. Also, you will need to learn some SEO or search engine optimization. This can be done by optimizing your website by improving the elements of web design like adding relevant keywords and phrases on the website, editing meta tags, image tags, etc.

Some of the most widely used promotion techniques are:

• Link popularity - this is where you let people link your site to theirs. In this way, you can generate more new visitors and improve your ranking in search engines at the same time.

• Writing articles – that are topically relevant to your website and let other people publish these like in article directories. You may also opt for email newsletters that include a link to your website. This way, your subscribers are informed and updated on what’s going on in your website promotion.

• Posting on forums or discussion boards – Forums are greatly increasing in popularity and this is a good way to spread the word about your website.

• In line with posting on forums, you may also want to use a signature file, this is a text with a link back to your site that is inserted at the end of your posts.

• Promote your website with banner ads displayed on other websites related to your content. But be sure that your ad is well designed.

• Write a press release – this can definitely help in website promotion. This is where you write an article about your website and submit it to different publications, you will get new visitors and more traffic in no time at all!


Now that you know a little more on what to do, you should also know what you have to avoid as well. One of the most common mistakes made is relying on a free web hosting service. It’s harder for search engines to detect your website if it is hosted on a free hosting service. If you are serious about starting a website business and in it for long term, then paid web hosting is the best way to go. There are numerous companies that provide excellent hosting at a very low price like godaddy and Host gator and also offer affordable domain name registration as well. Website promotion can be a tricky task but with a little research and effort, you and your website business will be a success before you know it.

9:14 PM | 1 comments | Read More

How To Buy The Right Website Business Online...

According to industry statistics, over 95% of individuals who begin the search to purchase a website business never do! The only way that you'll avoid being in that 95% is by acquiring the right knowledge. Likewise, the only way to ensure that you will become successful in any online business is to be absolutely certain that you purchase the right one.

Don't be dismayed, most people do not have a clue what website business is right for them. The amount of websites for sale online can be daunting; the choices are rather enormous.

There are many proven tips and techniques that can help you decide what is the right online business for you.

Develop your Guidelines and Rules:

Put together a list of five rules of what any business you plan to purchase must have. Think about this and be very specific. Don't say: "I have to enjoy what I do"...sure that's important, very important in fact. However, if you're in a business that you initially think you're going to like, but you find yourself losing money, I can assure you that you'll learn to hate that business line very quickly!

As an example, here are my five rules for any online business I consider buying:

It must be a sales and marketing driven business - that's what I do best. I avoid ones where I have to always have leading-edge technology because I'm not an expert at that aspect.

It must have some element of exclusivity either in the product or service or within a territory. If not, I have no point of difference to offer prospective customers and maintaining current customers will always be a risk.

The product or service must be a high margin item - this way, it's simply a matter of time, persistence, and sales and marketing savvy (my strengths) for me to build the business. Plus, the margins will allow me to try new, creative ways of building the business.

There must be a built in demand for the product service. I've learned the hard way that trying to create demand is far too expensive.

I do not want to sell anything that competes solely on price. There's no long-term viability in that business model.

These are my rules. Unbreakable. Non-negotiable - no matter what! Guess what? They are bulletproof. When I find a website business with these in place, and there are plenty, I am always going to be successful. You can certainly follow mine, but I will also show you how to modify them to find the Internet business that makes perfect sense for you.

Helpful hint: you probably won't come up with five today. Your list may even change a bit during your search. As you speak to and visit different website owners, search online and conduct your research, you may discover certain things that are added or deleted from your list. That's OK. However, getting this list down pat as soon as possible is fundamental to your success!

"Whatever It Is That You Do Best..."

Next, get a true grip on your skills. Don't pretend to be something that you're not. The rule here is that whatever it is that you do best (sales, marketing, operations, etc.), must be the single most important driving factor of the revenue and profits of any online business you consider purchasing. Repeat the last sentence once again; it holds the key to your success!

With Internet business ownership, one of the main goals is for you to control your own destiny. Don't put yourself in a position where if one employee leaves, you're in big trouble. Your skills must be the fuel that drives the engine.

The right online business for you is one that will thrive from your strengths and not suffer from your weaknesses. Take a long, hard look at yourself. Picture yourself in the business. Of paramount importance is that you must perceive yourself as enjoying the business. If you can't, then there's just no way that you can be successful. The website that you choose has to be one that you'll be proud to own.

Fall In Love With The Profit NOT The Product!

Another key factor is to avoid falling in love with the website or product it offers; rather, you must fall in love with the profit and the lifestyle that it can deliver to you. Many buyers begin to dream about all of the exciting things about owning an Internet business and they become delusional about what can realistically be achieved. If the business does not produce the income you need, or provide you with a satisfactory return on your investment, then rest assured, you will learn to detest the business quickly.

Stay Focused - Don't Get Discouraged

During the search phase, it's easy to become discouraged by the vast amount of available websites for sale. Don't get overwhelmed. Approach this methodically. If necessary, rule out the ones that you don't want. Search through listings paying attention to the profits not just the asking price. Understand that listings do not always portray the whole picture. Send inquiries to the listed contact. Arrange calls and meetings with sellers. Prepare the questions you need to ask. You cannot buy any business from a listing. Navigate through the company's website and meet with the owners whenever possible (either in person or by phone). With each meeting you'll get closer to knowing what is and isn't right for you.

4:33 PM | 0 comments | Read More

5 Things ebay Website Sellers Might Not Want You To Know!

Buying A Website Business can be a very effective way to starting a home based business, but one should always take certain steps and precautions before buying a website online. Website Sellers seem to choose eBay as a their #1 choice to market their websites. Lets take a look at some of the promotional material and selling tactics website sellers use to market their products.

1. Established Website... An established website is one that has been online and promoted for at least 6 months with the same domain name. It is a site that generates traffic and produces at least some kind of income. a lot of website sellers or resellers will purchase a domain name and implement a site on it then list it on a auction or market the very next day as an established website... charging more for this. A domain name costs an average of $10 per year and does not increase the value of web design and programming by itself. find out if a site is "established" by first determining the age of the domain name. You can go online to look up a domain name, find out when it was created, and view how many times it's changed servers and possession.

2. Valuable Domain Name...worth $$$.000 This is the most commonly used and the most pathetic tactical maneuver out there. There's sellers that will provide an exaggerated assessment of a domain name based on its length, words, and extension. This in no way dictates the value of a domain name. A domain name is valued by its existence, traffic, and profitability. In case you are truly interested in a site with a domain name in which the sellers shows a domain name appraisal it would be recommended to contact the seller and ask for a certified appraisal. This is not a copy created certificate with a number in it. It is a certified assessment from a authorized appraisal company that charges for their services. They research the name and all the content and traffic that goes with it

3. Website for less then $1.00 with no reserve... Now that sounds like a great deal, who could pass up an offer to start a website business for under a dollar?... I should not have to verbalize any more but... the catch here is either a simple designed affiliate website that is being sold or a website that can be resold and the person selling the site wants to make you a hosting customer. Most of the time these are people that have signed up as hosting resellers and they will do anything to build up their clientele. The hazard to you is resellers come and go like day and night. Some cannot keep paying their $50-$100 a month reseller account so all of their accounts get suspended (including your website) or in some cases these guys will build up 500-1000 clients as quickly as they can and then sell the hosting company as established with customers. You seldom know who your server administrators are and seldom know if your site will stay online and for what period of time.

4. Buy our websites and we`ll submit your site to the major search engines... now that would be a real bonus not to have to pay a fee for this because the search engines are in fact the major factor in getting indexed right?...but...what they don`t tell you is that your site will get indexed automatically by Google, Yahoo, and MSN within days of it being online without manual submissions. Also you can obtain free submission software online that will submit your site to all the major search engines available. This is information usually unknown to an inexperienced webmaster.

5. Seller is making sales of ten times more than everyone else is & sells everything they list... he must be furnishing excellent support. Well perhaps...however since ebay changed their policies so people could not sell 1cent ebooks in order to influence feedback & power seller status some have found other ways. To be a power seller you must sell 100 items a month for three months straight or accomplish $1000 in sales each of three months. In other words if someone getting in to this business is consenting to pay the fees it would make sense that they would bid their own auctions high in order to accomplish that status. Do not trust everything you see in these sales. In the event you need to know the reputation of a seller & if his/her product is top-quality then email him for a phone number. Call & Speak to the seller about any and all information you would like to know.  

   

12:15 PM | 0 comments | Read More

10 Things You Should Ask The Seller...

When buying a website online, it is important to learn as much about the site as possible before investing, here are some of the most important questions to ask the seller.

1. Was the website designed by you or your organization or are you just licensed to resell it?

2. Can you construct and build the site to my specifications?

3. What is the legitimate name of your business or company?

4. Where is your business or company located?

5. When was the domain registered that you are promoting and selling?

6. Can you furnish traffic & income details to back up your promotion as established?

7. Where is the site currently hosted?

8. Is this you or your company`s primary business or do you do this in your spare time and have another occupation?

9. What hours of the day or day of the week will I be able to reach you to address and discuss my site.?

10. If the site comes with a domain name, will the domain name be transferred to the new owner?

Purchasing an online website & operating the site can be an adventurous & profitable business. The essential ingredient to it`s success is you...the webmaster. Your efforts and determination to drive traffic to your site. The website ought to have something you have knowledge of or something you can relate to..."something that interests you". In any event if you are into health but buy an online site about music then you will find the task of promotion exhausting & ultimately uninteresting. It is hard to dedicate time to something if you don’t have interest in it. Do yourself a favor and check out the marketplace. execute searches on google & yahoo for keywords relating to the site you are interested in buying. & most importantly ASK QUESTIONS and ADVICE. Remember you are the one spending your hard earned money and have the right to know what you are buying.

12:14 PM | 0 comments | Read More

Buying Website Traffic - strategies and methods

When you buy traffic, you are almost guaranteed to get instant traffic. Many of the services that dedicate their businesses to building traffic for other websites offer a guaranteed number of visitors on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, making this one of the easiest and fastest ways to get website traffic. Although buying traffic from a traffic selling company is an assured way of generating visitors to your website or blog, there are a number of  factors to consider before making that decision.

WHY SHOULD I BUY WEBSITE TRAFFIC?

Most of the people think that using a Traffic Exchange program will generate a large number of quality traffic for free and it's the way to promote your site. The truth is that if you use ppc programs you will not get unique visitors, just  a lot of visits from the same ip address. The point of buying website traffic is not that you will sell through that traffic, but that you will be in the first pages of major Search Engines and it will help you sell more. It can also be a very good way of increasing your Alexa rank.

WHAT TYPE OF BUSINESSES BUY WEBSITE TRAFFIC?

Purchasing web traffic is not necessarily a brand new Web promotion idea. In fact, there's lots of online businesses that have been doing it for years. Though lots of of these companies are established already, they are not the only types of businesses who use such services. Sometimes the only way that a brand new, unknown website can get traffic is by purchasing it. Competing with sizable sites is hard, and sometimes, search engine optimization techniques are not enough to boost a brand new site's rankings in the search engines.

WHERE CAN I GET TRAFFIC?

There's lots of online services that sell web-site traffic. To discover a sampling, basically type buy traffic or get traffic in to any Web search engine. You will be faced with such a large number of different options that you will have a hard time choosing which service to go with.In the event you are looking for referrals, think about visiting forums that have members who are online business owners or web developers. Lots of of the individuals who post in these forums may have already used or have some kind of knowledge about traffic building companies. In most cases, they are going to be able to offer you advice on their experiences.In the event you are unable to receive a referral, don't base your decision on cost alone. There may or may not be a difference between a traffic building service that offers 10,000 visitors per month for $20.00 and one that offers 10,000 for $30.00. Always inquire about services, as well as costs.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK?

Where Do The Visitors Come From?

How do you bring traffic to my website? Do you ever use spamming techniques?

What type of traffic will be targeted: specific countries, specific languages, etc?

Are you able to guarantee that I will get traffic?

Will you provide me with stats?

Do you offer customer support?

How much will you charge me if I require to buy traffic?

Why is your service better than others?

When you buy traffic, most of the visitors you get will be from banner ads, pop-ups, pop-unders, and layers ads. The ads are placed all around the net. When a web visitor clicks on the commercial, they are going to be taken directly to your web-site.

IS TRAFFIC GUARANTEED?

This is a hard question to answer because it depends on the service that you use to buy traffic. Some services guarantee that you will get traffic and others do not. Even in the event that they do guarantee traffic, they cannot guarantee sales. They cannot even guarantee that when you get traffic, it will stay on your site for over second.Nevertheless, you should always keep this in mind when deciding whether or not to buy traffic. Whatever you choose to do, make sure to track your traffic, your sales, and your overall results. After you have analyzed everything, it is possible for you to to basically choose if purchasing traffic to get traffic is in your best interests.

SHOULD I BUY TARGETED TRAFFIC?

Buying targeted traffic can be the right decision to a new website if it has a compelling, relevant content, and requires only exposure to a certain product or niche.There are a number of targeted traffic providers that you can easily find on the Internet that will give you a set of options at affordable prices. Targeted traffic can help you boost your traffic on a specific product, topic or niche quickly. Then the only task left to you is to ensure that your website or blog meets the expectations of all its visitors.The success or failure of a website does not rely on whether or not you buy website traffic. It's just the beginning. Much is still to be done after the visitors finally arrives on your website and views the content. Buying website traffic is literally only paying for the attention. The next and probably most important step is how to keep the attention.

12:07 PM | 1 comments | Read More

Buying Website Traffic The Right Way...

Although everybody likes to generate website traffic for free, the reality of it is it can be very time consuming. While you wait for the free traffic methods to start to produce, it may be a good time to start thinking about purchasing traffic. Purchasing website traffic has been known to be a very powerful tool for generating traffic to your website. There are numerous companies that will provide you with unique visitors and targeted traffic to your site for a fee. This can be the fasted way to obtain traffic to your website or blog.

The Top 3 Most Effective Ways to Buy Traffic...

1. Pay Per Click Ads - Using the Pay Per Click (PPC) engines such as Google Adwords or Yahoo! Search Promotion is one of the best ways to buy traffic. You can start for a little investment and since you only pay when someone clicks your advertisement, you have some control over how much traffic is generated.The key to making PPCs work for you is to pick your keywords wisely. To learn what is working for your competitors, track their ads that are currently running and what keywords trigger them. Chances are in the event that they continue running the same advertisement without any changes, it is working for them!

2. Text and Banner Ads - Another effective way to invite targeted traffic to your web site is purchasing marketing space on sites related to yours. You can be positive that the people visiting your net site have an interest and may possibly buy your product.They have earned a bad reputation historically in the past, but banner ads are still an effective kind of marketing - since you can purchase them so inexpensively. Try them out and you may be pleasantly surprised by the results

3. Buy Unique One-of-a-kind Visitors - Although it is not for everyone, some big name site owners claim to have great success with buying traffic. In the event you have some additional money in your budget, it may be worth trying.Before purchasing web traffic, you should first make sure that the website traffic company you plan on using is legitimate or legal. The less reputable web traffic companies use automatic generation script, which generates large numbers of fake hits to your web site. This means that there is only a single computer visiting your website automatically in a specified number of times.In the event that they do not supply you with the information you require, you should basically avoid purchasing from them. You can also ask people you know who are generating a lot of web traffic about the company they are currently using or have bought traffic from.To make sure that the website traffic company is legitimate and protect you from frauds and online scams is to contact the company. Find out what methods they use to generate traffic to your web site. Another way to find out if the company is legitimate and do not use automatic generation script is to make use of  the cPanel  (if your website hosting provides you with one) you can use it to find out the visitors IP address.The IP address should  be mostly different from one visitor to another. If the visitors IP address are mostly the same, the company is using automatic generation script.

QUANTITY  or  QUALITY TRAFFIC?

When you buy website traffic you have one of two options:

quantity or quality

        While the choice might seem obvious, there is a major factor to consider:           

Let`s say you own a video store or have ever worked in retail, which would you prefer to have – large amounts of people coming into your store and just browsing but not buying anything or a smaller number of people coming in and the majority of them buying something? If you are in business to make money than I believe it is obvious that you would want the second choice. This should be the same for your website, you want quality traffic that converts rather than a large amount of traffic that the conversion is very minimal.  At first glance it looks logical that the more website visitors you get, the better it is for your business. But what good are all those visitors to you if they do not become paying customers? Statistically, having thousands of web visitors does look impressive. What you should look at is the actual percentage that converted into clients. Only then do you see the real picture. It is not the amount of traffic you attract; it is the kind of traffic you attract.

12:01 PM | 0 comments | Read More

How To Turn Your Website Traffic Into Revenue...

Making money on the internet is not by far a new idea and many people have been doing it in many different ways. But you can take advantage of their experience. It is not at all an easy task to accomplish, but then nothing ever worthwhile is. If you have a website or blog it is time you start turning your traffic into revenue that will come in handy to pay your monthly household bills, and maybe even turning working on your websites into a full time job.

While there are numerous ways to make money from your website, there are different methods that are better for different websites. From text ads to affiliate programs, choosing the right program is the first step to turning your website into a cash generating source of income.

Informational Websites:

Probably the easiest type of website to monetize are those that provide information about a certain topic or interest. You don’t need your users to buy anything or sign up for anything, they just simply need to be on your website. The ideal type of ad for an informational website is probably the contextual ad, although depending on your site and your traffic you should shop around for the various providers and pick the one that best suites your site. This is the most popular contextual advertiser, and probably would be the best place to start. Sign up for an adsense account and in a day or so you should be approved. Follow the simple steps to get the code for your website, and then just insert it. Now you’ve got paying ads displaying on your website.

Google Adsense:

 Adsense is very easy to set up, maximizing its potential is another matter entirely. There is no easy answer to this, and the best advice would be is to experiment with different ad placements and sizes. What works for one page may not work for another. The most effective way to use adsense is to implement it into your page content so it looks like part of the web page and not just an ad. With google’s code generating, you will be able to customize how your ad looks, which helps when integrating.

Adsense will also automatically search your site and displays ads that are relevant to your subject matter. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing, as you run the risk of displaying competing websites on your pages, which you probably don’t want. There is a solution to this, in that you can add filters to your adsense account, so google will not display ads for a certain url that you specify.

Adsense is a great way to start monetizing your website or blog, and it may be the only tool you need. It is very easy to set up and start running, and there is very little upkeep required. However, it is most effective when used on sites with a lot of text, so if your website isn’t informational in nature adsense is probably not your best option.

Yahoo Publisher Network:

Yahoo Publisher Network is Yahoo’s answer to adsense, you can apply for an invitation and begin running Yahoo Publisher Network ads on your site if you are accepted. Following the same methods you used with adsense when using YPN, and compare the plans that generate the most money for you. Note that you CANNOT run adsense and Yahoo Publisher Network ads on the same webpage.

Affiliate Programs:

If your website has information about a certain product or service, it might be wise it to join an affiliate program for that type of product. When you sign up as an affiliate, you are basically generating customers for a certain company. So if you happen to have a site that has software reviews, it would be a good idea to sign up as an affiliate to a software store and then send users who wish to buy the software to a site where they can purchase the product, and you get a percentage of the purchase price.

Amazon and commission junction are two of the most popular affiliate programs. Most good affiliate programs will let you customize the look and feel of how you send visitors to their site, so in essence the only thing they do would be process and ship the order.

While affiliate marketing can be difficult to get up and running with an affiliate related site, it can be very rewarding. The best way to generate revenue is to make it as easy as possible for the user to purchase whatever product you are advertising. Set up your affiliate links so they can click on a single link and be taken to the companies purchase page and you stand a much better chance of making a the sale.

Service Websites:

Not all websites are dedicated to bringing the visitor information. Many sites bring the visitor a service, such as image hosting. In this situation contextual ads like adsense and Yahoo Publisher Network aren’t ideal, since there isn’t a lot of information to determine what ads to display. In this situation, its better to use a non-contextual advertiser so you can control what type of ads are displayed.

Adbrite:

Adbrite is a great alternative to the contextual based ad networks like Yahoo Publisher Network and adsense. Adbrite still runs text ads, but they don’t necessarily have to have anything to do with your page. You sign up with adbrite, and then other webmasters pay you to display their ads on your webpage. You can again customize the way the ads look, and you can deny sites from running their ads on your page if you wish to.

Adbrite is ideal option for sites that do not have a lot of text, such as image hosting sites. You are able to determine how much to charge for other webmasters to display their ads on your page, so if your site has good traffic you can make some very good money with this.

While there are numerous other options that you can and should explore to turn your website traffic into revenue, the suggestions above are a good start. Try them out, experiment with different placements,colors, and formats and see how you do. Don’t get discouraged if at first you don`t make much money, try changing the look, feel and placement of the ads and give it a little time.

11:52 AM | 0 comments | Read More

How To Get Free Website Traffic?

Getting traffic is one of the most important tasks for any website or blog publisher. What is more, you can't get traffic once and then just reap the benefits. Getting traffic is an ongoing task and you must be constantly doing it.There are thousands of sites out there that will sell you traffic to your website for a one time fee. However, there are many excellent ways to get a lot of traffic to your website or blog absolutely free. Knowing how and where to generate free traffic to a website can determine the difference between a sites failure or success.

10 Proven Ways to Get Traffic for Free...

1. Optimize your site for search engines: Search engines have always been a major way to get traffic for free. That is why you need to do your homework and optimize your site so that it ranks well for the keywords you target. SEO is still the most powerful way to get traffic for free and you really need to invest some time and efforts in the optimization of your site. SEO is not that difficult and if you want to get familiar with it in a nutshell, check our SEO Tutorial. If you are too busy for that, you can start with the 15 Minute SEO article.

2. Frequently update the contents of your site: If you expected some shocking secrets revealed, you might be a bit disappointed. One of the first steps in getting traffic for free is trivial but vital – get great content and frequently update it. In terms of SEO, content is king. If your content is good and frequently updated you will not only build a loyal audience of recurring visitors, who will often come to see what is new, but search engines will also love your site.

3. Take advantage of social bookmarking sites: Social bookmarking sites (especially the most popular among them) are another powerful way to get traffic for free. If you want to learn how to do it, check the How to get Traffic from Social Bookmarking sites article, where we have explained what to do if you want to get free traffic from sites such as Digg, Delicious, etc.

4. Use your Twitter and Facebook accounts: Social networks are also a way to get traffic for free. If you are popular on networks, such as Twitter or Facebook, the traffic you get from there can easily surpass the traffic from Google and the other search engines. It is true that building a large network of targeted followers on Twitter and supporters on Facebook takes a lot of time and effort but generally the result is worth.

5. Get links with other sites in your niche: Another way to get traffic for free is from other sites in your niche. Getting links with other sites in your niche is also good for SEO, especially if you manage to get links without the famous nofollow attribute. But even if the links are nofollow (i.e. they are useless for SEO), they still help to get traffic to your site. If you manage to put your link in a visible place on a site with high volumes of traffic, you can get thousands of hits from this link alone. If you need a list of sites within your niche where you could get backlinks from, check for a quality Backlink Builder tool. However, be careful if you exchange links because linking to bad neighbors can do you a lot of harm.

6. Use any chance to promote your site for free: Free promotion is always welcome, so don't neglect it. There are many ways to promote your site for free and some of the most popular ones include free classified ads, submissions to directories, inclusion in various listings, etc. It is true that not all free ways to promote your site work well but if you select the right places to promote your site for free, this can also result in tons of traffic.

7. Create a free product or service: Content drives most traffic when you offer something useful. There are many types of useful content you can create and they largely depend on the niche of your site. You can have articles with tons of advice, or short tips but one of the most powerful ways to get traffic is to create a free product or service. When this product or service gets popular and people start visiting your site, chances are that they will visit the other sections of the site as well.

8. Use viral content: Free products and services are great for getting free traffic to your site and one of the best varieties in this aspect is viral content. Viral content is called so because it distributes like a virus – i.e. when users like your content, they send it to their friends, post it on various sites, and promote it for free in many different ways. Viral content distributes on its own and your only task is to create it and submit it to a couple of popular sites. After that users pick it and distribute it for you. Viral content can be a hot video or a presentation but it can also be a good old article or an image.

9. Use offline promotion: Offline promotion is frequently forgotten but it is also a way to get traffic for free. Yes, computers are everywhere and many people spend more time online than offline but still life hasn't moved completely on the Web. Offline promotion is also very powerful and if you know how to use it, this can also bring you many visitors. Some of the traditional offline ways to promote your site include printing its URL on your company's business cards and souvenirs or sticking it on your company vehicles. You can also start selling T-shirts and other merchandise with your logo and this way make your brand more popular.

10. Forum marketing: URLs in forum signatures are also a way to get traffic for free. There are forums, which get millions of visitors a day and if you are a popular user on such a forum, you can use this to get traffic to your site. When you post on forums and people like your posts, they tend to click the link to your site on your signature to learn more about you. In rare cases you might be able to post a deep link (i.e. a link to an internal page of the site) rather than a link to your homepage and this is also a way to focus attention to a particular page. Unfortunately, deep links are rarely allowed.

Free traffic using Social Networking...

In the ongoing quest to increase website traffic, many website owners and businesses are learning the 

value of social networking; owners can attract new users to their websites through popular, user-driven websites like Facebook, MySpace and Flickr. Each day, millions of users gravitate to social networks, where they can connect with others, share entertaining content and build new relationships.Social - networking presents limitless opportunities to those who own and operate individual or business websites. Before anyone takes the plunge into this ever growing trend, they need to understand how social marketing could lead to more page views.

Social Networking Targets Large Audiences:

Social networking websites allow instant access to a large audience and user base. It takes mere minutes to create a profile on any highly trafficked social website and to begin posting information about yourself, your website or your business. The fun begins when you start adding friends who share your interests or who might be interested in your business. You can even go so far as to zero in on a niche, which can increase targeted traffic. In time, you’ll attract users to your website and gain valuable back links, both of which can lead to more page views.

Most Professionals Use Social Networks:

Many online business owners have heard of social networking but are some what hesitant to use it as an advertising tool because they’re under the impression that these networks cater to youth—and if their business isn’t aimed at a young market, then they shouldn’t waste their time. They fail to see the value in it.This assumption is completely false; many social networking websites target career professionals, not teenagers. A recent survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity reports that approximately 70% of business professionals use personal and professional social networking websites. The same survey reveals that most professionals gravitate to LinkedIn, followed closely by MySpace and Yahoo360.

Save Money With Social Networking:

When you have millions of users at your disposal, why would you even want to buy website traffic with a PPC campaign? Instead, add social networking strategies to your online marketing plan and save yourself some money. Numerous companies, including MasterCard, are monetizing with social networking applications, blogs and photo galleries. In fact, according to Yahoo! Senior Product Manager Laura des Dorides, many companies that purchase micro-websites (i.e. websites geared to promoting one brand of a company) on the Yahoo! Network now demand that social marketing tools—like Facebook applications and Flickr photo galleries—be included. They understand that these tools generate traffic.Getting traffic for free is a rather large topic and it is not possible to list all the ways to do it. However, if you know the most important ways – i.e. the ways we have discussed here and you apply them properly, it is guaranteed that you will be able to get lots of traffic for free.

11:44 AM | 1 comments | Read More

How To Keep Your Visitors Coming Back...

A whole lot of successful sites depend on returning visitors. Returning visitors account for the majority of determining a websites success. Getting thousands of visitors a month to your website will not matter that much if they are all leaving as soon as they get to your homepage and not returning. Keeping that traffic on your website and returning is just as important as getting them to your website in the first place. Just remember that the key to building repeat traffic is to create a website or blog that is useful, unique and full of valuable content...

Keep your visitors returning to your web site with the following approaches...

Fresh Content:

Keeping your site up to date with fresh content is one of the best ways to keep your customers on your site and attract them to keep coming back, you might have heard this over and over again, but it is what brings visitors to your site, if there was no content on your site, your site would be useless. It’s the text, images, and videos that you put on your website that makes it what it is, and brings in the visitors. By also keeping your site fresh and up to date, creates curiosity within your visitors, as they always want to know what you are up to and see if anything new is on your site. A perfect way of doing this is by setting up a blog on your site, which you update regularly, with news, events, and other promotions and offers that you may be running. Everyone loves a blog.

Good Design:

Believe it or not, if you don’t have a good attractive design with easy navigation, so that customers can flow from page to page with an ease, they will not stay. Design and the look of your website plays’ an important part in keeping your customers on the site. Keeping your site simple and straight forward is the key, just look at Google’s home page.

Networking:

Being active on social networking sites like facebook, youtube, twitter. Start interacting and staying in touch with your customers, because this will always attract them to your site. Many of the times they don’t get to know about the offers that you run on your site but by mentioning it on your network platform, your followers and previous customers will always return to your site to check out any new offers you may have.

Run Competitions:

If you lack in getting your visitors excited about your services and products, running a regular competitions for your customers and your readers can keep everyone in your network excited. Everyone likes to win and this will also encourage others to visit and explore your website.

 Newsletters:

From day one of your site start to build your mailing list, capturing customers email address, as this always comes in use on rainy days. On a regular basis you can send out to all on your mailing list the promotions, offers, news, tips and tricks encouraging them to visit your site.

Go that extra mile:

Customers are always looking for best deal and value for their money. If you offer them an excellent item or service and go out of your way to ensure that your customers are happy and satisfied they will always come back to your site for more. This will also encourage them to tell others about your site and service, which will bring you new visitors, as they say “the best form of advertising is word of mouth.

Give something free:

saw my local doughnut shop do this very well, every so often they have a Happy Hour, where they give out free doughnuts, and the number of customers are doubled that day. There’s no reason why one can’t implement this technique online to attract new customers, and also to keep your existing customers coming back for more. You could have a period on your website once a day, week or month where you are giving away free samples or a gift with all orders ordered on your happy hour.
Once you have the desired traffic to your website, you should take certain steps to assure your visitors stay on your site and return. Providing quality content for your customers that is not only informative but also entertaining and engaging will help to generate web traffic from genuine online customers. Including current information on your products or services will help provide customers with useful information like trouble-shooting for common problems faced. Maintaining customer assurance and building customer loyalty will not only help establish your business  and grow a steady stream of web traffic but will encourage your visitors to return...

What are the main reasons why visitors are not staying on your site?

Boring content –They have become bored of your site.
Not Required – The information on your site is no longer required.
Lost – The visitor happen to came to your site accidentally. 
Poor site – The site is not attractive and not functional. 
Competitors – It’s your competitors who are merely keeping an eye on what    You’re doing.
Better sites – Your visitors found a better site that offers them more.

Let’s look at a few more reasons why your visitors are not staying on your site or returning back.

Loading time:

According to the most recent studies, one has less then 10 seconds to captivate a visitor. If ones website has slow loading pages, its over; you just lost your visitor to one of your competitors.Most of the time, it is because of big, slow-loading graphics that will decelerate the loading speed of your webpage. But if large images are absolutely necessary for your pages business, simply insert smaller thumbnails of your pictures on your pages and allow guests to click on them to enlarge it (preferably in a new window). As long as its up to the visitor to decide upon, nobody would object to a longer loading time.

Pop-up ads:

There is not much to say about this but to AVOID them at all cost. A lot of people nowadays have pop-up blockers installed on their computer. So if your website is one that counts on pop-up windows to tell them something important, they wont even see it. In the end, having pop-up windows is just more trouble then its worth.

Animations:

Like the article announced before, one has less then 10 seconds to grab a clients attention. With that said, guess how many people will actually hang around longer then they need to simply to view your elaborate animation?

Sideways scrolling:

Make sure that your website will be displayed the way you want it on lower resolution monitors. Not everyone will have the same screen resolution as your monitor, so refrain from needing the visitor to scroll sideways.Also, if you page displays important information too far to the right hand side, there are chances it may not even show up on others screen. Simply put, its really quite unpleasant and you will likely end up losing the guest.

Navigation:

Having proper navigation is essential to any good website. Do not attempt to be all fancy and complex with navigational features.Just keep it straightforward and logical, it will help users keep control and enjoy surfing through your site. If the visitor keeps getting lost or if the links keep bringing him every which way then there`s a problem.Basically, avoid complicated interactive navigation such as menus that open up to sub-menus that open up to sub-sub-menus that open up to you get my point.

Contact information:

Having a visible and easy accessible Contact Us link is always helpful. If the customer cant get in touch with your company quickly, they will most likely leave.A good idea is to have an entire page devoted to contact material such as phone, email, fax, etc. Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT have large slow-loading graphics on this page. If the contact information does not load almost instantly, chances are the client will go to visit your competitors website.Also, when designing the Contact Us form or any other form on your site, keep it as short as possible. People do not enjoy answering a long list of questions.

Non-HTML features:

Like for pop-up ads, a lot of people use blocking program like firewall to keep away from those annoying things that can potentially screw up their computer.Because of this, when visiting your page, a lot of clients may experience display and function problems as a result of your using of JavaScript, Java Applets, Cookies and so on. To be able to build a good and successful website, the use of non-html features is not necessary; therefore you should refrain from using them.

11:24 AM | 0 comments | Read More

The Right Way To Choose Your Website Domain Name...

I would have to disagree with the comment made by some web developers that all the good domain names are taken. Search engine optimization, or seo, does not depend heavily on the www. name you select. For my clients just starting out, the decision of choosing a small business website name has never been an issue. It is a fact that all the 3 character and 4 character domain names with the key extensions are taken. Furthermore, I agree that a large number of choice domain names are no longer available; however, the selection of a suitable www. domain for your website or small business is possible if you remain flexible.

The real value in the name you choose from a search perspective is how easy it is to spell and remember. Of the two types of visitors to your site, the human visitors and search engines, the ability of a person to remember your domain name and spell it correctly to pass it on to others outweighs any SEO value. Search engines are robots and don't care.Using words like "greatest", "best", or other exaggerated terms in your domain name is thought by some to be a disadvantage and penalized by search engines. Search algorithms change often and likewise that theory, and although you may not be penalized for using such words, consider the reaction of your human visitors. They may not stick around if they feel you boast without the content to back it up. For a serious small business commercial enterprise, my advice is avoiding adjectives in the domain name entirely.In some cases new clients approach me to redesign an existing website, and it surprises me that some of the basics are overlooked. For example, a commercial enterprise in business for profit should not select a dot ORG domain simply because the dot COM was taken. This was the case from a conversation with a client interested in a site makeover. Their ORG version was online for two years with little or no backlinks or serious indexing from search engines. The mindset of getting one particular name should be reconsidered especially if it's your first online venture.

  

Here's a breakdown of the most desirable domain extensions and the usual purpose of each:

COM - Commercial for profit enterprise

INFO - Information only related website

NET - Companies providing internet services

ORG - Non-profit organizations

Certainly there are many more like BIZ, US, WS, and others which are all reasonable choices, but for your commercial small business my recommendation is always acquire a www dot COM  domain name. The client mentioned earlier did not realize a dot ORG was intended for a non-commercial enterprise, and they decided the poor website SEO performance was something that justified getting a new dot COM. We easily found an available www domain using their company initials and one key word about their target market which is medical. Despite my advice that they keep the existing site and simply change the theme, they decided to just let it go when it expired.My commercial site choice was my first and last name, and very unique at that. Using your name is okay, and expected if you're famous. There is, however, little or no value as far as keywords in my www domain to attract visitors, so is that a mistake for search engine optimization? Certainly not. The fact that I have collected more than 100 screenshots of generic phrases relative to my business that made Google page one is evidence the content, not the domain, is key.

    

Helpful advice when choosing a new dot COM small business website domain name:

Start out with a list of about 10 domain names that you would like to have. Next, make a list of market related single word terms about what you do and the customer base you service. If your market is localized, consider geographical terms that relate to where you sell or provide services. Spend 30 minutes brainstorming to come up with the initial names and additional lists of single word terms. You may want another list of significant initials.Next, search for "Whois" in Google to find free online services that keep a database of available domain names, and follow the link in the search results. Each database has a search box which allows you to input the domain name and extension. Begin with your first choice and work down the list and keep track of available names for review later. It may not be easy, so try combinations of the key terms as you continue to search, and keep in mind you want a domain name that is easy to spell and remember. By the time you're done you should have a half dozen or more available names, so take your time and select the best one, and then register the name immediately.

Tip:

The domain name may not be significant for search engine optimization, but the length of your registration can be. My advice is registering domains for 2 years minimum, and 5 to 10 years if that's in your budget. Search engines consider that the length of your registration reflects your commitment to be online long term, so at today's prices 5 years is practical and should cost less than $50 USD.There's nothing wrong with getting the dot COM domain name you want, and then registering the other major extensions that are available for the same name. If you are highly successful in your online venture, having the other extensions registered in your name prevents others from attempting to take advantage of your reputation by association. In conclusion, the concept that all the good domain names are taken is a myth. You may not get exactly what you want, but practical options are available with a little research and due diligence.

  When and Why Should you Secure Multiple Domains:

There are many different reasons for purchasing multiple domain names, and each reason has its own set of benefits and uses.I have written quite extensively before about how to select the best domain name for your business. It is also a good idea to secure alternate versions of your primary domain name as a means to prevent competitors from trying to squeeze in on your name and branding efforts. Buying multiple domain names is a great strategy that can be used to capture additional type-in traffic, secure other branding avenues you may wish to pursue, or simply to prevent your competitors from securing them.

Type In Traffic:

Many URLs are purchased simply to capture type in traffic. Type in traffic is when someone goes to the address bar of their web browser and types in keywords.com instead of performing a keyword search on a search engine. Securing domain names with a fair amount of type-in traffic can be a great boost to sales. If you sell software, your main URL might be www.Software.com. To capture potential type-in traffic you might also secure and redirect the following:

www.AffordableSoftware .com

www.CheapSoftware .com

www.DiscountSoftware .com

Misspellings:

It is always a good idea to secure all potential misspellings of your domain name. I recently did a talk radio show interview and at the end of the interview I provided listeners with my domain name. Unfortunately I did not take the time to actually spell it out. Upon realizing my error, I immediately went out and purchased multiple spellings of my URL to redirect to my main site.

PolePositionMarketing .com

PollePositionMarketing .com

PollPositionMarketing .com

This allowed me to capture all traffic from any listeners that may have had a different spelling of my site in mind, which increased my visitor rate from those who listened to the broadcast substantially.

Once you have chosen a good domain name for your site, the next step involves registering the name with an organization called ICANN through a domain name registrar. For example, if you choose a name like "mywebsite.com", you will have to contact a registrar, pay their registration fee that costs around $10 for that name. That will give you the right to the name for a whole year, and you will have to renew it annually for the same amount per year. Some web hosts will register it and pay for the name for free (commonly done by commercial web hosts), while others will do it for you but you'll have to pay for the registrar fees. My personal preference is to register the name directly with a domain name registrar rather than through my web host. I've heard many stories, in the past, of less-than-honest web hosts that registered the domain under their own name, making them the owner of the domain rather than you. Registering with a domain name registrar allows you to make sure that you are registered as the owner, the administrative and technical contacts. Being the owner is vital if someone else places himself as the owner, he can always decide to charge you some exorbitant fee for the use of the name later, and there is little you can do. The various other contacts are less vital, but may still play major roles, depending on your registrar. For example, for some registrars, the administrative contact's approval is required before a domain name is transferred out of a web host. If he/she cannot be contacted, the technical contact is used. Domain names are disappearing extremely fast. Many people will claim that all the good domain names are taken. I have my doubts about that, but it is probably true that most good domain names that are descriptive of products and services may have been taken already. (Depends on the Product) If you need a domain name for your website, I  would suggest you act now, or you might face the frustration of having lost that name to someone else later. After all, $10 or less for a year's ownership of a thoughtfully chosen domain name is very cheap.

Most Popular Website Hosting Services and Domain Registers:


1.  www.Godaddy.com

  2.  www.HostGator.com
    3. 1&1 WebHosting.com 

11:11 AM | 0 comments | Read More