Traffic Sources And Strategies


You have probably read by now that "traffic" is the lifeblood of your business. Without customers there are no sales and no money. What you have then, is just an expensive hobby.
There are a number of ways you can send targeted traffic to your website, some are free and some you have to pay for. Whether or not you spend any money at all depends on how fast you want it and what means you use.

Below, I will go over some of the more widely used methods, and some of the resources that I personally use.


Organic, Search Engine Traffic

This type of traffic is 100% free, and highly targeted. As far as I'm concerned, it is the most desirable type of traffic. However, to achieve  significant number of visitors to your site can take a while since its success depends on how long Google, or other search engines, take to index and rank your site. To improve your chances of success with organic traffic you must learn and apply what is called "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO), to your website. SEO is a complete subject in itself and requires knowledge of website structure and what information in your website search engines use to rank your pages.
To help you overcome the SEO barrier, you can log into Google's webmaster Tools for tutorials and detailed information regarding what Google expect from your website.
 

Google AdWords (PPC)

Today, Google is the most popular Search Engine on the planet, and by using its services to advertise you will be establishing a significant source of targeted traffic. With "Adwords" you can place three-line ads for your products that will appear to the right of their regular search results. The ads are keyword based and won't cost you anything unless somebody clicks on them. The amount you pay per click depends on the amount of your bid for the particular keyword you want to target.
For a detailed explanation, do's and don'ts, you can refer to Brad Callens "Google Adwords Made Easy", which goes into great detail on the subject. You can download a copy for free by clicking the link below.


Write Articles

Writing articles and submitting them to article directories is a great strategy for generating targeted traffic and creating back links to your website. Keyword based articles are picked up and used by webmasters and Ezine owners for their publications.
When your article is published, it will contain a resource  box at the end with a link to your website. If you create an interesting article, people will want to know more and click on your link and you can expect a wave of visitors to your site. The back links you receive will also help your site obtain a better ranking from Google.


Create Blogs and Squidoo Lenses

Create Blogs and Squidoo lenses with themes same as your website and provide links back to them.
See Creating a Blog. and Creating a Squidoo Lens for more information.


Paid Ezine Ads

Place ads on popular Ezines with topics similar to your website. You can find Ezines through Ezine directories online such as http://ezines.nettop20.com. Ezine advertising can be very cost effective since they can reach thousands of subscribers. Select an Ezine with a circulation of at leat 10,000 subscribers for best results.
 

Traffic Exchanges

Although traffic exchanges are not a good source of targeted traffic, I include it here because it is another option for you to consider. You can join these programs for free and the way they work is that you view other people's sites to earn credits so others can view your site. If you don't want to spend time in front of your computer surfing web pages you can purchase the credits for a nominal fee. Below are links to some of the programs that I use.




Best of Luck,
RHenry
rhenry@raberr.com