There is much discussion on how to generate traffic to your Web site,
but I decided to list a few points on the methods I like to use.
- It’s All About Content
You may have heard that "content is king." What does this mean?
Visitors to your site like to read updated and unique content. This
means you must update your Web site on a regulary basis to keep your
visitors coming back for more. Search engines also love unique content.
The more content you have the more you will get listed in search
engines. When you first start a site search engines may be your main
traffic generator so it’s best to get listed in them. Also remember to
check your spelling and grammar.
- Write Content For Your Visitors
When writing your content, write it for your visitors and not search
engines. This means don’t load up the content with keywords that is hard
to read and understand. You need your visitors to keep coming back and
not the search engines. If you write unique content the search engines
will list you…don’t worry.
- Linking to Your Web Site
This is a big part of getting listed in search engines, and thus
getting more traffic. The more quality Web sites that link to yours, the
better search engine rank you will receive. You should have sites that
share the same niche as your site link back to you. When a search engine
indexes the other site, it will find the link to yours and then index
your site.
- Get Listed in Directories Besides search engines, there is another type of site you should get listed in: a directory. A directory is a list of Web sites that are organized into various categories. Many of these Web sites are very popular so getting listed in one of them can help you generate traffic. A bonus to getting listed in a directory is that they usually have a high page rank, which will help increase yours. Do a search for directories that contain your Web site niche and get added. See also Open Directory Project.
- Forums and Blogs
I put these two into the same point because they essentially do the
same thing: you leave comments and a link to your Web site. Let me
explain. Do a search for a forum that is related to your niche, and sign
up. Add your Web site name and URL in your signature to your profile.
Now leave comments to some of the posts in the forum. Search engines
will index forums, and at the same time will find the link in your
signature which will once again act as a link back to your site. Leaving
comments in blogs acts the same way as comments in forums.
See also Website Babble.
- Write Ezine Articles
Ezine articles are similar to magazine articles except they appear
online. There are several free Web sites that allow you to write your
own article. These are great as you can become a well-known leader in
your niche. You should then put a link at the end of your article to
your Web site, so anyone reading it can click the link and go to your
site. Search engines will also index any article you have written. Other
sites that also enjoy your article may print your article with the link
to your Web site included. You can’t get any better than that for
something that cost you nothing but time.
See also Ezine Articles.
- Good Site layout
This one is important to get your visitors to return. Make sure your
site is easy to read and navigate. Having light grey text on a white
background may be hard for some to easily read, so use black instead. A
visitor to your site should be able to understand how to navigate within
the first few seconds of loading the page. Keep the navigation simple,
such as a menu on one side of the page or across the top.
- Submit Your Feed
If you have a blog make sure you submit your feed to various Web
sites. A feed is the content that you have created in a specific format.
You can also create feeds for a regular Web site as well.
See also Feedburner or Ping-o-matic.
- Advertising
This point is not one to generate traffic as much as revenue, but I
felt it important to list, as it can reduce your traffic. Placing
advertising on your site is a debatable issue. The issue that is up for
debate is when should you place advertisment: when you first start your
Web site, or when you get a large number of visitors? My take on the
issue is that it is your choice, just don’t load your site with
advertisment. I hate sites that display advertisement at almost all
possible locations on a Web page: top, bottom, left and right. I prefer
that the advertisement be in one location and blend into the site and
not stand out.
No comments:
Post a Comment