How Do I Drive Traffic to a Brand New Website?

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by Sudhir.K.Sharma

Every single day, more and more people upload brand new websites to the Internet. I don’t have any figures but there must be hundreds of thousands of new pages being added daily (if not considerably more!)

The one thing that all of these new websites need in order to make their existence worthwhile is traffic, which leads me to one of the most common questions I am asked and the subject of this newsletter:

‘How can you generate traffic to a brand new website?’

Of course, there are a number of different answers to this question and what I would do myself is probably very different to what a completely new Internet entrepreneur would do. The reason I say this is that the first thing I do when launching a new site is make use of my existing website traffic by advertising the new site on my other established sites. In addition, I have the luxury of a large mailing list which I can use to drive traffic to the new site.

I appreciate that anyone starting out in online business won’t have these options open to them (and in fairness, neither did I when I first started), so let’s look at things from the beginning. Day one of your first website…..

It is a fact that the quickest and probably most effective way of bringing targeted traffic to your website is by paying for it. Now before you rush off and sink $50 into one of those ’50,000 hits for $50′ schemes, DON’T, this isn’t what I mean. Those schemes are largely a complete waste of money. Even if you get the traffic that you are promised (as opposed to some software script visiting your site and pretending to be a visitor), it will not be targeted and therefore there is a very low chance that the traffic will generate sales. When I talk about buying traffic, I mean by using the pay- per-click services offered by most of the big search engines.

You probably already know the sort of thing I mean – for example, Google Adwords. Pretty much any search on Google will display a list of adverts down the right-hand side of the page and these are all paid adverts. Every time you click on one of them, the advertiser pays Google a fixed amount which could be anything from 5 cents upwards (depending upon how competitive the keyword is).

Pay-per-click allows you to be very selective about which keywords your advert is shown for and this allows you to target your advertising perfectly. Other big names in the pay-per-click market include Overture, Espotting and Findwhat.

Now, before you all start emailing me and saying that you already knew about PPC let me just say that I am well aware that people know about it. The problem (as I see it), is that people aren’t using this type of service because of the fact that they don’t want to spend any money on advertising. That’s all well and good but the fact is that the Internet is getting more and more competitive each day and the chances of you building a successful website business from scratch without investing any money are tiny to say the least.

If you want to attract a decent level of traffic to a brand new website in a short period of time, it is almost a necessity that you use pay-per-click on one of the main search engines. If you don’t, then the growth of your traffic levels will be painfully slow and inconsistent at best.

When I launched my very first websites I invested heavily in pay-per-click advertising. At one point, I was spending over $6000 a month on Google Adwords alone!!! Seriously I really was spending that much money. It was a constant battle to tweak the website sales copy and continue to test the advertisement text just to make sure that my sales were covering the advertising payments each month. At the time I was probably just about breaking even but buying traffic in this quantity meant that I was able to fine-tune my sales pages and start to build up a list of mailing list subscribers.

Once you have got to the stage where you know your sales pages are converting visitors into buyers, then you can start to gear up with other methods of getting traffic to your site – writing articles, linking strategies, viral methods (eBooks etc), using your eBay ‘About Me’ page, using your link as a signature when you post on forums etc. All of these methods will win you traffic (and in most cases it will be completely free) but it will take time for the traffic to build to a worthwhile level. If you rely solely on free traffic, you really will be building your business one hit at a time.

Of course, once the free methods of gaining traffic start to pay off, you can begin to wind down your paid methods, though you may not want to – after all, if you are earning more in sales than you are paying for your pay-per-click traffic, why stop it?

As your portfolio of websites grows, you will also be able to share the traffic around a bit by linking to your own sites and of course, if you are capturing your visitors email addresses, you will be building a mailing list of people interested in the products you are offering.

Like I say, I appreciate that the above may not be the ground-breaking secret that you were hoping for but as with so many things online, there really is no secret. Achieving success is simply about taking action and whilst you can succeed online by spending very little money, the chances are that you will succeed a lot quicker by making a bit of an investment. You don’t have to be spending thousands of dollars a month as I was but any new business owner should be prepared to invest a few hundred dollars a month in order to get things off the ground….

www.greatpromotionsite.com

Article Source: Articles Directory – ArticleGOLD

5 Reasons Why Blogging is the New Internet Marketing Tool

Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment an existing web page, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one’s opinion on the said page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog’s potential. Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet marketing tool.

1. Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging. No skills are necessary an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse. It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t) then you can blog and advertise.

2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters claims. However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is free. Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free. Any opportunity for free web time is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up. Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.

4. Blogging builds credibility. As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is. But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base.

Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:

-By using your e-mail. Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.

-By using subscription. An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blog site. Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.

-By understanding your readers. Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.

-By joining a blog network. A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject. Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.

-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today. As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.

Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.

About the Author

I am a successful Internet marketer teaching other people how to earn a living using the Internet.

http://www.simplyrichsg.com/um

5 Steps to Online Business Success

More than 90% of new Internet businesses, mostly network marketing and affiliate marketing, fail. Here’s how to be part of the 10% that don’t.

1) Set realistic expectations.

When we experience disillusionment it’s driven by our initial expectations. Unfortunately many people venturing into Internet Marketing for the first time are given completely un-realistic expectations. I certainly was.

When I first went online to look for business opportunities, messages like ‘…Make a 6-figure income while you sleep, play golf or go on vacation…’ were hitting me every day. But I bought into all that hype and set myself completely unrealistic expectations.

For many people, starting an Internet Marketing business is their first exposure to both the Internet (as a medium for doing business) and Marketing – it was for me. Even people who have previously done one or the other struggle at first, because you need to understand both.

If you had spent your life working on a farm and then decided one day to go into Bond Trading, how quickly would you expect to be making a 6-figure income..?

Exactly!

Recognize that success in Internet Marketing requires knowledge of both the Internet and Marketing. Assess how much you really know about each and what you need to learn to get up to speed.

Once you know that set realistic expectations.

2) Understand your ‘Why’

Why do you want to start an Internet Marketing business?

Do you have a long term vision for what you want out of life and is running your own Internet Marketing business part of that vision? Or a way to help you achieve your vision?

Or does it just seem like a fun way to make some extra money each month?

See the difference? Really think about what part an Internet Marketing business will play in helping you to achieve your long term goals and firmly fix that in your mind.

And then find a way of reminding yourself of it every day.

You will come up against road blocks as you build your IM business. There will be times when you feel like quitting. But if your reason for starting your business is because it’s a fundamental part of your long term goals, and you clearly understand that, then quitting (and, therefore, failing) is no longer an option.

And, eventually, you will succeed.

3) With your expectations and ‘why’ firmly established, set realistic short term goals.

Nothing succeeds like success. When you see progress in a project you’re motivated to do more. So set yourself short term (daily, weekly or monthly) goals.

Establish how much you know now about the Internet and Marketing and set yourself some goals for improving your knowledge and strength in each. Learn a new skill, develop a weakness, and increase your knowledge.

Your knowledge and skills are what will empower you to succeed, so build them up. Set goals for things you have total control over. Setting goals for how much money you’re going to make is not a good goal at this stage because you don’t have full control over achieving it.

Be sure you have full control over the goals you set and set challenging, but achievable ones. Here are the type of things you have full control over: learning how to build a website, learning CSS or learning how to write powerful headlines.

These are fundamental parts of the business, and learning the business well is what will bring you success in Internet Marketing.

4) Measure your progress.

Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than being able to cross an item off my ‘To do’ list.

So I measure my progress against my short term goals every time I set them. Sometimes it’s very short term, like put up a new page on this site this weekend, or write a new article this morning. Sometimes it’s longer term. But I always measure my progress against my goals

If you achieved all your goals congratulations – now set yourself more challenging ones for the next month, or week, or day.

If you didn’t achieve them figure out why. Don’t be hard on yourself. Work out objectively why you didn’t achieve them and what you need to do differently to achieve them next time.

5) Always remember this is a business.

It will require work, patience and perseverance. It will also require investment (of both time and money) and that will require a plan. Make sure your plan is properly funded, because the pressures you’ll experience if you run out of money and can’t put food on the table while you’re growing your business will cripple your thinking. You’ll feel like a startled rabbit.

And when that happens you won’t be making smart decisions.

About the Author

Martin Malden writes a business blog covering tips, techniques and resources for Internet Marketers. For more information check out his blog here: http://www.wealthydragon.com/blog/

You’ve Got Less Than 5 Seconds. Go!

Where am I?

What can I do, get or buy here?

Why should I participate?

According to the folks over at Marketing Experiments, and I believe them, these are the 3 most important questions your website’s landing page(s) must answer. And they must answer them quickly if you want your viewers to engage.

You may not realize this but when someone lands on your site they really want their search to be over. They want you to have the solution to their problem or satisfy whatever desire they have for a product, service or information. Most people don’t want to spend anymore time than absolutely necessary in order to get what they’re looking for.

Read more