Of surfers use search engines as their primary means of locating



Web sites with approximately 180 million people online, that's

An awful lot of free traffic

Agreed, that may be of little use to you if your site covers a

Popular subject there will be a lot of competition, and you'll

Need to spend a substantial amount of money - or time - to be

Ranked in a position that will bring you any visitors at all

However, if you have a highly targeted niche or theme site,

Traffic from search engines can be substantial. Learn the basic

Search engine likes and dislikes, build some link popularity

(Directory listings are good for this) and you will get visitors.

2. Submitting Articles to ezines and Newsletters

Costs nothing and brings results. There are hundreds of thousands

Of ezines and newsletters published every month. They all need

Content, so most editors are interested in good articles.

Write informative pieces, and avoid self-promotion. Most email

Publications prefer articles in the 500 - 800 word range, which

Really isn't a lot once you get going (but avoid rambling). Don't

Use overly ornate or technical language, and be sure to double

Check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

Gradually build up a list of publications that reach your target

Market, and submit frequently for best results. You can even

Offer to write special 'exclusive' or 'first run' pieces for

Publications that have a large circulation

Add your details and contact information to the end of the

Article Make it a low-key advertisement, and mention any special

Offers or 'freebies' you may have. Keep it brief, usually around

Five or six lines

If you need more help on the effective use of articles as a

Promotional tool, "The Ezine Marketing Machine" by Rick Benita,

Is devoted to the subject

3. Pay-Per-Click Search Engines

The concept is simple: write your own title and description,

Select a keyword searchers must enter for your listing to appear,

And bid against other site owners for its rank in search results.

The amount you bid is the amount you will pay for each click on

You're listing (sending a visitor to your site). The more you pay,

The higher the listing will appear, and the more visitors you'll

Get. Good value for money unless you are concentrating on very

Popular keywords

Although you might not get much traffic at 1 or 2 cents per click

These days, cost compare favorably with ezine advertising. For

Example, $10 CPM (Cost per Thousand) is a reasonable price to pay

For an ezine sponsor ad (some cost less, many ask more). With a

Good response rate of 5% you are paying 20 cents per click.

However, that response is not guaranteed. With the wrong ad or

Location it could be almost nothing. Using a PPC search engine,

There is no risk. You only pay for visitors, not eyeballs.

Most of these search engines also have agreements with other

Sites to display their results, and extensive affiliate networks,

Both of which significantly increase exposure.

For best results, bid on as many (relevant) keywords as you can.

Hundreds, thousands even. Don't ignore a term because it is only

Searched for 100 times a month the top position will only be a

Few cents and listing fewer than 200 keywords like this will give you

Prime positioning in 20,000 searches every month.

4. Advertisements in ezines and Newsletters

Identify publications that target the market you wish to reach.

Whenever possible, test the suitability of a publication by

Running an ad with proven results in other locations (you MUST

Habitually track the effectiveness of any ad you create).

Go for classified ads (or even ad swaps) first. If you are

Getting a good response, consider moving your ad to a more

Prominent sponsor (stand-alone) position. The top slot pulls

Best, but that also means you might be able to get a bargain on

Middle to bottom positioning.

If you are buying more than a single insertion (remember: most

People need to see ad an several times before responding), don't

Be afraid to negotiate the price. The vast majority of ezines

Would like more paying advertisers, and have what is termed

"Unsold inventory

It's very difficult to directly sell something from a few lines

Of text Aim to generate enquiries for further information - to a

Web site or autoresponder address - and do your selling from

There.

5. Link Exchanges

Not to be confused with banner exchanges. Average banner click

Through rate is about 0.05% (1 click for every 2000 viewings!).

Your home-made job will probably do even worse. Use text links.

In context whenever possible as strong headlines if not

Target non-competitive sites with related themes choose the most

Popular, high traffic sites you can. Investigate sites that come

Near the top in relevant searches not only will these send you?

More traffic; they'll boost your link popularity ratings at the

Search engines, increasing visitors indirectly.

When requesting a link, send the complete html code for the site

Owner to copy and paste, as well as the URL to the page on your

Site containing their link Use keywords in the link text you

Provide: Google considers these for relevancy and supplies the

Yahoo web search results uniquely code each link so you can

Track and compare traffic from linked sites.