Print Article for : Increase Site Traffic Free

Your Online Guide » Ideas for Marketing » Guide To Marketing

[I236]Increase Site Traffic Free

by William J. Thomas, Wil

When it comes to traffic generation, all traffic is not created equal. While there are many ways to increase web site traffic, the reality is that increased traffic does not necessarily translate to greater business and profit. It's the quality of the traffic you receive that is a huge factor in business success. You need traffic that is 'targeted' to your business. Unfortunately, the more effective ways to receive targeted traffic such as Pay-Per-Click advertising can also become quite expensive. While most of what passes for free traffic is worthless, there are legitimate ways to get free targeted traffic, and three that I use consistently to generate sign-ups for my business are Article Directories, Forums, and Newsgroups.

One of my favorite ways to get free targeted traffic is writing short articles for Article Directories. The benefits of submitting articles to these directories are numerous, and can increase you web site traffic in several ways. For starters, you'll receive traffic from people reading your articles and clicking on your link in your 'Resource Box'. You'll also receive lots of residual traffic as Ezine and other publishers use your articles for publication on their web site. In fact, some of the articles you write today will bring you traffic years from now, since once published, articles tend to stay published. Another benefit of writing articles is that once you have published several informative or entertaining articles, people will start looking for your writings as they might for a columinist in a newspaper. People will start referring your writings to friends and business associates. The bottom line is, you won't find many better ways to create free long term traffic than by writing articles. Don't overlook this source of internet traffic.

Another one of my favorite ways to get lots of free targeted traffic is posting to forums. If you do a search for 'online forums' you'll get thousands of results. Forums are a place where people come together to communicate, teach, learn and network with other like minded people. What some overlook however is that forums are also a great way to advertise yourself and your business. When signing up, most forums will allow you to have a 'signature' which is simply a short three or four line advertisement about yourself and your business that appears everytime you make a post. This means that with each post you make, you have the potential of hundreds or even thousands of members seeing your ad, and clicking on your link. Another benefit of frequent postings in forums is that Google and other major search engines constantly index forums for listings. Having your links posted numerous times can increase your search engine ratings. Lastly, being a frequent poster adds legitimacy to you and your business. Being a member of an active forum can bring you lots of business. A couple of things to keep in mind when posting in forums; first, make certain that the forum allows you to include your signature. Although most will allow you to include it, some have rules that will prohibit you from adding your signature until you've posted a set number of times. Be sure to check out the terms before joining. Another thing is to make sure that your posts have relevance to the topic in discussion. Keep your posts on topic, and don't do the 'me too' kind of posts. They add nothing to the discussion, and quickly reveal your motives. Forums should definitely be a part of your plan to create free long term traffic. Sign up with a few, and start posting today!

A third way to get lots of free targeted traffic is posting to Newsgroups such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This simple process consists of posting ads at each of these sites by clicking on the 'Groups' link and signing up for Groups that relate to your interests. You'll find that each of these sites have a search feature that allow you to search for groups that are appropriate for your interests. Be aware that some groups are private, and allow posts only by the person that started the group. While these groups may have interesting or educational material, your goal is to advertise yourself, so be certain that a group allows other members to post before joining. You can also start your own group. This allows you to have a bit more control over the group discussion, and can permit you to steer the discussion in the direction you want to go. Setting up a group is a simple process that involves selecting a name for your group, creating the group, and posting. Since most groups have rules about posting and spam, don't post the same thing numerous times, or you could find that your group suddenly disappears!

When it comes to winning the website war, traffic is indeed 'king'. While some will have you believe that all traffic is good traffic, the truth is, you need laser targeted traffic to increase your chances of success. Using the combination of Article Directories, Forums, and Newsgroups will allow you to not only increase your internet traffic, but enable you to hone in your target audience.

Article marketing is the most effective, FREE way to drive traffic to your website there is! And...it is one of the most durable forms of Internet marketing available because articles are displayed online literally for years. It is a marketing strategy you can do once and reap the benefit literally for years to come.
In business, there is no more powerful position than to be considered an expert. When a person reads articles you have distributed and learns something from it you become an expert to that person. That's a strong incentive when it comes to buying from you.
One of the best parts of article marketing is you never pay for advertising-your article is your ad if you do it right. And if for some reason you don't feel capable of writing an article or do not have the time there is an abundance of copywriters eager and available on Craigslist or on the forums of Digital Point.com.

Writing your article :

Begin by deciding on your topic. Write about a part of your business that you are passionate about and can give specific solutions to a problem or aspect of. Be clear and concise and try to entice the reader to want find to out more about you and what you have to offer. Also, be a specialist and don't write in generalities.

Keyword research :

Now that you have your topic the most important step is to do the necessary keyword research . keywords are the words and phrases that someone would type into a search engine to find information about your topic. This is an entire subject unto itself but bear in mind you want to work the main keywords you've uncovered into the body, subjects and especially the title lines of your article. Why is that? Because the first 3-5 words of your article title determine the success of how much traffic your article will generate back to your website.
So, creating keyword rich article titles that match the most commonly searched keywords for your topic is absolutely critical to effective internet marketing. Here are three keyword research sites to explore.

freekeywords.wordtracker.com
searchmarketing.yahoo.com
hexatrack.com

Clear and concise:

Now, that we have our topic, keywords and title it's time to write the body. Articles should be between 300 and 700 words roughly and then have a four to five sentences at the end talking about why they should visit your website.
Strive to cover one complete concept. Something that stands on it own and is a valuable contribution to the reader. As the saying goes content is king. For example, Internet marketing, article marketing, and generate website traffic are three keywords I'm using in this article. It has to read natural though don't over do it. By the way ,consider if it's appropriate to use some controversy in your article to create interest. A little controversy may go a long way to generate website traffic and be entertaining.
And, remember your keywords. Those same keywords you used in the title should be sprinkled judiciously throughout the body of the article .I suggest you keep a list of them in front of you as you as you write. Wrap up the body of your article leaving the reader with a desire to know more of what you have to say. Entice them.
The authors response box or byline.
The last part of the article is the all important authors box or byline. Never write an article without one. This is where you sell yourself and your site. It should contain the following: Your name and optional title. Your website URL (preferably in a clickable link) and a call to action. In other words "ask for the sale".
It's often an effective Internet marketing strategy to offer them a free gift such as a newsletter or audio course etc. as a "bribe" to visit your site.
Ideally you want to send prospects through an opt-in page which you can track through a tracking link and auto responder. This way you can stay in touch with people to build trust and further demonstrate the value of the services and products you offer.
You now have a compelling keyword rich article that gives valuable content to your reader and represents you for the expert you are in your chosen field. That's It. Well, not quite. It's now time to submit your article.

Submitting your article :

The greatest article in the world is meaningless if it's never read. You could of course submit it yourself, however a much faster ,more effective way is to submit it through one or more of the available article submission sites. They will have your articles in front of thousands even hundreds of thousands of people a lot faster than you could do it yourself. One word of caution though ,search engines do not want duplicate content all over the web. So , you'll want to vary your article each time you submit it to different submission sites. A different title, vary the content etc. and one article can become many. Two great sites to investigate are

Articlemarketer.com

and

Isnare.com

Article Source : online marketing benefits

About Author

Both William J. Thomas & Prince007 are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

William J. Thomas has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, PPC Advertising. . William J. Thomas's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.

Prince007 has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing. Aslam Ahmed has been involved with sales and marketing for over 10 years. He was the top sales person for a major U.S. corporation for many years and is now a successful entrepreneur.If you would like to go for a higher search engine ranking, go and submi. Prince007's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.