After some research, I have come out with some methods to drive traffic. Below are some of the ways and they are grouped into 2 main categories: Free and Paid.
Free Ways:
1) Listing of self-created advertisement posts on classified site. Choose only classified sites which allow your listings to appear on the top once you update your posts. In this way, people will have a higher chance to view your posts.
2) Conduct cross linking campaigns with other webmasters who have similar content with your website. Contact them and ask for a reciprocal link exchange. Make sure that your link appears on their pages which are indexed by Google.
3) Give away free report/ebook and distribute them actively. Include your website URL and products/services in your free report/ebook.
4) Use article marketing. Write articles about your business industry and submit them to article directories regularly. Include your website URL in the author's resource box and remember to allow viewers to republish your articles freely.
5) Participate in forums and include your website URL in your signature.
6) Apply SEO techniques on your website so that it will rank well in the organic results for various search engines.
7) Submit to all available search engines, esp. Google, Yahoo and MSN so that your website will get index by them.
8) Use viral marketing techniques (E.g. "Tell Your Friends" function)
Paid Ways:
9) Use the PPC (Pay Per Click) model by Google. (Google Adwords) Be sure to know what you want to achieve through this PPC campaigns before your start. You want to create awareness or generate sales?
10) Online ads banner to create awareness and drive traffic to your website.
Do apply as many techniques listed above as possible. Try them out on your online business, and see the drastic changes in the web traffic to your website.
Ways To Get Fired
Jeremy Palmer and I held a Holiday Shopping Teleseminar on Black Friday (November 24th) to assist affiliate marketers ready their sites for the busy holiday season ahead.
The good news is that if you haven't started your holiday promotions, you still have time to do so.
Contrary to the popular claim that Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year, Comscore ranks it as the 12th busiest shopping day and most e-tailers report their peak days happening between December 5th and the 15th.
Better yet, the opportunity for new and seasoned affiliate marketers continues to expand. Disenchanted with holiday shopping crowds, limited selection and stock, a record 114 million people are forecast to buy online this year; and the average consumer will spend $728 - compared to $681 in 2006.
Here are some basic points to consider as you prepare both your site and your paid search campaigns:
1. Know your merchants' shipping cut-off dates and inventory status. Merchants will communicate this information to affiliates either through email or their sites. Cease paid search campaigns for those merchants and or products that are out of stock or that cannot reach the consumer in time for Christmas delivery.
2. Look for last minute opportunities. Promote gift cards and certificates for merchants that pay a referral fee, such as Amazon which is paying 6% on gift certificates until December 31st. Be aware of those merchants that offer express shipping and in-store pickup.
3. Know what your audience wants. The most popular items to promote include clothing, books, toys, music, fragrances, consumer electronics and gift baskets.
4. Seek out specialty merchants. Brookstone, Hammacher Schlemmer, Hickory Farms and Sharper Image that specialize in higher-end, unique gift items.
5. Limit the number of merchants that you promote to a manageable number, and seek out those that don't sell offline and/or offer expanded online selection. Refrain from promoting merchants that have stores in every town or that offer in-store only deals and pricing, ie. Circuit City, Best Buy and WalMart.
6. Get in touch with your merchant partners. Ask them what their recommendations are regarding hot product and best deals.
7. Address your visitors' concern for price. Promote those merchants that offer the best prices, deals and coupons.
8. Focus on your paid search campaigns. Budget for higher volume and review ad costs and sales reports from merchants and ad campaigns daily. 58% of people shop at work on Mondays after a frustrating weekend shopping offline, so where possible (MSN Adcenter) target your ads to specific days of the week, or times of the day. Consider direct linking (arbitrage) where permitted by your merchant partners.
9. Increase your broadcast message frequency. Your subscribers are actively looking for deals at this time of year - be the first to tell them about the best ones!
10. Stay focused. While we all want to have the perfect site that promotes all the best merchants; limit your site changes, landing page creations and paid search campaigns to a number that you can handle.
Keep those points in mind and you're guaranteed to have a Happy Holiday! :-)
Both Cheow Yu Yuan & Rosalind Gardner 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.
