The Website Promoter
April 2010
Table of Contents:
Increasing Website Traffic
So you are interested in getting more Internet traffic to your website. Question is, how can you do it without spending a lot of money? Actually, there are several ways to improve traffic to your site.
No Cost Solutions
Social Networking
Willing to spend time to help your website? If you don't already have a Twitter, LinkedIn and/or FaceBook business page, consider creating one now. Many of your competitors have already jumped on the bandwagon, and are successfully networking their way to a stronger web presence, enhanced credibility, and more customers.
Some do's and don'ts:
- Experiment with several social networking sites, but focus on one or two. FaceBook and LinkedIn are two sites with highest business presence. LinkedIn is clearly for professional networking.
- Write profiles that establish your credentials and expertise. This is also an opportunity to use keywords since search engines capture this information. Use pictures appropriate for customer viewing.
- Facebook allows you to build a business page for events and news about your company. Even a 'Fan' page can be created for your business. Videos are a great addition to promote yourself, your business and/or products.
- Start your own special interest forum, or join existing ones related to your specialty or expertise. Such participation helps position you as an authority.
- Seek out recognized authorities in your field. Facebook or LinkedIn give you the opportunity to meet people in your field. When you send a friend request invitation, be sure to include a message introducing yourself and explain why you want to connect with the person.
- Avoid aggressive marketing and constant promotion. Create interesting content. Social networking sites are all about conversation between like-minded people. Potential new clients will recognize your expertise and
Proactively communicate with valued clients
Proactively write recommendations for people you've done business with in the past. Don't wait to be asked. Potential clients are often motivated to do business with someone who shows interest.
Blogging
Blogging is not for everyone. But if you do blog or are considering blogging, many social networking sites enable you to distribute your blog posts through RSS feeds. On Facebook, for example, by setting up a blog on Wordpress.com, your posts can automatically be pushed to your profile page, along with recent comments. In fact, you can syndicate posts from multiple blogs on your Facebook profile page.
Blogging provides yet another avenue to include links to your website. Search engines will pick up your blogging pages with references to your website which will help your page rank in search results. In fact, on account of the explosion in social networking, Google is experimenting with means of pulling together all related information found in blogs and the social networking sites.
Low Cost Solutions
Newsletters
Email newsletters to existing clients to help build your brand, customer loyalty, increase awareness, improve customer service and add value to purchases and registrations. It's important to include relevant, timely, useful information in your newsletter. Create content that serves the interests and needs of your audience.
Depending on your business, offering newsletter subscriptions on your website are also an opportunity to increase traffic to your site. An effective technique is to offer a preview of your current newsletter or a recent past newsletter so potential subscribers can better judge whether they wish to receive future issues.
Newsletters, like social networking sites, affords you an opportunity to be seen as an expert in your field. Some of the same rules apply. Avoid aggressive marketing and constant promotion. Create interesting content.
Other Solutions
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is an invaluable tool to increase your site's visibility in search engines which in turn will promote website traffic. Diligence in reviewing your site versus your competitors and intelligent use of keywords is critical to success. It is an ongoing process if page rank is important to you.
Many website owners will hire a consultant to perform the optimization for them. The difficulty is in recognizing which SEO company can provide the best service for a reasonable cost. Cost can be high. The process includes an analysis of your site followed by recommendations and pricing. Frequently such companies will offer ongoing monitoring for additional fees. Effectiveness varies according to the quality of the company. It is best to seek the advice and recommendation of others who have used such companies.
At PGR Creations, we can offer a low cost alternative. Although PGR Creations does not specialize in SEO services, we can nevertheless provide the first step in assisting you to achieve higher rank by helping to recognize keywords, revising text on your website and looking for opportunities to fine-tune the code on each page. These simple techniques will often yield some surprising results.
Google AdWords
Advertising in Google's search engine does not have to cost an arm and a leg. You control your advertising budget. The key to success in advertising through Google is the amount of your bid for keywords as compared to your competitors.
Google ads show up within an hour of creating them, so results can be nearly instanteous. You can fine-tune your ads based on user clicks to improve their performance.
There's much more to Google Adwords than we have room for here. Contact us if you are interested.
