Referral Networks – Page 21 – TP Javeton WebNet

Drum up traffic on a limited budget

There is one hard and fast rule in generating income for your website: A steady flow of website traffic! If no one goes to your site, it has a little to no chance of generating income, as many sites have tried and failed in their attempts to generate traffic, which resulted in the sites’ demise.

It takes money to maintain an income generating site which, according to the old adage “it takes money to make money”, should come as no surprise…

…But, it doesn’t require a total liquidation of your bank account contents to generate website traffic for yours or any other website. There are a number of free and low-cost traffic-generation methods available to anyone who is willing to put in the time required to get positive results from these methods.

Ever wonder how big businesses drive traffic to their sites? Most of them have spent, and are spending, tons of money to drive traffic to their sites by investing in various advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and techniques. This was all worthwhile because they had deep enough pockets to finance the marketing that made them what they are now… high earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have their resources. As mentioned earlier, there are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford, and we will talk about a few of those ways in the following paragraphs. Even if you are only successful in converting a small percentage of visitors into clients, it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.

The link exchange method

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

An important prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the provision of service and information that is of interest to your target audience.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking on the search engine result pages. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic to your website without the high advertising costs.

The traffic exchange approach

This is like exchanging links but on a larger scale. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits. You can use those credits when viewing the sites of other members, while you earn credits when someone views yours.

The viewing of another member’s site or page is done in a give-and-take manner where a site can use your site(s) content and vice-versa. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic. The other sites visitors can go to your pages and know more about your site as well as theirs. Once again the public awareness of your sites existence is boosted.

Article writing and sharing invites traffic

There are many eZines and directories on the internet which provide free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are also many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed with the niche of your site and write something on a topic in which that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to visit your site. Write articles that provide tips and guidelines relating to the subject or niche your site is based around.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that will link them to your site and write a little about yourself and the topic discussed on your site. If you provide a light, information-rich and interesting article, they will go to your site and return for more.

Newsletter publishing will create traffic

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a newsletter, but on the contrary, this is not as difficult as you may think. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets passed around, you can widen your sphere and public awareness of your site while building an opt-in list with members that can regularly visit your site.

Traffic from forums and online communities

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

Customers generated from traffic

Establishing your own E-commerce site is not like what it used to be. There are thousands of competitive sites doing everything possible to get a bigger share of the profit pie. So every scheme, method and technique you can find to augment your sales must be utilized in order to derive any benefit or achieve what can reasonably be considered success.

We obviously have to admit to ourselves that most of us are in it for the money, otherwise why would we go about wasting our time, effort and money just for the fun of it. Of course we also must understand that while some of us take a measured approach, many others would not wait very long to see their profits. They would never take things lightly or take the measured approach because they are bent on grabbing an ever bigger portion of the profit pie.

So what is this commodity that gives any one business a competitive edge over another? Customers! It is common knowledge that without customers we have no business, because without customers to buy our product or service we can’t get sales which is ultimately the fuel that powers the engine of your business, mine and any other.

In Internet terms, large numbers of customers are generally referred to as traffic which represents all the people that get a chance to see what you have to offer, and it is therefore reasonable to conclude that the more people who see your products/services, the more people might decide to buy them.

Seldom does anybody put up an E-commerce without expecting to make a profit, especially when there is startup capital that needs to be recovered. With a consistent traffic flow, we may at least have a fighting chance to achieve that profitability, and monetizing your traffic would optimize your chances of making the best out of it.

Making money out of your traffic

The best and most proven method of making a profit out of your traffic is using advertising. The Internet generates hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of traffic streams everyday and most of them are searching for something. While some are just looking for information there is also a good percentage that is shopping for something that they need.

The Internet has proven to be a very reliable source of finding what was once deemed to be a very unsearchable products and in this respect, the internet has made the world a smaller place; you can advertise a product from the depths of Istanbul and still find a buyer from the center of Philadelphia or Beijing.

Generating traffic is not an easy task though. You have to contend with a great number of sites to generate a reasonably satisfactory traffic flow; but if done correctly this could open up a Pandora’s Box of possibilities with one of the benefits derived is the monetization of your traffic flow.

So, to get to the core of it the more traffic you generate the more likely you are considered a desirable, desirable, in a sense that a good traffic flowing site is easily convertible to profit. Basically traffic equals profit. Advertising is the name of the game; with a good advertising scheme you can use your traffic flow to your advantage.

When you have above average traffic you’ll most likely have an above average potential to grab what can be considered a respectable share of customers that are willing to pour money into your coffers. Other than those who will buy from you directly, there are also those that can be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you for a sizable portion of the traffic that you have generated.

This scheme is called “pay-per-click”. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. The more traffic you generate and the more clicks that occurs would result in more profits.

Traffic from affiliate programs

Another method of monetizing your traffic is the utilization of affiliate programs. You can link up with other tried and tested sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a percentage of sales generated by traffic coming from your site. The basic idea is, traffic generated from your site will go to another site which can offer a product or service that you do not carry. Many programs can keep track and make records of transactions that was made possible because of this site linkage.

When purchases are made by customers that sent by your site to their site you get a percentage of that sale. Affiliate programs would give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need to carry or promote a certain product.

There are so many ways and methods to monetize your traffic with the only requirement being a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-generating site. The Internet is a veritable source of information, tips and guides which are offered everywhere on how to monetize your traffic and make your site a good profit producer. Ultimately a traffic-generating site is a profit-producing site.