Category: Web Traffic

Web Traffic is the topic of this category. Businesses that operate on the Web are similar to those that operate offline in one category. Traffic! Getting traffic – or potential buyers – to your product or service location is the most important thing a business person can do whether s/he be operating online or offline.

  • Analyzing Website Traffic Part 2 of 2


    Grab Your FREE Viral Traffic Guide Here!

    This is the final part of a two part article explaining how you can analyze your website traffic.

    Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page.

    If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page.

    As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential information to any successful Web marketing campaign.

    Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page.

    In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or graphic may have a significant impact on keeping your visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.

    After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it’s time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor – meaning that they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase – the more valuable that keyword is.

    However, if you find a large number of visitors are being directed – or should I say misdirected – to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor’s needs and motivations.

    Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.

  • Analyzing Your Website Traffic – Part 1 Of 2


    Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic web traffic information that you then have to interpret and make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from your Web host company can be overwhelming if you don’t understand how to apply it to your particular business and website. Let’s start by examining the most basic data – the average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

    These figures are the most accurate measure of your website’s activity. It would appear on the surface that the more traffic you see recorded, the better you can assume your website is doing, but this is an inaccurate perception. You must also look at the behavior of your visitors once they come to your website to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site.

    There is often a great misconception about what is commonly known as “hits” and what is really effective, quality traffic to your site. Hits simply means the number of information requests received by the server. If you think about the fact that a hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblown the concept of hits can be.

    For example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site. As you can see, hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.

    The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis will be of overall trends in visitor behaviour. The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.

    The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out how well or how poorly your site is working for your visitors. One way to determine this is to find out how long on average your visitors spend on your site. If the time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure out what that problem is.

    It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors are spending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, and after you fix those problems, continue to use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix has been.

    This article concludes with the second part of Analyzing Your Website Traffic.

  • Highly Effective Web Traffic Techniques


    We all know that traffic is most essential for a successful Internet business. There are several ways to jumpstart your traffic flows which have been proven reliable, though most of them would cost some money. In this article I’d like to tell you about my favorite web promotion tactics, which wouldn’t cost you a single cent. Moreover, some of them will save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The first tactic alone can generate the equivalent of over $2,000 of free targeted traffic for you.

    Per-per-click ads

    Free pay-per-click (PPC) advertising works, especially Adwords by Google, Yahoo’s Overture and a number of other PPC search engines provide great sources of targeted Web traffic. They are very popular among web marketers. However, as the PPC search engine managers need to expand their customer base they obviously must convince people like you that pay-per-click advertising really works.

    Here is the good news. There are dozens of PPC search engines who will give you up to $100 in free credits to prove that pay-per-click advertising will work for you. To claim your credits all you need to do is visit the various engines and web directories and sign-up. There are no catches and it won’t cost you anything except your time.

    It couldn’t be simpler to obtain such free PPC advertising. The table at this page: http://www.affiliated-business.com/promotion/Pay-Per-Click5.html lists over 60 Pay Per Click Search Engines offering in excess of $2,000 of free web promotion credits. One after another select the PPC search engines from the list, click on the links to open the corresponding sign-up pages and sign up for your free advertising accounts.

    Popular keywords

    Using profitable (the more popular a keyword or key phrase is, the more profitable it is, generally) keywords or keyword niches for your site’s content. Generally speaking, Internet users utilize search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword rankings to give away relevant search results. If you’d like your site to appear at the top lines of search engine results, you must use proper keywords and keyword phrases.

    Try to employ the most profitable (or highest in-demand) keywords in your site’s content. You can write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you. If you’re writing content by yourself you have to make it more entertaining as well as informative.

    In doing so, you can get high rankings in search engine results and strong incoming traffic without any costs.

    Link exchanges & article writing

    Exchange links with partner sites is another great idea that works well especially when both sites feature the same niche, precisely because such link trading or exchanging could result in both of websites benefiting. When one site features another site’s link, they will provide one another with the traffic they both generate.

    The efforts are doubly beneficial because it seems like both sides are working to generate doubly enhanced traffic so, in essence, he more links exchanged with more sites the more traffic those sites could expect to gain.

    And again, you don’t have to spend a red cent. All you have to do is to communicate to another webmaster and come to an agreement with him/her covering the terms and respective responsibilities of the mutually beneficial transaction.

    Write articles and publish them across the Internet is an excellent traffic-generating strategy, especially in view of the fact that there are many sites that offer free article submission and posting of your articles. You’d do better to submit articles to sites containing the same subject that your site deals with. If you sell computers write press releases and articles about computers and computer parts. Try to provide helpful tips guides and good advice. Writing articles that contain good service and knowledge would bring the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

    When people find in your article is something of interest, you have good chances of following the track by finding out where the article originated. It’s best for you to just to attach a brief description of your site or service at the end of the article and to include a link.

    Online communities

    Here is a strategy that eludes many website owners. When you as a website owner join forums, blogs and other online communities you can really take advantage of these web communities, because the great thing about them is that you can target a certain group that fits the specific demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss lots of things about the products and/or services merchants you represent or offer yourself.

    With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. You must capture the market niche you represent and show your expertise and credibility. When you create a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your web business. Your customers will pass on their trust and credibility to many people all over the Internet. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

    Newsletters and ezines

    When Web marketers have offered newsletters and eZines in their marketing campaigns they have been extremely successful which indicates that if a newcomer were to learn the methods used to employ this strategy s/he can also make use of newsletters to drive traffic to his/her website. And the steps are relatively simple. Provide people with a catalog of your products along with interesting useful articles, and if your content really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people will be willing to visit your site. So, if you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you grow your traffic.

    The viral marketing edge

    There are many advantages a website owner can gain with the use of viral marketing. It is a promotional method that allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs, and all it takes is to bring a great idea, a good addicting game, or funny story and let the Web do the rest. Many ideas are still out there, and if you can create a gossip or a buzz, you will likely benefit from the many web projects that are advertised by using scandals and rumors to make them more popular.

    Also you can provide your web site visitors with content they wouldn’t read anywhere else. People will stay longer at your web site to read the original content. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the website content and they will pass it on to many people.

    Each of the methods mentioned above can drive streams of free traffic to your website. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the techniques discussed here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.

  • Get Tons Of Traffic! Ten Top Ways


    Let’s agree on one simple undeniable fact. Without a ton of traffic to your site you aren’t going to get any sales or any leads. Seems obvious doesn’t it?

    The number one question on the minds of most website publishers and Web marketers is… “How do we get more traffic to our websites?” Well, I’m about to let you know some easy ways to get visitors flocking to your site starting today. Lets look at some obvious but often overlooked tips discussed further down this page.

    Methods one to three

    • Get a killer domain name – People will never forget a catchy domain name. Be sure to choose a short and easy to remember domain name that is appropriate to your business and has a nice ring to it. Remember the domain name is your online brand.
    • Upload fresh and useful content – These days people are banner blind. They want more than ads. Give them information they can’t find anywhere else, and give it to them for free. Give them the content they want and need. If you do don’t know what it is, Ask them.
    • Get your site seen by the Search Engines – Search engines bring more than 75% of traffic to most web sites. You can submit your site all day long but the best way to get seen is to get links on quality relevant sites. The search engines will find you within days. You can seek out both one way links from other sites and also reciprocal link exchanges with other webmasters. Just stay away from those nasty link farms!

    Techniques four thru six

     

    • Pay For Top Spots – The quickest way to get website traffic without trying too hard is to pay for it. These advertisements would be posted on prime locations or banners of websites. Banners are cheap and are great for branding, although you shouldn’t expect a ton of click throughs. Popular websites like leading newspapers and search engines would provide immediate recognition and visibility to their customers. If you have the cash, spend it. Many don’t or won’t.
    • Form a Community – Start a message board, email group, or even a chat forum. Actively participate in these groups by posting answers to other people’s questions. Be visible and always include your signature at the end of your postings. The best thing about these types of sites is that people come back again and again. Check your hosting account to see if you have free forum software included. I bet you do.
    • Start your own mailing list – It is the best way to keep in touch with your prospects and your customers. Build a relationship with your list. Your email list can make your site a success again and again. The best customer is an existing customer.

    Methods seven, eight & nine

    • Start an eZine for your website – An ezine is an extension of your site, but this will highlight new information and features of your site. People will be reminded of your website as they read each issue. If they find the issue interesting or worth sharing, they can easily and instantly pass this on to the people within their network. Give them a freebie for signing up.
    • Submit Articles – Write your own article just like this one and submit it to e-zines, websites and magazines that accept article submissions. Be sure to include your business and contact information and website address in the resource box.
    • Exchange ads with other websites – Create ads that will promote your business and website. Submit this to e-zines or other websites in exchange for free ad space in your own electronic publication. Your presence on other sites is very important in getting the increased traffic that you want. This is usually facilitated with either simple links or flashy banners.
    The tenth traffic-driving tip
    • Always update your website – Your website should always be up and running and full of fresh content. It is to your advantage if you maintain your website with new articles and updated features. If your visitors always find what they want and need, they will definitely be coming back again and again. Additionally, search engine spiders love a site with changing content!
    Review multiple times

    Now go back to the top and read through this list again. You may think you know this information already, but I wonder how many of you have actually taken action on it. Also don’t be discouraged if you don’t see amazing result straight away. I guarantee working on these strategies a little bit each day will bring some serious traffic in the weeks and months ahead.

  • Proven Traffic Building Methods


    As the internet age advances, more and more businesses are finding new life online. The potential benefits of such a venture are great as the internet allows for access to millions of possible customers across the globe. The startup costs tend to be lower as many entrepreneurs run their online businesses from home. Unlike a physical store or office, online businesses are usually open 24hrs a day, everyday. That’s the good news.

    The bad news is that the success rate for startup online businesses is about 10% as 9 out of 10 online businesses simply don’t work. Getting traffic to your site can be the most difficult of tasks. There you are eager and ready, your website looks great, your merchandise or service is ready and the future seems bright. So how do you get people to come to your site? The following paragraphs feature a number of methods that will help steer you in the right direction.

    Search engine optimization

    Search engine optimization (SEO) is the method used to allow for your website to be ranked higher as a result of a search for specific keywords or phrases by a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Businesses will target certain keywords that are relevant to their content and place them on the homepage and/or other pages on their site. As an example we can look at the online retailer, jewelrypayless.com. They optimize words such as “silver jewelry” or “men’s ring”, etc.  When Google receives a request for one of these key words jewelrypayless.com will come up in the search results.

    It is, however, not as simple as that. Your site may show up on page 100 buried deep within the search result listings. In order to get listed higher more work has to be done, as described in this article. Also, the act of optimizing a site requires some knowledge of HTML which is the basic language with which websites are built. You can use an HTML editor such Dreamweaver or Frontpage to add keywords to the pages which you are optimizing.

    Linking strategy

    Websites often reserve an area of their site dedicated to links. The page usually consists of categorized links pointing to other recommended sites. Usually, websites will exchange links for mutual benefit. The more links you have pointing to your site, the better. Links to your site(inbound) show the search engines that your site has value. The best way to go about this process is to establish good content on your site and begin targeting websites you would link to exchange links with. You can buy software to help you do this or you can manually send out link exchange invitations via email.

    Pay per click

    The fastest way to get traffic is through pay-per-click advertising. Essentially, every time a web surfer clicks on an ad of your creation, you will pay. The price can range from 25 cents to $2 per click depending on the popularity of the keyword or phrases you’ve chosen. Basically, your ad will pop up in an area designated for paid ads once the keyword has been searched. It is important that you understand the correct keywords for your business in order to avoid paying unnecessary fees for irrelevant keywords.

    The most effective and popular of the pay per click ad sponsors are Google and Overture. You can also use shopping malls such as Nextag.com, Bizrate.com or Shopping.com to advertise via pay-per-click. Make sure to set your budget and monitor the results carefully making adjustments as you go along. Pay-per-click can be unreasonably expensive if not managed carefully.

    Affiliates

    Affiliates are companies, individuals and organizations that you have established business relationships with in order to increase your exposure and sales revenue. Affiliates send traffic to your site via a link representing your business on their site. If the prospective customer should buy from you the affiliate gets a commission from the transaction.

    In order to use affiliates you are required to register with an affiliate program and begin recruiting affiliates to work for you. Offering a handsome commission can attract affiliates to sign up. Having a professional website that will be easy for them integrate with their own site can also peak the interests of potential affiliates. Always treat your affiliates well, paying them on time and communicating with them on a regular basis.

    Offline Advertising

    An often neglected part of marketing online businesses, offline advertising, can be an effective means by which to bring in new customers and create “word of mouth” interest in your site. Ads in magazines, newspapers, tv, radio and local publications are some of the ways through which you can promote your business.

    Passing out flyers or sending out postcards can also result in new business, especially if you are offering a discount in the form of an exclusive coupon code. Be creative in trying to promote your business on a grass roots level. Read books such as “Guerilla Marketing” by Jay Levinson to gain insight on how to go about marketing in a cost effective manner.

    In conclusion, succeeding online can be difficult but rewarding. If you use these methods to help you in your research and application of a business and marketing strategy, along with sacrificing time and putting forth a strong effort there is a good chance that you will be successful with your online business.

  • A Secret Way Of Getting Traffic


     

    If you are reading this article, more likely than not you own a website that you would like to see become a success. To achieve that level, you need traffic to your site. But where does traffic come from?

    One of the better ways to get traffic for your site is to submit your site to the many directories that exist online. Online directories are similar to your phone book yellow pages: These directories are categorized (education, entertainment, health, etc.), and when you submit your website, you suggest a category for your website. Often, you will even be able to submit to a sub-category within a major category. For example, suppose your website is about aromatherapy.

    In your submission request, you would suggest “Health” as your main category, “Alternative Medicine” as your sub-category, and “Aromatherapy” as a further sub-category.

    Some of the leading online directories are Yahoo!, MSN Small Business, and the DMOZ directory. Unlike search engines, however, listings in online directories are usually not free. As of this writing, you can submit for free to the Yahoo! Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com), but there is no guarantee on how quickly your website will be reviewed for listing.

    If you need your site reviewed faster, you can pay Yahoo! $299 US for “expedited” service and they will review your site within seven days. However, this fee is a yearly recurring fee. Your website is subject to a yearly review, and is guaranteed neither initial inclusion or to remain listed year after year.

    The MSN service is $49 US, and it functions more like a search engine submit service. Their submission service incorporates inclusion in their own small business directory. DMOZ, on the other hand, is free, but because it is operated by volunteers, it could be a while before your site is included. Your best options are to submit to DMOZ and pay for the MSN and Yahoo! services.

     

    But why should you spend money? Can’t you just optimize your site for the search engines? You can, but not everyone goes to a search engine for what they are looking for. For example, if someone is searching for gourmet dog treats, they may not use a search engine. Instead, they might go to one of the online directories and look at the listings, much like someone would use the yellow pages in their phone book. Your investment in gaining inclusion in the online directories will pay off for you in a multitude of ways:

    1. You will increase traffic to your site. Your site will be included in the online directories, as well as the search engines, and this will help you gain traffic as people search directory listings and find your website.

    2. You will increase the number of backlinks to your site. If the directory pages are listed in search engines, the link they provide for your site will be listed in the search engines. This benefits you by creating more ways for people to find your site. Ultimately, this will provide more traffic for you.

    3. Submitting to directories is a quick way to gain links. Optimizing your site for the search engines is very difficult and time-consuming. It can take a lot of time to learn how to write for the search engines. In the meantime, any links you can get will help you with the search engines, and submitting to directories will get you links.

    4. Submitting to directories is relatively inexpensive, and a good investment. As stated earlier, you can submit to Yahoo! and MSN for less than $350. DMOZ is free. If you run a search for online directories, you will find many more where you could submit inexpensively, or even for free.

    In short, submitting to online directories is one of the best ways for you to build traffic to your website. In the end, you need traffic to survive online. So get started!

     

  • Professional Traffic Building Tips


    Let’s face it; the Internet is cluttered with all sorts of guides about increasing traffic to your web site. Unfortunately, most of these guides are outdated or incomplete. In fact, many of the techniques being touted in them will get you in serious trouble. Wouldn’t you like to build up quality traffic that will stand the test of time? The key phrase is “test of time”. You don’t want to be a flash in the pan.

    First things first: A completed website

    Before you rush out to tell the world that your brand new web site is open for business, set it up properly. Do not even start to think about traffic if your web site still has broken links, empty content, and other unfinished business. While patience can be a hard thing to control, having some will pay off later. Once your web site is completely operational from top to bottom, you are ready to flood it with traffic.

    Search Engines – While there are many web sites out there which claim to be search engines, you only need to be concerned with a few of the major ones like Google, MSN, etc. You do not need to submit your web site to these engines–they will find you on their own once your web site is being linked from other web sites.

    Never pay for a service or software that does this function because it will be a complete waste of money. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either trying to sell you a product or lacks real experience on the matter. The goal is to get your web site linked on other related web sites, which will cause the search engines to index your web site and visit somewhat often to look for changes.

    Directories – Your first step to building a solid traffic foundation is to submit your site to good directories. Doing so will increase your incoming links, page rank and traffic. Many directories charge a fee for a listing–most are one-time fees. Following is a breakdown of some of the more important directories to get listed in.

    The ODP (Dmoz.org) – Submission to this directory is free and it is one of the best to be listed in. It is extremely important that you read their guidelines. All submissions are reviewed by an editor and the approval process can take weeks to months. Many web site owners have waited a long time before having their web site added. It is worth the wait.

    Yahoo.com – Adding your web site to this very popular directory will cost $299 annually. Because of the price, you will want to think about this one. Experiences with Yahoo listings are on both sides of the aisle. The best thing to do is see where your web site will most likely be listed and evaluate the conditions for that section.

    sbd.Bcentral.com – This is Microsoft’s business directory and it will be a solid listing for you. The current listing fee is $50, which includes the use of their web site tuning service. This service will evaluate your pages and let you know if the page is ready to submit or contains errors such as under-optimization and spam alerts. It can help you optimize your pages for the keyword phrases you are interested in.

    SevenSeek.com – This directory has a great page rank and many back links. As will all directory submissions, pay attention to the guidelines. The fee for submission is $40. Seven Seek is a general directory so just about any web site will fit here.

    GoGuides.org – Go Guides is another great directory to get your web site into. Their web site is crawled by all the bots daily, which is a great plus. Submission is $40 for this general directory.

     

    Wowdirectory.com – Wow Directory is a large general themed directory. Web site submissions are free but approval can take some time. They offer an express submit for $20 that will ensure your web site is listed within 24 hours.

    There are many more directories out there but these are some solid ones to get into first. In time, your web site will begin to appear in the major search engines. Most directories that charge for submission have adopted the policy started by Yahoo where the fee is for “review” only. It is absolutely vital that you read over all the guidelines to be certain that your web site will be accepted.

    Properly written and optimized articles

    A great way to generate traffic and back links to your web site is by writing articles. Here is the general process of how it works:

    1. You craft a great article.
    2. You submit that article to web sites geared towards web site owners needing content.
    3. Owners grab your article, which contains a link to your web site, and use it on their web site.

    As you can see, the process is very simple. When other web site owners place your article on their web site, you will be generating incoming links all over the Internet with no work at all. This will not only lead to possible traffic but help to establish the value of your web site to the search engines–so better rankings.

    It is very important that your article is written well. If not, quality web site owners are much less likely to use your article and it makes you look bad. Most web site owners skip this important step in traffic building because they can not craft effective articles. If this is you, do something about it…

    Visit Jason A. Martin right now and click on the “Articles for your web site” link. For a small fee, articles can be generated for you–and you retain full rights. Once received, simply slap your name on it and submit to places like ContentTycoon.com, Ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, etc.

    This is perhaps one of the most important steps of all and after your article is written, it takes no work. The results can be extremely fast. Many articles out there are not crafted well so it is important to not formulate your writing style and perception blindly on the work of others. While many web sites that offer articles claim to “edit” them, it is more of a casual edit.

    Text links: one way links and back links

    The goal here is to increase the number of links from related web sites. For example, if your web site is about hot dogs, you will want to obtain links from web sites that are about such topics as: hot dogs, eating, hot dog buns, hot dog toppings, hot dog contests, etc. Obtaining a link from Joe’s Engine Parts will not help much and may actually hurt in regards to search engine rankings.

    After thinking up words and phrases that are related to your main topic, visit your favorite search engine and search for those items. Visit the web sites that come up and try to get your link on them. Some might exchange a link with you, some might offer a link on their web site in exchange for payment, and some might simply say no. Keep at it.

    A foundation to build on

    By completing these tasks, your web site will have established a solid foundation that will withstand changes the future holds. I invite you to read about ways to promote your web site, improve ad copy, and much more by visiting InternetBusinessEntrepreneur.com. Remember to always keep a sense of pride about your web site. Resist the temptations to do actions which will hurt your web site and build it with the future in mind.