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So you recognize the need for content in order to satisfy
both the customer AND the search engines. But how does content
actually bring your web site traffic?
Since it’s been established that the main methods of
driving traffic are from search engines and hyperlinks from
other sites, most of these suggestions will contribute to
one method or the other and occasionally both. Some suggestions
include offline activities that can attract another audience
altogether. By diversifying your tactics you are creating
a well-rounded game plan to drive traffic to your site.
Search engines are the main source for internet users to
find the information they are looking for. Being listed high
in the search engines means more people will find you when
looking for the product, service or information you provide.
Search engines use different methods for determining your
position in the listings. Understanding how they work and
what they’re looking for can help you get the best listings.
Hyperlinks are links that direct a visitor or search engine
to another website or page. When websites provide a link to
your site it tells the search engines that you are valuable
and thus affects your position in the listings. In the right
place it can direct human traffic to your site as well.
Here are a few suggestions and examples you can use to improve
your search engine position and create hyperlinks to your
website. Which methods will work for you depend on your website,
writing abilities and determination.
Keywords have always been important to search engines. People
use search engines to find information on a topic by typing
a word or phrase and receiving a list of the most relevant
sites (as determined by the search engine).
Not using keywords properly is where many have gone wrong.
Filling a page with keywords will NOT get you a good rating
with the search engines. However, writing content that uses
popular search words WILL.
By researching the popular keywords for your topic or product,
you can create information that places these words into the
context of an article for your website.
By creating an article and optimizing each page for a separate
keyword you can easily get the search engines to include you
in the results when users search for that word or phrase.
Depending on the competition you may find yourself surprisingly
close to the top position after the search engine finds you.
Information is the basis of the internet. By providing search
engines and visitors with plenty of information on your topic
you will provide plenty of opportunities for the search engines
to list you in the search results.
By creating information you will also become a resource for
other websites that may link to you, providing your site with
valuable hyperlinks. Information is a great way to show your
visitors that you have something worthwhile to impart and
they’ll be more likely to recommend you to others.
Information can be news related to your topic, updates, commentary
or tips and hints. Everyone loves a ‘how-to…’
format, so consider creating one for your site for the most
attention.
Websites NEED pages. The more, the better.
Having a website filled with keyword-filled, template style
pages will not impress the search engines or your visitors.
However, websites with pages of real content and relevant
links to other sites will become a feeding ground for the
search engines.
Slowly but steadily adding pages of real content will help
your site attract the search engine spiders on a regular basis.
This is the ‘tortoise wins the race’ philosophy
to making friends with the search engines!
Creating content for these pages is crucial. Your visitors
may land on a page of your site that is not the main page.
Having information on every page that focuses attention on
your main product or service will generate more interest and
sales.
Have you heard that ‘the money is in the list’?
What list are they talking about?
Your SUBSCRIBER list. Yes, with close to 80% of sales taking
place after the first contact it is imperative that every
website have a newsletter when possible. The percentage of
sales goes up with each contact – the highest percentage
being made after 5 to 7 contacts.
But to have a newsletter you must have content! So start
putting some ideas together and write those newsletters. Set
up your website to attract subscribers and wait for the follow
up of traffic as they open their email and come back to your
site.
By giving your subscribers relevant and valuable content,
you can build trust and can offer suggestions to promote your
products, services and affiliate links. Your visitors will
judge you based on the value of the content you send. If you
only advertise without giving beneficial information for free,
your subscribers may soon start deleting your emails without
reading them.
Develop a series of brief but informative articles. Perhaps
the bulk of the information can be created on an optimized
webpage and an introduction be presented in the newsletter
while directing them to your site for further information.
Getting your subscribers back to your site should be the
primary objective.
Free reports are a great way to attract subscribers to your
newsletter. These reports can also be given away by other
people (on related websites) with a link to YOUR website inside.
You provide them something to give to their customers for
free and you get the traffic that follows!
By including a free report on a topic that is relevant and
of interest to your visitors as a subscription bonus you can
entice hesitant visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Make
certain the report has value for the subscriber or they may
feel it was simply a bribe to capture their email address.
Identify a problem or question that might attract your visitors.
Write a two or three page report that gives a partial solution.
Indicate your product or service as part of the solution,
but do not necessarily make it sound like an advertisement.
To create your report you can provide more details to your
service than is listed on your webpage (ie: ‘Find out
how YOU can save money on home repairs with this special report…).
You might also try one that warns of a danger (Are you putting
YOUR family at risk? Find out with this special report…).
Send the report via an autoresponder or manually send it
to your subscribers as soon as possible so they remember to
open their email.
If you are writing content for your own website then you
don’t want to overlook the benefits of sharing your
efforts with others.
By writing short articles on the topic related to your website,
you can offer these articles for other website owners or newsletter
publishers to use by submitting them to an article directory.
These directories get spidered by the search engines on
a regular basis because of the high value of the content they
provide. If you have not yet been picked up by the search
engines this is the easiest way to get them to find you. You
also get exposure to those who look for articles in the directories
for use on their sites.
When they make use of your articles on their websites or
in their newsletters, you will get the credit as the author
along with a link to your website. Not only will you gain
visitors, but you will benefit from the hyperlinks that are
created.
Another beneficial use for articles is to offer them directly
to sites you would like to share an audience with.
This is not only a great way to gain credibility for your
topic, but will provide useful hyperlinks all over the internet.
Sometimes you can even get links from sites that would not
agree to a formal link exchange request. If the site which
uses your article is a high traffic site you will also gain
invaluable exposure to the visitors reading your article.
Forums – groups of internet users that discuss common
interests online – are a fantastic way to share information.
Search for a forum that discusses something related to your
website. Be sure to spend time ‘lurking’. That
means reading the posts and becoming familiar with the style
of discussion and written (and unwritten) rules. Most forums
forbid spamming. What is considered spam by one forum is perfectly
acceptable by another, but blatant advertising rarely is appreciated.
In most cases you can either post a link to your website
in your signature or share information that arouses questions
about your website from other posters. Some forums permit
you to post your articles (if the forum is business related).
If you are unsure about the policies, be careful. Offering
free advice can sometimes be enough to establish credibility
and if you have a blog or other non-marketing site you may
be able to send traffic to that first and encourage visitors
to visit your website from the blog.
Are you creating linking pages to impress the search engines?
How much more value would they have if you offered quality,
optimized content for each of your categories?
Rather than having a bland list of ‘linking partners’
you could be using your links to gain more credibility AND
provide more content for the search engines.
Create a separate page for each link category and write 200-400
words of content on that subject. Offering your recommended
links at the end will make you a source for information rather
than just a catalogue of links.
Optimizing each page for a popular keyword will draw more
traffic to your site than links alone. It will also be more
beneficial for your visitors who are searching for related
resources.
If you thought you were starting to grasp the importance
of content, you haven’t even started to see the potential
yet.
Press releases should become an important part of your marketing.
What do you need to create a press release? Content.
Press releases are notices to the media about newsworthy
events, accomplishments or information. By creating a press
release to announce a new product, results of a poll or related
news event, you can get free advertising in the media.
News media is always looking for new content for their readers.
Learning how to compose and deliver a press release will give
you access to this pool of willing advertisers.
To create your own press release, go to a website like www.PRweb.com
and read the releases that are posted there. When you are
familiar with the format you can write your own and submit
it. Just avoid advertising copy and be sure to highlight some
new thought or angle to make your press release newsworthy
for publishers to use. If you want to invest the extra money
you can hire a press release writer or have your release reviewed
by a PRweb specialist.
Press releases can work just as well in your local paper
as they do in online news websites.
Submit your press release to the editor or the writer for
the section of the newspaper you want to target.
You could also try to submit your own column, giving tips
and related information to your topic, as a free form of advertising.
Smaller newspapers may find this idea more appealing since
larger newspapers would not be likely to publish your works
without formal working arrangements.
Just like online magazines, printed magazines need fresh
content all the time. If you are writing articles you may
be able to submit them to magazine editors for review.
Be sure to follow their policies which may be listed on their
website or you can email or phone for instructions. Just like
newspapers, you will have a greater chance for success if
you target smaller publishers first.
Online classifieds have gone through some fluctuations of
their own. Originally touted as one of the best methods to
get traffic, the inundation of ads by internet marketers nearly
flooded the market and made it impossible for readers to find
what they were looking for.
However, using classifieds can still send you some traffic
and will also help your site get listed in the search engines.
Use keyword phrases in your ad and include a hyperlink. You
are not putting a lot of content in these ads, but what you
do put needs to be effective.
Do you promote a product, information or service that can
be used locally? Consider creating a brochure that gives information
on a question related to your topic. Include reference to
how using YOUR service or product will assist them in solving
the problem. Give some brief answers and point out your website
as a source for more information.
Offer to leave your brochures in places that might attract
your audience or post them on community boards. Pass them
along to friends and family who might pass them along to others
for you.
Traffic is people – whether they come to your site
or directly to you, they all count.
Are you having success with your newsletter? Perhaps you’d
like to approach another website owner and offer to write
a short article for his subscribers – or to exchange
articles to promote one another to each other’s list.
If the newsletter isn’t competition, but complimentary
to your market, they should be equally interested to talk
to your list of subscribers.
Article announcement lists are similar to article directories
in that your article will be placed before an audience of
webmasters and publishers who may choose to use your article
on their website or in their newsletter.
The advantage of article announcement lists is that the members
sign up to receive new articles by email. Your article will
be directly sent to members who are interested in the topic
of your article based on the list description they have subscribed
to.
Yahoo! has a ‘Groups’ area where you can browse
the lists and sign up to receive announcements. By following
the guidelines for posting, you can submit articles relevant
to the topic (for example there are groups for home, business,
internet etc.)
The individuals receiving your article have already indicated
an interest in articles on the chosen topic and this creates
the perfect audience for your material. You may find traffic
coming directly from the members of the list or from their
websites when they publish your article with your link.
Create a multi page tutorial that can be given to subscribers
or given away by other businesses.
Like a report, the ecourse can be offered as a freebie by
yourself or others. The readers receive valuable tips and
information all while being directed to your site at the end
of each lesson. You may find that a tutorial delivered over
the course of several weeks allows you to develop a relationship
with your reader whether they originally received it from
you or someone else.
By providing valuable instructions on a related topic to
your business you are warming up your audience to become future
customers or clients.
Help your affiliates drive traffic to your site by giving
them letters or reports to post on their sites or in their
newsletters. Your affiliates are also in need of content to
provide their customers and if you are providing that content
for free they will have more success in sending their subscribers
or visitors in your direction.
Creating a blog that is related to your business or niche
will allow you to attract an audience that may not respond
to a sales page. Providing content and news about your topic
with hyperlinks to your various articles or sales pages is
an indirect way to send traffic to your site. You can set
up a free blog at www.blogger.com.
If you have valuable content and offer subscriptions to your
blog (subscription services are free at www.bloglet.com) you
can create a pool of readers who will turn to you first when
looking for your product or service. You can also make your
blog available for others to publish on their websites by
creating an RSS feed. This will allow other websites to automatically
run your new content on their websites every time you update
your blog.
By submitting your blog to www.PingOmatic.com you can alert
other blog services when you post updates.
Your content can be just as valuable to other bloggers who
may have a difficult time finding content to share with their
readers.
Offering to submit an article to a relevant blog can be a
great way to drive traffic to your site with the use of a
hyperlink in your author credit.
If your writing skills or expertise are truly impressive
you may be able to offer an online or offline magazine or
newsletter your services as a contributing writer.
By writing a column on your topic or service and having it
regularly published in a magazine that caters to your audience,
you will have the opportunity to place yourself as an ‘expert’,
leading to loyal readers and customers.
With all these suggestions to use content for building traffic,
what kind of content should you be using?
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