Web Site Design, Hosting and Marketing Tips and Tricks
If you’re running a local business online consider using Google Places. It used to be called “Local Business Center.” People used to search the yellow pages to find local business listings however this has occurred less and less due to the accessibility of the internet. Instead of wasting time sifting through countless yellow pages simply enter your main keyword phrase into the Google search box to receive a number of local business websites you can contact.
If you’re not monitoring the performance of your website you won’t know how to improve it. For example let’s say you want to increase your Web traffic by 1000 visitors per month and your current traffic count is 1000. You begin a marketing campaign to attract more visitors to your website. If you don’t have a web stats program in place you won’t know if your strategy is making a difference.
Large companies spend a fortune in online advertising to drive traffic to their websites. How can you possibly compete with them when you’re the sole owner of your business and can’t afford to invest in paid advertising?
The best way to compete with large companies is to build a website around a micro niche then promote it using free traffic generating strategies. Let me explain what I mean by giving you an example.
If the large company sells shoes target a smaller niche such as “mens running shoes.” Make your website standout from the large companies by making it personable e.g. adding a blog so visitors can comment on your posts, write articles about running, create videos offering tips on running, adding social bookmarking icons so visitors can easily share your content with others.
One of the best ways to get free traffic to your website is article marketing. It will only cost you time to write and submit your content to article directories and other online publications.
Step by step article marketing process:
1. Choose a topic you’re passionate about
Create a list of topics to write about by entering your main keyword in Google’s keyword research tool. It will provide a wide range of related keywords people are searching on plus how many monthly searches that keyword receives. Your job is to write articles based on those keywords so your content can be found in the search engines and in article directories where newsletter publishers and site owners are looking for content to publish.
2. Create an attention getting headline
This means you need to write an attractive headline that grabs your reader’s attention. For example instead of writing “How to find comfortable running shoes” you could write “A Startling Fact About How To Save Your Feet When Buying Men’s Running Shoes.” Which headline gets the most attention?
3. Write content that benefits your readers
Your main content should provide at least one good tip your reader can act upon. Alternatively divide your content into several paragraphs each containing one tip. If you write 4 paragraphs (4 tips) of 100 words for each paragraph you’ll easily complete a 400-500 word article.
4. Offer an incentive
The resource box at the end of your article is where you can promote your product or service. Instead of trying to sell to your readers directly by linking to your product, offer a free report or ecourse so you can first capture their email address. This will enable you to stay in touch with them. Most people won’t purchase products on first contact.
5. Promote your content
The key to generating lots of free traffic to your website is to get your content in front of as many people as possible then build a community of followers. Start by submitting your articles to the top article directories because they receive millions of visitors each day. Add the articles to your blog so visitors can interact with them by leaving comments or asking questions. Create Twitter and Facebook accounts so you can notify your followers when you’ve written a new article. Participate in forum conversations and blogs related to your niche.
Build your community by offering a regular newsletter. Develop long term relationships with your subscribers by providing tips, news, product reviews, coupons, sales etc.
Your success will be determined by the frequency and consistency of your content marketing efforts therefore create a plan (e.g. write and publish 3 articles each week) then stick to it.
Related Articles
How Can I Promote My Website For Free
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7 Habits of Highly Effective Traffic Generation
Herman Drost is the owner and author of
http://www.DrostDesigns.com
Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing
Traffic is the life blood of your website. If no one visits your site it will die a slow death and join 1000s of other abandoned sites on the Net. Most site owners don’t have a large budget to promote their business so they often ask themselves “How do I get website traffic on a budget?” They are constantly looking for free or inexpensive traffic generation strategies.
Here’s a highly effective traffic generation strategy that won’t cost you a dime. Even though this strategy is free it will still take time to implement but if done frequently and consistently will attract 1000s of visitors.
Web Content Development
New content needs to be constantly added to your website to attract and retain your visitors. One very effective way to achieve this is to write search engine optimized articles. This is an article that contains keywords that people are searching for in the search engines. When a person enters that keyword in the Google search box (or other search engine) your article appears on the first page of results.
Before writing the article create a list of keywords using the free Word Tracker keyword research tool. It will display how many searches each keyword receives each month. Write an article based on the topic of the keyword. Use the keyword in the title, article body and resource box at the end of the article. The article should be at least 400 words long so it meets the requirements for article directory submissions.
Make sure you create an attention getting headline then expand upon it by offering four valuable tips. Write four paragraphs of approximately 10 lines for each tip. This will give you 400 words. Your resource box is where you promote your offer or website. Be sure to include two links back to your website. One should be anchor text (hyperlinked text), the other your full website address.
Promote your content
To maximize the effectiveness of your article first place it on your website or blog then submit it to the top article directories and social media websites. Placing it first on your website means this web page will appear first in the search engines ahead of other web properties where you’ve published the same article.
If you want to get more traffic rewrite the article from another angle using a different headline but target the same keyword. Now you have another unique article that will also attract its own stream of traffic. Make sure you include links back to your website within the resource box . Use this article to submit to the top article directories such as Ezinearticles, Goarticles, Ideamarketers. These directories receive millions of visitors plus get visited by search engines every day. Traffic to your website will increase in proportion to the quality and quantity of articles you submit.
Notify your niche community using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, your Blog, whenever you have new content to publish. Place social bookmarking icons on your blog for visitors to easily bookmark your content. Build your community of subscribers by regularly offering them a newsletter.
Make a schedule to write and publish new content every few days or every day if you can handle it. View web content development and article marketing as free advertising for your website. It’s more effective than paid advertising because your content keeps working for you 24/7 throughout the year.
Related Articles
How Can I Promote My Website For Free
How to Promote a Website for Beginners
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Herman Drost is the CEO of http://www.iSiteBuild.com Maryland Website Design
A website that doesn’t attract traffic is like putting a sign up in the desert. It may be a very beautiful and expensively designed sign but if no one passes by to view it you won’t get any business. There are 1000s of sites on the Net that are just sitting there making no sales because they’re not attracting any visitors.
How to increase website traffic
1. Website optimization
Your web pages must be search engine friendly to attract search engine spiders. This means your webs pages must include the keywords people are searching on to find your them. To find those keywords open up the Google Keyword Research Tool. Insert your suggested keyword term. The keyword tool will create a list of keywords and phrases that display the number of times those words have been searched on each month.
Weave these keywords into the title, description meta tags, headings, subheadings, image descriptions, navigation links, internal links, file names and main content of your website.
2. Link building
Backlinks are links that point to your website from other sites. The number and quality of incoming links determine your rankings in the search engines. One of the best methods of building links is article marketing.
Benefits of article marketing
The three main benefits include web content development, building backlinks, increasing search engine rankings. Continually working on these three strategies will generate a ton of web traffic.
Web content development
Content is King on the Net. If you write lots of unique, valuable content and place it one your website or blog, others will naturally link to it from their blogs, social media sites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) and social bookmarking sites.
Publish your content
The top article directors attract millions of visitors each day. You can gain some of these visitors by submitting your articles to them. Write articles containing 400 words that include your main keyword in the title, main content and resource box. Make sure you include 2 links to your website in the resource box. One should be linked text (anchor text) and the other your full website address. You will immediately begin to get a trickle of traffic after you’ve submitted your article. If it gets picked up by an ezine publisher with 1000s of subscribers you’ll experience a dramatic increase in website traffic.
The more articles you write and publish the more traffic you’ll generate. If you convert the content to video and submit it to video sharing websites like YouTube you’ll attract even more traffic.
3. Monitor website statistics
Your statistical data shows how many visitors you’re getting to your website, where they are coming from and what keywords they are using to find your online property. If your web host doesn’t provide this service create a Google Analytics account and insert the code within the web pages. This enables you to track the success of your marketing efforts.
If you optimize your website, provide lots of valuable content on a regular basis and publish that content all over the Net you’ll dramatically increase your website traffic.
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101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site
The purpose of your website is to convert visitors into buyers. When someone finds your website based on the keyword they entered in the search engines they expect to receive information related to that keyword.
If your website doesn’t pre-sell your visitors they’ll quickly leave and go to your competitors. This will reduce your website conversions rates.
Steps to pre-sell visitors and increase conversion
1. View your website statistics
In order to find out what keywords were used to find your website view the statistics that come with your hosting plan (Aw Stats). If the Google Analytics code has been added to your web pages, login to your account to view the data. The keywords that received the most searches means they are the most popular ones. There may even be keywords that you never thought of.
2. Write an article for each keyword
Content is King on the Net so the more content you add to your site the more visitors you’ll receive. You already know the keywords people are using to find your content so writing an article based on these keywords gives visitors more information. Make sure you include the keyword several times throughout the article e.g. heading, sub headings and main content. Write primarily for your visitors not for the search engines. Optimize the web page containing the article by including the keyword in the title, description and keyword meta tags.
Place a call to action at the end of each article. Examples of this include: a subscription box, link to a product, short report or related articles. If you wish to sell a product from your web page, write about all the benefits of the product then introduce it an the end of the article. Your visitor will be more inclined to purchase it after reading your article instead of simply displaying the product on its own.
Once you start writing you often get ideas for similar articles. Write these ideas down for future reference. You could generate a series of articles that can be made into a short report or ebook and sold or offered for free from your website.
3. Create an article section
Make it easy for visitors to find all your articles by adding a link to your navigation menu. If you have lots of articles in multiple categories, create a table of contents page that clearly lists all your category and article topics. Each article title should link to it’s own web page.
4. Use autoresponders
Autoresponders allow multiple messages to be sent automatically over intervals of time. For example you could create a series of lessons (or tutorial) sent every few days to your opt in list of subscribers. Offer a free report in exchange for contact information filled out from the opt-in form on your website.
5. Include multi media
Make use of multi media tools such as video, audio, flash, images to engage your audience and enhance your content. Some visitors prefer watching and/or listening rather than reading your content.
You’ll make more sales if your website visitor is more informed about the product or service you offer. Pre-sell them with great content and you’ll keep them coming back for more.
And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE report titled:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Traffic Generation
Herman Drost is the owner and author of
http://www.DrostDesigns.com
Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing
There are 1000s of dead websites on the Net because they’ve been abandoned due to lack of web traffic. If you don’t attract visitors to your website it will join the pile of dead ones. You’ve probably heard the saying “build it and they will come.” Building a website and placing it on the net will not generate traffic. You need to promote your website using a variety of methods. Since many website owners can’t afford paid advertising they often ask “How can I promote my website for free”? Free ways can be as effective as paid ones. You simply trade your time for money.
Top 10 ways to promote your website for free
Search engine optimization
If your website appears on the first page of any of the search engines it will get a lot of free traffic. To achieve this you first need to optimize your website.
1. Keyword research
Use free keyword research tools such as Wordtracker or the Google Keyword Research tool to find keywords people would use to find your site on the search engines.
2. Weave the keywords throughout your website
Include these keywords in your meta tags, headings, subheadings, page content, links, navigation, image and file descriptions. Only use one or 2 keywords per page in your web copy. Reserve the other keywords for optimizing other pages of your website.
Link Building
Search engines rank websites according to the quality and quantity of the links pointing to your site. So if you want to increase the ranking of a web page work on building lots of links to it.
3. Article marketing
Write 400 word articles that target the keywords on your web page. Include these keywords in the title, content and resource box of your article. Make sure your resource box includes 2 links to your web page. One link should be the full URL of your web page, the other link should be the main keyword phrase linked to the web page you want high rankings for. Submit the article to the top article directories such as Ezinearticles.com. Website owners and ezine publishers often visit these directories to find articles they can publish on their website, blog, ezine or newsletter.
4. Directories
Research local and specialized directories related to your niche that allow a link to be placed on their website. Some will be free, while others will require a reciprocal link or payment. You can find some specialized directories by entering “keyword+directory” in the the Google search box.
5. Related blogs
Search for blogs (http://blogsearch.google.com) related to your niche then submit comments to their posts. Insert your website address at the end of your comment. Don’t just say something like “nice article” as it will probably get deleted by the site owner. Try to answer a question or create a well written response. Other commenters will read it and may get inspired to visit your own site.
6. Forums
Search for forums (http://boardreader.com/) related to your niche and participate in conversations by offering valuable insights to other forum members. Make sure you include a link back to your website at the end of your comment.
Social Media
People love to interact with others on the Net. By interacting with visitors on your website/blog, Twitter or Facebook you build relationships. These people will be more inclined to purchase products and read information you recommend to them. Social media will help promote your website by boosting rankings, generating traffic and building links.
7. Add a blog
Blogs are a great way to interact with your visitors. They can subscribe to your RSS feeds, newsletter, or leave comments. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for building a blog. It automatically alerts the search engines every time you post new content.
Create a stand-alone blog or add one to your current website. Make a plan to add new content on a regular basis. Types of content may include articles, news, reviews, contests, etc.
8. Social networking
This enables you to interact with people related to your business. Through these interactions you become part of an online community that shares the same interests. Create accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn then invite people to join your community through these social networking properties. Be sure to include your website URL in your profile on each of these sites . It will generate a quality backlinks to your own site. Search engines frequently spider social networking sites to search for links containing new information.
9. Social bookmarking
Visitors will bookmark your website or save it to their Favorites list when you offer good content. It boosts your search engine rankings and helps build critical backlinks. Insert a bookmarking icon on your website (e.g.http://www.addthis.com/ ) to make it easy for visitors to bookmark your content. Here are 3 popular social bookmarking websites:
www.socialmarker.com
http://www.addthis.com/
www.onlywire.com
10. Video marketing
Videos are effective because you can watch, read and listen at the same time thus it appeals to a wide audience. This is in contrast to text which just appeals to one segment of your subscribers. A good video captivates your audience better than written content. Create a simple video then upload it to multiple video sharing sites with TubeMogul.
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101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site
Auto Responders enable emails to be sent automatically to your customers. A traditional Auto Responder can be set up on the server to send an automatic email when you go on holiday. When someone sends an email it automatically sends a message to say you’re on holiday and will get back to them soon.
A Sequential Auto Responder allows you to send automatic email messages every few days or whatever intervals you prefer. For example you could automatically deliver a marketing tip every day for each day of the year.
Top 7 Benefits of Auto Responders
1. Build relationships
Most customers don’t buy the first time they see a product but the chances of them purchasing it later increase dramatically if contacted several times by offering more information about their purchase. An Auto Responder can be set up to deliver information at various intervals to remind the customer about the product they saw.
2. Branding
Customers that continuously read your marketing messages get branded with your business and will seek you out for advice, services or to purchase a product in your niche.
3. Automatic list building
A newsletter list is a very valuable marketing tool because you can offer your subscribers tips, reviews, product recommendations, send surveys and hold polls. A large list enables you to make money fast because you have a large audience that has shown interest in your products.
4. Track results
Auto Responder software enables you to track how many people read your email messages. For example if you sent an email to 1000 subscribers and 100 opened the email message, it means you got a 10% open rate.
5. Create multiple email campaigns
If you have multiple niches that require email marketing a good Auto Responder service allows you to segment your email campaigns. For example one email campaign can be set up for web design clients and another for hosting clients. Alternatively you can also send email to both at the same time.
6. Set up automatic tutorials or classes
Instead of sending out individual tutorials or classes online, create them ahead of time then load them up in your Auto Responder. You’ll save a ton of time and even be able to go on vacation while your Auto Responder sends the messages to your students.
7. Generate repeat business
It’s easier to generate sales from customers who have already bought from you than first time customers. If you use your Auto Responder to continually offer valuable information on a regular basis your customers will reward you by purchasing your product recommendations.
Automate your email marketing strategies by adding Auto Responders. It will free up more time to focus on building your business.
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Herman Drost is the owner and author of http://www.DrostDesigns.com – Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing.
Building an opt-in email list and sending a newsletter on a regular basis is one of the best ways to build long term relationships with your customers. If your newsletter offers valuable information your subscribers will trust your product recommendations thus helping you generate sales.
There are multiple methods of capturing email addresses from your website. I’ll discuss some of the different types of opt-in forms you can adopt for your own website. Only by testing them can you determine what works best for your own niche.
7 types of opt-in forms
1. Pop-up box
This can be a opt-in box that pops-up when someone visits your website. Pop-up blockers may block pop-up boxes unless you create one that avoids blockers. Alternative methods include an opt-in box that slides in from the top, side, only appears after a few seconds, or appears after exiting the web page.
Here’s an example of a drop-in content box that pops in from the top of the web page.
You can select how often you want the box to appear:
2. Optional pop-up box
An opt-in form that appears every time a visitor accesses your website can turn them them off and may prevent them from coming back. To avoid this place a few lines of text on your sidebar or within your content with a link to your opt-in email form. When the person clicks on the link the opt-in form appears.
Alternatively create a full web page that describes all the benefits of subscribing to your newsletter (including beautiful graphics). Create a link on every page that links to this opt-in page.
3. Opt-in subscription form on web page
Instead of using a pop-up box embed the opt-on email form within your web page. (e.g. www.isitebuild.com). This avoids annoying your visitors and gives them a choice to subscribe to your newsletter.
4. Squeeze page
This is where the person is forced to subscribe (squeezed) to receive more information. It could be a registration page where they must first register before being able to access your website. Your squeeze page may also be a pop-up box that asks for your contact information to receive a free report or software.
5. Video squeeze page
Video is a powerful method to gain subscribers because it uses sight and sound. This grabs the attention of your readers more than plain text. Create a video that describes the main benefits of subscribing to your ezine. Place it on your squeeze page (pop-up) or embed it within your web page.
6. Footer opt-in
This is a script that creates an ad that slides up from the bottom of your web page when someone visits your website. It ‘s particularly suitable for blogs and is a great alternative to hovering opt-in boxes that can annoy your visitors.
7. Autoresponder
A sequential autoresponder automatically sends out emails in intervals (e.g. every few days). Visitors can opt-in to your list by offering them an e-course, free report, free software, or a combination of these strategies. You start building a relationship with your subscriber automatically by contacting them several times with your email messages.
Tip
Test out the different methods described above to determine what works best for your website within. it will vary based on your niche. Also test different content and be sure to offer an incentive for opting in (e.g. free report).
Resources
Drop-in box
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex17/dropinbox.htm
Ultimate footer ad
http://www.drostdesigns.com/at/go.php?c=ufa
Pop-up navigation
http://javascript.internet.com/navigation/
Autoresponder
Aweber.com
And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE report titled:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Traffic Generation
Herman Drost is the owner and author of
http://www.DrostDesigns.com
Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing
One of the most important aspects of email marketing is to build a list of customers you can build long term relationships with. Your email list enables you to offer tips, articles, reviews, send surveys, take polls, recommend products and make sales. In order to do this you need to learn how to collect email addresses from your website.
Top 7 ways to collect email addresses from your website
1. Offer a free report
Website visitors need an incentive to give their contact information. Offer a free report that caters to your niche audience. It doesn’t have to be long if the information is valuable. For example create a list of frequently asked questions in your niche then answer them in your report.
2. Offer a newsletter subscription
Provide the benefits of subscribing to your newsletter e.g. write articles your subscribers will see before anyone else. Give them a free report or software for subscribing.
3. Offer an e-course
This is a series of email messages sent automatically every few days with an autoresponder. Contacting your subscribers several times helps build a relationship with them. For example bundle 7 related articles together into a e-course and offer on your website by creating an opt-in box to capture their name and email.
4. Hold a contest
Have you ever bought a raffle that could win you a great prize? Well if you announce a contest on your website that promises a prize (e.g. product or service) you’ll get a ton of new subscribers.
5. Squeeze page
This is a web page that forces the visitor to enter their contact information in exchange for more information or to receive a report or software, etc. . It could be a forced registration form to enter your website or register to get deeper access to your site (e.g. membership area).
6. Place an opt-in form on every web page
Visitors don’t just enter your website from the home page but will also enter through your internal pages. By creating an opt-in form on every page you increase the chances of capturing email addresses.
7. Pop-up
This is a web page that pops up over a web page when a person visits your website. It includes a form asking for their contact information. The pop-up could appear from the top, side, bottom or appear after a few seconds. Even though it can annoy visitors it is very effective for acquiring email addresses from website visitors.
Create a plan to get addresses from your website then nuture these people by offering valuable tips, sales and product recommendations. Emphasize they’ll get this information first before it’s offered to the public.
Related article
Email List Building Benefits – Top 7
And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE report titled:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Traffic Generation
Herman Drost is the owner and author of
http://www.DrostDesigns.com
Web Design, SEO, Article Marketing
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