How To Increase Traffic To Your Website
More Keyword Research - Promotion - Sell Products - Reasons For Failure
In order to increase traffic (visitor numbers) to your website you normally add more Information, Products and/or Services to it, as well as pump up your advertising campaigns. However, many people overlook the traffic they already have. They are getting a good number of visitors from search engines, classified ads, forums and other resources but do not know how to keep those visitors. Hence why they say "I'm getting X amount of visitors but no sales", which usually means "I'm doing something wrong".
Your Website Is Number 1 - SO WHAT!.....NOW?
In this section I am going to give you ideas to bring in more traffic, some of them basic, as well as point out some pitfalls of website design. Just because your website is number one with the search engines does not mean instant success. Your website could just be number one because it is so niche and/or because it has thousands of "Curious Visitors" but no "Interested Visitors".
Buy Old Domain Names
One way to bring potential traffic (and customers) to your website is to scout around for old domain names that are related to your website's subject matter. You could use Domain Tools (WHOIS) for this or a domain name broker such as Sedo or Buy Domains. Either way, when you have found a potential domain name for sale/registration look up its history, as described in the previous section, to see what kind of traffic was heading its way.
One of the things to be aware of here is that you could inherit bad traffic, and even bad clients, so you would need to put up a banner on your website for this domain name stating "New Owner" or something. One way to check traffic history for an old domain name, and more precisely its good/bad links, is to go to the McAfee Site Advisor website and use its Analytic Search. In this example I will check www.annamariavolpi.com (from the previous section).
Fig 1.0 www.annamariavolpi.com was classified as a good website by McAfee Site Advisor
Advertise Your Authority / Offer FREE Products
In todays internet society people can easily get "stuff" for FREE. Software Tools, Information, Services and so on. Mainly distributed by the big
companies who can afford to give for free. On top of this you have websites like EBAY and Amazon who sell top quality goods at affordable prices.
So how do you go about selling your latest Cookery E-Book, Cookery Paperback, Self-Composed Music Album or Sandwich Delivery Service for example? Well
first of all, you have to advertise your authority. And the only way this is going to happen is to either be the authority or to become the authority.
Become The Authority Via Expertly Written Articles
Becoming the authority (the knowledge, the best, the guru) of your subject matter means buying good quality articles from websites such as
Daily Article, Constant Content
and Article Sale. Two things to keep in mind when going down this road are 1) The
articles you buy might of been splashed around other websites already and therefore been read by your visitors already and 2) Keep your article writers
similar in writing style.
It is very easy to spot a well written article because it is too polished (newspaper editor like) and the reverse is true as well. Having a mixture of
good and not-so-good articles on your website or blog tells everyone you are Faking It! There is nothing wrong with different authors but they have to
have a common style/feel, in the same way as a Magazine in the shop has different article writers but at the same time they all follow a certain
style/feel of that magazine and its history.
What you should be after are articles that are written by the same author if possible or articles that you have Full Rights to. That way you can modify
the articles to sound more like the personality of your website. In other words; If an article is too polished for example it reaks of "I am trying too
hard to sound professional and authoritative when really I am neither" whereas if an article blends in more with your website's personality it sounds more
subtle and natural.
Knowing Your Subject Matter Inside Out Does Not Make You The Authority
There are many gurus like yourself out there on the world wide web. What actually makes someone the authority is someone with the knowledge who can help
others with it. In other words; What you are willing to share with others?, How are you going to help them?. Are you ready to commit your time and energy
for the sake of a £9.99 E-Book? that may or may not sell.
Can you offer them something unique? If your website is information based for example, full of your written knowledge, is that going to cut it in todays
age of video. Are you going to invest your money on video software and equipment?
The authority is someone who answers their email and gives good customer support. The authority is someone who has a passion to help their visitors even
when they are occasionally going to lose money helping them. The authority is sincere, honest and trustworthy. And above all, the authority is a DOER.
Besides advertising your authority via website promotion you can also write authoritative articles yourself and submit them to article submission websites
such as EZineArticles and ArticleAddict.
That way you can link back to your website, if the article submission website allows it of course. And if you are doing video tutorials you can also
submit them to websites such as Blip TV,
Brightcove,
Revver,
Drop Box and YouTube of course.
Give Something Away For FREE - Even If You Paid For It
As well as advertising your authority on article and video websites it is also important that you give content away 100% FREE. This could be in the form
of a Free E-Book, Free Tutorials (the written information on your website), Free Membership for a limited time, Free Music Samples, Free Sandwich and so
on. The key here is to keep a broad mind.
If you are selling sandwiches online for example do not just create a Sandwich Bar Online website that only sells sandwiches. Why not build up a directory
of sandwich bars or give healthy advice on sandwich fillings. Tell everyone, for FREE, the benefits of a salad sandwich. Another idea would be to organise
a members only competition to win a day trip to their local health farm, paid for by your directory advertisers, followed up by an interview with your
local supermarket for their take on healthy sandwiches.
You would be surprised how big the health industry is online. In other words; Make your website more attractive by filling it up with information,
competitions, interviews and so on. It is the same for a music website. Do not just sell your own samples. Interview your local record shop, local band,
etc in return for advertising them for free on your music website. Pay for concert tickets and enter them into a £1 Per Entry prize-draw competition,
preferably with the concert managers permission.
The above should boost your traffic but only if you have a passion to do these things. If your attitude is "I cannot be bothered to interview
so and so", "Research is a waste of time" or "That's going to cost time and money" then I would not create a sandwich website for example if I were you.
Sometimes you may have to spend 100% of your time, energy and money giving out free e-books, promoting, writing and so on just to get a little traffic,
but at least you will have more traffic.
Website Content - Fast Loading And Not Too Long
One of the golden rules of a website is to make its content Clear/Uncluttered. And this also applies to the volume of information. If you look at SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) websites they tend to be one web page long (i.e. 10 web pages within 1 web page) instead of a website, with the idea being
that it is full of content and therefore the search engines will love it. This may have some truth but to many humans these kind of seo websites are an
eyesore.
In my opinion, from a human point of view, it would be much better to break the seo website down into web pages. Bite size. To have to scroll down 10 web
pages just to get your message and/or product across does not make sense to me. Visitors could lose interest very quickly. And it is not just seo websites
making long web pages. Commercial websites do it too, on a much larger scale.
Yahoo used to cram many of its main topics onto one web page, but if you look at Yahoo today it is only a two page scroll and much tidier than it used to
be. This is partly because they have bite sized their website and therefore given each main topic (i.e. dating, games, movies, etc) its own category link.
Can You Afford The Bandwidth And Server Speed Of Commercial Websites?
One thing to remember here is that commercial websites can afford to fit 10 web pages, full of media content for example, into 1 long web page simply
because they usually have their own powerful/speedy servers and can afford the bandwidth of thousands, if not millions, of visitors. So their 10 web
pages in 1, media rich content, will download quickly into your web browser's display area.
On a standard ("Normal") web hosting package your website, with the same 10 web pages of media content, would struggle to display. So do not emulate the
commercial websites if you cannot afford to do so. If you do you might receive millions of interested visitors, but in reality your website would also
be down (out of bandwidth) all the time. At best, your visitors would be frustrated by your slow streaming media content for example.
Website Content - Clear Navigation
Your web pages should be easy to Navigate. Within each web page you must make sure that your links are highly visible and obvious. It is no good having a
text link whose title states 50% Discount if a visitor is having trouble finding that text link. It is also no good having a text link title stating Click
Here, because it means nothing. A much better idea is to use keywords in that title, such as 50% Discount On All Sandwiches.
One thing to remember here is that search engines look at the relevance of a text link's Title and File Name. So instead of having a text link title
stating 50% Discount that links to a web page called sandwiches.html for example, it is much better to have a title like 50% Discount On All Sandwiches
that links to a web page called cheap_discounted_sandwiches_sandwich_bar_in_london.html. That way more visitors can find your web page:
Cheap Sandwiches, Discounted Sandwiches, Sandwich Bar In London and Cheap Sandwiches In London.
The same applies for image links. Their imagery has to state graphically 50% Discount for example because they have no visible text link.
Is Your Navigation Pointing Your Visitors In The Right Direction?
Navigation is not just about easy-to-follow links and uncluttered content, it is also about having the right content on the right page. For example. Do
not give your visitors a 50% Discount On All Sandwiches text link and then on arrival of that offer web page you make it difficult for them to get the
discount, because you have cluttered (surrounded) the offer with An History Of The Sandwich content for example. Your visitors do not click on the offer
link for a history lesson, they click on it for a discount.
Another thing not to do is put distracting adverts and flash animation banners all over the offer web page. You want your visitors to see your generous
offer, that makes you look good, and not have their eyes looking elsewhere.
Flash Animations and advertisements in general can also be slow to download. As a result your credibility will suffer if you are known for offers that are surrounded by, slow, distracting advertisements. These distractions are just the same as pop-up window advertisements. In the long run visitors get tired of your antics and prefer to go elsewhere for their discounts.
Website Content - Get The "Skimmer's" Attention
In todays busy society visitors scan the headlines before the text, so always cater for the busy, scanner, visitors (known as Skimmers). Catching their
attention with a headline will give your web page a second or more attention for them to start reading the text associated with that headline.
A popular thing to do at the moment is to have a short introduction, of up to three paragraphs, at the top of the page followed by a Read More text link
below it. The read more text link then goes to a web page that has the full story. A bullet (menu) list of services, for example, is another attention
grabber for the "skimmer".
Website Content - Interact With Visitors
Use a Guest Book, Mailing List (E-Mail Subscription) to a Newsletter, Forum (Questions & Answers board) and/or Blog for example in order to interact
with your visitors and more importantly to get their email addresses. It is a good trade off. They get to advertise their website for free, get free
advise and so on in return for their email address.
Once you have their email address you can then offer them more incentives, to join your Membership Scheme for example, on a personal level. The thing to
remember here is that Mailing Lists and Newsletters only work successfully when you have built up your researched content. And even then you might ask
yourself "Do I need a Newsletter?".
A successful newsletter can take up the same amount of time, energy and resources as making a web page or even a website! So do not offer these kinds of
services until you have some spare time on your hands.
Are You Scared Of Offering Other, Competition, Website Owners A Link?
Offering other website owners the opportunity to link back can also be a plus, simply because they will normally thank you in way of a return (back) link
and/or promote your website in other ways (i.e. word of mouth). This exchange of website links gains you both an external link - Something that can help
with your search engine ranking/listing.
Do not be afraid to link to your competition's website, and for them to link to your website, because it shows you appreciate their content and at the
same time that you are strong and secure (that you are not afraid of the competition). A good website will realise this and feel no threat/competition.
The thing to remember here is, that although you can bombard your own website links in forums and classified ads for example, it is best to try and get a
back link to high profile commercial websites such as microsoft.com. Doing so can save you time as one of these back links is like gold; worth many
normal back links.
Take a good hard look at your website's subject matter and investigate who are the top, authoritative, websites in your field and try and get a back link
from them. Alternatively. Try and get them to link to your website. It can be achieved. Here I have wikipedia linking to the ExFAT (Flash Drive)
Explanation web page on my yoingco.com website (Nov 2008) - They have recognised it as an authoritative web page.
Fig 1.8 Reference 6: Wikipedia linking to my yoingco.com ExFAT (Flash Drive) Explanation web page
That link has since been deleted because I updated my website and links to Windows 7 content (that article was for Windows Vista). Either way, as said, it is possible to get a high profile link.....especially if you are the authority on that subject matter and/or if no one else is writing about it (a little clue there!).
Advertise/Promote Your Website
Bombard the forums, classified ads, etc with your web pages links. When I first started as a website owner back in 2005 I was lucky enough to have a
Langauge Learner software, that I wrote years before, to promote on the internet. Lucky because it got yoingco.com known for that software, which later
helped yoingco.com become the top of the major search engines for FREE Windows XP Lessons (now Vista Lessons).
Also lucky because I had many forums to advertise in. Spanish, German, French and so on language forums. University and Education forums. Programming
forums. On top of this I was bombarding guest books on these themes as well. Many of my headlines were FREE Language Learning Software followed by a link
to yoingco.com. And this is what you need to do. Think of all the unusual places and topics relating to your website and how you can sneak a few free
links/advertisements into those places.
Going back to cookery and sandwiches as an example. Bombard the health/diet forums, the sandwich forums, the food utensils and supermarket forums, the
education forums and so on.
One serious word of advice here. ALWAYS LOOK AT THE WEBSITE YOU ARE BOMBARDING. On the odd occasion you might find a link, in google for example, whereby
it looks normal and states Sign My Guest Book; So you go ahead and sign it, only to find out you signed the guest book of a bereaved family.
This can be because they are using a free guest book service with a URL of www.freeguestbook.smith.com, so how would you know that it is the
website of a bereaved family? The best way to know is to go directly to their main web page (i.e. www.smith.com).
Know Your Audience
Advertise offline and online. When advertising offline (without the internet) you normally advertise in the Yellow Pages, in a Newsagent window, on a
Door-To-Door Leaflet, leave Business Cards in a chinese takeaway and so on. And when advertising online (with the internet) you normally advertise
in Classified Ads, Forums, Blogs, Guest Books and so on. However. Many people do not think to do both.
In other words; They do not advertise their www.???.com in a Local Magazine or Newsagent window for example even though hundreds of people standing
outside a bus stop, next to a newsagent, are their visitors/audience.
Another example is a local councils (states) rag magazine, which is distributed to thousands of the borough's (area's) council houses (government owned
and privately owned government properties) each month. It normally has an advertising page inside it which for £20 a month, for example, can have your
advertisement seen by potentially thousands of people.
NEVER EVER assume that your audience comes on the internet in stupid mode. What I mean by this is that the way some people sell on the internet
you know they have never tried selling to the public before. They have never worked in a shop, so lack customer experience, and they have certainly
not been in the real world for a long time. If they tried to sell their goods in a Downtown Market for example they would not stand a chance.
One big thing that website owners forget is that the public are Streetwise and more importantly Thrifty. They know you are selling something even before
you start your opening statement of "Hello. My name is...." but they do not mind as long as you give them sincerity and respect. They know you have to
make a living but they also know when you are treating them like a naive child.
Show your visitors how your product(s) and/or service(s) will benefit them. Do not rant on about the technicals of a Carpet Cleaner for example.
How the chemicals interact with the carpet and how the hoover is built with a 50 horse power engine. Tell them how clean it will get their carpet instead,
how it will be dry instantly after shampooing and that it will look like new.
The same applies with the food examples above. Tell them the value of your service. How healthy the sandwich is, how much money they are saving or how
big the fillings are. Tell them you cater for vegetarians and people with peanut allergies but do not tell them how the farmer had a 1000 horse powered
tractor helping him/her harvest the crop. Display pictures of mouth watering food on your web pages. Use headlines such as Save Time And Money. Convince
them and reassure them with 100% Money Back Guarantee. Add Testimonials to your website. And so on.
Reasons For Failure
Website Managers think websites come pre-wrapped with fame and fortune. As soon as they get a web hosting package they think they just need to
create a website, or have one made, and success is automatically granted. It does not work that way.
Just like in the real world, in the internet world everything has to be built up slowly but surely. In the real world I was a car washer, kitchen porter,
shop assistant, computer programmer and general dogs body before I moved into computer repairs. In other words; I could not afford a "proper" computer of
my own for years, let alone repair one! I had to work hard for what I wanted. And this is where many website managers go wrong.
They have little knowledge of how to build up a website in the internet world because they do not know how the internet world works. In effect, they are
equivalent to new shop owners who know nothing about book keeping, shop keeping and so on. They think "I've got the website, I've got the newsletter,
content is the best, paypal account is set up, products are ready....." but then wonder why they are not becoming famous. Why? Because they are not
learning how to become a webmaster.
Website Managers do not learn how to become a web master. To become a web master does not mean being at the computer day and night, learning how to
programme.....but it helps! For many website managers there are just too many aspects to learn - Programming, Newsletter, Blog, Forums and so on. Many of
these they find daunting, especially when they find out the amount of time and energy it is going to take/cost to build up a little traffic. A lot of
them fail to put the time and energy in.
Website Managers concentrate on their own needs but not on the needs of their visitors. To have a successful website they must put visitors needs
first. The hope for the website manager is that their time and energy will be rewarded.....with membership, product sales, etc. The better they are at
customer service the better their website will become.
Website Managers believe in Get Rich Quick schemes. There are CDs on the internet that claim "fame and fortune....with this master plan" but the
old saying "If it is too good to be true...." will always prevail. Affiliation is also to blame here. For example. Some affiliates offer 100% profit and
even go as far as setting up a website template for their affiliate product. This surely begs the question Why?
If the product is that successful why are they allowing someone to sell it at 100% profit? Why? Because it is usually an old product that has gone past
its Sell By date and therefore no longer a real income earner for the product owner. So now they have someone selling it at 100% profit but only after
that someone joined their $97 affiliation program or bought their new "Internet Marketing" CD for just $97.
Website Managers just put up a website for their stationery. They pump out door-to-door leaflets with little success, because the leaflet content
is rubbish, but at the same time think the www.???.com on those leaflets is going to rescue them. They think some how the house owner is going to say
"rubbish leaflet but I'd better head over to www.???.com.....just in case I am missing something really rubbish!". Stationery content needs just as much
energy as website content.
If you want more traffic put more work into your website campaign
With the above I have tried to make you aware of some of the obvious, but lesser actioned, traffic building tactics; simply because many website owners
do not carry out those actions. They think it is all about building up a Mailing (Email Address) List and a Newsletter, which to some degree is true, but
how can you have a mailing list and/or a newsletter without visitors.
You must build up your natural, returning, traffic first by enticing them with good quality website content before you even consider asking them to join
your mailing list and/or newsletter. Do not rush. Take your time. I normally give a website one year before I even consider membership, newsletter and so
on. That is the normal type of time scale I am talking about here.
A Blog can be built in 5 to 10 minutes but to get traffic to it is a different story. Remember. Nobody knows about your website when you first publish it.
Hence why you have to submit its URL to the search engines first and then work on some of the promotional things mentioned above.
In later sections I will be showing you the reality, the results, of Article Writing, YouTube Video Submissions, Forum Postings and so on; so that you
have a real sense of what to expect when you do these things yourself.