Monday, December 22, 2008

Acquiring Leads to Get More Traffic to Your Site

How will you get your site visitors back? It's quite hard to tell. But there is a sure fire way to do this. To target lost prospects for your site, you need to acquire leads. FYI, lead is a visitor that might want to purchase your products or services. This is a very critical activity in the process of lead generation.

It's not easy to identify a prospective visitor. Not only will it be a very complex task but it is expensive as well. Some of the visitors might not be overly ready to be converted. To make the meaning of leads easier to understand, I will try to say that acquiring leads just means that you have to bring people to your site.

What are the ways to acquire leads? Simple, you can use the so called email marketing or the opt-in email lists. You can choose to do it yourself or pay a very good amount of money for internet providers who do this kind of service.

When you choose to do it manually, you will use the lead capture form and place it on your sites landing page. Also place them on traffic entry pages that offer significant newsletters.

You must create a lead capture form good enough to ask for the prospective customers email address. They should be asked permission if it is alright to email regularly.

You can find customers from some of the reliable sources. Some sources can provide prospective customers; they let them rent their prospect lists. These prospect lists can come from a professional organizations trade groups, list of brokers and even alumni associations.

Another way to acquire leads is through link exchanges. You can exchange links with the other sites that offer the same services on your site. Just choose one which draws a lot of attention. When you exchange links the chances of acquiring leads is good.

These are some of the ways to buy leads when you choose to do it yourself. Its kind of time consuming but it really makes sense when you achieve the site traffic you wanted.

The other way to acquire leads is to get email opt in lists, sometimes you can find a lot of lists online. Here are some examples of the Opt in Email List providers: acquirelist.net, AllmediaInc., Aboutlists.com, 24/7media, 1touchmarketing.com and 1000lists.com. These are just some of the providers that can help you. If you prefer another list, then you can search online for more lists.

The following are some of the payment options and terms that will definitely suit your preferences.

CPA or Cost Per Acquisition and the term of payment depends on the results of the emails being sent out. It's like paying on how many customers you get. This is more of a per sale basis. The good thing here is that you and the provider somehow become partners.

CPM or Cost Per M, M means a thousand. Some of the providers offer this kind of service, particularly brokers. Here they are going to send you email. For instance, they will send 50,000 emails, the CPM is $40/M, and then, that would cost you $2000. You are going to pay them on this basis whether you make sales or not.

CPC or Cost per click is when the providers give emails and if it goes out, then there will be a link to click, this could be a web page that they can visit to acquire some information etc. The payment term here is actually per click to the targeted URL.

Now when you are going to pay the Opt in List providers, pay them with a credit card. Because if you have been cheated, you have a way out through the credit company because they will help you in such cases.

Is they don't want to be paid with a credit card, then, don't do business with them. Since they may not give refunds.

So here's a word of advice for those who will choose to pay for the list providers. Always make sure that you obtain the lists that you order.

Here are some of the ways to buy leads to generate more traffic. Also, make sure that you give good reasons for these prospective customers to go to your site. Acquiring leads can be easy and affordable. Just make sure that you make the right decisions to get it done.

Definitely you will gain more site traffic. So go on and try these ways for better site traffic!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

How to Use Google Adwords to Drive Traffic

Utilizing Google Adwords is one of the vital tools in the internet world if you want to drive traffic to your Webpage. And why do you need to drive traffic to your website? Any website administrator or owner sees the importance of this action since traffic makes any site successful by gaining more profit through advertisement. Still confused? Let us take it one by one. We shall start with a discussion of Google Adwords.

When using the Google search engine there are noticeable listings in the right hand corner of the webpage. All of these listings is identified as Google Adwords. Google presents important texts relative to the ads within the search engine results page. This page is named Sponsored Links. When a searcher keys in a word, the links appear separately thus giving superb exposure of the listed site.

How does it work? Since Google is the most popular and the largest online search engines; it receives approximately 200,000,000 queries everyday. Because of this demand, its web administrators desire to have high ranking on the results of searches it provides. The high ranking can denote a high traffic for a particular website.

The results page of any search engine can really be a great spot for promoters to advertise a service or product using links and ads. Particularly, these are helpful to those ticket items needing maximum exposure for sales. As a result, Google launched Adwords service offering businesses an avenue to advertise their services and products to a targeted audience.

Adwords is a pay per click advertisement which is posted by people who want his or her auctions to be seen by targeted traffic on the site. Through Adwords, the item submitted will be displayed several times but these displays, will only be paid whenever a searcher ticks on the posted ad. Adwords by Google guarantees instant traffic.

How can one use the Google Adwords? An initial step is to acquire an account on Google Adwords Service. Next, you should specify your country and language; this is an important step since your prime motive is to sell. You would not want your product or service be advertised in places where they are not known or they are not being used.

After acquiring an account, you are now ready to make your ad group. This ad group consists of ad designing, keyword selection and determination of the maximum cost you are willing to pay. This also includes bidding for the amount of the ad.

Tag title is the next important thing to consider in Google Adwords. Be sure that your title tag is very captivating since this will be an essential tool in catching the attention of the target audience. As a note, title tags must describe your website accurately and clearly. This must be effective in conveying the message for your audience. Having clear messages can attract qualified leads which can be converted to sales. This can therefore signify the importance of selecting concise keywords.
Keywords must carefully be selected. There are words and phrases that can be adapted to attract more prospects. Using different words, derivatives and misspellings can lead to an increased chance of serving your ad on the website.

After deciding on a title tag for your ad, cost must be considered next to have maximum exposure. For each campaign, it is recommendable to have daily budget that is affordable and suitable. Usually, the charges are agreed upon by the client and a webmaster or administrator. Normally, a pay per day amount is considered; for example, a trading assistant who takes care of the selling of peoples stuff agrees on a $10 a day or $300 for one month listing. Generally, the charge can be as low as a dollar a day. The amount will all depend on the set agreement.

Aside from these steps, there are a few mistakes that are overlooked. These can be considered to be a profitable website. One of the mistakes is bidding on a few wrong keywords, thus missing the right ones. Another mistake is unawareness on the keywords and ads that convert web users to sales and which ones aren't profitable.

Your site won't succeed based entirely on its design and content. Although you have a very exceptional services and products to offer, it will all be a waste if you do not have capabilities and skills to advertise. Google Adwords in conclusion is a very excellent tool in gaining your sites success. It will definitely be helpful in letting you have the target traffic you will need to have maximum exposure and eventually the sky rocketing sales you dream of!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

How To Drive Traffic To a Website Through Article Marketing

There are many ways to increase website traffic. Some web developers are turning to SEO practices, link buying and even subscribing to pay-for-click programs just to encourage more visitors to their sites. One of the least expensive ways of increasing website traffic is through article marketing.

What is Article Marketing?

Article marketing is a form on online advertising. Basically, you write short articles about anything related to what you are trying to promote. After completing the piece, you have to make it available for distribution and publication in article directories, in the company website and even on someone else's site.

As a rule, each completed article contains a resource box which contains vital information like: the name of the author, a very brief background of the author, and contact information of the author, etc.

Essentials of Article Marketing

1. Write quality articles

Quality content is still the best way to make article marketing work.

You should remember that more than a million people log on to the Internet daily; and a good percentage of them post article after article about almost any topic.

When you write an article, try to incorporate all the information your potential reader may need or want. Internet users usually seek out valuable information like the ones that can help them solve their problems.

If you can, write and post articles that have the same theme or subject of interest; and write as many articles as you can. This is a way of building up your reputation among your readers. Given time, (and if your articles are interesting enough,) you just may develop a following of readers who are interested in reading what you have to say.

2. Craft the perfect resource box

As mentioned earlier, when you market your article, you should always have a resource box. Now, this is really important. This is the one place that can literally point your readers to your website. Here is how you should craft a perfect resource box:

The first thing that your readers should find in your resource box is your name and title, but more often than not, its just the name that people scout around for.

Do not forget to type in correctly your website address after your name.

After this, there is the compulsory USP or unique selling proposition: this is comprised of 1 to 3 brief and concise sentences as to what more you can possibly offer your readers.

Finally, you lead your readers into a call of action. This means that you are asking them to do one specific action: particularly asking them to visit your website.

3. Submit your articles

Obviously, submitting your article for publication is important, but where do you send them? The easiest choice is to send them to article directories or acquire article distribution services. Submission to article directories is mostly free, and these directories will allow you to add links to your website. Article distribution services have varying fees, but they allow your piece to be posted in more sites than article directories.

How to Drive Traffic Through Reciprocal Link Building

In the SEO business, reciprocal link building gives good rankings if the sites are relevant or related to both topic/subject of both sites. It is an effective way to drive traffic to your site and you will also gain higher rankings with other related websites as long as you have an updated site with great content and significant information.

Link exchange will result if you have set a topnotch site with interesting content and other related information, this will in turn help others who want to exchange links with you for an added internet exposure.

Few notes on Reciprocal Link Building

* Make sure that you are linked to relevant sites meaning you both have the same subject matter and at the same time all the links are also related to each other.

* It's more about quality than quantity. In reciprocal link building, be on the look out for quality sites, linking to more and more sites not really related to your site is not advisable.

* This is a long and sometimes frustrating process because you still have to check if the sites have agreed on link exchange and regularly track down if the link to your site is still present on the other's website.

* Some webmasters may turn down your link and replace it with another link. If that's the case, take their link off your site also as this can give them good search engine rankings as one way linking and your website may lose.

* Examine the other site link pages, are they indexed and visited by google? If the site has no follow through or are hidden from those called robots, this will do you no good, it can even damage your ranking.

* When requesting for a link exchange, consider the links that are displayed/linked to the other's site, all the links should be relevant to your website. Also, the site should not have many broken links from other sites.

*Keep the number of links on that page at a minimum amount, if the page has 40 or more links then don't waste your time there anymore.

* You can decide however if you want to have a separate link page, this will depend on the size of the site and what your topic is all about.

Be extra careful in the reciprocal link building process, make sure that all the links are relevant and all the links contained in other's website are also related. Bear in mind also that not all webmasters are willing to exchange links, some webmasters do not allow link exchange or if they allow it, double check if your link exists on their link pages. Sometimes, webmasters do a naughty trick of hiding links after they've agreed on a link exchange.

Follow the link exchange rules. The site that you are exchanging links with should exist in major search engines and has good traffic ranking (Alexa is an effective site to keep track on rankings and traffic). Check regularly, let's say every month if your link is still in the site, some webmasters also have this practice of removing other links in their sites.

Reciprocal linking is a good and free way of achieving high website ranking but you should still monitor once in a while, after the link exchange don't stop there continue to check the status of your links and site rankings.

How to Drive Targeted Traffic to your Website?

By far, the hardest challenge in search engine marketing nowadays is to get those much needed visitors to your website. Magnetizing decent and targeted traffic involves a lot of work, and, there is really no perfect standard to achieve it. Search Engine Optimization is like an art and science rolled into one. On the other hand, when you maximize the benefits and techniques of search engine optimization, you will be rewarded with a good flow of targeted visitors.

To start on the right path, and, to create a better and expected flow of eligible visitors on your website, there are some procedures and techniques that you can implement that will work great wonders for your website. This is the best part about "generic search engine optimization", if done the right way, it normally creates a long-standing profit, autonomously on the search engines continuous change on their algorithms.

Since you only want targeted visitors which are interested on the products and services which you offer on website, you do not want to waste your time and resources to get just anyone to check on your website. You will only need visitors that will be interested on what you website has to offer. Hence, before you start, ask yourself this straightforward question:

"Who are my visitors, who will then be my targeted prospects, who will finally be my future customers?"

Follow-up this questions with:

Are they corporations and businesses in any industry?

Are they professionals looking for a specific product and service that my website offers?

Who are my average website visitors? Are they regular customers or are they corporate buyers?

If indeed they are regular customers, what is their average income level? What age group do they belong to? What part of the world do they reside in?

Is there a possibility that they've visited your website before?

It is possible that they could already be your customers, which makes them frequent visitors, or, even better, frequent buyers. The more data you have on your clients and visitors, the more you will know where and how you can locate them. Keeping that data will help you analyze the subsequent simple steps in building your targeted traffic.

Search engines and directories

In the world of the "real-tine" and connected, you should be on top of the search engine's databases, as well as the most significant directories. That way you will be ensured that that when people search for a product and service they will find you.

Give free newsletters on your website

One of the least complicated and best ways to get your traffic started to your website is through newsletters. You should publish a newsletter for free on your site. The best thing about newsletters is that you will have a good list of eligible prospects, that will be interested on the products or services which your website offers. To succeed, your newsletter must be an 'opt-in type', which means they are voluntary subscribers.

Online forums and discussion groups

Most of the time and this is proven already, prospective customers and clients do "hang-out" in online forums and discussions groups, they ask questions, talk about past experiences, share each others ideas, or simply hang around. Finding which group they belong too, and, finding out their common needs or goals, will definitely put you a step ahead. You should try to determine the most trendy online forums or discussion boards, that is related to your business, and where prospective customers and clients in your target market are hanging around.

How To Create and Use Affiliate Programs to Drive More Traffic To A Website

Perhaps one of the most low-profile Internet marketing schemes is affiliate marketing. However, low-profile does not mean unsuccessful, because this type of marketing continues to play a significant role in e-commerce.

What is affiliate marketing?

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing works on a reward system, wherein one website drives traffic to another website in exchange for reward points. Basically, it works this way: if you are an affiliate (or associate) of an online-based company, you create your own website, which links back to that company. Any visitor to your site that you manage to re-direct to that company's website will earn you rewards points. The more points you have, the more rewards you can actually reap. Some businesses prefer this type of marketing scheme because it is a pay-per-performance package deal.

In the non-Internet based business lingo, this type of reward system is called revenue sharing.

How to Create and Use Affiliate Marketing Programs

For the first few years, online business owners only allowed for affiliates with their own websites (or at the very least, their own webpages.) These days however, anyone can become an affiliate by simply: engaging in online discussions (chats, forums, message boards, etc.); using e-mail marketing, using offline promotions; writing e-books; or writing ezine articles.

There are certain advantages though, of having your own website. One: some online businesses require their affiliates to have one. Two: since it is your site, you can creatively promote one or all your affiliate programs, all at the same time. Lastly: a website has greater potential to reach more customers than forums or e-mail marketing strategies.

How to Choose an Affiliate Program

Choosing an affiliate program is equally important. Don't grab the first one that comes along. You can visit Internet Affiliate Marketing Program Networks to compare and study different programs. Plus, most of the advertising merchants here will let new affiliates sign up for free. Choose a few of the programs that seem stable, and a few of those merchants with the longest history of sales and affiliate marketing success. Try not to be dazzled by the promises of millions of dollars, etc. etc. etc.

Once you've sized down your list, look into the quality of the products and services that these merchants are carrying. Your goal is to entice people to check out the goods. If you are not convinced of the quality of these products and services, what makes you think that your site visitors will be convinced as well? Besides, if the goods do fall short of expectations, your name as a marketer is on the line as well. Choose one (or more) which you think will be a credit to you, and not otherwise.

Creating the Site Itself

Once you've chosen from the affiliate program lot, you can either choose a program that can help you "build" your website by providing the necessary tools like banners, graphics and articles. If they can provide you with online training about how to effectively market their goods, then your life will be easier. If not, you then have to dedicate more time and energy into marketing your chosen product and goods.

Try to calculate if the time you spend creating product banners and articles is worth the compensation you will be getting from the company you've applied for. If it is not, it would be best to move on to another program.

The most essential key here is to create quality content in your site. People are looking to yours to see whether you can give them new insights or provide advice to their dilemma or verify a fact about something. A theme-based website will even bolster your reputation as an "expert" in your chosen niche, so try to limit your website to one theme only. Weave all your different affiliate programs in all your pages, but do so in a manner that will be attractive but not overwhelming.

At the end of your creative process, try to sit back and ask yourself if you are convinced with what you have on your site, and if you would consent to buying the products and services advertised within. If the answer is a "no," or a "maybe" then you may want to check out other sites to see how you can improve your own.

How to Choose a Domain Name that will Drive MORE Traffic to a Website

Creating a website can be tricky, but choosing the right domain name is even trickier. A good domain name can drive more traffic to your website, and a not so good domain name may cause a stagnant website. The concept of having your own website is that it should effectively represent your purpose, whether it will be for personal or business use. Once you create your website, it follows that you should and must register your own domain name.

So what is a domain name? It is a unique alphanumeric name that gives identity to a website on the World Wide Web. A domain name has a maximum length of 67 characters, this includes the 0 to 9 numbers, English alphabet composed of 26 letters, and the hyphens. Hyphens in a domain name can only be used within and not at the beginning or the ending of the name.

Domain names have suffixes, and they are called Top Level Domain (TLD). Domain name TLD's are based on the category of organization that they are related to. The following are several of the most popular TLD's:

1. .gov for government agency

2. .edu for educational institution

3. .org for nonprofit organizations

4. .net for commercial network

5. .com for commercial business domain

Since domain names gives identity to a website, it follows that choosing the right one can be a bit complicated. Your objective is to opt for a name that is easy to remember, search engine optimization friendly, and more importantly a domain name that mirrors the content, and/or products and services that your website provides. At the end of the day your chosen domain name can make or break you.

Do's and Don'ts in choosing a Domain Name

Obviously, a domain name should be related to your websites content. If you're selling shirts then do not choose a name such as pants.com. Choosing unrelated names will confuse site visitors and frankly it doesn't make any sense at all.

A domain name as discussed earlier should be easy to remember. So choosing too long of a name is a No-No. Which is better yourshirts.com or your-shirts-in-different-styles-and-colors.com?

However, a short name is also not advisable, because a short name will not have much impact in driving traffic to your website. Try to purchase a domain name with few keywords with relevance to the content of your website. Which is better yourshirts.com or shirt.com?

Integrating keywords in choosing a domain name will help, because it will result in a higher ranking on search engines. Which is better yourshirts.com or yoursite.com? With yourshirts.com you can immediately identify that the website is about shirts as opposed to yoursite.com wherein you are at lost as to what the website is all about, you will loose potential website traffic if you do it that way.