When you put your website together for the first time, it can be very frustrating to discover that just about no one comes to visit. Your traffic may be stuck at just a few visitors now and again, and it doesn't seem worth it after all the work you have done in setting everything up. So how do you go about getting good quality traffic to your website?
Guaranteed Traffic Services
Lets start by saying what you should definitely not do! There are lots of people on the internet who are exactly the same position as you are - struggling with no or very little traffic.
So as with anything in life - if there is a need, there is always someone ready and able to supply your need - or so it seems. Lots of traffic providers come along and say, OK you need traffic, we will sell you some. In fact there are lots of so called "guaranteed traffic" providers who promise you lots of traffic - maybe even millions of hits.
The problem with this "traffic" however is that it is so low quality traffic, it's very unlikely that all of the hits are worth anything at all
Why Does "Loads Of Any Old Hits" Not Work?
The secret to being successful online is not thousands and thousands of hits, although of course if you really did manage that then your website would do fantastically well. The secret to being successful is "targeted traffic" not "guaranteed traffic".
Targeted Traffic means that the people coming to your website are already interested in what you have to offer before they come. In fact they are more than just passively interested, they are desperately keen to buy what ever you have to offer. They are eager to get what you are offering
Where are all these people?
They could be in any number of places, but usually you will find them typing in keywords into a search engine search box, and you might also find them on forums asking questions about what they are trying to find, or more recently on social network sites like MySpace and YouTube
The key to being successful with your own website, and to attracting these people is to understand that if you design your website right to start with, you will be at an advantage, because the search engines will be listing your content, and so all these hungry seekers will be seeing your website listed in the search results
How Should I Design My Pages?
The key first step in setting up your website is to do some keyword research. I suggest you think about it like this - if people are going to find your website by typing in keywords into the search engine search boxes, then it's a good idea if your website is optimized for these keyword phrases to start with
However there's another very important point. Finding the right keywords and keyword phrases, is also about finding the right "niche" or theme for your website. If you try and produce a website about the same "niche" or theme as millions of others already out there, then there's a good chance your website will not get listed very highly in the search results. This is because the competition will be too strong.
On the other hand, if you research your keyword and keyword phrases before hand, and decide to target only those "niches" or themes which have relatively few sites listed, then the competition against your site will be far less, and if your search engine optimization is better than many of the other sites, then you have an outstanding chance of getting your website listed within the top 10 sites.
My advice is to work out carefully what "niche" or theme your website is going to be about, and approach the subject from the position of the person searching for information - not from your desire to have a website about x or y.
Now you might get lucky, and put together a website that just happens to be in a niche that you can get a listing for, but if you are going to put in alot of work running your own website, then its best to test the waters first, and research different keyword themes or "niches" that have a chance of working
What If I Can't Find A Niche?
To begin with you will have problems finding a suitable niche which is not already crowded, but here's a simple way to do it
1. Think of a one-word keyword e.g. shopping, holiday, hotel - all of these words will already be swamped with sites, but this is just an example
2. Go to the search engines like Google and type in your one word keyword
3. Look at how many sites it says are in the index - at the top of the page it will say 1 to 10 out of some number e.g. 1,489,543. The bigger the number the more the sites there are competing with your website
4. Now scan down the first page of results. Look at the ads down the right hand side, and the normal results down the main part of the page
5. See if you can find a second word, which will go with the main keyword. Concentrate on words that could be main keywords in themselves. An example might be "holiday brochure" - but remember the second word must be listed on the first page of results - this is a quick way for you to find a niche. If possible give priority to words that appear in the titles or description of the ads down the right hand side, because this indicates that your niche may well be profitable
6. Once you have your second word its time to check it, so type in your two words together as a phrase into the search box and see how many sites you come up with now. You might be surprised how few sites are listed as compared to the main keyword you started with
Making Money From My Website
To make money from your website is not so difficult if you have the right "niche". This is because after a little while you will start getting traffic automatically from the search engines every day. You can bolster this traffic by starting a page on any or all of the social network sites such as MySpace and by making and uploading a simple video on YouTube. Whenever you make a comment or make a post anywhere, be sure to list your website and your real name if possible, in the signature file or just enter it manually by clicking on the "enter link" button, that you will find around somewhere
To sell something of your own is alot easier than being an affiliate, however affiliate programs such as the products on Clickbank have many advantages, and can earn you a good commission over time
I would recommend that you find affiliate products that are a match for your website theme, and then simply write an article about the product, taking details from the sellers sales webpage, and finish the article with a "to find out more click here" type link.
This should mean that you will have found a niche that you can get a listing for high in the search results, and you website will get traffic for free everyday from the search engines, and you have affiliate products that will earn you commissions when anyone buys any of the products
In addition it can be a good idea to have an autoresponder program, so that you can offer your visitors a free newsletter. This can be another way to develop even more traffic, as these subscribers return later, and you can send them interesting offers and affiliate promotions in the future
Guaranteed Traffic Services
Lets start by saying what you should definitely not do! There are lots of people on the internet who are exactly the same position as you are - struggling with no or very little traffic.
So as with anything in life - if there is a need, there is always someone ready and able to supply your need - or so it seems. Lots of traffic providers come along and say, OK you need traffic, we will sell you some. In fact there are lots of so called "guaranteed traffic" providers who promise you lots of traffic - maybe even millions of hits.
The problem with this "traffic" however is that it is so low quality traffic, it's very unlikely that all of the hits are worth anything at all
Why Does "Loads Of Any Old Hits" Not Work?
The secret to being successful online is not thousands and thousands of hits, although of course if you really did manage that then your website would do fantastically well. The secret to being successful is "targeted traffic" not "guaranteed traffic".
Targeted Traffic means that the people coming to your website are already interested in what you have to offer before they come. In fact they are more than just passively interested, they are desperately keen to buy what ever you have to offer. They are eager to get what you are offering
Where are all these people?
They could be in any number of places, but usually you will find them typing in keywords into a search engine search box, and you might also find them on forums asking questions about what they are trying to find, or more recently on social network sites like MySpace and YouTube
The key to being successful with your own website, and to attracting these people is to understand that if you design your website right to start with, you will be at an advantage, because the search engines will be listing your content, and so all these hungry seekers will be seeing your website listed in the search results
How Should I Design My Pages?
The key first step in setting up your website is to do some keyword research. I suggest you think about it like this - if people are going to find your website by typing in keywords into the search engine search boxes, then it's a good idea if your website is optimized for these keyword phrases to start with
However there's another very important point. Finding the right keywords and keyword phrases, is also about finding the right "niche" or theme for your website. If you try and produce a website about the same "niche" or theme as millions of others already out there, then there's a good chance your website will not get listed very highly in the search results. This is because the competition will be too strong.
On the other hand, if you research your keyword and keyword phrases before hand, and decide to target only those "niches" or themes which have relatively few sites listed, then the competition against your site will be far less, and if your search engine optimization is better than many of the other sites, then you have an outstanding chance of getting your website listed within the top 10 sites.
My advice is to work out carefully what "niche" or theme your website is going to be about, and approach the subject from the position of the person searching for information - not from your desire to have a website about x or y.
Now you might get lucky, and put together a website that just happens to be in a niche that you can get a listing for, but if you are going to put in alot of work running your own website, then its best to test the waters first, and research different keyword themes or "niches" that have a chance of working
What If I Can't Find A Niche?
To begin with you will have problems finding a suitable niche which is not already crowded, but here's a simple way to do it
1. Think of a one-word keyword e.g. shopping, holiday, hotel - all of these words will already be swamped with sites, but this is just an example
2. Go to the search engines like Google and type in your one word keyword
3. Look at how many sites it says are in the index - at the top of the page it will say 1 to 10 out of some number e.g. 1,489,543. The bigger the number the more the sites there are competing with your website
4. Now scan down the first page of results. Look at the ads down the right hand side, and the normal results down the main part of the page
5. See if you can find a second word, which will go with the main keyword. Concentrate on words that could be main keywords in themselves. An example might be "holiday brochure" - but remember the second word must be listed on the first page of results - this is a quick way for you to find a niche. If possible give priority to words that appear in the titles or description of the ads down the right hand side, because this indicates that your niche may well be profitable
6. Once you have your second word its time to check it, so type in your two words together as a phrase into the search box and see how many sites you come up with now. You might be surprised how few sites are listed as compared to the main keyword you started with
Making Money From My Website
To make money from your website is not so difficult if you have the right "niche". This is because after a little while you will start getting traffic automatically from the search engines every day. You can bolster this traffic by starting a page on any or all of the social network sites such as MySpace and by making and uploading a simple video on YouTube. Whenever you make a comment or make a post anywhere, be sure to list your website and your real name if possible, in the signature file or just enter it manually by clicking on the "enter link" button, that you will find around somewhere
To sell something of your own is alot easier than being an affiliate, however affiliate programs such as the products on Clickbank have many advantages, and can earn you a good commission over time
I would recommend that you find affiliate products that are a match for your website theme, and then simply write an article about the product, taking details from the sellers sales webpage, and finish the article with a "to find out more click here" type link.
This should mean that you will have found a niche that you can get a listing for high in the search results, and you website will get traffic for free everyday from the search engines, and you have affiliate products that will earn you commissions when anyone buys any of the products
In addition it can be a good idea to have an autoresponder program, so that you can offer your visitors a free newsletter. This can be another way to develop even more traffic, as these subscribers return later, and you can send them interesting offers and affiliate promotions in the future
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