You've Got a New Website, But How Do You Get Folks to Look at
it?
I took a look at a new Website recently in response to a request
for a site review on one of my favorite forums. And, while the
appearance was pleasing, there wasn't really much there. Too
often, new folks to the Internet marketing world make this
crucial mistake. They think that if they build a site, customers
will automaically show up and start buying stuff. When those
customers don't materialize, the site owner often gives up and
quits.
In order for any site to attract quality visitors, there are
some things that need to be done. In this article, I will give
you a small list of objectives, along with brief hints on how to
go about meeting them. If you follow through, your site will
advance in the search engine rankings, and before you know it
the visitors will be showing up faster than you can count them.
Search Engines Love Content
Involve yourself in an ongoing process of collecting and/or
producing articles for inclusion on your site. There are many
sources of articles on the Internet. Some of them charge a small
fee, while others are free. Look for articles that are relevant
to the subject of your site, and add them. If these articles are
rich with the keywords that you wish to target, so much the
better.
You can also write your own articles. This allows you to
concentrate on the keywords that you wish to target, and
establishes you as an expert in your field.
By adding your resource box, with your URL, to the end of your
articles and then submitting them to other sites and Ezines, you
can generate additional traffic to your site. More about this
later.
Invite your visitors to submit articles to your site for
publication. This helps to build visitor loyalty, because
eveybody likes to see their name in print;)
Search Engines Love Links.
The second thing that you need to do is exchange links with
other websites. Search Engines look to see how many links point
to your site and use this information to gauge the importance of
your site. The more links you have, the better, but look for
links that add value for your visitors. Make sure that you link
to quality sites that are somehow related to what your visitors
are looking for. In this way, you will get traffic that is
targeted to what you are trying to sell. This will increase your
chances of making sales or signing up affiliates who have a good
chance of being successful in your business.
There are two basic types of links; reciprocal links and one way
links. Reciprocal links occur when you trade links with another
website. These are important because not only do they help in
your rankings, they also generate traffic from the sites that
you link to. One way links are a bit different. These are links
that point people to your site, but do not point your visitors
away from your site. As a result, they are more valuable. Not
too many webmasters are willing to give away one way links, but
there are a couple of good techniques that you can use to get
them.
1. Write articles and offer them for publication. You will be
pleasantly surprised by the number of sites and Ezines that are
looking for quality articles to use for content. By placing your
resource box at the end of the article, and including a link to
your site, you can generate dozens, if not hundreds of one way
links to your site. To find sites that accept articles, simply
do a search for 'Free Website Content.' You will find several
good sites. Also think about joining the Directory of Ezines.
Many of the publications listed there accept articles, and some
of them will even invite you to write for them on a regular
basis.
2. Visit several forums and bulletin boards that deal with stay
at home jobs. Especially, those that are directly related to
your field of expertise. Many of these allow you to include your
URL in your signature block. By participating in these forums,
you will be able to create many more one way links to your site.
Just make sure that you offer sound advice, and make relevant
posts. If you don't, you could be considered a nuisance or
worse, a spammer.
The addition of content in the form of articles and links to
your site should be an ongoing process. If you concentrate on
these two things and continually add to your site, you will not
only move up in the search engine rankings, but you will end up
with a site that has great value to your visitors. Add to your
site every day. Remember, you are in competition with a lot of
other related websites, and chances are,they are already be
doing this.