21 Ways Content Drives Your Traffic Part 2

Linking Pages Are you creating linking pages to impress the search engines? How much more value would they have if you offered quality, optimized content for each of your categories? Rather than having a bland list of 'linking partners' you could be using your links to gain more credibility AND provide more content for the search engines. Create a separate page for each link category and write 200-400 words of content on that subject. Offering your recommended links at the end will make you a source for information rather than just a catalogue of links. Optimizing each page for a popular keyword will draw more traffic to your site than links alone. It will also be more beneficial for your visitors who are searching for related resources. Press Release If you thought you were starting to grasp the importance of content, you haven't even started to see the potential yet. Press releases should become an important part of your marketing. What do you need to create a press release? Content. Press releases are notices to the media about newsworthy events, accomplishments or information. By creating a press release to announce a new product, results of a poll or related news event, you can get free advertising in the media. News media is always looking for new content for their readers. Learning how to compose and deliver a press release will give you access to this pool of willing advertisers. To create your own press release, go to a website like www.PRweb.com and read the releases that are posted there. When you are familiar with the format you can write your own and submit it. Just avoid advertising copy and be sure to highlight some new thought or angle to make your press release newsworthy for publishers to use. If you want to invest the extra money you can hire a press release writer or have your release reviewed by a PRweb specialist. Newspaper Press releases can work just as well in your local paper as they do in online news websites. Submit your press release to the editor or the writer for the section of the newspaper you want to target. You could also try to submit your own column, giving tips and related information to your topic, as a free form of advertising. Smaller newspapers may find this idea more appealing since larger newspapers would not be likely to publish your works without formal working arrangements. Magazine Articles Just like online magazines, printed magazines need fresh content all the time. If you are writing articles you may be able to submit them to magazine editors for review. Be sure to follow their policies which may be listed on their website or you can email or phone for instructions. Just like newspapers, you will have a greater chance for success if you target smaller publishers first. Classifieds Online classifieds have gone through some fluctuations of their own. Originally touted as one of the best methods to get traffic, the inundation of ads by internet marketers nearly flooded the market and made it impossible for readers to find what they were looking for. However, using classifieds can still send you some traffic and will also help your site get listed in the search engines. Use keyword phrases in your ad and include a hyperlink. You are not putting a lot of content in these ads, but what you do put needs to be effective. Offline Brochure Do you promote a product, information or service that can be used locally? Consider creating a brochure that gives information on a question related to your topic. Include reference to how using YOUR service or product will assist them in solving the problem. Give some brief answers and point out your website as a source for more information. Offer to leave your brochures in places that might attract your audience or post them on community boards. Pass them along to friends and family who might pass them along to others for you. Traffic is people - whether they come to your site or directly to you, they all count. Newsletter Exchange Are you having success with your newsletter? Perhaps you'd like to approach another website owner and offer to write a short article for his subscribers - or to exchange articles to promote one another to each other's list. If the newsletter isn't competition, but complimentary to your market, they should be equally interested to talk to your list of subscribers. Article Announcement Lists Article announcement lists are similar to article directories in that your article will be placed before an audience of webmasters and publishers who may choose to use your article on their website or in their newsletter. The advantage of article announcement lists is that the members sign up to receive new articles by email. Your article will be directly sent to members who are interested in the topic of your article based on the list description they have subscribed to. Yahoo! has a 'Groups' area where you can browse the lists and sign up to receive announcements. By following the guidelines for posting, you can submit articles relevant to the topic (for example there are groups for home, business, internet etc.) The individuals receiving your article have already indicated an interest in articles on the chosen topic and this creates the perfect audience for your material. You may find traffic coming directly from the members of the list or from their websites when they publish your article with your link. Publish an Ecourse Create a multi page tutorial that can be given to subscribers or given away by other businesses. Like a report, the ecourse can be offered as a freebie by yourself or others. The readers receive valuable tips and information all while being directed to your site at the end of each lesson. You may find that a tutorial delivered over the course of several weeks allows you to develop a relationship with your reader whether they originally received it from you or someone else. By providing valuable instructions on a related topic to your business you are warming up your audience to become future customers or clients. Affiliate Programs Help your affiliates drive traffic to your site by giving them letters or reports to post on their sites or in their newsletters. Your affiliates are also in need of content to provide their customers and if you are providing that content for free they will have more success in sending their subscribers or visitors in your direction. Your Blog Creating a blog that is related to your business or niche will allow you to attract an audience that may not respond to a sales page. Providing content and news about your topic with hyperlinks to your various articles or sales pages is an indirect way to send traffic to your site. You can set up a free blog at www.blogger.com. If you have valuable content and offer subscriptions to your blog (subscription services are free at www.bloglet.com) you can create a pool of readers who will turn to you first when looking for your product or service. You can also make your blog available for others to publish on their websites by creating an RSS feed. This will allow other websites to automatically run your new content on their websites every time you update your blog. By submitting your blog to www.PingOmatic.com you can alert other blog services when you post updates. Other Peoples' Blogs Your content can be just as valuable to other bloggers who may have a difficult time finding content to share with their readers. Offering to submit an article to a relevant blog can be a great way to drive traffic to your site with the use of a hyperlink in your author credit. Be a Contributing Writer If your writing skills or expertise are truly impressive you may be able to offer an online or offline magazine or newsletter your services as a contributing writer. By writing a column on your topic or service and having it regularly published in a magazine that caters to your audience, you will have the opportunity to place yourself as an 'expert', leading to loyal readers and customers. Search Engine Optimization Articles for Website Content