"How do I drive free traffic to my website?" It's the
million dollar question, isn't it? Countless website owners have been in your
shoes. You design (or pay to design) a fabulous looking site, but it sits there
idle until you can answer the question of driving traffic to your site.
First, I am not going to sit here and paint a super rosy picture
for you…this is the blood and guts of the internet business. Where the rubber
truly meets the road and more often than not the men are separated from the
boys (or the women from the girls…covering my butt, there!).
There were countless times that I asked myself the same exact
question and over the years through trial and error and buying and testing
numerous programs out there, I have been able to come up with some answers. So
allow me to share with you just a few tips that you may find will help get you
on your way.
OK…your site is built. Now what? Clearly your site falls into some
specific niche, whether it be in the field of sports, or cooking, or health and
fitness, or jewelry…whatever it is, it falls under some category.
Step 1: Go to Google's Keyword Tool and Do Some Keyword Research
This step alone easily can comprise a whole series of articles and
indeed perhaps even an e-book, but here is where you need to start. Using the
free Google Keyword Tool, type in some keywords related to your site. If it is
site about sporting goods, type in that phrase. The keyword tool will then
present to you a listing of search terms related to that phrase and the amount
of monthly search traffic Google receives for each term.
Find terms that are in the mid-to-low range on the competition
scale, but have decent search volume, say at least 1,000 searches per month.
Step 2: Enter the Keyword Phrase in a Google Search in Quotes
Using the example of sporting goods, you would find that the term
"online sporting goods" returns a mid-level of competition and gets
about 3,600 local searches per month. Take that term in quotes and enter it
into a regular Google search. In this example you would find a return of
229,000 results.
From there, edit the phrase into some variations of the term until
you can find a result of 20,000 or less (for example the term "buying
sporting goods online" returns 3,420 results).
Step 3: Write an Article Using This Keyword Phrase
This is the step that can be scary for some. Remember how you used
to hate to write term papers in school? (at least I did!). Don't fret. You can
do it. You will find when you are writing about things in your field, the words
will come quite naturally. Just imagine you are talking face to face explaining
things to a buddy of yours.
From a technical aspect, you will want to include your keyword
phrase in your title, somewhere in the first paragraph, and particularly in
your author bio. You want your article to be about 400-600 words.
Step 4: Submit Your Article to Top Article Directories
There are numerous free directories online looking for content and
when your article is built correctly, they tend to rank very well in the search
engines. Some of the top directories include Ezine Articles, GoArticles,
ArticleAlley, ArticleDashboard, ArticleBase, Easy Articles, Buzzle, Web Pro
News, and ArticleFactory.
There is an approval process for Ezine Articles and they can take
some practice, but they are far and away the largest and tend to be very search
engine friendly.
Step 5: Promote Your Article on Social Sites and Blogging
Communities
By now, chances are good that you already have a Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn, or other type of social networking site that you use. You can attach
these accounts to your article marketing sites and each time you publish, your
followers can be alerted.
You may also want to publish your article on blogging communities
such as BloggersBase or BlogEngage. These sites can generate hundreds of extra
views and lead to visits to your site.
