How to increase traffic to a website or blog!

If you know how to increase traffic to a website or blog please share your techniques with the SalesPractice community. -Admin-Asst

There are many ways. Assume you just purchased a store front on main street. How are you going to get business? You advertise! So then you look at the different forms of advertising. Same thing on the internet. There are so many books out there that anyone can get totally bogged down in information. Concentrate on one item, whether it's Google Ads, free advertising on various sites, article placements, banner ads, web 2.0, etc. Look at costs, look at your budget, make a decision. Try different things. Some work but some create traffic. Just don't quit. -mcaldwell

For the most part, you won't see significant increases in only a day or so. Building heavy traffic takes time. You need to get other sites to link to yours, and offer relevant content. -ditch182

Hi All

First off I agree with the other comments it can take time. Be persistant though and it will pay off. Blogs are better and more dynamic and will give you a quicker return on your efforts. Google love blogs!

I am lucky enough to have access to some great information from a coaching programme I am part of so here goes with a few gems.

1. Blog on a great platform like word press.

2. Ensure it has an seo plug in ( this helps in getting it found according to keywords and is easy to add)

3. Use relevant tags in your post. These are words that help people find you. So if you are writing about powerpoint skills. Make sure powerpoint skills is a tag you use.

4. Be consistent with your blogging and stick to it. Everyday is recommended ( I admit I don't manage this)

5. Do some key word research first for your market. Free wordtraker is excellent for this. Google now has its own tool which is excellent as it gives you different related terms and numbers of search's. Just google google keyword research tool and you will find it.

Don't go for the most competitive word. Go for something lower down as you will have a greater chance of ranking for that.

6. Once you have a key word. Write an informative article. Current opinion seems to say that 500-600 word articles in 3 paragraphs work best. Make sure you use your keyword in the title and in the first sentence of the paragraph. Then in each individual paragraph.
Over time this will start to work. Look for a density of about 3-5%. So in a 600 word article it would be between 15-30 words.

7. Have a way to capture e mail addresses in return for information. That way you can build a great relationship with your audience. There are various companies. Aweber, oneshoppingcart are two really good ones that I am aware of.

8. Write articles and share you knowledge. Post these at Ezinearticles. With a link to your site. Make sure you provide great content and a free give away.

7. Provide great content and be authentic give great value.

8. Use Squidoo and build a lens that pints to your site.

9. Use Hub pages in a similar way

10. Use the new google Knol facility.

This is just top of the head stuff I hope it helps. These are the really easy not tech things to do. There of course is always PPC and google adwords. Be mindful when you are new as you can waste money.

If you are new why not start with easy to do things like this and you will be surprised with the results.

Ihope this is a helpful start.

Good luck

Sales Manager Coach -SalesManagersCoach

Sales Manager Coach shared some great tips. Here's another one that is used by some of the top internet marketers although they don't talk about it all that much (probably because they don't want everyone using it ;)

Guide traffic to the sites that link to your lead generation site first and foremost. Have your lead generation pieces (downloadable reports, how-to videos, free trials, etc.) link to your money site instead of linking straight to the money site from all possible sources. Complicated? It can be, but it can generate huge results if done properly.

A little more on this strategy: build the value of the content sharing sites up, and their value will trickle down to the lead generation site which then will promote the site you're ultimately hoping to promote. Sounds a bit counterintuitive, but it works because people are naturally curious and will take that extra step if they find your content valuable and interesting.

Think about it this way--if someone views one of your videos that promotes a free report on your lead generation site, and that person finally lands on your money site (after you've collected a lead no less), they're likely pretty interested at that point, right?

Furthermore: if you write a quality article or create a video about a topic within your chosen niche, link to that article or video from the social bookmarking sites (or better yet, have someone else do it for you) instead of linking directly to your lead generation content or your main site.

Many people make the mistake of driving ALL links to their main site (I did this for a LONG time until I learned this lesson). If you learn how to leverage the content sharing and social bookmarking sites properly, you can ultimately generate a ton of very qualified traffic to your "money" site while limiting its exposure in the process.

Hopefully this all makes sense, and I'm not talking complete jibberish. ;) -rogerbauer

Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement - if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to mouth to others. -abrent

Hi Roger and All,

Great suggestions from Roger as well.

I agree. We are Consultants over here inthe UK and are moving more of our business on line.

Part of the reason being we can add more value to more people quickly....oh and get paid for it as well.

We are just about to launch our first product which is based on the successful sales coaching programmes we run in the uk.

I have found writing on a blog and submitting articles to ezine articles gets me traffic without to much effort. I appreciate this is small at the moment but that is more about the time I have been able to spend.

Stay tuned and I will let you know my top tips!

No point re-inventing the wheel

Take Care

SalesManagersCoachsn; -SalesManagersCoach

One way that works for me is to become active on relevant forums and include your website in your signature...

see below for example. I have doubled my taffic in the last month by simply posting to sales and job forums. -b2brep

Great stuff I am learning from an internet perspective! -Jumpman

Content and collaboration are king.

You wouldn't open a shop on Main Street and not staff it with people to interact with potential customers as they visit. Don't assume you can simply put up a website, post some traditional marketing material, and walk away from it. Post regular content to your site, stick with it for the long term, and develop relationships.

Regular content and real interaction with your visitors will do more for your site than slick graphics and Flash animations. You've got less than 10 seconds to show me what the link promised. If you don't deliver, I'm gone. Period. Make sure your website provides value (and I don't mean a giant page of financial calculators a la 2007 realtor sites or a pop-up offering a live chat with a representative robot). Stand out from the rest by being a real person. Demonstrate the value before the sale to suggest the value afterwards.

These days, if you're in sales, you had better be damn sure that you know more about your company and product than your prospects do. We see you and your firm and your offering from all sides now - whether you have a website or not. If I should use my precious 140 characters on Twitter to say, "Why won't this work?" You better believe I've got at least a dozen people asking me, "What won't work?" (And how many others see me then relate exactly what isn't working like I thought it would...)

Even though the environment might be changing, some things never do. Referrals are still worth their weight in gold. Consider viewing your online presence as more of a way to grow a community of people who don't see you as a silver-tongued salesman with an ulterior motive and, instead, see you as a source of valuable information in a certain area. (Or simply an entertaining voice in that area!) In time, you make a solid impression on your readers, who then have no trouble at all selling you to others on their own.

Everyone has something to offer. As a salesman, you have even more. Your insight into the industry as an individual who talks to everyone - within an industry or territory - and a product or service which, I hope (for your sake), stands to benefit those people who are willing to listen. Ultimately, the more your online brand focuses on developing relationships, the more actual product you will move as a trusted and valuable, contributing member of a community.

It would seem that, these days, if you want to sell online, you can't be a salesman. shds; -D.M055

One way that works for me is to become active on relevant forums and include your website in your signature...

I'm trying to get 20 posts for that also. -Mr. Mike

Hi Gissele,

That is true. You can also bookmark your own content on the various boking marking sites.

If this is done consistently it will work. Remember though to think about the key words you use. This makes it much easier for your target market to find you.

Best Wishes

SalesManagersCoach -SalesManagersCoach

If you want to increase you website traffic, the only way you can do this quick and effective, is using keywords that are specific to the website main theme. In this way, you target specific search queries, what makes possibility to get a click on your website higher.

So if you have a energy related website, there is no point to use general keywords, as "energy" or "electricity". Because there are hundreds of millions of webpages that have this words. And if your website has a page rank less than 10, it will just get lost in search results and their will never be a click from the search engine.

Example: there is a purpose to increase traffic of a webpage from the energy oriented companies.

There is no use to write "submit URL for FREE!!!!!!!"
We write "add energy URL for free", "add electricity supplier for free to Energy Directory"
It is also useful to add words as "Microseismic Company" or "Vacuum Oil Filter Machine" - specific words that are included in the directory.

Only some thousands are writing "Microseismic Company" and people, who are looking for this are really looking for microseismic companies. This way there is a chance for a website with PR 3.

If you add a word "Lubricant Oil Regeneration" to your keywords, there is a chance, that there will be a click one your website. To the webpage with PR less than 10 and with keywords "Submit URL" - there will never be a click!

This way chance to get a click from a search engine is more than 0.
And submissions, submissions, submissions... -AndreyW