Increase Website Traffic by Giving Them What They Want by Gallianno Cosme

Increase Website Traffic by Giving Them What They Want by Gallianno Cosme

Yes, it is true to increase website traffic you need links pointing to your site. But not any old links. Sure, many internet marketers still believe that link building, both one way and reciprocal, are the way to go. I find this to be an outdated method that wastes time that could be otherwise spent implementing other far better ideas.

If link building were the most popular way of building quality traffic to a site, why is it that some (if not most) websites find it incredibly difficult to attract these links? I believe the answer lies in the value (or lack thereof) that these sites offer the Internet community.

I often read people comparing a website to a shopping malland indeed they are right. Shopping malls have mastered the skill of creating new and exciting ways of attracting new shoppers - and retaining those customers already frequenting the mall.

Ask yourself why most successful shops routinely rearrange their product displays. Why do they design or manufacture new products? Summer time sees swimsuits making their way closer to the entrance. Fruit salads and lettuce leaves are everywhere to be seen in the grocery section.

People are naturally curious creatures and as such get bored very easily. Its all about satisfying the shopper (user). Give the customer what they want, when they want it and theyll return. Better yet, theyll recommend your store to their friends, colleagues and loved ones.

But what does fruit and sexy bikinis have to do with your website? You have to find out what your user wants and give it to them.

Would you link to your site?

So, what does generate return traffic to a site? Well, take a closer look at your site and determine whether youd link to it yourself? Is there anything on your site that you can honestly say is of value?

Im not talking about product prices or a profile on how you founded your company. Im talking about something that is useful and convenient to your target market. A utility or tool of sorts. Perhaps a regularly updated dialogue with your visitors. An invaluable resource that teaches people something they dont already know.

Ideas worth researching

An excellent way to increase website traffic is to ask a how to question and write about your solution. If youve got a motor-related site, writing an article on how to sell a car could be an excellent idea. In the landscaping business? How to plant a tree? would make for a good article too. What could you write if you have a conference facility? How about what to remember when arranging a wedding or business function??

Not only will writing articles bulk up your websites content, which search engines love, but will also add value to other websites that publish your writing on their websites.

The good thing about good articles is that they tend to circulate the Net pretty well. By adding an optimised link to the bottom of your article you could in turn generate more traffic to your site.

But articles arent the only way of generating traffic to your site. Something that is destined to become more popular is the inclusion of a business blog on a website. This lets you build a personal relationship with your customers. Naturally, the blog needs to be well thought of before being added. Will it be a regularly updated blog or one that is updated less frequently? Will there be one or more voices/writers for the blog? Everyone has their own preference to a style of writing. Letting your staff or departments publish their own blogs will create even more opportunities of attracting more than one type of reader or client.

Adding a tool that people are searching for is yet another excellent idea. It could be a currency converter, BMI calculator or a free online travel organiseranything that is related to your website and that offers an invaluable benefit to those who find it.

As ludicrous as this may sound, being a hub for industry-related websites and information is another great idea. You could have a section devoted to your reviews of market-related products, services and websiteswith links pointing to them. Your users will come to trust your knowledge and advice, and as such will refer your website to their contacts.

The bottom line

Regardless of what you write about or have to offer your visitor, the key is to keep it simple, fresh and non-salesy. Your website should already have a section that does all that sales pitching. Offering genuinely useful content and tools is what will differentiate your website from that of your abandoned peers.

Ideas are everywhere. It takes some time, effort, research and a bit of imagination to come up with soothing other than a good link request email. Your users word of mouth will reward your efforts.
About the Author
Gallianno Cosme is the SEM Captain at Quirk, a full-service eMarketing company offering tailor-made, innovative and cost-effective eMarketing solutions. Go to http://www.quirk.co.za for more information.

8 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Website by Scott J. Patterson

8 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Website by Scott J. Patterson

Traffic from search engines is widely considered the best (and cheapest) way to generate traffic to your site. The increasing popularity of search engines has led to the development of a whole industry that revolves around ways to optimize websites.

The end result is that many people now think that only professionals can help their website rank high within search engines. But, the truth is that anyone can structure their site so they rank high for many keywords.

Below, I have listed 8 simple steps that you can take to optimize your web pages. By following these, you will improve your chances of increasing your rankings:

1) Target one word for each page: A huge mistake that many beginners make is cramming numerous keywords onto every page. Instead of doing this, you should focus on one specific keyword for each page. That way, you can make sure that the page is focusing on that one word without any distractions. If you want to target multiple keywords then it is necessary to create a separate page for each.

2) List your major keywords in the links back to your site: Many search engines, Google being the most famous, have started to take into account the words that are mentioned in the title tag of the links that point to your site. So, a great way to improve your rankings for your keywords is to place it in the title tag.

3) Make your first 100 words on the page keyword rich: Another mistake that most webmasters make is to have a menu on the left-hand side of a website. Since search engines primarily focus on the first 100 words of a website, a left side menu is a misuse of valuable space.

Instead of doing this, you should have your title, description and web copy within the first 100 words of your site. An easy way to do this is to have your menu on the right instead of the standard left-hand side.

But, since the left-handed menu is now commonplace, you can also choose to put your first 100 words above the left-handed menu, so this text will be the first thing read on your website.

4)Insert the keyword into your title tag: In the source code of most pages are header tags (also known as Meta tags), which help search engines understand the content of the page.

To fully optimize your website, you can tweak the source code of the page. The first step is to insert the keyword in the title tag. (This is what is shown in the results of a search engine when your site is listed)

5) Insert your keywords in the description tag: The description Meta tag is almost as valuable as the title tag. The information in this tag is listed directly below the title tag in search engine results. As a result, a good description can make your website stand out from other listings. To get the prospect to click on your site, it is important to write a snappy description while using your keyword.

6) Insert them into your keywords tag: Like the title and description tags, keyword tags are used to help search engines understand the content of your web page. Although this Meta tag has become less popular, it doesnt hurt to put your keywords here.

7) Place your keyword in the header: When writing the actual text of your site, the first part should be the headline. Whenever a search engine scans your site, it rates all words in the headline as being more important then the rest of the web copy. To take advantage of this, you should have your keyword in the page headline. But, since the header tag (h1) is quite large, you should format it so that it is smaller.

8) Write your keyword enriched web copy: Now that you have set up the structure of your page, you can write your web copy. While creating the text, you want to include the majority of the keywords at the top and the bottom of the page. In addition, the keyword should be included a few times in the middle. Basically, the common saying is that the keyword density should resemble an hour glass shape.

The total web copy of your page should be about 300-500 words. Also, the keyword should be included about 5-12% of the total words of the page. The percentage varies according to each search engine, so you might want to play around till you find the best results.

If you follow all these steps, you will definitely see an improvement in the search engine rankings for your keywords. The best part is that you do not have to spend any money on the expensive search engine optimizers!

Good luck!

About the Author
Scott J. Patterson brought his website to the top of many search engines for important keywords. To find out how he did this AND also how he created his online store with NO computer experience, be sure to check out a Fr** copy of his ebook:

http://www.buildingastore.com/8O.html