Developing Traffic

So you've designed this great web site, gotten your own domain name, found a great host, listed your site in the search engines, etc., but how do you go about getting more traffic?

The most important way to bring traffic to your site is to concentrate on your listings in the major Search Engines. If you're not listed in the top thirty, your site most likely won't be found. Look at some of your competitors pages. View their source code and see what keywords they're using. Look at their page, their text and graphic alt tags. Do you notice any patterns? In order for you to rank above them, you must do what they're doing, except better.

For further information on search engines, visit the following sites
 
Search Engine Watch

Using Search Engines to Drive Traffic to Your Website

Search Engines: What they Are, How They Work, and Practical Suggestions

Search Engine Tutorial for Web Designers

Create partnerships with sites similar to yours, but not in competition. You can promote one another, provide recommendations or exchange prominent links.

Be cautious when selecting your networking partners and making recommendations as your reputation is on the line. Only partner with individuals you have personally dealt with and you truly believe in.

Developing quality online business relationships is one of the best ways to create a partnering venture.

If you want traffic, this is the way to get it. Write articles in the area of your expertise. E-zine publishers are continually in need of quality content. If you sit down and write an article just once or twice each week, within a years time, you could have 52 - 104 articles floating all over the Internet. Who knows how many times each article will be published. If they're good, you can expect them to be published by hundreds of ezines and even displayed on various web sites. All linking to you.

When you write an article you are entitled to include your Author bylines also referred to as a resource box, promoting yourself.

Example byline:

Articles have the potential to be viewed by millions! Imagine your article being published by just a handful of publications with over 100,000 subscribers each...

If you've been on the Internet for a while you've probably subscribed to a few ezines (newsletters). Most ezines will include a feature article written by the editor or a guest author. If you've ever read an article written by a guest author then you've probably noticed, at the end of the article, a few lines of text about the author referred to as "bylines" or "resource box."

The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their article free of charge in exchange for the publisher including the author's bylines. The bylines are basically just an advertisement for the writer. They usually contain a couple of lines about the author and a web address.

By writing articles and allowing them to be published free of charge, your articles will have the potential to be viewed by millions of Internet users. They may be published by several ezines with subscriber bases of a few hundred to several thousand. In addition, they may be displayed in ezine archives or on high traffic web sites.

Most ezine publishers prefer short articles between 500 and 750 words. Short "tip" articles of just a couple of paragraphs are also very popular. Articles should be formatted to 65 characters per line or less including spaces and written in short paragraph sections.

When you begin writing your article, avoid using your standard word processing programs, as they do not allow for proper formatting. Instead, use a text editor such as NotePad. It should already be installed on your desktop.

When you begin typing your article, use a hard carriage return (hit enter) when your text reaches 65 characters, including spaces, and leave a space between your paragraphs. This will enable the publisher to easily copy and paste your article into their publication and significantly increase your chances of being published.

Most publishers receive many article submissions each week and only select a few to be published. Here are some basic guidelines to help you increase your chances of being published:

     - Your article must be properly formatted. Publishers
       won't take the time to format your article, they'll
       simply use another article that is properly formatted

     - Keep your bylines down to 4 lines or less

     - Select a descriptive title to intrigue your readers

     - Use proper grammar and spelling

     - Avoid articles that are nothing more than a sales
       pitch, as your chances of being published will be
       minimal

     - Avoid referring readers to an affiliate URL as this
       will make your article appear to be biased and
       untrustworthy

     - Write your articles with a sincere desire to teach
       and inform. Talk to your readers and share your
       expertise

Once you've written your article, you'll need to develop a list of publishers that may be interested in publishing it. Visit the following site to help you locate ezine publishers:

http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Search through the database for publications that may be interested in the type of article you've written. Contact the publisher and ask them if they accept article submissions.

Michael Southon, of Netmaster Solutions, offers a great free ebook entitled, "Get Published," that provides complete details for 415 Ezines that accept article submissions.

http://www.netmastersolutions.com/getpub.html

Here are some additional promotional resources to help
you get published:

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce.htm
http://www.ideamarketers.com/
http://www.e-zinez.com/writers.htm

Writing and distributing free articles on the Internet will be one of the best promotional decisions you'll ever make. Not only will it provide you with free publicity, but if your articles are good, you'll become a trusted professional in your area of expertise.

- Distribution

Visit some ezine listing sites and put together a list of publishers that may be interested in your article's topic. Contact each publisher and ask them if they accept article submissions.

Subscribe to Article Announce and announce your new article to our entire list of ezine, newsletter, web site and magazine publishers.

Subscribe to Writers & Publishers Connection where publishers announce their article needs. Send a message to: writers98@aol.com with subscribe in the subject.

- Writing Resources

The Journal of Electronic Publishing -
http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/

News from the Writing World -
http://www.pw.org/mag/news/

forwriters.com -
http://www.forwriters.com/

Writers.net -
http://www.writers.net/

Guide to Grammar and Writing -
http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/
darling/original.htm

Garbl's Writing Resources Online - http://members.home.net/garbl/writing/

A Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation -
http://www.grammarbook.com/

Simpler Words And Phrases -
http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/tpl5.htm

The Copyright Website -
http://www.benedict.com/

The Internet Public Library -
http://www.ipl.org/ref/

WWWebster Dictionary -
http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

What Is A Copyright?
http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/hrc1.htm

Newsgroups:

alt.writing

misc.writing

Ezines/Lists:

Article Announce Writer & Publisher Exchange: An article announcement list providing free content to hundreds of ezines, newsletters, magazines and web sites. Announce your articles free.
http://www.web-source.net/article-announce
Subscribe - article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

WriteResources brings you some of the many publications, web sites, products and other resources that can help you become a more effective writer.  
subscribe: resources@writedirections.com
http://www.writedirections.com

Critiquing - A discussion list for those who want their work seriously critiqued. Subscribers may submit their work to be critiqued by the group or privately.
http://www.onelist.com/viewarchive.cgi?
listname=critiquing

Get Published - A newsletter for authors, ezine editors and independent publishers looking for help and advice on how to promote and publish their books and articles online.
http://www.onelist.com/viewarchive.cgi?
listname=getpub

Tips for Effective Writing - Tips for Effective Writing is a monthly tutorial based newsletter which aims to help its readers learn basic writing skills such as sentence structure, paragraphing, punctuation, and effective use of the writing process. Most issues contain exercises which require 2-3 hours to complete.
http://www.opticalresolution.com/free.htm

Join each of the following programs and create networks of web sites all containing your links. These programs can be a powerful way to increase your traffic. Best of all, they're all free. Feel free to use our descriptions to tell your visitors about these traffic generating programs.

Ad Network - Generate Massive Traffic To Your Site Guaranteed. Place your ad at the top of this list and get ready for the hits.

Ad Track Classifieds - Ad Track Classifieds allows you to place ads, provides viewing and response statistics, and allows you to earn money, all for FREE.

Banner Explode 2 - Are you looking for an inexpensive way to increase traffic to your website? How about FREE? If so, then Banner Explode 2 is for you. Join the thousands of webmasters who have participated and gradually watched their site visits Soar! Members of the popular Banner Explode! system receive as many as 22,000 visits per day! Banner Explode 2 is even more powerful. 50,565 Hits to Your Web Site Free... GUARANTEED!

Hit Trafficker - HitTrafficker is a FREE system that will simply EXPLODE your website traffic! Best of all, it's 100% FREE!

Link Buddies - LinkBuddies Banner Exchange displays over 500,000 banners each day. When you sign up, your banner ad is displayed 500 times to get you started. We have more benefits than any other banner exchange and provide you with Cutting Edge Tools. Best of all, LinkBuddies is FREE!

Link-Box - Having trouble getting people to link to your site? Link-Box could be the answer you're looking for and it's completely free. Start driving targeted traffic to your site today. Sign up for our revolutionary link exchange service and get the targeted traffic you have been looking for in a matter of hours.

Noan FFA - What we offer is a different kind of FFA links page... Networked FFA that gets lots of links right away, It displays a link title and a description. It features a search facility! It's co-branded with your own logo and banners, Customized outgoing messages, Automatic outgoing message for expired links, visitors can repost with one single click! and much more.

Traffic Magic - Discover the Amazing PROVEN Formula that Brings People to Your Website Like Crazy and get 1 MILLION HITS!

Trafikk - Trafikk is a system that will generate tremendous traffic to your website! And it's 100% FREE!

Writing and distributing a quality press release is another powerful way to bring traffic to your site.

Press Release Templates & tutorials -

CanadaOne's - Free Interactive Press Release Builder

Online Press Release Creation

How to write a Press Release - an online writing guide

How To Write A Press Release

Press Release Distribution -

Gebbie Press- Over 10,000 links to print and electronic media on the internet. 3,284 e-mail addresses for Radio and TV stations. 200 links to internet/computer related magazines.

Internet News Bureau sends out a comprehensive emailing to 1200 online media outlets.

Gap Enterprises - Send press releases to over 7,600 personalized publication contacts in 37 countries! You identify the industry, and write the press release. Or, they'll will write it for you.

NetPromote - Worldwide distribution to 2,000 + journalists via email. Not Spam - Distributed Only to Subscribing Journalists. Distributed to all major Internet and computer magazines, e-zines, e-mail newsletters, online news sources, major daily newspapers, television, and radio. No membership fees.

Idea Site For Business - Get press release access to over 1800 of the nation's top business newspapers and magazines. You simply click the link of the publication you would like to contact. A blank e-mail message form addressed to the editor or business editor will pop up on your screen. Complete the e-mail SUBJECT heading, paste your press release information into the body of the blank e-mail message and send it off.

Professional Writers:

Use contests to bring traffic to your site. Not only will this bring traffic to your site, but it will also enable you to create a targeted potential customer list. Set up a form on your site for your visitors to fill out to register for a prize. You can obtain a variety of information by including questions that will help you determine their interests.

Click Here for a forms tutorial.

Freedback - Free fill-out forms for your web site that will email you feedback from your visitors. You do not need access to CGI on your server and you don't even have to know CGI. Freedback automatically generates the HTML for you. All free.

Response-O-Matic - Lets you design your forms any way you want, asking your visitors as many questions as you like. The form submissions are emailed to you every time a visitor to your Web site submits a form.

IDit Plates - Put your web address on your vehicle. IDit Plates are a great way to continuously promote your web site. They look like chrome and blend in well with your vehicle.

Magnetic Signs - Full size magnetic signs for your vehicle. Get a customized sign that magnetically adheres to each side of your vehicle, advertising your web site.

Visit iPrint for your printing needs. From business print items to promotional items iPrint has it all.

For even more promotional products, PromoCity can add your logo to any one of over 500,000 items.

One of the best traffic generators I've found are giveaways. A prime example. I belong to the Leading Edge Classified Ads Banner Program. I give away free web tools. Every free tool I give away has my banner displayed on it.

The Leading Edge Banner Program allows you to distribute the following FREE Web Tools:

FREE Classified Ad Systems
FREE Guest books
FREE Autoresponders
FREE Referral Systems
FREE LE Report Network Web Pages

When the FREE tools are distributed, your banner is displayed every time they're used. Many of our Banner Programmers are enjoying THOUSANDS of banner impressions each week after participating in the program for just a short while.

Leading Edge Web Tools are extremely desirable for any serious web site operator because they CREATE TRAFFIC, yet you can give them away for FREE. All you need to do is provide a link to the FREE tools, then whenever one is applied for it becomes another distribution outlet for more FREE tools. All of the new web sites offering FREE Tools will be displaying your banners every time they're used.

I have given away over 200 classified ad sites alone. That doesn't include all of the other free tools. ALL displaying my banners! This program is powerful.

For further information, visit my classified site. Even if you don't want to join the banner network you can still get a free classified ad system to add to your site. They also help increase your traffic.

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