I-Marketer Blog and Newsletter

Traffic Building: Tactical Steps
Everyone in the Online Business Building
world is constantly talking about generating
traffic to their websites.

Alot of webmasters and Internet Business owners
make the mistake of thinking that there is a
“be-all end-all” for generating visitors to
their sites.

The reality of it is that there are several
tactics that need to be applied to drive the
maximum amount of traffic to your sites.

Obviously, it would be almost impossible to
try and apply or do all of these tactics at
one time. But, if implemented on a consistent,
regular basis each tactic can be driving their
own significant amount of traffic in a short
amount of time.

Some of the techniques will be implemented
a long time before others depending on what
stage your business is in.

Just to give you an example of the types of
things you should be doing to drive traffic,
here is a laundry list of items:

~ Article Writing
~ Blog Posting
~ Pay Per Click Advertising
~ Search Engine Optimization with Effective
Keywords
~ Ezine Advertising
~ Promotions Through Affiliates
~ Press Releases
~ Ebay Tactics
~ Social Networks - Myspace, Facebook, etc.
~ Videos
~ Directories
~ Forums
~ Message Boards
~ Audios - Podcasting
~ Email
~ Squidoo
~ Banner Advertising
~ Other Tactics

Each of the above named “tactics” for driving
traffic to your websites have been written
about, talked about and developed into full
blown home-study courses and seminars.

Studying and implementing each of these traffic
driving tactics could and should consume a
considerable amount of your time or your staff’s
time.

At the present time, this is how online traffic
is generated.

Some are free some not.

If after reading the above list of traffic
building techniques you would like to learn
more, drop us a line. If there are numerous
amounts of requests for any one in particular
we may do a training series addressing
that particular technique.

Send email to:
questions@nightowlmarketing.com

Whether you are just getting online or have been on for
a while you will hear how writing articles is a great way to get
free traffic to your site. It’s also a great way to brand yourself

Yes it is a great way to do just that. But what about the money?

How do you make money by writing articles

Sure one might say by including a resource box at the
bottom of the article that offers the reader more information
if they “click here”. This will drive traffic to a site
where you can have an opt-in box to capture the interested
readers name and email address.

You can also drive the traffic you generate with articles to
an affiliate product offer.

Two scenarios. One in my opinion is better then the other.

Which one?

Of course building a list of targeted subscribers is the
best way to go so that you can then send them offers
over and over again. Rather than build the list of the
affiliate program owner, you build your list first.

But that’s up to you. If you follow-up with the interested
prospects and start to develop a relationship with them,
they may eventually respond to your product offers and
buy your product or the product that you are an affiliate of.

The point of the continuous follow up of course is to build
trust so that the people on your list will respond to your
suggestions to purchase products.

Another simple yet effective way to profit from article
writing is using the power of Google.com

How does Google help you make money with writing articles?

Do a search at Google for your article title using quotes
around the title.
For example, type in “Why In The World Am I Writing All These Articles Anyways?”

In quotation marks.

The Results: you will see all of the websites that have syndicated
your article on their site.

Why is this important to you?

It’s basically telling you the sites that your target market visits.
If the site owner has taken the time to syndicate your article on
their website, then chances are you are selling to that same crowd.

So, what’s next?

Well, see if you can strike up some kind of Joint Venture
Deal with those site owners for one of your products.

If it’s an affiliate product you’re offering then see if
you can setup a 2 tier commission. That would mean that
you will get paid when these site owners sign up for the affiliate
program under your link and make sales from their sites.

Another way to use Google is to setup a Google Alert

Account and do the same thing.

Here’s the link www.google.com/alerts

You setup an alert for your articles title name within quotes

And anytime Google finds a reference to your article you
will get an email sent to you telling you that a reference
to your article has been made you then go check out the
site and see if the site that is carrying your article is a good
match for setting up a Joint Venture.

That’s how easy it is to make more money from your initial
effort of writing an article. Now in addition to driving traffic
and creating some brand awareness you

Have a simple yet effective method of finding potential
Joint Venture partners

Who are selling to your very same target market.

I encourage you to implement this ASAP! It’s not only FREE, it’s effective.

Each week my articles are read by TENS of THOUSANDS of people. I would like to tell you that it is because I am such a wonderful writer. I would like to tell you that it is because my reputation as an Internet Guru compels people to listen to everything I say (kinda like those old E.F. Hutton commercials here in the US). I would like to say that it is because the things that I say are so profound that no one else provides the information that I do.

The reality is much less ego-boosting.

The reason that so many people read the things that I am writing is this: I make sure that I get the articles that I write in front of as many people as possible. I’m not neccessarily more talented, more pithy, more knowledgeable than anyone else, I just might be a little more persistent.

Each week more than 20,000 people visit my main site at http://www.all-in-one-business.com. While it is tough to know exactly how many of those people come from an article they caught on a web site or in an eZine, the number is around 15% or 3000+ people per week.

 That’s more visits than most websites get in 3 months–in fact, it is more visits than most sites get in a year. If you want to see your traffic steadily increase over time, begin writing.

There are several reasons why writing produces quality traffic to ANY site.

First, when you write, you become the expert. Assuming that you can do a decent job of presenting yourself and your material, most people will never ask for your specific credentials.

When people see you as the expert, they will take your advice.

Remember this: people buy from people they know and trust. Whenever someone reads one of your articles–even if it is posted on your own website or in your own eZine, you become more trustworthy and they become more likely to visit your site and buy.

A second reason why writing produces quality traffic is that writing “brands” your name.

In an upcoming issue I will be looking at the idea of “Branding”. But here is a brief definition: Branding is raising the recognition factor of a name or product.

Years ago I worked for a large insurance company, out of an office in Memphis, TN. Most of my clients were fairly well- to-do and were familiar with the company–one of the largest and most well respected insurers in the world.

I was eventually moved from the “big city” into a rural area of Mississippi.

That’s when I ran into trouble.

The large, well-respected insurance company I worked for did all of its advertising in publications that were geared to the “big city” upper-class. I never had anyone in the city ask me, “What company is that again?” They knew who we were.

When I got to the small town, no one had heard of our big, impressive company. In fact, I was having to spend my time just trying to convince people that we were even a reputable company–though at the time we were the second largest insurer in the world!

That’s branding. Putting your name out there and letting people see it. Every time someone reads an article with your name on it, your stock goes up a little in their mind. Every time someone sees your newsletter, you make a positive impression.

Over time some of these people will become customers.

Another reason that writing produces quality traffic is that writing for OTHER PEOPLE’S publications gives you an instant “referral” for your product, service or site.

When your article is picked up and run in someone else’s eZine, you get their implied endorsement. Even if the editor doesn’t tell the readers that they “specifically” endorse your product, you gain tons of respect in the readers’ minds. The more targeted the eZine, the more respected the editor, the more weight being in that publication carries.

Article marketing is an easy, high-return way to generate traffic as you start a business from home.

I ought to know: The 800 or so articles I have written and syndicated over the last 5 years have not only generated millions of visitors to my web sites, they have also gotten me over 100,000 mentions on Google.

Not too bad for a farm boy from Kentucky.

So, how do you go about getting that kind of traffic for your site? Here are the steps:

1. Generate a list of keywords you want to target.

Your keyword list will give you a great start in knowing what articles you want to write.

2. Generate a list of interests in your target market.

If your target market is people interested in digital photography, you would want to make a list of information they would find appealing: How to choose a digital camera, Fixing Bad Shots, etc. Info they would be interested in.

3. Using your list of keywords and market interests, create a book outline.

For many of you this might seem premature to some out there. Here’s why you want to make this outline: You are going to write 50-100 articles over the next year. Why not look ahead and make them into a completed book rather than just a list of barely related articles?

4. Begin writing an article or two each week to fill in the outline.

Choose one of your points or subpoints each week and write your article on that theme.

5. Syndicate the articles with article banks and article distribution services.

For a list of places to submit your articles, grab a free trial membership here:

http://www.TrafficWriting.com?z=2

This is a brief overview of the article marketing process. For a free in-depth view of article marketing along with the complete “10 Minute a Day Marketing Plan” visit:

http://www.TrafficWriting.com?z=2