|
7 Simple Ways To Build Traffic To A New
Website
Got a brand new website? That's great, but nobody cares.
OK, maybe that's a little harsh. The truth, however, is that
just having a website doesn't get you much.
Editor's Note: Publication of the SiteProNews newsletter will
be intermittent during the next 2 weeks. Visit SiteProNews.com
for the latest articles, webmaster news and blog posts. We wish
all of our loyal readers a happy holiday season.
Many business owners I meet are surprised to find, once we look
at the numbers, that the shiny new site they had built not too
long ago gets little to no traffic on a daily basis.
Many newcomers to the web make the mistake of thinking that
just by buying a domain name and putting up your site, visitors
are going to happen by - something like when you buy property
and build a storefront in a busy part of town.
It just doesn't work that way. The web is harsh. You can have
the best looking site in the world with great resources and
content and go entirely ignored or unnoticed. It happens. It's
happening right now. Somewhere out there in the ether is a
brand new gorgeous website loaded with great content, and
nobody cares. Poor little lonely site.
But there is hope. Every website had its early days. Even sites
that get hundreds of thousands of visitors a day started out
with none.
Here are 7 simple things you can start doing right now to help
drive traffic to your site.
1. Get Some Quick Links From Trusted Directories
Link building is a long-term process with long-term goals, but
for brand new sites with no history you've got to start
somewhere. There are a number of directories out there that
provide free and paid listings (subject to editorial review, of
course). Here are the ones I recommend:
Yahoo!
Business.com
JoeAnt.com
DMOZ.org
BOTW.org
Ah, what the heck - here's a great list of directories sorted
by SEOmoz's Trifecta score - bookmark it and get started
2. Start Blogging
OK, blogging isn't for everybody (especially you boring
people), but it's a great way to build relevant content at your
site on a consistent basis. It also gives your visitors/
customers a way to engage with you. But please don't make the
mistake of being too "corporate" on your blog - do yourself a
favor and check your Public Relations cap at the door. Don't be
afraid to discuss your mistakes, missteps you've made, and what
you've learned from them as well as your triumphs. In short, be
a human, not a brand.
3. Consider Paid Search
For new websites, the day when you receive all the traffic you
need for free from search engines and other referrals is a long
way off - if not just a pipe dream altogether. Often times paid
search campaigns are a great way to get your site in front of
your target market today. Be sure to keep your budget modest,
though, until you're confident in your ROI. Be sure to do your
keyword research to find lower-cost "long tail" keywords -
going after the big traffic keywords might be tempting, but it
gets expensive and the ROI is often not the best.
4. Use Article Marketing To Build Links
As with any tactic, I'd recommend using this one in moderation.
Article marketing is, essentially, trading words for links. It
can help with link building, but the quality of the links it
garners is usually less than stellar.
Here's how it works:
Write an informative article on your site topic (or something
related)
Include an "about the author" section as well as links in the
article that point to your pages using relevant anchor text
Submit the article through one of the many article syndication
services (such as EZineArticles.com or GoArticles.com )
The deal is, anybody can come along and publish your article on
their website - provided they use the article in its original
format including the "about the author" section. So when the
article is published, any links you include back to your site
are published as well.
5. Guest Post At Relevant Blogs
This certainly requires some up-front investment, mainly in
terms of building relationships with bloggers in your topic (a
little brown-nosing never hurt), but it can help get the
flywheel turning for your site like nothing else can. Take the
time to make your guest post remarkable and smart - your host
blogger will appreciate it, and it'll improve the likelihood of
attention coming back to your site (which you'll link to in
your guest post, of course). Links from blogs are some of the
most powerful editorial links you can get - don't underestimate
them for a second.
6. Submit Your Site to Design Galleries
Is your website breathtaking to behold, beautiful enough to
make angels weep? Yeah, sure it is. But seriously, if it looks
pretty sharp there are plenty of web design galleries that
accept submissions for new sites and link to the sites they
feature. Particularly for CSS-driven design there are a number
of galleries that will consider your site for listing (provided
your site uses CSS for layout/styling - and God help you if it
doesn't) - including CSSElite.com, CSSHeaven.com, CSSBeauty.com
and many others. Just search in Google for "CSS design
gallery." Unless your site is ugly - in that case, I can't help
you, and stop asking me to look at it.
7. Sponsor a Local Event or Charity
OK, I admit this is kind of a tired tip - but it works!
Especially for local small businesses. Is there a local event
coming up in your community? A local charity that has a
website? Not only will sponsoring such an event give you all of
the normal PR benefits (and self-righteous bragging rights)
that are the byproducts of charity, but any web announcement
for the event will potentially include a mention of your
website as well as a link to it. And you can feel good about
yourself for a change.
Bonus Tip: Be Patient
Alright, this one is cheap, I admit it. Not much of a tip. But
it's important to remember that you're not going to see your
unique visitors count skyrocket immediately for your new
website. Most "overnight successes" actually take a few years
to get going.
And if you find yourself checking your traffic numbers on a
daily basis, please do us all a favor - step away from the
computer, go toss the ball around with your kid, maybe take
your niece out for ice cream. Contrary to popular belief,
staring at your site traffic data has no positive effect on
it.
by Mike Tekula - 2008
Back
to Top
###
| 
