In my last post, we discussed about generating traffic by submitting articles to article directories. Today, we’re going to consider community-based websites. Community-based sites are very interactive sites and they are great places to generate targeted traffic, targeted in the sense that you are dealing with people who are interest in the information you have to provide. Examples of such sites are message boards and answer sites.
A message board is a site where people come together to discuss different types of topics. The topics covered can be anything from gardening, fishing, money making and sports to dog grooming. Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com) is an example of a message board, likewise is FaceBook (www.facebook.com).
On the other hand, answer sites are sites that offer free or paid advice to its members. Here, you can ask questions and get answers or you can answer questions people ask. You can register with some of them and start offering advice on your area of specialization. They include:
Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com)
Expert Bee (http://www.expertbee.com)
Helium (http://www.helium.com)
and Just Answer (http://www.justanswer.com) – mainly for U.S citizens.
When you join these sites, do not make the mistake of trying to advertise. If you do people won’t pay attention to your adverts and you may be branded as a spammer and banned. It is the quality of your discussions or answers that will attract people to you. What you do is just to join a group that is related to your market and start providing useful information and asking reasonable questions. You can also form your own group in a message board and call it something like Cybercash. You can then invite interested members to join your group. Your advertisement should be done subtly. You do this by putting a link to your web site or opt-in page in your signature file or resource box. Always know that it is the quality of the information you provide that will determine whether members would follow you to your site or not. When you join one of these groups, it is good to wait and observe for a little while. Know how the members do things in the group and follow suit. Do not break the group’s netiquette or regulation.
I again hope that you enjoy this post. I’ll be back very soon for another tip on traffic generation, but for the meantime, try visiting the several message boards and answer sites. Nose around and join as many as you can.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Attracting Traffic to Your Web site (Search Engine Optimization)
A web site without visitors is not accomplishing its purpose as a web site. Having your own web site is not all that is needed for you to start earning cash online; you must consciously drive traffic to your site if you want people to see it. Your website design may rock, your codes perfect but what really drives people to your site is the quality of information they can get from it. Driving traffic to your site is not an easy task especially if you consider the competition involve. There are many sites related to yours and all are competing for traffic. Your success would lie on knowing the working-strategies you can use to boost your traffic. We’re going to consider some of these strategies. Today, we’re going to look at one free method of traffic generation.
Traffic Generation #1: Submitting Articles to Article Directories
This is a sure way of driving traffic to your site. To begin, article directories are web sites that accept huge collection of articles written by people like you and me. You can write several articles and submit them to hundreds of article directories. These directories provide articles that anyone can use. One good thing about advertising in article directories is that you already know that the visitors are interested in the information you are presenting. This is because in article directories, people search through categories and subcategories to get the information they want. This means that if somebody clicks on a category, say computers, then the person really wants information on computers. This is called targeted-traffic generation and it greatly increases your chance of success. Because this method is free, some people tend to ignore it. If that’s you, better think twice! Many web surfers like using article directories because of the quality information they can get from it. So don’t ignore it.
If you submit articles to article directories, the benefits you get are free exposure and free traffic to your web site(s). To get these benefits, you have to put a resource box at the end of every article you submit. The resource box is where you fill in your name, contact information, information about your site and a link that points to your web site (to get a feel of how resource box looks like, visit the article directories listed in this post. But generally, the information in your resource box should be short and clear). The page where this link would land the visitor can also be an opt-in page (where people can subscribe to your email newsletters). In this opt-in page, you’d try to convince the visitor to subscribe to your newsletters if they want more quality information from you. You can also tell them of the bonuses they would get if they subscribe. The bonuses may be free ebooks or software. One place to get bonuses for free is at freeware sites. In these sites, you’ll get tons of ebooks and software that give you the right to give them away freely. You can download a few ebooks or software that supplements your site’s content and use them as bonuses for your subscribers (Note: Make sure that anything you download in freeware sites is virus-free or you’ll irritate your visitors. Scan every download with a powerful antivirus).
Capturing your visitors’ email addresses is a great online marketing strategy that has made many rich, so don’t ignore it! When you capture their email addresses, you can use it to educate and enlighten them on your products and services. Through email messages, you tell your visitors how your products and services can help them and why they should buy. The importance of capturing email addresses of potential customers cannot be overemphasized. You use it to build credibility. Most sales online are not made the first time a visitor comes to your site, it may require up to seven visits. Some interested visitors can even visit your site, love what they see and then forget it the next day. So by capturing their email addresses, you remind them why they visited in the first place and through newsletters, you can convince them to buy.
In order to reach the widest possible audience, your articles should be sprinkled with popular keywords. These are keywords with high search volume. There is a way to know the popularity of any keyword you choose using tools provided by search engines, but we shall not go into it here, check out subsequent posts for details. Now let’s see how using popular keywords can help you get traffic to your site: Since the keywords you used in your article are very popular, thousands and even millions of people would be searching for them and when they do, it is very likely that those directories you have your articles submitted to would be listed in the search result. If the directories have high search engine ranking, the page containing your article and other similar articles would rank high in the search result. This increases the tendency of your article being read and if this happens and the visitors like your article, they might seek for further information by following the link in your resource box.
In a situation where you don’t have the time to write the articles yourself, you can pay other people to do it for you. All you have to do is to get the keywords and find people who will write the articles base on those keywords. You may give it to a friend or you take it online. There are many web sites that have employers who can do this for you; two good examples are GetAFreelancer (www.getafreelancer.com) and Constant-Content (www.constant-content.com).
It is good to submit your articles to directories with high search engine ranking so that your article would rank high in any search result containing your keywords. Examples of article directories with high search engine ranking are:
http://www.articlealley.com
http://www.articledashboard.com
http://www.articlepros.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.submityourarticle.com
http://www.goarticles.com
The kind of articles you submit should not look as if you are advertising. You should provide valuable information because that is what would determine whether your visitors would follow you to your site or not. Try to submit at least, one article every week to article directories.
Submitting articles to directories can take some time. Some sites would require that you create an account with them. Creating an account involves filling in your email address, a password you want to use and some other personal information. After that, you need to go back to your inbox and open the message they sent, follow the instruction given to activate your account. Whenever you want to submit an article, you log in with your username and password. To avoid your article from being rejected, make sure you read their submission guideline and also take a look at already published articles to get a feel of what they need.
I hope you enjoy reading through this post, see you next time for yet another way to boost your site traffic.
Traffic Generation #1: Submitting Articles to Article Directories
This is a sure way of driving traffic to your site. To begin, article directories are web sites that accept huge collection of articles written by people like you and me. You can write several articles and submit them to hundreds of article directories. These directories provide articles that anyone can use. One good thing about advertising in article directories is that you already know that the visitors are interested in the information you are presenting. This is because in article directories, people search through categories and subcategories to get the information they want. This means that if somebody clicks on a category, say computers, then the person really wants information on computers. This is called targeted-traffic generation and it greatly increases your chance of success. Because this method is free, some people tend to ignore it. If that’s you, better think twice! Many web surfers like using article directories because of the quality information they can get from it. So don’t ignore it.
If you submit articles to article directories, the benefits you get are free exposure and free traffic to your web site(s). To get these benefits, you have to put a resource box at the end of every article you submit. The resource box is where you fill in your name, contact information, information about your site and a link that points to your web site (to get a feel of how resource box looks like, visit the article directories listed in this post. But generally, the information in your resource box should be short and clear). The page where this link would land the visitor can also be an opt-in page (where people can subscribe to your email newsletters). In this opt-in page, you’d try to convince the visitor to subscribe to your newsletters if they want more quality information from you. You can also tell them of the bonuses they would get if they subscribe. The bonuses may be free ebooks or software. One place to get bonuses for free is at freeware sites. In these sites, you’ll get tons of ebooks and software that give you the right to give them away freely. You can download a few ebooks or software that supplements your site’s content and use them as bonuses for your subscribers (Note: Make sure that anything you download in freeware sites is virus-free or you’ll irritate your visitors. Scan every download with a powerful antivirus).
Capturing your visitors’ email addresses is a great online marketing strategy that has made many rich, so don’t ignore it! When you capture their email addresses, you can use it to educate and enlighten them on your products and services. Through email messages, you tell your visitors how your products and services can help them and why they should buy. The importance of capturing email addresses of potential customers cannot be overemphasized. You use it to build credibility. Most sales online are not made the first time a visitor comes to your site, it may require up to seven visits. Some interested visitors can even visit your site, love what they see and then forget it the next day. So by capturing their email addresses, you remind them why they visited in the first place and through newsletters, you can convince them to buy.
In order to reach the widest possible audience, your articles should be sprinkled with popular keywords. These are keywords with high search volume. There is a way to know the popularity of any keyword you choose using tools provided by search engines, but we shall not go into it here, check out subsequent posts for details. Now let’s see how using popular keywords can help you get traffic to your site: Since the keywords you used in your article are very popular, thousands and even millions of people would be searching for them and when they do, it is very likely that those directories you have your articles submitted to would be listed in the search result. If the directories have high search engine ranking, the page containing your article and other similar articles would rank high in the search result. This increases the tendency of your article being read and if this happens and the visitors like your article, they might seek for further information by following the link in your resource box.
In a situation where you don’t have the time to write the articles yourself, you can pay other people to do it for you. All you have to do is to get the keywords and find people who will write the articles base on those keywords. You may give it to a friend or you take it online. There are many web sites that have employers who can do this for you; two good examples are GetAFreelancer (www.getafreelancer.com) and Constant-Content (www.constant-content.com).
It is good to submit your articles to directories with high search engine ranking so that your article would rank high in any search result containing your keywords. Examples of article directories with high search engine ranking are:
http://www.articlealley.com
http://www.articledashboard.com
http://www.articlepros.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.submityourarticle.com
http://www.goarticles.com
The kind of articles you submit should not look as if you are advertising. You should provide valuable information because that is what would determine whether your visitors would follow you to your site or not. Try to submit at least, one article every week to article directories.
Submitting articles to directories can take some time. Some sites would require that you create an account with them. Creating an account involves filling in your email address, a password you want to use and some other personal information. After that, you need to go back to your inbox and open the message they sent, follow the instruction given to activate your account. Whenever you want to submit an article, you log in with your username and password. To avoid your article from being rejected, make sure you read their submission guideline and also take a look at already published articles to get a feel of what they need.
I hope you enjoy reading through this post, see you next time for yet another way to boost your site traffic.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
If You Can Write, You Can Make Money Online
If you look at the internet market, you will see that information sell like crazy. Millions of people search the internet daily for information on a wide range of subjects. If you can satisfy this hunger, a lot of cash awaits you.
You don’t have to know every thing for you to satisfy people’s hunger for information. The best way to start is to write on what you already know. Write on things you have passion for. This passion may be a hobby, pass-time or field of interest. Statistic shows that highly profitable information that sell online are “how to” information, a few examples are:
You don’t have to know every thing for you to satisfy people’s hunger for information. The best way to start is to write on what you already know. Write on things you have passion for. This passion may be a hobby, pass-time or field of interest. Statistic shows that highly profitable information that sell online are “how to” information, a few examples are:
- How to combat insomnia
- How to quit smoking in 10 days
- How to beat obesity
- How to get the most out of sleep.
The list continues and it is endless. It is all about writing about problems you know how to solve. To make things less tedious, write on topics you know very well. It makes your content rich and increases your sell potential.
There are many writing opportunities available online and you can make a lot of money writing articles, term papers,essays, research papers and other writing assignments. Some webmasters don’t have the time to write the content of their sites, so what they do is to buy their content from sites that sell them. These sites employ people like you to supply the content base on the webmasters’ specifications. Webmasters are not the only ones that seek to buy this content, students, magazines etc also go for it. Some websites also allow you to write on any topic of your choice. Example of such websites are: www.freelancer.com, www.myessay.com, www.eduwriters.com, www.articlewriters.net. You can get more by making a search on google. The means of payment varies, eduwriters pay through paypal alone, some through liberty reserve, e-gold, BCH,etc
Another way of making money online is by publishing your own ebook. Let’s look at 3 steps you have to take to publish your own ebook.
Choosing Your Market
This is one of the important thing anyone who is interested in online writing should consider. This is because millions of people are also writing to make money online. The best way to start is to go to publications like ezines and look at popular publication on your field of interest. Take note of the number of sales made on such publications. If sale is high, that means that the topic is selling but that is not all you have to take note of. You also have to know how many competitor are in the market. This you get from the number of books already written on the topic. If it is much, then find another topic.
Researching
Once you’ve gotten a subject to write on, the next step is to do an intensive research on the subject. Visit the library and read everything you can find on the subject. Also surf the net for more information. As you read, make note of important points and make sure you avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is the crime of taking another writer’s work as your own and the punishment for this can be severe sometimes. We shall discuss more on plagiarism in subsequent post. Another source of information can come from friends and relatives
After your intensive research which can last for weeks, the next thing is to sort the information you have gotten and organize them in an orderly manner, eliminating grammatical and spelling errors.
Compiling your Ebook
Electronic-publishing involves writing and publishing your own books without going to a publisher. Here, you keep the entire profit to yourself. Ebooks have a lot of advantages over books in hard copy. They cost practically nothing to compile, easier to distribute, and they allow users to skip to any page or search for any specific word. They are very interactive, allowing users to include live links to the internet, scripts, embedded videos, audios and animations.
Ebooks come in different formats, the most common are HTML and PDF formats. HTML format is good for creating 10 or 30 pages ebooks while PDF is nice for up to 300 pages. In order to read HTML compiled ebooks, you must have Internet Explorer 4.0+ installed in your system. Ebooks with PDF format require Acrobat reader which you can download freely from the internet at www.adobe.com. Below is a list of HTML and PDF compilers and the site you can get them.
HTML EBOOKS:
WebCompiler
http://www.webcompiler.com
NeoBook Pro
http://www.neosoftware.com
E-ditor Pro
http://www.e-ditorial.com
WebPacker
http://www.bersoft.com
SbookBuilder
http://www.jansfreeware.com/jftools.htm#sbookbuilder (free)
PDF EBOOKS:
Adobe PDF Writer
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/main.HTML
Gymnast
http://www.oakworth.demon.co.uk/gymnast.htm (free)
PDFDraftsman
http://www.pubstec.com/Software/Acrobat/Draftsman/ (free)
HTMLDOC
http://www.easysw.com/HTMLdoc/ (free)
You can get free ebook cover at www.onlinewebcreations.com
Promoting Your Book Using Your Own Site
To increase sell, you have to advertise your ebook. There are many different ways to do this. Let’s briefly look at 7 ways.
1. Design a simple website and dedicate it to selling your ebook(s). As you optimize the site, you automatically promote your ebook(s). It is important to note that your website should not be full of blatant sale presentations, nobody like such. Instead, make it very informative, supply just enough information to make your reader want to buy. For example, if you are promoting an ebook on “dog training”, your website should contain some important tips on dog training. It is this information that will attract customers, not your advert.
2. Add your book to Google Book Search
3. Research some authors with similar subjects and then offer to exchange links with them.
4. My Space, an online forum, has recently started doing book reviews, so send your book there (www.myspace.com).
5. Friends and family can be of great help, ask them to email five people they know and tell them about your book.
6. Search for book fair online and join.
7. Advertise in radio,TV stations and local print media.
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