UND-Pilsa Blog

Not a day goes by that any serious website owner doesn’t wonder
how to get more traffic to their site.

This intense desire to generate more clicks makes virtually any
online entrepreneur easy prey to many of the traffic schemes and
scams that pervade the Internet like conmen on a carnival
midway.

Promises of fast traffic and big bucks often separate even the
most savvy business person from their money because they want to
believe the promises made by these traffic hucksters.

However, rather than thinking “complicated equals better” in the
traffic game, the best website traffic sources rate extremely
easy to separate from the useless garbage traffic.

Fact: “Good Traffic” equals “Targeted Traffic!”

That means the visitors come as a result of desire to find out
more on a specific, niche topic, not as a result of “exit”
traffic or membership in a “safe” list where members simply
pitch each other in an incestuous spam fest.

Good traffic comes from people clicking links on topics targeted
to their interests and getting directed to a website containing
information they want and expect as a result of clicking the
link.

Bottom line, when you get right down to it, the best, most
dependable sources of targeted traffic come from links that
people click.

So, next time you’re considering spending money on a traffic
source, understand that unless it involves a targeted link that
a targeted visitor can click to get to your website, think twice
before opening up your wallet.

To my knowledge, only three ways exist to get a link to your
site: buy it, “voodoo” it, or grow it.

** Buy Links**

Buying links actually rates the fastest way to get traffic to
your website.

You simply sign up for Google AdWords at Google.com or you open
an account with Overture.com.

You then run ads with a link on those sites and any time someone
clicks the link, you pay for the click through a relatively
straightforward bidding process based on the popularity of the
keyword.

You can also buy links in ezines, newsletters, and on other
people’s website either on a per-click basis, for a period of
time (a week or month), or in exchange for paying them a
commission if a sale gets made as a result of a click on the
link.

** Linking “VoodDoo” **

Linking “voodoo” refers to attempting to manipulate the search
engines into displaying links to your website.

You can find a large number of automated software programs
online at any given time that will claim to help you get more
search engine traffic.

Depending on the intensity of competition in a specific market,
and the fact that search engines change their rules frequently,
pursuing search engine links can quickly turn into the online
equivalent of Alice chasing the rabbit down a hole to
“Wonderland.”

** Grow Links **

I personally prefer this method to get links to my websites:
growing them.

The best type of link to get involves one person telling another
person, either explicitly or implicitly, they should click the
link and visit the site at the other end.

One way to do this is simply to exchange links with another site
which targets the same audience as your site.

You can manage this process manually or use one of the many
software packages that will mange the process for you.

A search on Google.com for “reciprocal link manager software”
yields a good start.

The easiest way to grow links is through using articles other
people post on their websites which link back to your website.

The reason articles work so well for “growing” links involves
the numerous ways in which articles get distributed online, each
of which can create dozens, hundreds, even thousands of
different links back to your website by publishing a single
article.

As time goes by, and as the article spreads around, the number
of links literally “grows” over time (but unlike a houseplant,
you don’t have to water an article!).

In fact, the following represent only the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to all the places you can grow and expand the
links to your site by publishing articles online.

~ Blogs - Your articles can not only appear on your own blog,
but get posted by others on their blogs with surprising ease.

The links in these articles can point directly back to your
website.

~ Article Directories - Article directories such as
IdeaMarketers.com abound online.

They not only provide an easy way to display your articles to
allow others to pick them up for posting on their websites, but
also in and of themselves attract readers searching for content.

~ OPS (Other People’s Sites) - Popular websites like
WebProNews.com attract repeat visitors by offering targeted
content to their readers.

Since they can’t produce all the content themselves, they
publish articles created by others. Links from these sites can
bring a steady stream of targeted visitors by giving you
targeted exposure.

~ Ezines - By getting your articles published in other people’s
ezines, you can get a link on the most valuable real estate
online, a targeted prospect’s email “inbox.”

Many ezine publishers run articles written by others to their
targeted readers, and your link in the resource box can bring
you a veritable avalanche of targeted site visitors when
hundreds, even thousands of people receive your article at the
same time.

Whether you choose to buy them, “voodoo” them, or grow them,
getting targeted links to your site posted on the Internet
represents the absolute best way to get steady traffic to your
site.

Though not as fast as buying them or as exciting as trying to
manipulate the search engines, growing links with articles gives
you a long-term, dependable presence online.

– Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use
fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to
your website, affiliate links, or blogs…

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Need MORE TRAFFIC to
your website or affiliate links? “Turn Words Into Traffic”
reveals the secrets for driving Thousands of NEW visitors to
your website or affiliate links… without spending a dime on
advertising! Click Here>
http://hop.clickbank.net/?iknowhow/ezarticles

Comments Off

About six years ago the Internet fascinated me. Someone told me
that I could place a billboard on the World Wide Web and forty
million people would go by and see it every day.

I was completely entranced with the idea that my information
could be delivered anywhere in the world in less than a minute!

Immediately dialed the telephone number shown on a vacant
billboard on the freeway and asked how much it would cost to put
my face on that billboard. The reply was “ten thousand dollars a
month.”

I decided that the Internet was a cheaper option and set out to
place my banner in view of 40 million people. Boy, was I in for
a surprise. In over three months of exposure on the “net” I
received only a hand full of hits. The only e-mail I received
was from other people like me who had shelled out lots of money,
only to find that no one was viewing my home page.

I paid a price but learned a valuable lesson. “The potential of
the Internet in book selling is fantastic, but you have to learn
the tools of Internet marketing or you will never make any money
regardless of the product or service you offer.” Fortunately,
the same tool that so entranced me six years ago is the same
tool that I find to be the most effective in selling over the
web.

That tool is called an “autoresponder.”

An autoresponder is an e-mail service that works something like
a fax- on-demand. For an author or a publisher, it works like
this. You create an article or sample chapter of your book. You
load that chapter into your autoresponder or e-mail on demand.
You publicize the e-mail address of your autoresponder in your
e-mail signature file, your web site, your business cards, order
forms, and in any printed advertising about your books.

The potential buyer sees that he/she may sample a chapter of
your book. He types in your autoresponder e-mail address or
clicks on it if he is on-line. As soon as the e-mail is sent
three things happen. 1. The document is found stored on a web
server and delivered immediately to the potential buyer. The
process takes less than one minute and is operational 24 hours a
day. The buyer may read your article or chapter in e-mail or
print it out and read it offline. He/she may forward the article
to other people.

2. You (the author or publisher) get a receipt e-mail that gives
you the name, e-mail address of the potential buyer and any
comments that he/she may have wanted you to see.

3. You collect a valuable e-mail address of a potential
purchaser of your books and other products.

How effective is this tool? I receive a book sale from
approximately one out of every four requests. To compare that
with web page hits, I only receive one or two sales for every
3000 web hits each day!

Why is its so effective?

I think autoresponders give the potential buyer time to read and
absorb what you have published. Most visitors on the Web are
looking for free information. They are not looking to purchase
anything. If they have a chance to download a sample chapter,
print it out and read it while they are away from their
computer, they don’t feel pressured to buy. A reader is making a
more informed and objective buying decision.

If you already have a web site, ask your webmaster for
autoresponders. They should be free of charge. You should be
able to add, edit or delete text any time you choose.

If your webmaster’s eyes glaze over when you ask about
autoresponders, then you have some free options. I recommend
these options to authors and publishers that have no web site as
well. All you need is an e-mail address to take advantage of the
Web’s most effective marketing tool for authors and booksellers.
Try a couple of my autoresponders and check out how easy they
are to use.

For a free relaxation exercise send e-mail to:

mailto:relax@wayneperkins.net

For an excerpt from my new e-book, “A Cheap And Easy Guide To
Self- publishing E-books” published by the 1stbooks Library,
send e-mail the following autoresponder address:

mailto:easy@wayneperkins.net

The following services offer autoresponders at no charge.
Whether you have a website or not, you can take advantage of
autoresponders.

http://www.sendfree.com

http://www.fastfacts.net

http://www.getresponse.com

http://www.myreply.com

Once you have set up your autoresponders, you may want to list
your offerings with Autoresponder Central at:

http://www.web-source.net/

This is a website where you can list your autoresponder in an
on-line autoresponder catalog.

I wish you the best in promoting your books on-line with the
most effective Internet marketing tool.

Comments Off