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 this way can quickly turn into the online equivalent of Alice
chasing the rabbit down the hole.
** 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 a link 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.
In fact, the following
represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the places
you can grow links 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.
About the author:
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and co-author of an
amazing program that teaches you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website, affiliate links,
or blogs... without spending a dime on advertising! Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
