Sunday, May 27, 2012

Easy Traffic Building Tips

1. Yahoo! Answers

I have gotten a decent amount of traffic from this, especially when you consider the small amount of time I’ve put into it.
Yahoo! Answers is exactly what the title suggests. You simply post answers to questions posed by other users. As a Webmaster, the best way to get the most from it is to find questions related to your niche.
For example, if you have a site on fishing, you could do a search for questions related to this pastime and answer as many questions as you can find.
Now the key is not to just rush through this. Craft thoughtful, useful answers that provide value to the person who posed the question. If you impress the viewers, your profile may get a few clicks. And guess what you can put in your profile? You guessed it…
Your website address!
I know a lady who sold a Site Build It! subscription through Yahoo Answers. She responded to a question about working at home and she casually mentioned she used Site Build It!.
She did not spam Yahoo! Answers by putting a link to SBI! in her reply, but someone clicked her avatar along side her answer, viewed her profile and emailed her specific questions about SBI!. After a few email exchanges the curious surfer bought the software and she was $75 richer.
Will you get hundreds of visitors per day from posting at Yahoo! Answers? Probably not, but remember it’s the little things that add up.
Plus, Yahoo! Answers are always appearing in the search results. Imagine all the people who may stumble upon your well-thought out replies to various questions.

2. Forum Posting

A few years ago, forum posting was often a top bullet on the “How to build traffic” list because it was a great way to build backlinks to your site. Using a sig file with your posts created a ton of inbound to your site and Google often rewarded Webmasters with a higher PageRank, more traffic, etc.
While forum posting may hold some backlink benefits, it’s effect has been downgraded tremendously. And I certainly wouldn’t waste your time flooding forums trying to build this number up.
The best way to use forums for traffic is to develop a good reputation with other forum members and subtly promote your site by way of your signature (sig) file. Much like Yahoo! Answers, the more useful your posts are, the more likely others are to respect your advice and visit your site.
Use Search It! to find forums in your niche or simply go to your favorite engine and type in “your_niche + forums”. This will likely bring up a nice selection of forums related to your subject matter.
You can start by posting in my forum, WebsiteBabble.com;) Not only is it loved and indexed often by Google, but the members are friendly, fun and smart!

3. Blog Comments

I think this method is highly underrated and forgotten by a lot of Webmasters. Posting useful comments regularly on high-trafficked blogs can really bring in good traffic over time.
And with all the cool plug-ins available, many blogs entice people to make comments by allowing them to add pictures, their website address and more.

4. Broadcast on YouTube

I just started doing this 5 months ago and my videos have received over 100,000 views (combined). And just like regular SEO for your content, you can optimize your videos to be found in the YouTube search results.
My main goals for the videos were to add personality and create credibility to my site. I never dreamed this method would generate the kind of traffic it has in the last 5 months.
Think of content you can put in video form for your audience. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. A 3-minute video can be highly effective if presented well. Just organize your key points, speak clearly and publish!
And of course YouTube makes it super easy to add the video to your site. Just copy and paste a few lines of code and you’re done!
Some people learn better by hearing than reading. Your audience will find this method of delivery quite refreshing, especially if you have a tutorial-based site.
In a Web with so many faceless, cold sites developed by Webmasters who prefer to remain anonymous, adding videos to your site and YouTube could work well in your favor. Credibility is key with making money online and what a great way to build trust with your audience.
And to generate traffic from people who find my videos in YouTube, I use Windows Movie Maker to display my website address during the video.

5. Check Your Web Stats

Ever check your traffic stats and find certain pages have been found in the search engines for keywords that were not the main focus on the page?
For example, say you have an article titled “How to Create a Blog” that contains a few paragraphs where you review Blogger.com. You check your traffic stats and find that page shows up #12 in Google for “Blogger review.”
Instead of settling for the trickles of traffic that keyword phrase brings, why not build a page that focuses on “Blogger review” that can obtain a much higher rank for that keyword. And to help that page’s positioning, you can link it from the original article since the content is related.
Not only are you building another content-rich page with potential search engine traffic, but you’re providing your audience with more useful information they can use.
Dig deep into those traffic stats. You may find some untapped keywords that are a potential gold mine.

6. Facebook Ads


Facebook has an incredible reach. Across the globe there are more than 1 billion active users and a majority of these people log in several times per day and spend a lot of time on the network. For someone planning to advertise on Facebook the situation couldn’t be better. Everyone is there.