How to get traffic to my website is a question that most web site owners have been asking since the creation of the internet. Many times people think that there is a magic solution or trick to getting more traffic to their website, but the real answer is hard work and preparation.
First of all you need to find the methods that work for your industry or niche. What works for a plumber might not work for an attorney, and what works for an auto body shop won’t work for an internet marketing company. To succeed with your online campaign, you need to know what products are available and how they work for your industry. Below are some great internet marketing tools that can increase traffic to your website. Your job is to find which one or combination of these products will work for your web site.
Google maps
Google Maps is a great tool to use to increase traffic to your website. If you provide products or services in a 10-20 mile radius of your business location (must have an address to use Google Maps) having a Map listing is a must. This form of marketing is free but you still need to make sure that your map listing is optimized and is completely filled out. If not done correctly your Google Map listing won’t show in the results of a local search.
Social Media
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are some really great social media tools that if don’t correctly can really increase the traffic to your website. The problem with social media is, it really takes a tremendous amount of time to get the traffic to flow, but once you do it is quite rewarding. This is also a free source of advertising and can be used in conjunction with your Google maps. This is not only a great local marketing tool but national and globally as well.
Directory Submission
Depending on your industry, Directory submission is another great tool. All directories aren’t created equal. Some directories can be used for link building and others are used for generating traffic to your website. Directories like Superpages.com, Yellowpages.com and Yellowbook.com are great to generate traffic. If you are a plumber, carpet cleaner, roofer, etc… advertising in these directories will do your business good. These directories aren’t free, but depending on your business location it is well worth the cost to be listed with them. This is a great form of local marketing.
PPC, Pay-Per-Click or SEM
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search engine marketing (SEM) is a paid form of marketing. Many people think that throwing money at a PPC program will make them money. WRONG! Once again you must take time with the tools that Google, Yahoo and Bing provide and read up on PPC marketing before spending a dime. Many companies have gone broke because they didn’t have solid plan of action and ended up spend thousands of dollars on an ineffective PPC campaign. Here is another great tip that will get you qualified traffic with a PPC campaign, Negative Keywords. Just learning about negative keywords will give you a leg up over the competition and will save you a lot of money on useless clicks. PPC is a great method of marketing locally, nationally or globally but it can get expensive very fast.
Search Engine Optimization- SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an awesome form of marketing your website online. SEO is not an instant solution but if done correctly can generate traffic to your website that is out of this world. It takes a little time to develop so don’t expect super fast results. This form of marketing is Free if you do it yourself but is not recommended because it takes so much time to learn. Hire a internet marketing company that has a proven track record with generating lead using SEO. There are many companies that provide tools that can help you in the quest of learning SEO. SEOBook.com, SEOMoz.com and SEO.com are some great resources that have been around for many years. To register for these sites doesn’t cost you a dime and the information is always up to date. This method of marketing can be used locally, nationally or globally and is very rewarding when it comes to generating traffic.