Most people approach the web passively. They put up a web site,
They wait. Nothing happens. They complain. Or even,
ridiculously, pull off the web, like it's the web's fault that
60 million people didn't drop by before breakfast. If you want
traffic, you've got to work for traffic. That means developing
the Traffic Attitude. This attitude consists of the following
parts: recognition that the web doesn't promote itself and the
determination to master web promotion. Make a decision to find
every conceivable means of building your traffic, and use them
all -- every single day! 1. Take Advantage of Free Classifieds
Did you list today? Yesterday? The day before? If not, there's a
problem right there. Why? Because you can get a steady stream of
prospects. By working with these prospects properly you get a
steady stream of qualified prospects and, ultimately, sales. The
key? Developing titles that contain client-centered benefits.
Also, make sure that your description further develops your
title, while providing all the means necessary for your
prospects to connect with you NOW. 2. Take Advantage of FFA
Links Submitting your site to Free-For-All Link pages has become
an even better way to advertise than in the recent past with the
invent of the Free Link Finder. This little program spiders the
net based on search criteria you feed it .You simply give it a
set of search criteria and set it loose. It aggressively seeks
out places on the net that meet your criteria and adds your
link! You can even download a FREE demo of the Free Link Finder
to see how this program works. 3. Take Advantage of Paid Links
Everybody likes the free stuff, but there's something you should
know. Advertising on the Internet is about placement - more
precisely, where your ad is physically on the page, when a
potential client visits the website. That's why you should also
use paid links. If you can afford it, go for the premium or "TOP
ADS". These are usually the ads people see first. They pull 5 to
10 times as much traffic as free or "average ads". 4. Take
Advantage of Per Inquiry Advertising Even though paid
advertising pulls more than Free advertising, traffic or
responses are NOT guaranteed. As you may know, in traditional
forms of paid advertising you are paying for space, circulation
and the number/length of times your ad runs. Whether you get
enough (or any) responses is of NO concern to the publishing
media you're working with. Per Inquiry simply means that the
cost for advertising is directly proportional to responses
received. In other words, X amount of responses for X amount of
dollars. If you are really serious about promoting your offer
and want guaranteed results, you should use Per Inquiry
Advertising. 5. Add your URL & Chief Benefits To All Marketing
Materials It staggers me how many opportunities for promotion
pass every single day without being utilized. Look at your
business cards, card deck cards, space ads, yellow pages ads,
brochures, flyers, the envelopes you mail in, etc. Is this
information included on them... or are you literally throwing
away promotional opportunities every time you think you're
"marketing"? If you want traffic, make sure everything you use
promotes your URL and the reason for visiting it. 6. Develop A
Response Template Are you annoyed by unsolicited e-mail? I was,
too, until I got smart about it. I figured these people were
just a new kind of prospect. Thus, I developed a series of
response templates in which I described my offer. Send a
Response Template To Every Unsolicited E-Mail You Receive. Just
by clicking a button you'll be getting YOUR information into the
hands of new prospects. This method is more socially responsible
than sending the kind of response hate mail that so many people
unaccountably find acceptable. 7. Don't Slack Off It's easy to
be lazy. Sloth is seductive. But when you stop building traffic,
you start cutting the value of your Web site. That's not my
way... and it shouldn't be yours. Building traffic on the
Internet is an exciting, high energy game. With very valuable
pay-offs. Which get bigger every day.
About the author:
Tim Urban is the CEO of NuWave Industries, an advertising firm
that specializes in on-line & off-line Per Inquiry advertising.
They also provide many tools for automating your online
promotions. NuWave Industries can be reached at this address
http://www.NuWaveInd.com or by email at Tim@NuWaveInd.com.
