Top 5 Ways To Generate Low Cost Website Traffic

There is one hard and fast rule in generating income for your website: A steady flow of website traffic. If no one goes to your site, it won’t make you any money. Many sites have tried and failed in doing so, to the sites demise. It takes money to maintain an income generating site; it also takes money to make money.

BUT, it doesn’t take a whole caboodle of cash to generate website traffic for your site.

Ever wonder how those big hit sites drive traffic top their site? Most of them are spending tons of money to do so, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and gimmicks. This is all worthwhile because, they are what what they are now, high earning, big hitting websites.

However, you don’t have to do all thats if you don’t really have their resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford. Many people have banked on high cost methods and have ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here are the Top five ways to generate low cost website traffic:

Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the providing of service and information to what interests your target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without the high costs.

Exchange Traffic

This is like exchanging links but on a different higher level. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits. You can use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours.

Traffic exchange services are the viewing of another’s site or page. This is done vice versa where a site can use your sites contents and so can you to his or her site. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic. The other sites visitors can go to your pages and know more about your site as well as theirs. Once again the public awareness of your sites existence is boosted.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

Create a Newsletter

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a newsletter but on the contrary, this is not so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your site.

Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site. Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are with the subject.

As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

Google AdWords Success

In this marketing strategies article let’s discuss one of the most powerful yet most underused components of Google AdWords campaigns- using negative keywords to block the wrong type of traffic from seeing and clicking on your ad.

Negative keywords are search phrases that aren’t relevant to your offer and therefore should not trigger your ads to be displayed to the searcher. For example, let’s say you have a lead gen website for a U.S.-based  credit card merchant account company. You are bidding on the key phrase “merchant account” with the goal of generating American leads that will fill out a merchant account application. Suppose someone searches for “canadian merchant account” or “UK merchant account” – would that be a good prospect for you? The answer is no. They are looking for something you don’t offer. Therefore, you do not want them seeing your Google Ad, clicking on it, and wasting your money.

So how do you add negative keywords to your Google AdWords campaign? Very simple. Once you have created a campaign, click on the “keywords” tab. Then scroll down toward the bottom of the page and you will see a link to add negative keywords. Click on it and start adding words that would bring the wrong type of traffic to your website such as: free, cheap, glass, wood, bamboo, used… etc.

Once you have added your list of negative keywords, and a person searches for “glass bird cages”, which contains your negative keyword “glass”, your Google ad will NOT be displayed to that person, saving you from a bad click. Conversely, if someone searches for “bird cages” or “metal bird cages”, your ad WILL be displayed because no negative keywords are included in those searches. Adding negative keywords to your campaign allows you to filter out the people you do not want while letting the people you do want see your ad, click on it, come to your website and buy your products. It’s an awesome tool and one that should definitely be used.

Now that you understand what negative keywords are and how they will dramatically improve your success with Google AdWords, the next question is, how do you find negative them? Well you can guess, but it be more efficient to use a FREE tool such as Word Tracker at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com. To use this tool, just type in your main search phrase for your ad campaign (in this case your main search phrase for people to see your ad is, “bird cages” (without the quotes) and click the “Hit Me” button. You will then see a list of all searches people are conducting based on your search phrase of “bird cages”. Then review this entire list and add all of the wrong search words to your negative keyword.

Success with Google AdWords comes from driving the most targeted and relevant traffic to your site. Every single click on your Google Ads costs you money. Don’t waste your money by advertising to the wrong people..

Choosing THAT! Advertising Agency

Congratulations! Your business is experiencing a level of success that encourages growth, and you need to know how to choose an advertising agency to assist in your marketing efforts. Choosing an ad agency is like other forms of product comparison, only the product is the expertise of others and not, say, a dish washer.

So how do you know if you if you’ve really become a big dog marketer in need of an agency? As the proprietor, ask yourself:

• Am I trying a new form of advertising?
• Am I creating an entirely new identity/ brand/product?
• Is this just one project or one of many to come?
• Do I want my agency to be a gateway to other clients?
• How important is the agency’s client roster to me?

Evaluate whether your time or your team’s is best spent drafting text for brochures and electronic/broadcast media, learning design software, negotiating with printers, establishing a Web presence, placing media buys and staying current with statistics, trends, colors and styles – or focusing on the core of your endeavor.

Since you’ve positioned yourself as expert in your space, choosing an ad agency to handle the nuances of marketing can only take your business to the next level.

What about costs? They don’t work for free, right? Right!  Advertising agencies are staffed with experienced communication strategists, writers, designers, Web developers and media planners who have made it their life’s work to understand how to market your business effectively. Leveraging  all that experience costs money. But look at it as a two-fold benefit:  you’ll not only buy the best expertise to get your advertising done, but also gain creative partners dedicated to increasing the success of your business.

But how much? That’s up to you. You’ll need to establish your advertising budget. To do so, keep these two things in mind:

• Agencies will charge by the hour or job for creative services ($40-$200 per hour)
• Agencies also charge approximately 15 percent media commission above the hard costs of production, such as print services and electronic/broadcast development

Since you already know how much you’ve spent on advertising to date, you can calculate in these new numbers as a starting budget with which to approach the agency.

It takes a lot of energy, dedication, confidence and leadership to develop creative, effective advertising campaigns with measurable results.  Choose the right agency and your  company will grow bigger, stronger, faster, and more profitable.

Web Design Tips

So you found on offer you want to promote, got a relevant domain, created a quick, down-and-dirty landing page, split tested traffic sources, got some conversions, and now you wish scale it out with a full-fledged, long term site. How do you do it?

Once you decide you need a real web site, you need to decide who will build it. If you have the technical know-how or the money to hire a full-time Web staff, you can develop the site yourself. But if you’re just a one-man show, you’ll need to outsource the work.

Be careful who you hire, though. A poorly designed Web site can cost you money, drive away customers, and hurt your reputation (Google Quality Score ) Here are a few quick tips to help you hire a creative, technically savvy and cost-effective design company:

1. Assess your goals – Be realistic about your own goals and growth plans so you know whether to hire a long-term or a short-term contractor.

2. Research your candidates – Shop around for canditates: get  recommendations, search Web directories, even competitors’ sites, then review their online portfolios/fees. A site doesn’t have to be flashy to be a contender, but how do you feel about the developer’s design sense? And if it’s a unique niche you rae promoting, see if their are companies familiar with the vertical you are in.

3. Evaluate their offerings - Decide if the developer meets your needs. If you’re looking at a one-person firm, does he have the skills necessary to create everything you need? On the other hand, will you get lost in the shuffle at a larger firm with lots of other clients? Determine what extras they provide, such as copywriting, marketing, and other services.

4. Check references – Browsing a company’s work is helpful, but you also want to know how they work. They could ver very creative, but if they never finish the job, what good is it to you?

More and more, people are becoming callous to the traditional sales/squeeze landing pages most affiliates are creating. Since you are in the Internet Marketing game, it’s crucial that your website communicates value with a professional, modern look and feel that boosts our brand’s trustworthiness.

So have at it! Get a good web design company – your customers will thank you for it with cash…

Your Marketing Secret Weapon

Pop quiz: What marketing tool is 20 times more effective than traditional media, targets prospects that give you permission to sell to them, drives deeper relationships (and profits) with a customized message, is completely measurable, provides feedback and costs only pennies – but drives targeted traffic to your landing page/microsite? If you said email marketing, you’re right on the money!

Over the years, email marketing has proven to be a powerful way to build a long term business. It can help you grow your online business from scratch and take it forward. So let’s discuss some ways you can become more successful with your email marketing.

A focused message is essential when emailing. Your email should be based on one topic so that your reader doesn’t get distracted and strays. The more information you put into your message, the higher the chance your readers will just delete it. Having your reader take action after reading your email is your main objective. Highlight the primary benefits for your readers within the subject line and in the opening sentences of your email. This would serve as an appealing appetizer and the reader would want to move on to the main course. Now the exception to this rule is when you are sending out a newsletter/ezine. These messages can have multiple topics since generally a newsletter will discuss multiple subjects. Another factor to consider when emailing is how targeted your email should.  This will depend on the purpose of your email – usually one of two things: branding/trust building or main getting the prospect to take action.

Speaking of the former, offering freebies to your subscribers is another proven email marketing trick. Who doesn’t like to receive gifts or something for nothing? By offering people a freebie in exchange for their email address, you can build up your list. There are two ways of employing this strategy:

1)You can use it to get new subscribers to your list and 2)  you can offer it to your existing customers so that they can spread it around and get you back traffic. The latter is a great way to get the most out of your list while growing it at the same time. You have to give people a good reason to respond to your offers. This is a way to get more traffic without paying for it, as a tempting free offer can be spread viraly from one person to another. There are many business email marketing solutions out there to manage your lists for you. An affordable and easy-to-use system is EasyContact. EasyContact offers a 60-day trial with powerful options including creative design, contact list management, scheduling and performance tracking.

Which brings us to the final point, don’t forget to measure performance.  Your email software should offer you plenty of stats to help you track responses. Monitor email open rates, clicks to the unsubscribes – you know the drill. And test different versions of your messaging to see if one performs better than the other. More than likely one will, and your profits will continue to improve too.