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Can you really buy web traffic?

Many people wonder about generating traffic to their websites through paid traffic offerings. This topic is highly debated among the industries top SEO managers because some believe in the practice and others do not.

Paid traffic services can be useful as part of an overall traffic generation strategy. I have used paid traffic services in the past and believe they do present some value when used in conjunction with Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and Email Marketing.

So What's the Rub With Paid Traffic?

Have you ever wondered where paid traffic comes from? The services that generate paid traffic do it through a few key methods.

1. Traffic Exchange.

Using this method, these sites sell access to their traffic exchange networks where individuals surf for credits. As they earn credits viewing websites like yours, their ads/websites are displayed across the network for others to click on. If this method is being used, you may certainly experience a decrease in performance only because the same individuals are seeing your ad over and over, reducing their likelihood to click.

2. Search Engine Marketing.

A great way to generate traffic for others is through search engine marketing like Google, ExactSeek or Yahoo! Traffic generation sites buy keywords in bulk or many long-tail keywords and resell the traffic generated from them. If they can do this at a profit, its a win-win. This is a difficult strategy only because the cost of keywords change frequently based on industry demand.

3. List Marketing.

Traffic generation websites also generate traffic through email marketing and house lists. These techniques are usually leveraged through daily, weekly, and monthly electronic newsletters. Driving less traffic than the first two methods, the list marketing option usually rounds out a comprehensive traffic generation strategy.

So to answer the question about paying for traffic, is it worth? My answer is that as part of an overall traffic generation strategy, paying for traffic can be beneficial. It all comes down to how you use paid traffic acquisition as part of your overall marketing strategy, the quality of the traffic generated and the costs associated with the traffic.

The other factor to consider is the quality of the traffic you receive. The purpose of most traffic acquisition strategies is to improve sales, generate leads, and/or conversions. To that end, I would only recommend paying for traffic if you have a way to measure the traffic to your site, the path the traffic takes through your website and whether or not that traffic actually converts. Whether you consider a conversion to be the completion of a web form or the actual purchase of a product, your buying this traffic for one reason and one reason only - conversion. Keep this in mind before you spend any money on traffic.

Although you can find plenty of sites willing to give you traffic in exchange for a fixed fee, I personally prefer to sign up for my own traffic exchange, purchase my own keywords, and manage my newsletters and email lists. By doing so, I have a better handle on where the traffic is coming from and ultimately the value of this traffic. Keep that in mind before you run out and spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on acquiring traffic that may or may not convert for your web site.

About the Author: Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. To discover how to improve search engine rankings on Google and other major search engines visit http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com and the Marketing Blog.

Top 10 Sources for
Massive Web Site Traffíc
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2007

 

Experienced webmasters know there are special sources or places on the web which will send massive amounts of traffíc to your site. They also know, if harnessed properly, these mega traffïc sites will supply any web site with a steady stream of visitors.

 

Perhaps the best source of web site traffíc is Google. That's not exactly a Newsflash, but the key to getting massive amounts of traffíc from Google is to go wide and long. With this strategy, instead of targeting highly popular keywords which may be too competitive for your site to win, you create a whole multitude of lesser known long tail keyword phrases to bring in the traffíc.

 

This traffíc takes longer to build but because very few webmasters bother with these longer phrases, your keywords will be more stable and secure. Develop a whole líst of these traffíc generating keyword phrases and Google will reward you with a whole flood of targeted visitors stemming from these thousands of small dribbles of long tail keyword traffíc.

 

Turning these dribbles of traffíc into massive amounts is not a difficult task. One very effective way to tap into the entire search engine source of traffíc is to tag everything. Tags are just another name for keywords. As Web 2.0 or Social Bookmarking sites become more and more popular, tagging will become extremely important.

 

You must be especially careful of how you tag the content on your site or sites. If you're using a blogging system like WordPress, all your categories will be considered tags automatically. If you're creating URLs, be careful to place your keyword phrase in your links.

 

Another effective way to tap into the whole keyword traffíc system is to include your keyword phrase or variations of it in your articles while promoting your site. Place your anchor text in your links in the resource box at the end of each article.

 

Over time, as these articles become distributed all over the web, they will create a steady stream of targeted visitors to your site. Simple, effective and very powerful.

You are probably tired of hearing about Web 2.0 and the new Social Bookmarking sites but they are some of the best places for massive traffíc on the web. Any webmaster who has been Slashdotted already knows this fact all too well; if you get a listing on the homepage of Slashdot.com you will immediately start receiving thousands of visitors to your site. It can be somewhat scary.

 

A similar experience is getting one of your articles published in ezines run by Addme.com, SiteProNews.com, WebProNews.com, as well as others. These ezines go out to hundreds of thousands of readers and can produce massive traffíc back to your site.

 

However, much of this sudden traffíc is only temporary and most savvy webmasters know it would be wise to try and capture the contact information of these temporary visitors for follow-up targeting. Turn that temporary visitor into a patron of your site by offering a free ecourse or an email newsletter.

 

The same marketing technique should be applied to traffíc coming from all these social media sites. Don't think of your traffíc as just numbers in your website's stats, but rather as potential customers who will return to your site again and again.

 

Keep this strategy in mind as you target some of these Top Sources of massive traffíc on the web:

 

1. Digg.com
2. Netscape.com
3. Ezinearticles.com
4. Del.icio.us
5. StumbleUpon.com
6. Reddit.com
7. Slashdot.org
8. BlinkList.com
9. Furl.net
10. Squidoo.com

 

You should be actively promoting these social bookmarking sites by allowing your visitors to easily bookmark your content. You should be creating your own content on sites like Squidoo and placing links back to your site.

 

Of course, there are countless other sources of massive traffíc on the web. Press releases is another effective way of quickly drawing in massive traffíc to your site. Sites like PRWeb can deliver targeted traffíc very quickly and efficiently.

 

Another very effective and high converting venue you should try is Yahoo! Answers, a simple process where users post a question and other members/experts offer answers. Used correctly this can be a good source of targeted traffíc.

 

Don't forget other important search engines such as MSN Live. Traffíc from MSN has earned a solid reputation for converting very well. So optimize your web pages for MSN Live Search and you will probably see an íncrease in your salës as well as your traffíc.

 

Always keep in mind, the underlying key factor running through all these sources of massive traffíc is unique quality content. You must create good original content on your sites as well as in your articles and posts. Your content must be informative, useful or entertaining. For in the end, it is this quality content that will create the interest, the links and the massive traffíc to your site.

 

Don't ignore this factor or your quest for massive web site traffíc will be extremely difficult, if not impossible to achieve.

About The Author
The author is a full-time online marketer. For the most effective web marketing software try: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/bestsoft.htm . Want more traffíc? Why not try these excellent free training manuals and videos: http://www.marketingtoolguide.com/free_marketing_tools.htm . 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

 

AdSense and Traffic Exchanges

Traffic Roundup owner, Stephen Ayer, in his September 5 address to his Traffic Roundup traffic exchange members, made an impassioned plea to them to safeguard their AdSense accounts. It is a fact that many traffic exchange users don’t know it’s against Google’s rules to put a page with AdSense ads on it for rotation in a traffic exchange.

I personally have come across three persons who unwittingly did so and received a warning email from Google about something regarding invalid impressions which they can’t understand or figure out. So they carried on until they read what Stephen Ayer had to say. I reproduce it here for everybody’s benefit:

The Traffic Roundup Cattle Call
By Stephen Ayer
Howdy Pardner - Thanks for moseyin' by!
Adsense Revisited

We have covered this in the past, but we have so many new members since that time, and it is so important, that we want to go over it again.

One of the greatest things to ever happen to netpreneurs is the opportunity to earn a very healthy income by placing Google Adsense ads on their websites. This is so real, so big and so achievable that it would be a disaster for anyone who has an Adsense account to lose it due to violating their terms of service, whether by accident or intentionally.

It seems that anyone who really had a grasp on the long term Adsense income possibilities could not purposely break their TOS, but some do. This is not directed at them. This is meant for those who are rightfully excited about the chance to have fun and make money with Adsense, and may not have taken the time to read their terms, or maybe didn't understand them (sometimes it's very difficult to sort out 'legalese'.)

THIS IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU HAVE AN ADSENSE ACCOUNT!

You can not put your page into rotation on a traffic exchange if it has Adsense on it. It breaks their Terms of Service and you will likely get your account closed and never re-opened.

You can not put your page into rotation on a traffic exchange if it has Adsense on it. It breaks their Terms of Service and you will likely get your account closed and never re-opened.

That's not a typo. It's there twice because you need to understand how serious this is. Read it again. All of us involved in the Adsense program want traffic to our sites, but this is not the way to get it to a site with Adsense on it.

If you want to use a traffic exchange to promote your site that has Adsense on it, build a splash page to attract visitors and make sure there are no Adsense ads on it.

It's not worth it. You probably won't even make the money you think you earned during the time you promoted that site on traffic exchanges because Adsense will likely give the money back to the advertisers and close your account.

We are not going to stop you from adding your site if it has Adsense, but we sure hope that you will heed this warning. Sure, there are other sites similar and you might make a little money from them if you lose your account, but there are few or none as good as Adsense.

When you consider there are a lot of people making around $10,000 a month or more with Adsense, you might want to get very protective of your account. By the way, that dollar amount is not hype like most of the junk you read from other businesses, we personally know and have been in the company of some of these folks. Please don't lose your Adsense account.


So there you are, straight from the heart of Stephen Ayer, a man of integrity who doesn’t want business if it hurts others.

Nevertheless, remember if you have AdSense on your site you can still use the traffic exchanges if you submit one page of your site without AdSense on it but with all the links to your other pages that have AdSense. Or you can build a splash page (with no AdSense on it) to attract visitors to your AdSense-filled site.

Posted by Dale Ng, an Internet entrepreneur enthusiast who shares tips, info, news and articles on Internet marketing. Feel free to visit his blog on Internet home business at: http://www.dalesworkathome.blogspot.com . You can also visit his other website at: http://tinyurl.com/jcsqs .

Utilize Those Traffic Exchanges.

Submitted by Guest

 

I`ve had people come to me and say "Traffic Exchanges are useless, and I don`t have time to click anyway", or they`ll say "There are too many of them, and I find it all overwhelming"

Here`s what I say: Ok, the traffic may not be 100% targeted visitors, but somebody, somewhere just MIGHT like your product, affiliate program, salespage etc.

The more traffic you get, the more likely you are to actually find those people. First of all, whatever you do, don`t just jump onto any old traffic exchange, read it thoroughly, make sure you get at LEAST a 2:1 credit ratio, which basically means: you visit 2 websites, in exchange for one visitor to YOUR chosen website.

Next, join 4 or 5 good traffic exchanges,. Read everything you can about using the program, so you know you won`t be breaking the rules.

Now on to the hard work bit: Lets call the chosen exchanges A, B, C, D and E. Pull up notepad, copy/paste your referral links to the 5 programs into it (ctrl+c to copy, ctrl+v to paste). Do the same with your surfing links, (sometimes known as startpage links), and make sure you DON`T confuse the two.

You need to plug each Traffic Exchange into the other to create a circle. (example: where it asks for website put program A into program B, B into C, C into D, D into E, and finally E into A)

So now, each traffic exchange is promoting one of the others. The reason for this is to build your downlines in the various exchanges. Why work hard for traffic if you can get others to work for you?

Ok, next step can be tedious, but if you`ve chosen the right traffic exchanges, it can be kinda fun too. Open the 5 programs, using your Surf/Startpage link.

Click away at all 5 of them vigorously, say at least 30 minutes per day, for maybe 3 weeks. This SHOULD start building your downlines in the various exchanges. If it doesn`t work at first, keep trying until it does. The key here is to never give up.

Once you have a good enough downline (in YOUR opinion), and your downlines are creating traffic for you, log back into the programs, change the website link to whichever program it is you REALLY want to promote.

Don`t expect your downline to build ALL of your traffic, you may still have to "click" yourself for a while, but with time, that will change. In my favourite programs, my downlines are getting me 1000 pageviews per day.

That`s 5000 pageviews, on average, per day for free, and I rarely click at all any more. Maybe every once in a while just to keep my accounts active, depending on the programs rules.

Give it a try, and as I said before: Don`t give up! Have Fun!

About the Author

-=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=- Avoid scams, shams and spam with Not Just Another Ezine! Full of free downloads, ebooks and information to maximize your time online. Subscribe free! http://annamarketing.commailto:admin@annamarketing.com?subject=subscribe -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. (c) 2004 AnnaMarketing.com All Rights Reserved.

Source: ArticleTrader.com

 

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The Webmaster's highly recommended traffic exchanges to join free are:

1. TrafficSwarm  2. Traffic Roundup 3. WebmasterQuest

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The Key Elements to Internet Marketing – A DIY Guide
by: Brandon L. Wilcox

 

So you have a website, and you want to increase your traffic to sell your product. There are thousands of the websites just like yours, so how will you be seen? There are basically 3 options. You can pay some company thousands of dollars to market your site for you; you can hire someone full time to do the marketing for you; or you can do the marketing yourself. This guide will give you the basic knowledge you need to market your website successfully at your own pace.

 

First, you need to have realistic expectations. Web sites do not get in the top 10 in search engines over night. There is a lot of hard work that needs to be put into a site for it to rank high. I would grab a pen and paper and write down your main competitors. Then I would use the Google Toolbar to check their pagerank and incoming links to see how they rank. The higher the pagerank and more links pointing to your site, the higher your site will be in the search engines. Once you see how many links are pointing to their site and how good their pagerank is, you have an idea how much work is needed to get your site listed.

 

Link trading is the process in which you will get these links pointing to your site. You need to contact other similar, good ranked pages and tell them how trading links will benefit both sites, and then link to them, and in exchange they will link to you. The more pages linking to you the better, but remember quality, relevant high pagerank sites is what your looking for, you want your link to be on a pagerank 2 site as least, preferably 3+. Managing your link exchange program takes time, some software on the market can do this for you, some of the software is good, some bad. I would recommend adding the links to your site manually to start, until you get a better understanding of the SEO world.

 

Articles are another good method to establish links to your site. Unlike a regular link exchange which is just a sentence with a link, publishing an article you wrote will give other websites quality content about your business / products and also link back to your site. Most article sites do not require a link back to them, so when your link is published search engines count that link better then a standard link exchange because you are not linking back.

 

One-way links is just that, a link to your site, but in return you do not link back. Articles are great one-way links, but so are directories! There are numerous directories on the internet ranging from shopping to home improvement. You can go to these sites, and either for free, or a small fee you can submit your site to them. Having your site listed in the major directories benefits your site in 2 ways. First, you get a link back to your site, increasing your link popularity, and second, people searching the directories for your product may see your site and buy from you.

 

As you can see, getting your site listed in the major search engines will take some time to do, you need to manage a link exchange program, submit your article to publishers and directories, and maintain your current website, but remember if you take your time, and establish your presence steadily over time, then your website will begin climbing in the search engines, and you will begin to enjoy the benefits of increased traffic.

 

About The Author Brandon L. Wilcox is a Web Developer for multiple web sites, and has been in the computer field for over 6 years. Some of his sites include http://www.houseplansconnection.com/ and http://www.designconnection.com/.

 

Source: ArticleCity.com

 

 

How to make your affiliate sales take off in a hurry

Submitted by Guest

 

Affiliate programs are probably the easiest and simplest way to achieve business success online. Indeed there are many online entrepreneurs from all over the world making a very comfortable income from various affiliate programs. Yet there are multitudes of people who will testify to trying a few and never coming anywhere near success. In this article we will look at the key factors that hinder success.

Most join affiliate schemes with the wrong attitude.

The Biggest problem that hinders most affiliates from making any money is the fact that most join affiliate programs with the wrong attitude. And most of the blame has to be taking by the hype peddlers who sell these schemes. They usually give the impression that little or no work is required to become a successful affiliate pulling in a six figure income. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The net has not changed the basic foundational facts of life. In this life there is nothing for nothing. There are no free lunches. To get anything worth having, there is a price to be paid. Actually most affiliate programs claim that joining is free, but this is not entirely true. There is the time you will need to spend on the program and at the beginning, as you learn the ropes, you will tend to spend loads of time. Time is priceless because we have a set number of hours in a day and we cannot buy more time. Therefore in my mind, a program charging $10 to join but where I will end up spending less time than another program which is free to join but extremely time consuming, is much cheaper. The time-consuming affiliate program that is free to join is in fact a lot more expensive.

One of the reasons why it makes all the difference to join a program that deals in an area of your interest or hobby is because you will hardly notice the extra hours and time you spend on the program. This means that putting in the extra hours of work that are required to get any affiliate program off the ground will be an almost effortless chore for you.

Good affiliate schemes have proven marketing methods and systems. Follow them.

In the offline world franchises have always had a remarkable success rate and a very low failure rate. One reason is that every entrepreneur who purchases a franchise enjoys the turn-key aspects of the business which have been tried and tested over time and have already proved to be successful for others.

The same benefits are available for affiliates and yet many never take advantage of them. A good affiliate program will have an elaborate marketing method and system in place. New affiliates will usually learn about it by going through a short email course when they join. Even small details like the order in which affiliate banner ads are arranged is significant. The more successful banner ads will tend to appear first.

To make serious money from any affiliate scheme, you have to do a little more than what everybody else is doing

Having worked hard with the affiliate marketing method, the next step is to look at how you can do more. Most other successful affiliates will already be using the proven marketing systems of the business. For you to be really successful you will need to do more than what the other successful affiliates are doing. Constantly test new and better ways of doing the same things and try totally new ideas. The right time to do this is when you have already mastered the laid down systems and procedures of the affiliate scheme to the extent where you are pulling in significant sales. This is the point where you may want to establish a blog or website to help you promote your affiliate program further. Any attempt to do all this earlier will almost certainly lead to failure because you will not even have understood what works for the particular affiliate program and what does not. By approaching affiliate marketing with these points in mind, your chances of success in any affiliate program will greatly multiply.

About the Author

About the author: S. Rosendahl is a Technical Executive Writer for Website Source, Inc. http://www.websitesource.com. Her established writing skills coupled with experience in the website hosting industry have provided internet professionals with marketing, product and service ideas for many years.

Source: ArticleTrader.com

 

10 Ways to Market Your Website Offline!

 

By Lisa Schulte

 

So you want to market your website? First of all make sure that you have a good domain name. You want a name that is easy to remember and that says something to those who see it. It doesn’t have to be a full website; it can just be a name that redirects to your company site or any other site.

So now you have a name and you’re ready to market it. There are many ways to market online, however you can market offline with much success. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Vehicles – Your vehicle is a billboard that you drive everyday! Have your site on your vehicle. You can do magnetic signs from your company or local print shop, or vinyl letters. Go a step further and leave cards on your own windshield when you park it! People will take them.

2. Mail & Packages - Stamp or write your website on all mail. My site is stamped on every bill or letter that I mail. I also sell on eBay occasionally and I always have my website in RED letters across the box. Many people see that box during the mail process. Be sure to include a business card inside the envelope or package for whoever is receiving it.

3. Clothing - Wear clothes with your website on them. Be a walking billboard for your company. People will ask you questions. Buttons work well too!

4. Flyers & Cards - Use your website on all marketing materials and leave them everywhere you go. I post them on bulletin boards, in laundry mats, grocery stores, and everywhere that I go throughout the day. Keep a roll of tape with you in case there are no push pins. Tape a card to the inside door of bathroom stalls. Sounds silly, but you can bet anyone who sits down will read it!!

5. Checks - Have your website printed on your personal and business checks. You never know who may see it.

6. Auctions - Donate items to auctions and use your website name instead of your name. It will say donated (Your Website) in the program for all to see.

7. Classified Ads - Small inexpensive classified newspaper ads work well, especially if you have a good domain name.

8. Signs - Road signs work well. Keep in mind they may not stay up long before they are taken down, but lots of people may see them while they are up. Just use a few words and your website. Simple is best.

9. Voicemail - Leave your website on your voicemail. If you’re not available to answer the phone, they’ll get a reminder to visit your website.

10. Out of the Box - Think out of the box! Bus benches, shopping carts, sides of barns, restaurant placemats, floats in parades, and anything you can think of that will get people’s attention! Go beyond the ordinary.

About the Author

Lisa Schulte is a mom of 4 boys who all help with the family business. She loves helping others who wish to Work From Home! http://www.WorkFromHomeToday.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Schulte