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 Let’s face it; the Internet is
cluttered with all sorts of guides about increasing
traffic to your web site. Unfortunately, most of these
guides are outdated or incomplete. In fact, many of the
techniques being touted in them will get you in serious
trouble. Wouldn’t you like to build up quality traffic
that will stand the test of time? The key phrase is
“test of time”. You don’t want to be a flash in the
pan.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Before you rush out to tell the
world that your brand new web site is open for business,
set it up properly. Do not even start to think about
traffic if your web site still has broken links, empty
content, and other unfinished business. While patience can
be a hard thing to control, having some will pay off
later. Once your web site is completely operational from
top to bottom, you are ready to flood it with traffic.
SEARCH ENGINES
While there are many web sites out
there which claim to be search engines, you only need to
be concerned with a few of the major ones like Google,
MSN, etc. You do not need to submit your web site to these
engines—they will find you on their own once your web
site is being linked from other web sites. Never pay for a
service or software that does this function because it
will be a complete waste of money. Anyone who tells you
otherwise is either trying to sell you a product or lacks
real experience on the matter. The goal is to get your web
site linked on other related web sites, which will cause
the search engines to index your web site and visit
somewhat often to look for changes.
DIRECTORIES
Your first step to building a solid
traffic foundation is to submit your site to good
directories. Doing so will increase your incoming links,
page rank and traffic. Many directories charge a fee for a
listing—most are one-time fees. Following is a breakdown
of some of the more important directories to get listed
in.
The ODP (Dmoz.org)
Submission to this directory is free
and it is one of the best to be listed in. It is extremely
important that you read their guidelines. All submissions
are reviewed by an editor and the approval process can
take weeks to months. Many web site owners have waited a
long time before having their web site added. It is worth
the wait.
Yahoo.com
Adding your web site to this very
popular directory will cost $299 annually. Because of the
price, you will want to think about this one. Experiences
with Yahoo listings are on both sides of the aisle. The
best thing to do is see where your web site will most
likely be listed and evaluate the conditions for that
section.
sbd.Bcentral.com
This is Microsoft’s business
directory and it will be a solid listing for you. The
current listing fee is $50, which includes the use of
their web site tuning service. This service will evaluate
your pages and let you know if the page is ready to submit
or contains errors such as under-optimization and spam
alerts. It can help you optimize your pages for the
keyword phrases you are interested in.
SevenSeek.com
This directory has a great page rank
and many back links. As will all directory submissions,
pay attention to the guidelines. The fee for submission is
$40. Seven Seek is a general directory so just about any
web site will fit here.
GoGuides.org
Go Guides is another great directory
to get your web site into. Their web site is crawled by
all the bots daily, which is a great plus. Submission is
$40 for this general directory.
Wowdirectory.com
Wow Directory is a large general
themed directory. Web site submissions are free but
approval can take some time. They offer an express submit
for $20 that will ensure your web site is listed within 24
hours.
There are many more directories out
there but these are some solid ones to get into first. In
time, your web site will begin to appear in the major
search engines. Most directories that charge for
submission have adopted the policy started by Yahoo where
the fee is for “review” only. It is absolutely vital
that you read over all the guidelines to be certain that
your web site will be accepted.
ARTICLES
A great way to generate traffic and
back links to your web site is by writing articles. Here
is the general process of how it works:
- You craft a great article.
- You submit that article to web
sites geared towards web site owners needing content.
- Owners grab your article, which
contains a link to your web site, and use it on their
web site.
As you can see, the process is very
simple. When other web site owners place your article on
their web site, you will be generating incoming links all
over the Internet with no work at all. This will not only
lead to possible traffic but help to establish the value
of your web site to the search engines—so better
rankings.
It is very important that your
article is written well. If not, quality web site owners
are much less likely to use your article and it makes you
look bad. Most web site owners skip this important step in
traffic building because they can not craft effective
articles. If this is you, do something about it—visit Jason
A. Martin right now and click on the “Articles for
your web site” link. For a small fee, articles can be
generated for you—and you retain full rights. Once
received, simply slap your name on it and submit to places
like Ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, etc.
This is perhaps one of the most
important steps of all and after your article is written,
it takes no work. The results can be extremely fast. Many
articles out there are not crafted well so it is important
to not formulate your writing style and perception blindly
on the work of others. While many web sites that offer
articles claim to “edit” them, it is more of a casual
edit.
TEXT LINKS
The goal here is to increase the
number of links from related web sites. For example, if
your web site is about hot dogs, you will want to obtain
links from web sites that are about such topics as: hot
dogs, eating, hot dog buns, hot dog toppings, hot dog
contests, etc. Obtaining a link from Joe’s Engine Parts
will not help much and may actually hurt in regards to
search engine rankings.
After thinking up words and phrases
that are related to your main topic, visit your favorite
search engine and search for those items. Visit the web
sites that come up and try to get your link on them. Some
might exchange a link with you, some might offer a link on
their web site in exchange for payment, and some might
simply say no. Keep at it.
IN THE END
By completing these tasks, your web
site will have established a solid foundation that will
withstand changes the future holds. I invite you to read
about ways to promote your web site, improve ad copy, and
much more by visiting Internet
Business Entrepreneur. Remember to always keep a sense
of pride about your web site. Resist the temptations to do
actions which will hurt your web site and build it with
the future in mind.
©2005 Jason Andrew Martin LLC
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