|
|
Want traffic to your website?
Most people do, and there are many programs and pages out there
to help you do so. However, there are also a few simple
tips that can help increase your visitors, and that's what's
written about here.
Tip #1: Great content.
Why is this listed first? In fact, even if you
currently have 0 visitors, why would I still suggest you work on
this first? Because content is the only way visitors will
stick around, come back, and maybe even tell others about your
site. Good content is the most powerful tool because 5
years down the road, a site with good content that ignores all
the other tips will be doing better than a site that follows the
rest of the tips but has poor content. If you're a
merchant, that means making your website look professional, easy
to use, with any information a customer might want or need.
If you're not a merchant, but have web sites or forums, don't
fill the pages with "empty" content. Make it meaningful,
important, and original.
Remember, if your site is not
unique (one of a kind), you're competing against every other
site on the web that has the same type of content as you.
If there's low demand for the type of website you have, then the
battle's going to be that much harder. So concentrate on
both originality and content.
Tip #2: SEO (search engine
optimized) pages.
The #1 method that sends visitors to websites is almost
always search engines. And the #1 search engine is
currently Google. If you want Google to index your
website, and place it as high as possible in search results,
you'd better make sure that your website is SEF
(search-engine-friendly). Note that Google rates sites
primarily based on popularity, but if your site is SEF, it will
increase the chances of Google getting all the content it needs
to from your page, and will probably help get you ranked a
little higher. A site that is a disaster for search
engines on the other hand probably won't get indexed at all, or
will be indexed based on very minimal content. Some SEO
tips:
- Aim for code that complies with XHTML standards.
Most HTML pages only need minor modifications to become
XHTML compliant.
http://validator.w3.org contains an XHTML validator that
will tell you if your code is compliant or not.
- If you are unable to utilize XHTML code, make your code
as clean and error-free as possible. Try to use CSS
for layout instead of tables. Make sure all tags are
properly closed. Just because a page shows up properly
in a browser, doesn't mean there aren't mistakes in the
code.
- Create a sitemap for your website and join Google's
Sitemaps program.
- Use descriptive filenames.
www.website.com/gardening/planting-corn.html is better
than www.website.com/category1/article01.html.
- If using a content management system (CMS) such as
Joomla, find an add-on that will convert the cryptic link
names to regular filenames. These programs are known
as SEF components.
- META tags should be descriptive and truthful. Use H1
tags for headings. These fall under the category of
basic guidelines for a well-designed webpage, so make sure
you follow them.
- Avoid content contained through javascript, flash, etc.
Search engines can't read content contained in one of these
manners. You can still use them on your website, just
don't have your main content provided by them if you can
help it.
- Do not try to pull any "tricks" (known as black-hat SEO
tricks). This includes hiding keywords in background
text (for example white text against a white background),
joining link-farms, etc. Basically, make legitimate
changes to your page. Don't make any "optimizations"
or changes you wouldn't make if someone from Google were
standing over your shoulder watching you.
Tip #3: Spread the word.
Let others know about your site. If you sell "antique coin
protectors", find a forum about antique coins, and (as long as
it's permitted), let others know about your site. Find
other websites about antique coins, and see if they will link to
you. Another thing you can do is put your website in your
signature, so that when you do post on forums, a link will be
there.
An added advantage to these, are that if your links are on
other sites and forums, it may help increase your rank with
Google and other search engines.
Tip #4: Get added to Search Directories.
This isn't as important as it once was. The fact of the
matter is, if your website is out there, Google will usually
find it all on it's own, as long as there's a link to it
somewhere. You can still manually submit to Google,
MSN, Yahoo, and others, but aside from the big name directories,
the others will give you very little traffic, if any. The
two places that might be worth listing are dmoz.org (very good
boost to your Google ranking if you can get listed there), and
Yahoo (although it'll cost you $299 for them to even look at
your site, and there's no guarantee you will even be accepted).
Tip #5: Pay for clicks to your site (Google Adwords, Yahoo
Search Marketing, etc)
Unfortunately, this is the one thing that won't come free.
First, you might be able to buy advertising space directly from
another website. Using the coin protector example from before,
if you find a site about antique coins, and they won't link to
you for free, see how much they'd charge you to put up an ad or
banner on their site.
Another option is through the PPC (pay-per-click) programs
available by Google, Yahoo, and others. Basically, they
place a small text ad for your website on search result pages,
and on "partner" sites that are related to the keywords you
choose. You pay each time someone clicks on your ad and is
directed to your site. Unfortunately, you must "bid" on
keywords, and while the minimum bid is 5 cents for Adwords (10
cents for Yahoo SM), if you have popular keywords, you will not
get very many hits unless you bid higher. The plus side
though is that if nobody clicks on your ads, you don't have to
pay - nothing gained, nothing lost.
Tip #6: Check your logs
See where your visitors are coming from. Most web hosting
providers run software that keeps track of the visitors that
arrive to your site, where they came from, etc. Usually
you can just log into a control panel provided by your web host
to access these logs. If your host does not provide them,
there are other sites available on the net that can track
visitors for you, many of which offer tracking for free.
You simply place code on each of your pages.
Checking to see where your visitors come from, what pages
they visit, how long they stay, etc, can help you make strategic
decisions about where to advertise, and let you know who is
visiting your site.
Summary:
- Content is key.
- SEO pages will help search
engines index and rank your site.
- Spread the word, forums
can be good for this.
- Get added to search
directories. dmoz.org and yahoo are the main ones.
- Pay for clicks to your
website.
- Check your logs.
Learn research, make changes, and check again.
These few basic changes can
have anywhere from a small to a dramatic effect on your website.
The most important thing is to give changes time. Also, be
responsible with the changes you make. Do not spend more
time or money on changes than you can afford.
<< Back to Main
|