So you�ve finally created a website for your small online store!
Now you think, �How do I get people to visit my site?� If you�re
like most new website owners, you wonder how to bring potential
customers to your site without spending lots of money on
expensive advertising. In order to help you, I�ve compiled a
small list of five methods that I have used to drastically
increase traffic to my own site. I�ve also listed two websites
under each tip that will help you get started implementing these
suggestions.
1.Offer a freebie or a contest for your items: One of main
reasons that people use the Internet is to find free (or
cheaper) stuff. If you offer a freebie or contest for one of
your items, then you are likely to attract potential customers.
To get maximum exposure for your freebie or contest, you should
register with as many �free stuff sites� as possible. Here are a
couple of sites which would be a good starting point:
http://www.thefreesite.com and http://www.realfreesite.com.
2.Link to similar websites: A popular method used by webmasters
to increase web traffic is to swap links with comparable
websites. However, the trick to maximizing the effectiveness of
linking is to find sites with a minimum Google PageRank, which
is a system which Google uses to judge the importance of each
webpage, of 3 or 4. To find out more information about PageRank,
click here: http:/ oolbar.google.com/ . To find good linking
partners, check out these two link partner directories:
http://www.links-pal.com/ and http://www.gotop.com/.
3.Join an internet discussion group: People also frequently use
the Internet to find places where they share common interests
with other individuals, which has led to the creation of
Internet discussion groups. You can use discussion groups to
introduce yourself and your product. Find a group that is
related to your store or personal interest, and make sure any
topic that you post is tied into a current discussion. Don�t
SPAM any discussion group with an obvious sales pitch. Simply
write comments applicable to both the group and your product;
people will naturally want to know more about you! Two great
listings of potential starting points for discussion groups are:
http://groups.yahoo.com/ and http:/ opica.com/.
4.Post your product or service on a free classified ad page:
Although many websites only have paid inclusion into their
classified ads, many offer a free place where you are allowed to
advertise your merchandise. If you spend time developing an
interesting headline or ad, you can bring in a steady amount of
traffic from these sites. To get started on free classifieds,
you can use my own free service
http://www.mizambar.com/classified.html . In addition, the
following link has a directory of tons of free classified
services: http://www.ecki.com/links/.
5.Write an article related to your website and submit it to
ezines: By writing an article about your service or a topic
related to your website, you instantly become an authority on
your issue. Although you might have some apprehension about
writing, if you have a website, then you probably have something
to talk about. Two great directories on ezines are:
http://freezineweb.com/ and http://www.ezinelocater.com .
By following these steps, you should see a dramatic increase in
your web traffic. The key is to always think about website
promotion--if you spend a little time each day following one of
these steps, you will be rewarded with more visitors and
hopefully more customers. Good luck, and happy advertising!
P.S. Stay tuned for more free ways to increase traffic to your
website!
About the author:
Scott Patterson is the owner and webmaster of
http://www.mizambar.com, a retail site of Evil Eye Jewelry, and
http://www.onlinestoreexchange.com , a directory of tips and
advice to help you with website design and website promotion for
your online store. For more information, email him at
[email protected]
