One of the biggest challenges businesses have with their
online strategies is how to get enough quality visitors to
their websites.
There are hundreds of ways you can drive the right kind of
traffic to your website, and usually a combination of
several tactics brings the best kind of visitor to your
site - ones who are most likely to sign up for your list
and eventually buy your products. There are five simple
steps you can take to drive high-quality prospects to your
website:
Step 1: Clearly identify your market niche.
This is foundational, but one of the main problems I see
working with my clients is they don't have a clearly
defined market niche (whether they market online or
offline).
Be sure to dig deep and drill down to the common smallest
denominators your market niche shares. What you are
striving for is your market niche knows YOU understand THE
problem they need solved, and you are THE problem solver.
Once you define a market niche, it will be easier to know
where and how to find them, both online and offline. Step
2: Prepare your website to capture visitors.
Okay, so you have a clearly defined market niche. Is you
website ready for the traffic you're going to be driving to
it? There are two essential pieces that you need to have
in place before you start driving traffic to your site:
1. A Simple Invite Site.
This is a simple one-page website where you direct your
market niche to sign up for your list, so you can
communicate with them on a regular basis.
2. A Free Taste.
How are you going to entice people to give you their name
and email? With an irresistible, free offer, of course!
This is your free offering to entice people to join your
list once they arrive at your Invite Site. It gives them a
feel for what you have to offer, so be sure to provide
something of value to your market niche. Take a peek at the
landing page of you website. Make sure it's clear what
step you want people to take when they arrive. The first
thing that your visitor should see is the sign-up form for
your Free Taste.
If you're going to make the effort to get people to your
site, you want to make sure you have a way to capture their
contact information so you can get them on your list, and
be able to communicate with them to build the Know, Trust,
and Like factor. This also gets them into your marketing &
product funnel. Otherwise, they may never visit your site
again, and you'll lose them forever. Step #3. Find your
market niche online.
You need to find ways to access your niche so you can drive
traffic to your website.
To find your market niche you want to know where they are
"hanging out" online. Following are some places you can
look to find them:
* Online Networking Groups, Discussion Lists, Forums, Blogs
Find 2 to 3 online networking groups, and list your profile
and website address that points directly to your Invite
Site with your Free Taste. Some of the best places to look
for networking groups are Ryze.com, LinkedIn.com, and
Google and Yahoo Groups. Look for groups of people that
are comprised of people in your market niche.
Also, check out discussion groups and Blogs that you enjoy,
and contribute helpful comments for others to read.
Becoming an active participant lets others get to know you,
and your style.
* Offer Free Teleseminars.
Another great way to get in front of your market niche is
to offer free Teleseminars for groups and associations that
are made up of your target market. These groups can be
online or offline! Invite people to visit your site to
register for the teleseminar, and also during the
Teleseminar.
* Do Internet Radio or Podcast Interviews.
Offer to be interviewed for an Internet radio or Podcast
show, whose audience is your market niche. Again, be sure
to mention the URL of your website during the interview or
Podcast. After all, the goal is to get people to visit
your site, and join your list so you can develop a
relationship with them...and eventually sell products and
service to them.
To find an appropriate show, Google Podcast and Internet
radio shows for your niche. Go ahead, try it! It's easy
to do, and many of the places to post your radio and
Podcasts are free. Using these strategies will put more of
the right kind of traffic on the path to your website.
Step #4. Let your market niche find you.
Another way to drive traffic to your site is to leave clues
for people to find you online. This strategy works if your
niche doesn't hang out in an organized fashion, or if you
just want to include this strategy into your mix of
promotional activities. Following are some methods you can
use to let your market niche find you:
* Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Google Adwords and Yahoo Overture are the two biggest
"players" in the Pay-Per-Click arena. It's difficult to
get to the top of the "organic" search results (on the left
side of the search results page). The benefit of using the
Pay-Per-Click strategy to drive traffic is because it can
be very easy to get on the first page of keyword search
results, bringing targeted traffic to you.
Use the PPC's research tool to help find the best keywords
for your market niche (keywords are search terms people use
to help find information and YOU online). Be sure to use
keywords in your ads to help the search engines drive
traffic to your site.
* Write & Submit Articles.
Writing articles educates your market niche about you, and
what you do. They also help to position you as an expert
in your field. Article writing also gives people a taste
of your style, and you will naturally attract people who
like you style.
When someone enters your keywords in the search form, your
article will pop up and that will drive traffic to your
site.
Step 5: Optimize Your Website for the Search Engines.
There are a few basic things you can do to help your site
come up for relevant keyword searches. Here are some to
get you started:
* Define your keywords.
This is how people will find your business online. Find
keywords that are highly relevant to what you offer, and
popular enough so they will attract decent traffic to your
site...but, not so competitive that you can't rank well
using them. Be sure to sprinkle your keywords throughout
your web page copy.
* Create your metatags.
This is how the search engines "read" your site. Put your
keywords in the metatags on each page of your website.
* Submit your site to the search engines.
Submit your website (its best if you submit every page
individually) to at least these three major search engines
manually.
Begin implementing these simple strategies to drive traffic
to your website. If you do them consistently over time,
you will begin to see more qualified traffic visit your
website and your online business will grow!
----------------------------------------------------
Bonita L. Richter, MBA, teaches solo entrepreneurs and
business owners how to market their businesses to increase
sales to generate wealth and a build a lifestyle of
choice. Find out more about how to market your business and
skyrocket sales with her popular and acclaimed FREE eBooks
at ===> http://www.Profit-Strategies.biz
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