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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guides are outdated or incomplete.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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About
The Author
Jason
A. Martin has been conducting business on
the Internet for 11 years. He is a
free-lance writer on many topics and is
currently working on obtaining a degree in
Journalism and Law.
His
official blog can be viewed at: Jason
A. Martin |
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