There are plenty free tools you could employ to generate more
traffic to your website. While the novice at Internet marketing
will use traffic exchange sites or buy traffic, the experts will
advise you not to opt for such methods. You’ll hear from many
SEO advisors: write articles, blog, post in forums.
I suppose it’s clear how writing articles and blogging can
help: you target a specific audience with high interest topics.
People are going to read your articles and blog postings because
they need information. As a matter of fact, when a visitor is
landing on an article or blog page, he or she is searching for
something specific. Forums work about the same. The difference
is that people who participate in forum discussions and groups
need information and advice, so they ask questions and demand
pertinent answers.
What you should do is target forums related to your niche and
start participating at the discussions. You’ll get to know both
your competition and your potential clients. This has advantages
and disadvantages. You’ll learn what strengths and weaknesses
your competition has, but don’t think your competition sleeps.
They’ll learn exactly the same things about you. However, this
is a good thing: open competition helps companies to improve
their services and products. People trust companies that are
not afraid of competition. Encouraging competition is a sign
that you believe in the quality of the products you sell.
It’s a mistake to praise your own products in forums. People
are not fools: they know when they are being manipulated. You
should give honest answers and quality advice. That’s all they
need to want to read your signature and click on the link to
your website. You should never write your signature as an
advertisement for your business. Keep it unpresumptuous. You
are there to learn and help, not to sell. Read the forum
policies carefully if you don’t want to be banned for
advertising.
The search engines scan forums and blogs regularly; therefore
you need to post regularly in both. However, while your own
business blog is something you can control, forums could have
hundreds of participants. Their posts could push your message
lower and lower, till people will no longer be interested in
reading it. So don’t think only search engines when it comes to
forum postings.
Don’t limit the number of forums where you post to one or two,
and don’t duplicate content. This doesn’t look serious. Avoid
spamming the forums or posting pointless topics, silly
questions or questions that can be answered fast with a simple
Google search (for example “what does this word mean?”). It’s
quality that brings traffic.
Try to start a HOT topic. Many people, including lurkers, read
hot topics. Hot posts are usually focused on controversial
subjects and they generate debates. Make sure you know the
topic well before leaping into discussions.
Remember: the more knowledge and skill you demonstrate, the
more clients you will attract, thus your traffic (targeted
traffic) will increase. And one more thing: forums are great to
bring you one-way links, and that will boost your website’s
ranking into the search engine result pages.
Copyright © 2006 Scott Lindsay
About The Author: Scott Lindsay is a web developer and
entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many
other web projects. HighPowerSites is the easiest
do-it-yourself website builder on the web. No programming or
design skill required. Get your own website online in just 5
minutes with http://HighPowerSites.com.
|
