Generating Traffic to Your Website

So, you’ve started a website and now you’re open for business. How are you going to attract customers? By now, you’ve researched your niche. You know what your customers want, and how to get it to them. Now, how are they going to find you?

Here are three easy ways to spread the word about your website:

First, e-mail everyone on your list, and tell them about your business. What? You don’t have an e-mail list? You need to get one, and the sooner the better. It’s the only way to keep your customers informed about all the cool stuff, the new products, and the special offers AFTER they leave your site.

It’s easy to collect e-mail addresses from your clients. Auto responders are programs designed to capture this information automatically, saving you time and energy. You can also gather e-mails through valuable free offers… we’ll talk more about that later in this article. Auto responders can also send sequential e-mails to your clients, building your business even while you sleep. Big corporations do this to generate huge sums of money with Internet business. harness the power of this technology, and you can do the same.

Second, you can pay search engines to feature your ads during certain keyword searches. When you place an ad on Google AdWords, you provide them with a list of keywords related to your website. When customers enter those keywords into the search engine, they see your ad on the right-hand side of the page. It costs only pennies per click, and you can set a budget that works for you.

The third method is probably also the best way. When you add quality content to your website, you make search engines like Google, MSN, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves very happy. This “organic” search engine traffic will bring lots of clients to your website.

Think of the Internet as a giant billboard, one that knows just what you want. When a customer is looking for something, they type the keyword into a search engine. Search engines then rank websites; customers are more likely to visit sites that are ranked highly. Of course, they can only buy a product from you if they know you exist. It’s important, then, to improve your ranking.

Your ranking depends on two things: your on-page optimization (what’s on your webpage), and your off-page optimization (things to do off your webpage). Today, we will concentrate on on-page optimization.

Use these three simple tips to get better search engine ranks:

Step 1 – Add your keyword to the “title tag” of your webpage. When you right click your webpage using your HTML editor, click on page properties. You will notice there is a space for the title tag. Simply type your keyword into that space. From then, the blue bar at the top of your browser will display your keyword to the world.

Step 2 – You know that keyword we used in step one? We are going to use it again. This time, we are going to add it near the top of your webpage. Your HTML editor will allow you to tag your keyword as either H1 or H2. By placing your keyword near the top of the page and emphasizing its significance, you make it easy for web spiders to find it.

Step 3 –Finally, you will use your chosen keyword in your Web copy, the text on the page. Use it in the first paragraph, perhaps even twice. Add it again to the second paragraph, and perhaps even the third. Be aware, though, that the search engines penalize websites who try to fool the system with access to key words.

Using three easy steps, you can improve your on-page optimization and increase your rankings in the search engines. Join us next time for Part 2, when we will increase your rankings using off-page optimization strategies.

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© Stephen Beck, 2008
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Stephen Beck teaches 7 simple repeatable steps to starting a Christian Home Based Business. For a free CD explaining those steps, go to Start Home Business right now.