Inexpensive Ways To Attract Visitors To Your Website

Wouldn’t it be great if once
we finished all the work of creating a website, people flocked there of their
own accord? I wish it worked that way, but alas, we have to get them to visit.

Here are some quick tips on increasing your traffic:

• Make sure your web URL is on every, and I
  mean EVERY source of information you send out. (Your URL is the address
  people type to get to your website, like www.cocacola.com.) That includes
  your business card, email signature, letterhead, footer of your invoices,
  direct mail materials, brochures, etc. Gather up all the materials you
  mail, email and send out in other ways and check to see you haven’t missed
  anything.

• When
  posting comments online, write your website like this: http://www.yourwebsite.com,
  not just www.yourwebsite.com. When you include the http stuff it makes
  your URL a link so people can easily just click and visit you, rather than
  having to retype or cut and paste.

• Don’t have a flash website, have an .html
  one. You can ask your web programmers to see what kind you have. Flash
  sites have lots of cool graphics and movement but they are notoriously
  hard for search engines to find. If you have a flash, start thinking about
  changing it over to .html in future so that people who are searching for
  your type of product or service can more easily find you.

• Use Google Analytics. It’s a fantastic FREE
  service Google offers that lets you track and measure your site traffic in
  amazing detail. I would be lost without it. You can get it at http://www.google.com/analytics/.
  Once you start driving more traffic
  to your site you’ll want to see how you’re doing. Google Analytics will
  tell you.

• Consider authoring articles and posting them
  to online article aggregators like http://www.amazines.com and http://www.ezinearticles.com.
  You can draft a piece of around 450 words about your area of expertise and
  provide a little bio of you and link to your site. It creates more avenues for people to
  find you.

• Give people a reason to go to your website.
  Offer something free for them to claim and then put that offer on your
  business card and email signature. I created a 5 part e-course on how to
  make reporters sit up, say “Wow!” and cover your story. What can
  you offer that makes use of your expertise?

Implement these tips and watch your web traffic climb
upwards.

Barbara Wayman, president of BlueTree Media, LLC, publishes The Stand Out Newsletter, a free ezine
for people who want to know how to leverage the power of marketing and public
relations. Get your free subscription today at www.bluetreemedia.com/ezine.html

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author
bio are included.