| So you're new to the web traffic game. That's good. That means you're ready and willing to take on the internet one visitor at a time. What's more, you're reading this, which means that you have every chance to make the right moves and avoid the most common mistakes that website owners before you have made. Want really good traffic to your site? Here are things you should do:
Know what you want.
Don?t make the mistake of putting up a website just because. That's no way to survive in the internet. Unless you're planning on using a blog just to let other people know how you're feeling, make sure you know exactly the reason why your website exists. Is that a blank stare I see?
Let me explain. Websites exist for a couple of dozen reasons. Take your pick. Do you want to run a business with it, such as sell or buy stuff? Do you want to put up a blog you'll monetize later? Is your website something you put up for a good cause, like a charity? Do you want to set up a membership page? Do you want to publish an ezine or e-newsletter through your site?
Determine first what you want your website to do so you'll know exactly who your preferred traffic will be and how to drive them to your website.
Know your traffic.
Next, write down the demographics of your traffic ? age, location, background, interests, spending habits, etc. It's important that you know who your desired traffic are and how they behave so you can design a website that works to your advantage.
Optimize your web pages.
Search engines can be your very good friends if you know how to please them. This is why you should take time to understand what SEO is and how it can work for you. SEO is search engine optimization, which refers to how your pages are designed in a way that will get them listed in the search engines, such as Yahoo!, Google and MSN Search, among others.
Getting your web pages optimized means more people will find you on the web. By using keywords that are relevant to your website, visitors can perform a search using a search engine and your website will appear in the listing. The higher you appear in the list, the more relevant you are. Since more people will click to your site link due to your relevance, you can effectively drive traffic to your website easily.
Offer quality.
You don?t have to pay for a service that will promote you just to drive traffic to your website. You're a newbie. Use your fresh blood and enthusiasm to create a website that is a great source of information, data, news or entertainment. Although having your site optimized will do wonders for its popularity, no amount of SEO will hide the utter lack of appeal that a badly maintained website has.
To drive traffic effectively to your website (and keep them coming back for more), provide useful, quality articles and stories. Sure, you have to make sure they're optimized but that's no excuse for not producing articles that are entertaining and useful. Your visitors will trust you more and you'll be able to build a good reputation over time.
Use the same quality standards to whatever it is that is found in your website ? discussion boards, forums, advice, images, audio files, products, services, links, etc. The more value that your visitors will find in your site, the more they'll come back to it. Better yet, they will also be more likely to promote your website to others. You get free promotion just for offering excellent content and still get to increase the amount of traffic that visits your website.
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