Sep
10
1.Link building
2.Blogging
3.Article writing
4.Squidoo lenses
5.Social networking
Most of these tasks are pretty time consuming, but if done regularly they can have dramatic effects on the performance of your website.
Link Building
There are two main ways of building links to your site. Firstly, asking or paying for links from other related websites. Secondly, submitting your website to directories.
1. Building links from other websites
Persuading other web sites to link to your own is one of the best marketing strategies you can do - it's low cost, highly effective at driving traffic and it can have a dramatic effect on your search engine ranking. Links are very effective so the more quality sites that link to you the better. The trick is to look for websites that have relevant content, have high Page Rank (PR - Google's importance rating of a web page) and good traffic numbers. The best way to try and achieve a link is to offer a good link in return. In order to engage in a link exchange you will ordinarily be required to have some PR yourself. Some argue that organic (free) link growth is the only way to guarantee a safe climb in search engine rankings. It is also argued that as long as you stay clear from link farms (websites with an abnormally high level of links) paying for links isn't necessarily bad choice. Also try and ask for links to be created as a keyword rather than a web address. For example 'Web Design' to be the link rather than www.your-domain.co.uk.
2. Directory submission
When building links try and do as many as possible but spread them out, for example aim for 10 a week. Always remember high PR links are the most effective so I suggest downloading the Google Toolbar so you have access to the Google PageRank Tool (if you search Google PageRank tool you will find instructions on how to download and use it).
2.1. Free Submissions
There are thousands of free directories available on the net, your job as a webmaster is to hunt out the directories most suitable for you and to place sensible relevant links. If you pay for a directory submission service (normally submitting to hundreds of directories per day) you are likely to end up with some form of penalty from Google, this could be anything from lowering the relevance of each link to a complete removal of the site from the listings.
The following website provides the best ranked (in terms of Google PR) directories. http://www.bestcatalog.net/seo_tips/directories.htm
Create an account on those you feel are the most useful to you. Signing up for directories isn't always that easy, create yourself a small text document with your link, the title of your site, a small description, a long description and your keyword list (i.e. design,work,art).
2.2. Paid Submissions
It is now accepted that certain paid directories such as Yahoo and Business.com are effective in SEO and traffic building. The only way to find out is to examine your own revenue / traffic increases following submission.
Blogging
Blogging is a great way to get your product out there and to build links. I would suggest setting up at least one blog and updating it every week at least, more often if possible. If you don't have one on your site set up a blog with another site (https://www.blogger.com). Write 'blogs' about your product/s and things you think people would be interested in. Where possible within a blog provide a link to the website you are trying to promote.
Just like all content on the web if you want to attract traffic make sure your content is interesting and original. If you're just copying and pasting content not only are you likely to get no traffic but you could be penalised for duplicate content if the blog is on your own site.
Article writing
Writing articles, like blogging is an effective way to get back links and spread the word about your product/services. Publishing articles can be very powerful so if possible write at least one a month. The article can be on any subject relating to the website/product. Ensure the article has link in it, but don't make articles too marketing driven as they will not get published. They should be interesting and useful to people so they get published.
After writing an article navigate to http://www.vretoolbar.com/articles/directories.php and submit the article to as many as time allows.
Squidoo Lens
Squidoo is a publishing platform and community. You create online "lenses" which are pages, kind of like flyers or signposts or overview articles that gather everything you know about your topic of interest. Squidoo lenses are pretty difficult to create properly. They need lots of information and a high concentration of interesting elements. I would suggest creating a Squidoo lens, but take time over it before publishing as when done properly they can be powerful. Remember to get a links to the website in there as well!
Squidoo lenses have had their important reduced by Google due to the high PR each of the pages exhibit. You should still create a lens but don't expect your PR7 lens to be as valuable as a straight PR7 link.
Social Networking
Get on the social networking bandwagon! Facebook and Twitter especially, reach millions of people. Again to go about this properly can be pretty confusing. Set up a business page on Facebook and invite as many people as possible. There are multiple groups on Facebook with thousands of members, meaning targeting advertising.
Twitter is probably less effective but is pretty simply to use, but I wouldn't prioritise it.
Closing Points
Getting good traffic to your website is a combination of 4 things. Good on-page optimisation (heading tags, bold text, keyword density), relevant and plentiful links, fresh and original content and marketing your site externally (social networking, squidoo, articles).
In order to have a successful site all of these elements need to be addressed. The phrase "content is King" is so important with the web, if your site contains interesting information visitors will come and the links will grow organically.
