I. Sadiq Gill Keirin: Online Reputation Management

By I. Sadiq Gill Keirin

The best time to do online reputation management is when you don't need
online reputation management.

Whether you like it or not, people  –  customers, prospects, competitors
and haters –  are talking about your business and its products and
services on the Internet.

They're writing blogs.

They're commenting on forums.

They're writing reviews, some of which are written only to cause you harm.

They're asking their Facebook friends about you.

They're complaining about the tiniest details on Twitter.

Are you listening?

Before you are forced to react to an immediate online reputation
management (ORM) issue, you must be proactive in establishing a strong
reputation on the Internet.

If you're not actively reviewing your online reputation and you don't
have a plan in place, then you're setting yourself –  and your business
–  up for disaster.

Don't worry. It's never too late to get started. Even if some damage has
already been done (i.e., bad reviews, negative comments, etc.), you can
create a plan to begin mending a few "fences" and moving forward.

The first steps to being proactive with your online reputation are as
follows: check for current damage, make repairs if necessary, and then
take action to become more assertive and engaging with your online audience.

Step One: Check your personal and professional online history.

Begin with simple Google searches of your name. Check for previous
addresses, photos, videos, comments, etc., connected to your name.
Sources such as www.123people.com are excellent tools for reviewing your
personal history. Make sure you check your full legal name, too (e.g.,
search for “Robert A. Smith” instead of just “Bob Smith”).

Always check Facebook. Facebook is a potential source of personal and
professional disasters, such as that which may occur when someone from
your college days decides to post a picture of you getting hammered at a
toga party.

If your company has other executives (president, vice president, etc.)
or a board of directors, check their personal and professional online
history as well. One Midwestern company is currently catching some grief
from local media (and customers) because a member of its board of
directors made an unpopular move with a separate company he owned. His
online reputation has put the company he advises in an uncomfortable
situation.

Step Two: Research your company name and brand.

After performing basic searches in Google, create Google Alerts (free
service) so that you’ll be alerted via e-mail anytime someone mentions
your company name or brand online.

Be sure to conduct initial searches on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and
YouTube, as well.

You can also sign up for paid services that will monitor your company’s
online reputation activity – good or bad – and notify you of any events
within the hour.

Step Three: Repair any damage, if necessary.

As a result of your research, you may discover that your reputation has
already suffered a little damage online. This might include bad or fake
reviews, forum comments, Twitter posts about poor service, etc.

Depending on the amount of damage, you might be able to respond to each
negative comment or review   in a professional manner. In some cases, a
simple (but sincere) apology will go a long way to show that you are
willing to fix the problem. This will also give potential customers the
impression that you’re an engaged business owner who will listen and
respond to customers.

If the damage is more serious – bad press, court proceedings, lawsuits,
legal matters, etc. – then you should consider working with an online
reputation management professional or service to help you rebuild your
online reputation. Keep in mind, however, that repairing a badly damaged
reputation is a slow process, requiring a lot of time and work.

Step Four: Write awesome content for your website.

You can start improving your online reputation and online audience
engagement by writing and providing better content on your website.
Articles and white papers offer more information about your products and
services. Write and post a “Frequently Asked Questions” document that
answers some common questions about your company.

Write and share up-to-date information on your company’s blog. Plan on
posting one (or more) blog posts per week; you’re not going to seem very
engaged if you only post once a month. Here, you can share industry
news, opinions, brief overviews of articles and white papers (with links
pointing to where customers can find them on your website), and more.
Encourage and allow readers to comment on your blog. Start a conversion
with them on your blog.

Step Five: Get busy with social media.

Like it or not, you’re going to have to join the social media club.

Again, your customers and potential customers are talking about your
company and its products and services on Facebook, Twitter and other
social networks. You should be there to “listen” and engage them in
conversation.

Bad news can travel fast on social media. However, people appreciate it
when someone listens to their complaints about a product or service and
helps them solve their problems. You can regularly check on your social
media reputation management status with the help of an ORM subscription
service, or you can become more proactive by creating Twitter searches
and filters on targeted keywords.

Don’t wait for something bad to happen. Get involved now. Answer
questions on social media, even if it doesn’t result in a sale. Show
that you are willing to help and educate.

Remember, your reputation’s at stake.

Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin - Introduction to Content Marketing (Part II)

By Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed why quality content is important for SEO and how to use social media as a distribution channel to get your best content out to your audience. In Part 2, we’ll outline how you’re going to produce all that great content.

The first, and easiest, way to produce content for your website is to repurpose some of your existing content. For example, you may have an article on your website that you wrote a couple years ago and maybe that article just needs to be updated. This way, you don’t need to start from scratch. 

Besides updating old articles, you can also repurpose content by converting podcasts, reports or white papers into blog posts. Say you have a white paper, for example. Maybe you can break that white paper up into ten blog posts. Genius! You can also mention in the blog post that this particular tip is from this white paper, and provide a link to download the white paper. You never know -- maybe your white papers will start getting downloaded more if you repurpose content in this way!

You also probably have content that you have that you’ve never used. Maybe you have a video on YouTube but you don’t have a link on your website to pull that video in. Or, maybe the video’s on your website but it’s not in your blog. You may have separate followings for your site and blog, so be sure to post (or link to) your best content in both.

Now, what about all the writing? Let’s say that you’ve repurposed all of your existing content and now you need some fresh content. How about starting a blog? Although blogging requires a lot of writing, it shouldn’t be hard to find guest bloggers. There are many bloggers in your industry who would be happy to write a guest blog for you in exchange for a link back to their website or blog. Now, you have free content.

You can also get your whole staff involved in writing your blog. Maybe each month, X number of people on your staff is responsible for writing one blog post. They might just enjoy it!

Need more help to produce blog posts, articles, press releases, etc.? Don’t be afraid to hire freelance writers. There are a lot of good freelance writers out there for hire. And you don’t necessarily have to pay them a lot. Find them on Elance.com, Guru.com, Craigslist, or a number of other sites that connect freelance writers with employers. You may make a good connection with a freelance writer that you can use on a regular basis.

So, start filling in your content holes. Determine what your website is missing. Is it press releases? Videos? Infographics? Podcasts? A blog? Next, determine who will write the content. You? Your staff? Freelancers? Get your team together. Then, create an editorial calendar for the next six to twelve months. 

Make sure all content is keyword-optimized and distributed via your social media channels. Once you have good content and start distributing it, monitor your analytics. See how many people are coming to look at that content. Is your strategy working? Are your rankings going up?

Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin - Introduction to Content Marketing (Part I)

By Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin

Does your firm have “sticky content” for effective content marketing? Anybody can write an article, write a blog post or make a video. But what’s going to make your web content really pop and get people’s attention? 

Great, “sticky” content is content that is unique and it solves a problem. Junk content is, well, the opposite of those things. SEO rewards great content and punishes junk content. Not too long ago, 

Google rolled out an algorithm update that was called Panda. Panda was specifically designed to 
reward websites that followed value-added content recommendations. It also punished those websites that didn’t offer any value or they published junk content. 


Examples of junk content include poorly-written content, duplicate content and content produced via software or services called “content scrapers.” These packages scour the Internet for articles on a particular topic, scrape a sentence or two out of each one, and put it together to form “an article.” 

Even if your content was keyword-optimized, if it was “scraped,” it was punished by Google Panda.


You’ve probably heard the expression, “Content is king.” But when it comes to SEO, is it really? The answer is yes. Content has an 82 percent impact on search results. So if you’re not writing great content for your website, whether it’s articles, or videos, or pictures, or graphics, or presentations, then you’re focusing on the wrong things. (After content, by the way, the most important SEO factor is link building. So, it would be true to say, “Content is king; link building is queen.”)


Consider that while social media impacts search results, it’s far less important than content when it comes to search engine marketing -- social media only has a seven percent impact on search results. 

While you should have social media profiles, you shouldn’t maintain these profiles at the expense of your website. Use them in conjunction with your website content, to promote your “stickiest” stuff.


When you write new content for your website, or upload new videos, graphics or articles, use use social media as a content distribution channel. Publish links to your best content on Twitter, Facebook, etc. If you’re regularly publishing good, useful content, i.e., newsletters, press releases, blog posts, free downloads, etc., you’ll be able to market those items on social media to earn more traffic to your website. 


Find out more content marketing tips in Part 2 of this series!

Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin - B2B Marketing Trending Toward “Inbound” Strategies

There are very few certainties in life, but one thing that we can all be sure of is that nothing stays the same. Change is inevitable, and in the technology arena, in the business world and in our personal lives, we never know what may lie around the next corner. The internet and ever-evolving modes of communication have made the world a much smaller place in recent years, and have enabled us to access information and open dialogues at the touch of a few buttons, or at the activation of our voice. 

As the latest technology applies to marketing and advertising, or more specifically, business to business marketing (B2B marketing) and business to business advertising (B2B advertising), social media, blogs and increasingly robust websites have now become the “tools of the trade.” As a result, costly and laborious mass mailings and banks of telemarketers, although not obsolete, are fading in favor of “tweets” and search engine optimization (SEO).

The Trend toward Efficiency

From the ad agency to the PR agency to the B2B internet marketing agency, no one has been spared the effects of a tightening economy. This has caused marketers to adjust their strategies and intensify their focus on making the most efficient use of their resources, and has been a catalyst in the trend toward “inbound” or “content” marketing.

Consumers and companies are constantly bombarded with ads, inquiries and information, most of which they have learned to ignore. Therefore, as opposed to wasting time, money and energy advertising to an uninterested majority, marketing strategies are being tailored toward reaching target markets and more likely prospects.

The aim of a brand or company’s inbound marketing efforts is to attract customers who are already interested in a product or service. Customers know what they want, and they now have easy access to resources that will allow them to find the best products at the most favorable prices. This is why companies that make the best use of social media, create the most informative and user-friendly websites and incorporate highly-effective search engine optimization (SEO) practices into their marketing strategies will have an advantage over the competition as we move forward in an ever-changing world.

Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin - Content Marketing for SEO, Part II

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed why quality content is important for SEO and how to use social media as a distribution channel to get your best content out to your audience. In Part 2, we’ll outline how you’re going to produce all that great content.

The first, and easiest, way to produce content for your website is to repurpose some of your existing content. 

For example, you may have an article on your website that you wrote a couple years ago and maybe that article just needs to be updated. This way, you don’t need to start from scratch.

Besides updating old articles, you can also repurpose content by converting podcasts, reports or white papers into blog posts. Say you have a white paper, for example. Maybe you can break that white paper up into ten blog posts. Genius! You can also mention in the blog post that this particular tip is from this white paper, and provide a link to download the white paper. You never know -- maybe your white papers will start getting downloaded more if you repurpose content in this way!

You also probably have content that you have that you’ve never used. Maybe you have a video on YouTube but you don’t have a link on your website to pull that video in. Or, maybe the video’s on your website but it’s not in your blog. You may have separate followings for your site and blog, so be sure to post (or link to) your best content in both.

Now, what about all the writing? Let’s say that you’ve repurposed all of your existing content and now you need some fresh content. How about starting a blog? Although blogging requires a lot of writing, it shouldn’t be hard to find guest bloggers. There are many bloggers in your industry who would be happy to write a guest blog for you in exchange for a link back to their website or blog. Now, you have free content.

You can also get your whole staff involved in writing your blog. Maybe each month, X number of people on your staff is responsible for writing one blog post. They might just enjoy it!

Need more help to produce blog posts, articles, press releases, etc.? Don’t be afraid to hire freelance writers. There are a lot of good freelance writers out there for hire. And you don’t necessarily have to pay them a lot. Find them on Elance.com, Guru.com, Craigslist, or a number of other sites that connect freelance writers with employers. You may make a good connection with a freelance writer that you can use on a regular basis.

So, start filling in your content holes. Determine what your website is missing. Is it press releases? Videos? Infographics? Podcasts? A blog? Next, determine who will write the content. You? Your staff? Freelancers? 

Get your team together. Then, create an editorial calendar for the next six to twelve months.

Make sure all content is keyword-optimized and distributed via your social media channels. Once you have good content and start distributing it, monitor your analytics. See how many people are coming to look at that content. Is your strategy working? Are your rankings going up?

Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin - Content Marketing for SEO, Part I

Does your firm have “sticky content” for effective content marketing? Anybody can write an article, write a blog post or make a video. But what’s going to make your web content really pop and get people’s attention?

Great, “sticky” content is content that is unique and it solves a problem. Junk content is, well, the opposite of those things. SEO rewards great content and punishes junk content. Not too long ago, Google rolled out an algorithm update that was called Panda. Panda was specifically designed to reward websites that followed value-added content recommendations. It also punished those websites that didn’t offer any value or they published junk content.

Examples of junk content include poorly-written content, duplicate content and content produced via software or services called “content scrapers.” These packages scour the Internet for articles on a particular topic, scrape a sentence or two out of each one, and put it together to form “an article.” Even if your content was keyword-optimized, if it was “scraped,” it was punished by Google Panda.

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Content is king.” But when it comes to SEO, is it really? The answer is yes. Content has an 82 percent impact on search results. So if you’re not writing great content for your website, whether it’s articles, or videos, or pictures, or graphics, or presentations, then you’re focusing on the wrong things. (After content, by the way, the most important SEO factor is link building. So, it would be true to say, “Content is king; link building is queen.”)

Consider that while social media impacts search results, it’s far less important than content when it comes to search engine marketing -- social media only has a seven percent impact on search results. While you should have social media profiles, you shouldn’t maintain these profiles at the expense of your website. Use them in conjunction with your website content, to promote your “stickiest” stuff.

When you write new content for your website, or upload new videos, graphics or articles, use use social media as a content distribution channel. Publish links to your best content on Twitter, Facebook, etc. If you’re regularly publishing good, useful content, i.e., newsletters, press releases, blog posts, free downloads, etc., you’ll be able to market those items on social media to earn more traffic to your website.

Find out more content marketing tips in Part 2 of this series!

Imran Sadiq Gill - How To Improve Website Traffic

By Matthew Henderson

There are 3 main ways to improve website traffic. They are: Visibility, accessibility, maintenance. Each of these brings something to the tally, but when combined, they provide a website owner with about the best net he can cast in the world of potential site visitors.

How do these aspects work and how do they work together to improve website traffic? Well, it all rests upon a simple premise:

A website doesn't exist suspended in a vacuum. Websites are part of a dynamic and trend-changing world.

The biggest mistake site owners make is that they leave the site to fend off for itself once they have created it.

How is this bad? Look at it this way.

Sites need to be visible, accessible, and well maintained. And most important, a website needs traffic to make sales. By not updating your site and by leaving it to 'die' a slow death in the back alleys of cyberspace, you aren't doing anything to improve website traffic and to help your site survive.

Your site needs to be visible in search engine pages; it needs to be easily accessed; and it needs to be maintained to provide a contributive experience for the visitor.

Think of it as a garden. If you don't prune and weed (i.e., maintenance), the road to the garden will be overgrown and no one will be able to get into the garden (i.e., accessibility).

Once your entry path has disappeared behind a maze of plants and weeds, nobody will even see it and everyone will bypass it without even knowing it is there (visibility).

With these 3 aspects in mind, here are a few tips and pointers as to how you can maintain the accessibility and visibility of your website in cyberspace and improve website traffic to make sure that you are getting traffic and visitors regularly.

- Keywords

Choosing the correct keywords are vital in order to improve website traffic. It pays to choose keywords carefully, because it is based on those same keywords that your site may or may not come up listed in a search engine page.

Figure out which keywords are best associated with your website. You also need to think of how people may think of your site, and thus decide which keywords they are most apt to use.

Next, run the keywords in a search engine to decide if they are good or not (based on the results you get).

Find out the ones that are most relevant and apply them to your website.

- Directories

A lot of people underestimate the traffic-sending power of Internet directories. While not as popular as search engines, this is a sure way to improve website traffic.

Furthermore, being listed in directories help to boost your search engine result placement, which will definitely improve website traffic.

- SEO optimization

There are many ways to make sure that your website is optimized for search engines, too many to be listed here as a matter of fact. But through properly optimizing your website you are sure to improve website traffic.

- Pages

Make sure your pages are good and ready to be viewed. This is as simple but many times overlooked way to improve website traffic. A good tip where pages are concerned is to title each page separately. Adding unique descriptions for each page also helps here, as then the site is not seen as a big bundle of same titled and described pages.

-Open Directory Project

The Open Directory Project is a place that a lot of people don't deign to pay attention to. However this can be a good way to improve website traffic by increasing your visibility.

- Yahoo directory

The Yahoo directory is another good directory that is sure to improve your website traffic. destination many surfers check, so being placed there is always good.

- PPC search engine advertising

If you are looking for traffic, then ppc advertising is a sure fire way to improve website traffic fast. Just make sure you study up a little about it before you jump in.

- Provide good content

People usually search for information. Try to satisfy this need and you could win much traffic. Aim for unique, relevant content.

- Update content regularly

Keep content fresh and always try to have something new, even if just a little tidbit, for your visitors. The search engines love fresh new content and the reward you with increased traffic to your website.

- Have a blog and update regularly

The easiest way to improve website traffic is to have a blog and to update it regularly. Making use of the RSS feed will also encourage people to remain in touch with your site and ultimately to come back again and again.

- Use appropriate keywords for images

If you are using graphics, make sure to label them with an appropriate keyword or name. A lot of people use Google images and an image can thus lead a visitor to your site. This is not a big traffic getter, but making use of every little thing will definitely improve website traffic.

- Check your pages on engines regularly

Do a check on yourself periodically. This way you will know if viewers are getting the same thing you are trying to convey.

- Banner ads optimize traffic

Many people see banner advertising as dead, but not so. The biggest hurdle is that most website owners don't know how to devise a good banner. Many wise marketers are still using banner ads to effectively improve website traffic.

- Build a list

Once you get someone to visit your site, try to ensure that the visitor comes back again in the future. You can do this by collecting the visitors name and email address so you can stay in touch and send them future offers. This is one of the most effective ways to not only improve website traffic, but also to maximize your income.

- Link exchange

Exchange links for more visibility, gain credibility and naturally to improve your website traffic.

- Email signatures

Make use of your email signature to spread the word about your site. It is also a very good opportunity to brand yourself, giving people a glimpse of what they'd see at your site.

- Write articles

Another way to improve website traffic is to write and submit newsletters and articles. These will always provide you with a way of linking back to your site as well as a window where you can promote your website in a nutshell.

- Press Releases

Many webmasters still have not figured out the importance of press releases and how they can improve website traffic. By writing one or two effective press releases per month you can definitely improve your websites visibility in ways that you just cannot accomplish otherwise.

Keep in mind, you can't just build a site and walk away. Traffic is necessary for sales and these are all very effective ways to improve website traffic. Naturally, the more you do the more results you will see.

Matt Henderson has made a living marketing online since 2003 working with internet affiliate programs. As an affiliate marketing guide for beginners, let Matt show you the same system he uses to make money with affiliate programs when you visit http://www.myonlinesuccess.com

Imran Sadiq Gill Keirin: The Comprehensive Guide to Getting Website Traffic in Today's World - A General Overview

 

By Yousef M Julaidan

I think it is important to have the big picture in mind before starting to devise a plan to generate traffic to any website. Why? Because not all websites are the same. One traffic generating method can only work with certain types of websites and another method can only work with other types of websites.

For example, the methods used to generate traffic to an e-commerce website might not be as effective in generating traffic to an information nonprofit website. Generating website traffic can be classified into two big groups based on the cost incurred. One is paid even though as cheap as few cents per visitor and the other one is free! As good as it might sound; generating free traffic is harder than and not as effective as paid traffic generation.

This is pretty natural because in general, the companies that specialize in the service of generating traffic to websites have breakthrough technologies and experienced teams of specialists with the only purpose of generating quality targeted traffic for their customers. I'm not trying to degrade free traffic as it is important to reduce costs, but in general paid traffic still supersedes free traffic in terms of quality and quantity. Paid traffic isn't affordable by all advertisers, but still it offers a lot of peace of mind and results. Here is a list of the most prominent paid traffic generation methods:

1. Pay per click (PPC):- Known by all yet most hated for sucking cents and dollars out of advertisers pockets without as much satisfying results. Google being the king of PPC has been making life harder and harder for PPC advertisers by imposing more and more criteria to determine which ads get higher positions in PPC ads. Believe it or not, if your website isn't optimized enough for Google, your ad will not get better positions even if your bid is higher than others! This proves the point that even though PPC is disappointing many advertisers, there is actually a logic that you have to figure out to get better results from your PPCs.

There are techniques to get better results from your PPC campaigns using low and pocket friendly bids, which is going to be a topic of another article that I'm going to write about.

2. Paid SEO services: - SEO is a short for Search Engine Optimization. In short it is about optimizing the
design and the coding of a website so it can get better free ranking in search engines. This is referred to as organic ranking. Even though the end result is free better ranking, still SEO companies charge tons of money to make a website search engine optimized. I will address SEO in more detail in future articles.

3. Paid targeted 100% opt-in e-mail blasts: - There are advertising companies that have huge lists of 100% opt-in subscribers. 100% opt-in means that every one of their subscribers has agreed to receive promotional e-mails from them on the topics of their choice and this is how it is targeted. This method has proven its effectiveness, but there are a lot of fake companies out there that claim 100% opt-in, but actually have much lower opt-in percentages or even not at all. This is important because you don't want to pay for a campaign that ends up in the junk or spam folder of the users e-mail. Be careful and deal with the reputable ones only.

4. Banners and image based advertising: - this form has lost its effectiveness over the years, but still is used by many advertisers. Find the ones that work like PPCs, which means you don't get charged for impressions...only clicks.

5. Guaranteed visitors schemes: - These are companies that promise you a number of targeted traffic for a fee. Usually they will tell you that they get the traffic from expired domains and traffic redirected from other sites. Trust me, for the most part, these are scams so beware. It could work well for those who have gambling or sex related websites because they can't use PPCs to promote their websites.

6. Video advertising: - A new and growing advertising trend that Google is pursuing heavily. Yes I know that you can post videos in YouTube for free, but I'm talking about a new wave of video advertising that is very similar to PPC. It will be more popular soon so watch for it. Now for the fun and most pleasing part....free traffic! Getting results from free traffic requires much more work and time compared to paid traffic. Even though these methods generate free traffic, I see a lot of courses and e-books sold for hundreds and even thousands of dollars to teach people these methods.

So much for the free part! Luckily, you will be able to get an overview of these free traffic methods for free today. I'm not going to explain each in detail, but will be the topics of some of my future articles:-

1. Article marketing: - You write good articles, post them in article directories with links pointing to your website. People read the article, like what they read and visit your website. I will address it more in future articles.

2. Website directories: - these are directories that organize websites in categories which makes it easier for people to find what they are looking for. Even though all will let you submit your link for free, a lot of them offer a "premium" listing for a fee which is worth paying if they have high search engine ranking.

3. Video sites like YouTube, Yahoo and MSN videos: - don't underestimate its power! Find at least 10 more video sites and submit your videos to them. But how can you advertise your website with video? Get a screen capture video maker. There are free ones online and sold. My advice is to buy one for the quality of videos as free ones produce low quality videos. Make a small presentation about your website on your own screen, capture it on video and upload it to video sites...that's it! It will be helpful if you use a basic video editing software like windows movie maker to add your URL on the bottom of the video.

4. Forums and blogs: - This works in two ways. Either you own a blog or forum and generate your own community using quality content and funnel this traffic to your website. The other is to post comments with links pointing to your website in high ranking blogs and forums.

5. RSS feeds: - you can set up an RSS feed linking to the topics and issues in your website and syndicate it. More on this on future articles.

6. Groups and newsletters: - Can be found in all major search engines and internet service providers like Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN. Establish relations and spread the word about your websites. Avoid spamming and misbehaving!

7. Online free classifieds: - There are so many. The only problem is that your ads in these classifieds need re-updating every 1 or 2 days which is very time consuming.

8. Social bookmarking: - These are sites where people leave sort of brief descriptions about their websites, blogs, forums etc. and a link to visit.

9. Social media/interaction websites or what is called web 2.0:- My Space, Face book, twitter and Squidoo are all examples of this new internet trend. Basically they are all about an online gathering point where people express themselves and share knowledge, experiences, hobbies, passions, pictures, videos, music and much more. Why not use it to get traffic to your website?

10. Going viral: - Don't ever think that this is not important because this is number 10. It can be the most powerful traffic generating tool if you know how to use it. An example would be giving away a free report with lots of information and your website links inside. Give it to as many people as you can and in turn they give it away. This can continue forever and never stop. That's why they call it viral and is very powerful! If you ask me which methods are the best and should be used to get traffic, I would say all of them. The only problem is that we have limited resources and I mean time and money. I suggest using a mix of free and paid traffic. The mix to be determined according to what type of website is promoted and traffic objectives.

Watch out for more detailed articles on the subject.

Yousef is an expert writer in business and money making topics and issues. His insights combined with his clear and informative style of writing has attracted a lot of attention lately. To subscribe to his free and valuable newsletter send a blank email to=> ibm-newsletter@aweber.com

Also check out Yousef's website [http://www.internet-business-and-money.com]

Imran Sadiq Gill: Improving Website Traffic - What Does It Really Mean?

In the world of online marketing, an enormous amount of attention is given to the subject of "improving" website traffic. This emphasis seems to be put in the right place, considering the central role traffic plays in any online marketing campaign. But despite the popularity of the subject, it would be difficult to find two Internet marketers that share the exact same idea of what it actually means to "improve" website traffic.

Every marketer has a solid feeling for what it means. But by failing to ask, in detail, what it actually means to improve traffic, too many online marketers miss out on the benefits that come form a deeper understanding of effective website-traffic improvement. Effective and lasting traffic improvement is made up of multiple layers.

And by looking at what it means to "improve" website traffic at each layer, an overall view of traffic-improvement becomes much clearer.

At its most basic, "improving" website traffic means bringing more traffic to a site. At this level, it's a question of numbers and not much more. Bringing more people to a website is an essential foundation of traffic-improvement; but even though it's central to every online marketing campaign, it should not be seen as a final goal.

At a slightly higher level, improving website traffic means making the flow of traffic to a site as regular as possible: Getting new traffic is good. But regularly getting new traffic is even better. Traffic like this shows signs of sustainability and it's the type of traffic that a business can start to be built upon.

At the next level, improving website traffic means making the regular traffic of a site as targeted as possible. This targeting has a positive effect on traffic because it raises the overall quality of the traffic. Targeted traffic is made up of people that are genuinely interested in what is being offered. They are potential customers that are likely to respond to offers. And because of this, they improve traffic by improving its responsiveness. Ten highly-targeted leads are always more profitable than a hundred luke-warm leads.

At its highest level, improving website traffic means consistently reaching traffic at the right stage in the buying cycle. The buying cycle has three main stages: browsing, gathering information, and ready-to-purchase. In the browsing stage, people are looking to see what's available. In the information-gathering stage, they are weighing the pros and cons of particular options. And in the ready-to-purchase stage, they have already decided what to buy and are looking for the best deal.

It's important to draw traffic that is at the information-gathering stage because this is the stage where choices are being made. If traffic is reached earlier in the cycle at the browsing stage, it's difficult to make enough of an impression for the site to be remembered later on. If traffic is reached later, at the ready-to-purchase stage, it's too late - potential customers have already decided what to buy. Reaching traffic at the right stage in the buying stage is a very effective traffic-improving step that is often overlooked. Yet it has the potential to greatly increase the performance of a site.

By being aware of what it means to "improve" website traffic at each of the four levels mentioned above, serious online marketers will give themselves a clearer idea of what it really means to improve overall website traffic. They'll be able to easily judge where they are in the traffic-improving process. And, more importantly, they'll be able to see in which direction they should head to reach the next level. The long term effects can only be positive.

Eli Pedelty is a website traffic specialist that turns websites into a profitable aspect of overall business.

If you’d think you could benefit from a detailed explanation of five proven methods for increasing website traffic, sign-up for his free 5-day course, Direct Methods for Increasing Web Site Traffic, at EliPedelty.com - Improve Website Traffic [http://www.elipedelty.com].

Imran Sadiq Gill: Targeted Website Traffic - Without it Your Site Will Certainly Die

By JP McDonald

Targeted website traffic - you hear that term a lot these days. Most people know what it means and understand the concept. Some people actually strive for it. Some people don't.

In plain English, with targeted website traffic, your site has a chance to make some real money and there's a slight chance you might be able to make a living of the internet. But, without targeted website traffic, your site is doomed to die a slow, painful death until it quietly fades away into the dust like so many thousands of other websites.

If you do a search on any of the major search engines for the term 'traffic' you will get mostly websites regarding automobile traffic, traffic reports, road conditions, road closures, motor additives, etc.

If you do a search on any of the major search engines for the term 'website traffic' you will get mostly websites regarding traffic exchanges, stat counters, web searches, page optimization, how to build a website, etc.

If you do a search on any of the major search engines for the term 'targeted website traffic' you will finally get the picture of what this article is all about - making money on the internet. That's why you are here, that's why you have a website, that's why you are reading this article in the first place.

Targeted Website Traffic is King

Without sufficient targeted website traffic to your website nothing will happen - no sales, no rankings, no notoriety, nothing. You need this type of traffic in order to generate sales, provide leads, gather email addresses and create advertising exposure.

So many good things happen when one can actually tap into the targeted website traffic market that it's difficult to name them all. Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about:

* Sales

First and foremost, sales is what you are after. Only targeted traffic will get you the sales you need to stay in business on the internet.

* Links

More targeted traffic leads come from links to similar websites than any other source. These can be either direct links to your website, AdSense links, press releases, blogs, or any other form of advertising that gets your website in front of other people's eyes.

* Free Advertising

As the search engines pick up on your increasing number of visitors, especially if they come from related linking websites, your rankings will hopefully rise and your PageRank wil improve. Having your site on the first three pages of any major search engine is optimum exposure for your site and will bring in customers 'off the street', as it were. This is free advertising.

* More Links

Another benefit to your rise in the search engine rankings, and your rising PageRank, will be your ability to inundated with link requests from every other website imaginable. Remember, stick with only those that relate to your own site. Again, free advertising.

It's one thing to get your website noticed by the search engines but it's quite another to get your website noticed by the buying public. Just because you have great links, great positioning in the major search engines, and great links will not produce sales.

So, how can you become successful where most of the others have failed? What is the magic key to making all these sales that everyone is talking about? I'm glad you asked:

The Magic Key

Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Do you have a paper and pen ready to take notes? Well, then, calm down, take a deep breath, and just remember this one simple fact of internet life: The website makes the sales, not you, not your links, not your search engine presence, not even your friends or comrades whom you sent to check out your 'wonderful little website.' Unless your site screams out to the world, 'BUY MY PRODUCT!!', you will not make enough money to buy one month's worth of internet cable service.

You can buy, grab, obtain, link, and get all the targeted website traffic in the world but it will not sell a single product and/or service unless your website is compelling enough to do the selling for you. Design is one thing, content is another and, remember, content is everything. It makes the search engine robots and spiders visit your site on a daily basis, it makes visitors want to buy, bookmark, or return for a future purchase, and it makes one think, 'Hmm...maybe I really do need this product and/or service.'

Just keep thinking to yourself, 'Design and content, design and content...', over and over. Plus, once your website is complete, it isn't. A proper website is always refining itself and a webmaster knows this. The search engine robots and spider love new content so a little change here or a little change there will make a huge splash with them as they cruise your site on a daily basis.

Targeted Website Traffic Can Make or Break a Website

While having a great design and excellent content on your website is the best possible thing that you can have on the internet, it will still sit there and gather dust until you get the traffic flowing. Unless your website is the only site on the internet that sells a particular product or service, you will be lost in a crowd of thousands or possibly millions.

Remember the term, 'Targeted Website Traffic', and keep this in mind:

* Is it really targeted?

Are the visitors you get to your website actually looking for what your site has to offer? If you buy your traffic from a service, how can you be sure that you get what you pay for?

* Will they buy?

There are no guarantees when it comes to how people make their decisions. All you can do is make your product or service as irresistible as possible. People, in general, are picky and they always want the best for less.

Buying Targeted Website Traffic From a Service

If you are new to this concept and have no idea which companies are reputable and trustworthy, then you will have to experiment, learn from others, hear about it by word of mouth, blogs, forums, etc. Check out each company you come across that offers the traffic you want and compare them against each other. What should you look for when comparing traffic service companies?

* Do they offer a guarantee?

If they do not offer a 100% guarantee then keep looking until you find only those traffic services that do.

* Do they have contact and privacy pages?
All reputable companies have these in place. Review them to your satisfaction before placing any orders.

* Do they have your category available?

Targeted website traffic must fit your site to a 'T' meaning that if you sell widgets then there must be a category for selling widgets, plain and simple. If there categories are not specific to what your website sells, move on until you find one that does.

* Purchase 10,000 targeted visitors, get 10 sales.

This is a general rule. If you do not get at least a 1% return on your investment then one of these things is wrong: either your traffic is not targeted to what you are selling or your website is not strong enough in its' message to sell the product and/or service.

* Does your page counter move?

Every site should have a page counter on their main index page, either visible or not. If that counter does not show the traffic that you purchased then you are not receiving real people but, instead, computer-generated hits. Have you ever made a sale to a computer-generated hit?

Whenever you try a traffic service, buy the minimum to see what happens. If the traffic campaign fails, and you are sure it is not because of your website's design or content, then try another service. Keep searching until you find one that works well for you and stick with it.

James McDonald is an executive at Dreamry, Inc. which has been successfully marketing and promoting websites since 2002.

Imran Sadiq Gill: How to Buy Quality Website Traffic

 

By Lisa Longport

No online business can be successful without adequate traffic to the website. Those who purchase traffic for their website should ensure that actual sales take place. Unless there is profitable selling no one can run the online business successfully. If there is no business in spite of tens of thousands of visitors, the traffic is of no use to the online businessman. Many online marketers waste their time and money for buying unproductive website traffic.

The main drawback of this type of purchased traffic is that they are untargeted. In order to achieve a satisfactory conversion rate the business website should be subjected to demographically targeted traffic.

When there are only 2 or 3 transactions out of thousands of visitors to the website it is not a worthy investment. When the traffic is generated from a demographically targeted source a conversion rate of not less than 5% is feasible. Those who buy traffic for their website must ensure to track the visits so that they will come to know whether the traffic supplier has provided the committed number of traffic. The online businessman should insist for a money back guarantee from the traffic provider so that there will be no loss in case he failed to provide the committed number of traffic.

How to get traffic to the website?

In spite of an amazing website and well written blogs, one cannot earn anything out of the website unless the potential buyers visit the website and buy the products. Just like the shop in the market place the online shop also cannot generate any income unless somebody visits the site and makes a purchase. The four different methods that are normally adopted by online businessmen to generate traffic to the website are -

• Search Engine Optimization
• Using social media websites
• Placing ads on other websites
• Buying guaranteed website traffic

Out of the above four methods, the first two methods are rather free, provided the online businessman undertakes himself the task of SEO. However, these two methods require a very long time to gain momentum. The third method of placing ads on other websites is certainly not a free method. But, the advantage is that once the ads start to get clicked, there will be regular flow of traffic to the website and consequently real business will commence. The fourth method of buying guaranteed visitors to the website is the most effective method to generate profit from the online business. In this method the basic requirement is that the online businessman should find out a reputed and reliable seller of website traffic who will ensure that the website gets sufficient number of potential visitors so as to run the business profitably. The owner of the website has to pay for the traffic and hence it is not a free method. But, the result will come much faster when compared to SEO and social networks. The website will receive the exact number of visits for which the site owner has paid.

Analyze the pros and cons

Now there are various methods to buy website traffic. One can buy instant search traffic that will be either search-safe or non search-safe. The various PPC advertising networks offer targeted traffic with respect to country, category and age. Another method is buying the traffic either from media blasts or from banner ads on 3rd party website. Buying website traffic is a common practice nowadays since it is a fast method to achieve high volumes of business. Those who plan to buy website traffic must make it a point to consider various aspects prior to investing money in traffic purchase.

Research and investigate

It is all the more important for those who want to buy website traffic for their internet business to conduct various researches and investigations.

1. Know about the supplier

As part of the homework for buying website traffic one has to research the companies that are offering website traffic. One can go through the reviews about the company and refer to various forums. Searches in terms of "complaints", "scams", etc. can provide useful information. The website owner must have his own judgment also about the reliability of the company from which he wants to buy the website traffic.

2. Know about the deal in detail

Before entering into an agreement with the supplier the website owner must study the various aspects of the deal. The agreement must be clear about the cost, quantity, lead time, refund and other related aspects.

3. Ensure to have analytics

Even if the traffic provider does not provide suitable analytic tools to track the traffic received by the website, the website owner should track the visits with the help of third party tracking software like Google Analytics. The software will track and report the visits, the referral source and the visitor's demographics.

4. Specify the guaranteed traffic, minimum and maximum

The traffic provider should specify in the agreement whether or not he is going to provide guaranteed traffic. They must also make it clear whether the targeted traffic will be based on specific demographics. The agreement must be transparent with regard to minimum and maximum restrictions, type of the traffic and how the traffic will be generated by the traffic provider.

5. Beware of the fact that conversion is not guaranteed

The online businessman must be well aware of the fact that though the traffic provider guarantees to provide traffic to the visit there is no guarantee for sales and conversion. It is very important that one should deal with a reliable and reputed firm for buying website traffic so that there will not be any bogus visitors or fraudulent clicks.

6. Find out how the traffic is directed

The website owner who wants to buy traffic from a traffic provider should ensure that there is no mystery regarding how the traffic is directed into his website. While purchasing website traffic the online businessman must strictly avoid the traffic providers who make use of the service of paid individuals who pretend as customers and click on the website, automated traffic services, domains that are expired and also domain redirects.

7. Say "no" to untargeted traffic

In all probability, the untargeted visitor is unlikely to be interested in the products offered by the website so that he is not going to be a customer. The traffic provider should assure to provide traffic according to the requirements and demographics of the online businessman who wants to buy the traffic for his website. Only the targeted visitor will be a potential customer for the website.

8. Traffic provider must reveal the ad format he uses

The website owner should know in clear terms whether he pays for a fixed ad space, pop-up ad space, text/image ad space, animated ad space or any other type of ad space. It must be an affordable ad space with competitive pay-per-click or pay-per-view.

9. Do not buy traffic in haste

The website owner must be sure about the suitability of buying traffic for his business. Because of the particular line of business, the website may be unable to get targeted visitors. In such cases, the businessman should abstain from wasting his time and money for buying website traffic.

Lisa Longport is a contributing writer for: http://www.purchase-traffic.com, a website traffic provider.