How can I increase traffic flow to my website? I just started a small business and need more exposure in phily
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Tagged with: google • jobs • philadelphia • traffic
Filed under: Increase Website Traffic
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In am in agreement with another forum member who believes the use of Flash was unfortunately at this time, since the majority of your audience are home-based Net subscribers still using dial-up telephone services. These are not necessarily people who are patient enough for the slow downloading of your Flash images to completion. Perhaps a redesign of your webpages is in order to eliminate needless Flash images and maintain the HTML integrity of this site, if at all possible.
In the meantime, here’s a step-by-step review of your current website, beginning with your opening webpage along with suggested improvements.
A. <title>THE HUNK OF JUNK</title>
Improvements: Understandably, the Title is your domain name. However, it needs more specific direction and where’s the location of your business site? The Title must be site specific. Here’s an improved Title:
<title>Junk Construction Yard Residential Commercial Hauling Removal – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania</title>
B. <META NAME="description" CONTENT="The Hunk of Junk, we haul away just about anything">
Improvements: Don’t use a reference to a domain name within a Description. Here’s an improved Description:
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="We provide junk removal for homes, businesses, offices, real estate agencies and contractors">
C. <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="junk hauling, junk removal, junk services, trash services, garbage, hauling, junk, appliance removal, furniture removal">
Improvements: Do not load duplicate entries. Here’s an improved KEYWORDS:
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="junk, trash, garbage, appliance, furniture, hauling, removal, services">
Hopefully, you can incorporated the above-referenced improvements into your webpages — in a timely fashion. And as a consequence, your website will attract increased numbers of web visitors and enjoy a stable income.
Good luck!
Getting traffic is a combination of a lot of things. The key to success is to create great content that visitors want to use, search engines will love and other websites will naturally link to. Of course, it’s easier said than done.
If you are already using Adwords, make sure to review your keywords regularly to see which ones are working, or becoming too expensive. Also get listed in as many local directories as you can.
Here are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible:
1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement – if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.
2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important — and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more – that’s additional traffic that you get for FREE!
Recommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Big Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
CGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/
Hostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Site_Recommendation/index.html
3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.
If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com’s "Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day." http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm
4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.
http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/
5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.
Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481
6. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:
Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/...
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/
You could have posted the link here along with your question, so we could look.
There are many other ways to drive traffic to your website. The most important thing is that your site must be full of useful, up to date content that people want to visit. Here is an article called ‘top tips on driving traffic to your site’. http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Article.aspx?id=515
Hope it helps.
There are many different ways to get high quality targeted traffic but the most cost-effective one is by far search engine optimization.
The search engine optimization techniques are so important because the best kind of http://bit.ly/bymvXb” target = “_blank” rel = “dofollow”>http://bit.ly/bymvXb” target = “_blank” rel = “dofollow”>website traffic by far is going to be search engine traffic.
This type of traffic is traffic who is highly targeted and because of that not only are they going to be interested in reading what you have to say but they are also going to be more interested in buying whatever you have to offer.
We have a huge database of SEO articles, proven small business marketing strategies at:
http://affordable-search-engine-optimization-services.com/seo-newsletters.html
Happy reading!
Serge
SEO Consultant
http://affordable-search-engine-optimization-services.com/
Unfortunately the fourth year student who designed your website has not completed that part of the course that deals with emarketing. Maybe it is not even part of the course.
The site has been designed in Flash and no business that is serious about promoting their website in the search engines should ever use it http://www.seo-blog.com/flash.php
Get him to redo the site without Flash using external style sheets (CSS) following the guiding principles in this tutorial http://www.seo-blog.com/tutorial.php
Buy him a copy of Designing With Web Standards, 2nd edition by Jeffrey Zeldman and buy yourself a copy of Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug.
These two books alone will save your web designers career and your business on the web.
Good luck!
All the lengthy stuff above is good, but everyone seems to overlook the most obvious things for small businesses:
Plaster your Web address on EVERYTHING – tie in your traditional advertising, put it on everything you have that drives, mails, hands-out, etc.
Make your Website the focus of your flyer advertising – and increase the content on your site to answer the most common questions about your services – especially customer testimonials. Think of your site as the ultimate brochure – it costs less than 4-color glossy brochures and can be updated to reflect seasonal needs/trends, etc.
Adwords and such don’t work for every business. Most would be better off using the same $$ on more traditional marketing and using the visit to the Web site as the expected outcome.
You need to understand how people **may** find you and then get into that stream – think yellow pages online, small ads in local interest Web sites, ads in neighborhood newspapers/Web sites.
You may be over expecting something from the Web that won’t happen. Take a look at what your competition is doing.