Pro Business Tips

4 Proven Traffic Building Strategies with Social Media

Social is a cornerstone of any audience development and traffic-driving strategy. You can use it to build your business in a myriad of ways:

• Communicate site updates on Twitter and Facebook to encourage fans and followers to check out your site to see new product features and new content
• Drive traffic via calls to action, such as newsletter sign-ups, special offers, commenting, and contests
• Syndicate site content to social media venues like Twitter and Facebook
• Increase engagement time and site "stickiness" by adding Facebook commenting and other "social widgets"

Here are a couple of greats resources to get started:

http://developers.facebook.com

http://twitter.com/about/resources

The 5 Rules of Traffic Building Link Exchanges

There's probably no more proven way to generate traffic than via link exchanges. This is where you promote a site with a link in exchange for the same on a partner site. 

There are many places where you can put this link list, such as a Resources or Partners link list.

But before you approach a webmaster or blogger for a link exchange, it's important to keep the following in mind:

1. Avoid using canned emails. Nothing is a bigger turn off to bloggers than an auto-generated email (or one that lacks any personal touches).
2. Know who you are talking to. Just as bad is being pitched to by someone who gets your business or personal details wrong. For example, if someone approached me and said they love Pro Shopping Tips and can't wait to do a link exchange. Get the person’s name, business, and URL right.  
3. Keep it your pitch brief; it shouldn't be longer than 2-3 paragraphs. Make a quick introduction and then get to the point. Make sure you include the URL to where your link list will be. Also, you will really get their attention if you compliment them on something they've they’ve recently written or a new product feature.
4. Highlight the benefits of link exchange - it’ll have more chance of success if there’s something in it for the partner you’re pitching to. Clearly outline what you’re asking for and how it will your prospective partner.
5. Be polite. An obvious point but you'd be surprised how many people actually turn requests into demands.

The 3 Tactics That Kill Search Engine Optimization

In the previous post, 5 Effective Search Engine Optimization Strategies, I looked at the best SEO tactics. But it's just as important to consider things that can hurt your best efforts to improve your search engine ranking.

1. Consider the trade-off between readability and a post stuffed with keywords that appear like little more than spam and will be penalized by Google as such. 
2. Avoid duplicate content as much as possible. Google can penalize you for writing about basically a rehashed version of a previous post that you wrote or appeared elsewhere. This is because a classic tactic of some spammers is to repackage or steal content from other sites.
3. Don't be verbose in your post. Generally speaking 1000 words is the absolute most you should post and many think that 250-500 words is a better target. Most of my posts are even shorter than that because of that's a core mission of the site.

5 Effective Search Engine Optimization Strategies

You hear and read a lot of different things about what constitutes effective ways to optimize your site for search engines. Here are five proven winners.

1. Effective Titles - For most people using an Internet search engine like Yahoo! or Google, there is very little to go on except for the title, maybe a short excerpt, and your domain name/URL, so make sure you have an effective title that speaks accurately to what your post is about.
2. Granular Posts - Focused, single-issue topics help search engines easily digest what the topic is about and this can help your ranking. The same principle is why niche blogs tend to be more successful in search engine results than general interest ones.
3. Relevant Keywords - It's good to try and place subject-relevant keywords in your title and throughout your post.
4. Internal Linking - There are some SEO benefits (and certainly traffic benefits) to linking to other relevant or related posts within your blog.
5. Inbound Links - SEO can be improved with things, such as inbound links from sites that are:

• Highly ranked
• Relevant to your topic
• Use relevant and searched-for keywords

Related Posts

• Traffic Building Strategies Using External Commenting
• Blogging and SEO
• The 4 Most Important Types of Blog Posts

Marketing with Google AdWords

Google's AdWords is the default paid advertising vehicle of choice for many members of the blogosphere. I've used it pretty effectively on some other products but it takes a lot of practice and trial and error. You can certainly open an account and do some investigation but I don't recommend that you do much more than that because you can get fleeced very quickly, if you aren't sure what you are doing.

But the point to understand is that Google Adwords is part of the core tool-set of traffic building strategies many blogs use. So while we're not going to cover it detail yet, it's something you should consider once you get some traction, traffic, and revenue. 

If you are keen to dabble, I recommend that you head over to the Adwords Beginner's Guide first.

Google's AdWords is the default paid advertising vehicle of choice for many members of the blogosphere. I've used it pretty effectively on some other products but it takes a lot of practice and trial and error. You can certainly open an account and do some investigation but I don't recommend that you do much more than that because you can get fleeced very quickly, if you aren't sure what you are doing.

But the point to understand is that Google Adwords is part of the core tool-set of traffic building strategies many blogs use. So while we're not going to cover it detail yet, it's something you should consider once you get some traction, traffic, and revenue. 

If you are keen to dabble, I recommend that you head over to the Adwords Beginner's Guide first.

Widgets and Plug-ins for Your Blog

Widgets and plug-ins are self-contained little applications that add functionality to a Web site or blog. These include interactive polls, search, RSS, and tag clouds. Most of the major blogging platforms offer these for free. For example:

• Wordpress Plugins
• Typepad Widgets
• Blogger Widgets

If you want to see zillions of free widgets that can be used no matter what site software you use, head over to WidgetBox for the largest offering on the Web.

But don't get carried away adding widgets. They can clutter your page and make it slow to load. Also, make sure the widgets are consistent with your topic. It may take some testing and discarding before you find one that works with your niche.

Traffic Building Strategies with RSS

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an XML-based format for content distribution. If you click on the orange RSS icon in the "Stay in Touch" section to the far right on this blog, you will an example of it that allows you to subscribe to this blog's content.

The advantage for a subscriber of this type of content is that it saves users from having to come to your site to find a new content. That's because the RSS feed fetches new content automatically and serves as a reminder of the content you are creating. But, if the content is compelling, this should encourage future visits to your site and drive loyal traffic.

Most blog providers like Typepad, Blogger, and Wordpress feature RSS--and therefore the ability to syndicate your content--as standard fare or as a free, easily integrated option. Take advantage of it.

Traffic Building Strategies Using External Commenting

There are many types of traffic building strategies a publisher can pursue to bring users to their site. In this series, I'm going to discuss the most popular ones. Let's starting with commenting on an external site. Make sure to include your name (and/or company name) and a link back to your site in the applicable area of the comments box. Why?

• Readers of that blog might see your comment and be interested in learning more by clicking on the link that leads to your site.
• Search engines will also spider your comment content and your comment will appear in search results, which may garner clicks.
• You will also get some mild SEO benefits since Google's algorithms rewards in-bound, quality links--even if they are your own comments pointing back at your site.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the best-kept secrets that Google has in its product portfolio and it's a great thing to know about if you are serious about making money online.

It's free to sign-up and provides all sorts of useful information about who your users are, where they come from, and how they engage with your blog or website.

And best of all, you just cut-and-paste a small piece of code into your site to make Google Analytics work for you.

 

Making Money Blogging

Blogging can directly and indirectly make money and I will dig into these in more detail in future posts but here are a few benefits:

1. Fame - A successful blog will build your visibility in business or a niche.
2. Contacts - Blogs an excellent networking tool. A popular blog will put you in touch with all sorts of interesting and influential people.
3. Credibility - Over time, you can become an expert on an issue which can lead to a plethora of opportunities from freelance blogging to book deals to consulting engagements.
4. Sales and Marketing - You can turn your blog into a marketing vehicle for your e-commerce store or even directly sell stuff right on your blog.
5. Traffic - Blogs are proven way to generate traffic, which is the holy grail for advertisers. This is how many blog sites are supported. In fact, search engines love blogs. Why? Check back tomorrow.