5 Free Ways to
Increase Traffic to your Online Store
So you’ve finally created a website for your small online
store! Now you think, “How do I get people to visit my
site?” If you’re like most new website owners, you wonder
how to bring potential customers to your site without
spending lots of money on expensive advertising. In order
to help you, I’ve compiled a small list of five methods
that I have used to drastically increase traffic to my own
site. I’ve also listed two websites under each tip that
will help you get started implementing these suggestions.
1. Offer a freebie or a contest for your items: One of
main reasons that people use the Internet is to find free
(or cheaper) stuff. If you offer a freebie or contest for
one of your items, then you are likely to attract potential
customers. To get maximum exposure for your freebie or
contest, you should register with as many “free stuff
sites” as possible. Here are a couple of sites which would
be a good starting point: http://www.thefreesite.com and
http://www.realfreesite.com.
2. Link to similar websites: A popular method used by
webmasters to increase web traffic is to swap links with
comparable websites. However, the trick to maximizing the
effectiveness of linking is to find sites with a minimum
Google PageRank, which is a system which Google uses to
judge the importance of each webpage, of 3 or 4. To find
out more information about PageRank, click here:
http://toolbar.google.com/ . To find good linking
partners, check out these two link partner directories:
http://www.links-pal.com/ and http://www.gotop.com/.
3. Join an internet discussion group: People also
frequently use the Internet to find places where they share
common interests with other individuals, which has led to
the creation of Internet discussion groups. You can use
discussion groups to introduce yourself and your product.
Find a group that is related to your store or personal
interest, and make sure any topic that you post is tied
into a current discussion. Don’t SPAM any discussion group
with an obvious sales pitch. Simply write comments
applicable to both the group and your product; people will
naturally want to know more about you! Two great listings
of potential starting points for discussion groups are:
http://groups.yahoo.com/ and http://topica.com/.
4. Post your product or service on a free classified ad
page: Although many websites only have paid inclusion into
their classified ads, many offer a free place where you are
allowed to advertise your merchandise. If you spend time
developing an interesting headline or ad, you can bring in
a steady amount of traffic from these sites. To get
started on free classifieds, you can use my own free
service http://www.mizambar.com/classified.html . In
addition, the following link has a directory of tons of
free classified services: http://www.ecki.com/links/.
5. Write an article related to your website and submit it
to ezines: By writing an article about your service or a
topic related to your website, you instantly become an
authority on your issue. Although you might have some
apprehension about writing, if you have a website, then you
probably have something to talk about. Two great
directories on ezines are: http://freezineweb.com/ and
http://www.ezinelocater.com .
By following these steps, you should see a dramatic
increase in your web traffic. The key is to always think
about website promotion--if you spend a little time each
day following one of these steps, you will be rewarded with
more visitors and hopefully more customers. Good luck, and
happy advertising!
P.S. Stay tuned for more free ways to increase traffic to
your website!
----------------------------------------------------
Scott Patterson is the owner and webmaster of
http://www.mizambar.com, a retail site of Evil Eye Jewelry,
and http://www.onlinestoreexchange.com , a directory of
tips and advice to help you with website design and
website promotion for your online store. For more
information, email him at scott@mizambar.com
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