The 3 Star Rating Traffic Generation Report

Generating traffic for your website, albeit challenging, can become easier over time if you put a plan into effect.  There are tons of tactics at your disposal, but the key to being successful with it is to try different tactics and see which works best for you.

I’ve compiled a list of various ideas and have rated them according to popularity and overall usefulness.  Keep in mind you may have to re-evaluate the star rating system to reflect your industry.  This is not a one size fits all system.

For your convenience, you can access and download the pdf version of this report here.

Report Legend:

Highly effective

Moderately effective

Fairly effective

The 3 Star Traffic Generation Report

Create Great Content

Creating great content will always be one of your greatest ammunition in not only to help you drive traffic to your site but to also help elicit repeat visits.  Offering exceptional content/products is the driving force for any website.  You can implement all traffic generating tactics listed below, but without great content to retain your visitors, all would be in vain.

Key Tip: Although the content you are sharing may not always be “new”, your view of the content is. So always strive to put your own unique spin on something to keep the content fresh.

Paid Advertisement

Paid advertising can be a very effective means of also driving “targeted” traffic to your website if your advertisement campaigns are set up strategically.  Much care needs to be put into this medium when setting up campaigns. Also, setting up metrics on the onset in order to measure your progress will be helpful as it can prove to be a costly tactic.

Although Google Adwords is still a major contender with paid advertising, more and more site owners are taking advantage of Facebook advertising due to its low cost/highly targeted advantages.

Key tip: If you plan on experimenting with Google Adwords I would suggest getting ‘Ultimate Guide to Google Ad Words, 2nd Edition: How To Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes’ by Perry Marshall & Bryan Todd. The $15-$20 for this book will possibly save you hundreds of dollars in the long run.

Hosting a Contest

Contests are beneficial on many different levels.  Contests promote social sharing, excitement and are effective means of creating a “buzz” for your website. Be sure to be clear about the purpose of the contest, the contest rules, the prize(s) being offered as well as giving people ample time to participate.

Also, if you are hosting the contest on a third party site such as Facebook, make sure to abide by their terms & conditions concerning contests.  Check out third party apps such as WildFire and EasyPromos is you are looking to run a contest on Facebook.

Key tip: A powerful strategy in hosting a contest is to encourage social sharing of the contest details by making that a prerequisite to participate in it.

Video Syndication

With the ever growing rise of video views every day, you would be remiss not to take advantage of this powerful tactic in some respect.  YouTube gets hundreds of millions of visits per week! Taking a well thought out video and syndicating it out to multiple video marketing sites via the use of TubeMogul can result in tons of traffic.

Key tip: Creating a great and valuable video is only one part of the equation. If you want to get the most out of possible views you will need to optimize your videos with keywords in your title tags and descriptions.  Also, but sure to include your website link!

Podcast Marketing

Podcasting is becoming and ever growing tool that many site owners are beginning to take advantage of to help broaden their reach and generate more traffic.  Simply creating an audio file (many computers already have a built in sound recorder) and uploading the file to your website, you can start sharing content in yet another dynamic way.

If you are running your website with WordPress, this Codex gets into further detail on how to upload and share your podcast.

Key tip: Utilizing the powerful social aspects of sites such as iTunes as a podcasting client, can expand your reach exponentially. This document gets into further details on how to set up this podcasting client.

Integration Marketing

This method is the sharing of virtual real estate with other site owners. For example, this may be as simple as requesting someone to place your eBook on their thank you page, download pages, etc. In exchange you can return the favor by doing the same or promoting their content via other methods such as sending out emails to your list, placing their link or banner on your website, etc.

Key tip: This is a powerful method of traffic generation so be sure to be strategic with it. Make sure to target joint ventures with like-minded individuals.  As well, make sure that you are well related with your partner and can stand by their products and services since you will be promoting them.

Hosting webinars

Webinars are not only a great way for you to provide value to others but to help drive unique visits to your website. Hosting webinars allow you the opportunity to provide value as well as market your products and services.

Some services to look into:

• Freebinar (free)
• Zipcast (free)
• UStream (free)
• GoToMeeting (paid with 30 day free trial)

Key tip: Offer to do a webinar for a collaborator with a substantial email list size as well as offering webinars to your list.  This will be the key factor in maximizing your efforts using this method.

Setting up Social Networking Accounts

Social Media is currently and will continue to be a powerful tool in traffic generation. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, are just a few of the social networking mediums that if used as it’s intended can drive large amounts of “targeted” traffic to your website.

Key Tip: The key factor in using social media for traffic generation is to really engage and participate within these mediums. Don’t forget the “social” in social media.

Listing your Website with Free Services

Sites such as Google Places, Local.com and Yelp can potentially produce good results in generating website traffic.  These sites get thousands of views daily.  Many people will look to their local markets to seek help; these sites will help you tap into that pool of prospects.

Key tip: To maximize your effort with these site, request other clients or collaborators to rate your services and products, write reviews and share your profiles.

Forum Participation

Depending on your niche, forum participation can be a highly effective way of driving traffic to your site.  Forums are unique mediums in that they consist of a community established around a commonality of issues. Participating in forums with the intention of helping solve another user’s problems will establish you as a leader in your industry. With this recognition comes trust; a powerful force in any business.

Key tip: Forum participation will be most effective if you are a regular member of the community. One post here and there will probably do little for you; it’s the long term commitment that’s going to help you stand out from the crowd.

Networking Events & Meetups

One of the biggest advantages of local networking events and meetups is that you have the opportunity to connect with people related to your industry.  This can result in future collaborations that you may have not had otherwise.

Key tip: Make it your intention to truly connect with a few people as oppose to passing your card to as many people as you can.  The key factor in networking events is ‘in the connections’ as oppose to ‘in the self-promotion’. Also, don’t forget to take business cards and brochures!

Create your own Radio Show

Creating your own radio show is just one other powerful medium in driving targeted traffic to your website.  Blog Talk Radio is one of the most popular mediums today that makes “sharing your voice and growing your audience” simple; and you can easily get started in under a minute with their free package.

Key tip: Radio shows are a huge commitment, so if you plan to use this method, plan your work and work your plan and don’t expect overnight success.

Email Marketing

Email marketing will not only benefit in creating and building a relationship with your following, but also allow you to encourage sharing of your content. And as your email list continues to grow, your reach grows exponentially.

Key tip: Make sure to include a sharing call to action in your emails, such as “please tweet about…” Most email management services allow you to embed social sharing icons in your emails. If that is not the case, utilize services such as ClickToTweet to create promotional tweets to place in your emails.

Another invaluable tool is WiseStamp. This application allows you to add strategic verbiage and social links in your email that can further promote your website.

Create Free Software

Creating an application to be given out freely to the public can be another effective way for you to market your website.  It can potentially draw tons of traffic to your website and at the same time establish you as an expert in your field. Unless you are a programmer, creating a piece of software can be a costly affair. Check out BuildItWith.Me in partnering with someone. This is bootstrapping at its finest!

Key tip: To increase your chances of getting a developer to partner with you, offer a very good compensation package such as 60/40% or 50/50% equity split.

Give away Free Downloadable Publications

Creating and sharing free publications such as eBooks, whitepaper and manifesto’s are a very effective way to get the word out about your website.  You can create new content from scratch to publish or you can collect a multitude of previously published articles, refurbish it and create a publication from it.

Key tip: The power tip for this method is to include your website and social sharing links.  As with Email Marketing, be sure to include a “Share on Twitter” and “Share on Facebook” link at various points in your publication. Once again, check out ClickToTweet for Twitter sharing. For Facebook sharing, create your link using this service link.

Content Syndication

Taking an already published article and leveraging it by converting it into other forms of content sharing forms can potentially produce great traffic results. Check out sites such as:

• Tutorialized – tutorial submissions.
• New-List – submit content to newsletter publishers.
• Free-eBooks & GetFreeEbooks – convert your content into pdf’s and submit them as eBooks.
• Slideshare.net – share slideshow presentations of your content.
• Scribd – Submit your pdf’s to a large community of readers.

Key tip: Some of these sites will require upgrades in order for you to maximize your exposure. Be sure to read thoroughly through FAQ’s and How-to docs to get the most out of these sites.

Link Exchange

Link exchanges will do little for you in terms of ranking; one way exchanges are what you should always strive for. However, one of the benefits to link exchanges is recognition and the opportunity for more eyes on your site.

Key tip: Look to exchange with site that compliments your niche, not ones that are direct competitors or are non-related to your niche.

Blog Commenting

Commenting on blogs and getting related to other site owners and their readers can be a tedious task yet beneficial.  This process although time-consuming and slow to see results, can ultimately generate a fair amount of traffic.

Key tip: The essential thing to remember here is to provide something valuable in your blog comments that will help you stand out from the crowd.  Also, seek out blogs in the same boat as yourself.  You will have a better chance of creating a relationship with other blog owners with similar readership numbers as you.  This is not to say you shouldn’t seek out to comment on popular blogs, just that your chances of creating relationships with site owners of very popular blogs are a bit more challenging.

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