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June 25, 2006
NOT!
I wish I had a dollar for every web site that's been built hoping to make the owner a few bucks, yet never generated any income all, or not enough income to cover the hosting charges.
Perhaps you've said: "If My Web Site Looked Better I'd make more money online":
I've read research that proves "ugly" web sites can actually produce more sales than web sites that are pretty and professionally designed. This is true when selling products that don't cost a great deal. A web site that is "ugly" or looks like a small business or an individual created it, conveys a sense of trust that a slick, large company web site may not. This is because people naturally trust an individual, more than they trust a corporation.
The fact is that no matter how nice a web site you build, you have to drive traffic to your web site. You have to prime the pump so to speak. If you have a really good product or service, you'll get some "word of mouth" advertising from your satisfied visitors or customers, however, you still need to do more to get traffic, enough traffic to make a profit.
How do I get Traffic to my web site?
There's a lot of hype out there about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to tweak or trick out your site to get better search engine placement (being listed on the first page of the results when someone searches for what you offer). The best advice is to be honest, don't try to fool the search engines with whatever the current "formula" is that's being touted. Offer something of value and describe it well.
Some ideas that work...
Have a "Refer A Friend" function on your site that allows someone to enter in their email address and a friends email address and your site will then send their friend an email inviting them to visit your site. Plus, you'll have added an email address or two to your database of email addresses that you can send a follow up email to at a later date.
Like the "Refer A Friend" concept above, you should have a sign up form on your site to allow someone to give you their email address so that you can send them information and offers.
If you're selling a product that doesn't cost too much, you can have a contest that gives away one, two, or a few of the items each month. This could be a drawing from the email addresses you've collected.
This next suggestion is one that I've seen sold in eBooks, but here it is for free: if you give something away to someone who was referred to your site by the "Refer A Friend" program, then give the person that referred the winners name to you the same prize! If you do this, be sure to let people know by putting on your site that "If you Refer A Friend and they win the monthly drawing, then you'll automatically win the same prize."
Write a press release about your site, product, or service and send it out using a service such as www.prweb.com.
Write and submit articles to ezines, web sites, and article directories that accept articles. Your article should be about your sites product or service and should contain a link back to your site. The more articles you get published, the more inbound links you'll have to your site and the better you'll place in search engine rankings and therefore more people will find your site. Look at the tools I've listed in the left column for some tools that help with article creation and submission.
Create an article directory on your site. If you fill it with valid content, it will generate traffic from search engines.
Create a blog on your site, again, if you fill it with valid content, people will find it.
Exchange links with other sites: Look at the tools I've listed in the left column for some tools that help with this.
You can also purchase ads on sites that you think would have the type of traffic that may be interested in your product or service, however this can be expensive and not within the budget of a lot of small companies or individuals. However, you can purchase an ad for a very reasonable amount on someone's blog. Blogs are very specific in their topic and therefore their readers, so advertising on a blog can be used with pinpoint accuracy to reach your target market. Use a service such as www.blogads.com, or find some blogs on your own and contact the owners about advertising on their blog. I've used this method successfully and for a few hundred dollars you can generate some very good traffic.
So as you can see, the claims of "Instant Wealth" by "Internet Marketing Gurus" is somewhat overblown. Yes, with proper Internet marketing you can make money online. Yes, the possibilities ARE almost limitless, but it requires sharp skills in several areas, sharp internet savvy and some plain hard work. You can build something that can make you a fortune, but you have to know how to get traffic to your site before that's going to happen!
Check out my course on getting setup to sell online: http://www.InternetMakeMoneyOnline.com for help on how to do it the right way!
Good Luck!
Fred Black
About the Author
Fred Black is an experienced online business operator, programmer, web site developer, father, husband, musician, and songwriter. Visit his Internet Business Blog at: http://www.pqInternet.com.
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Posted by Fred on June 25, 2006 | Printer-Friendly
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