Customers ask me daily how they can advertise their website. It is not terribly difficult, but it does take quite a bit of time and effort. I happen to be from the school of targeted traffic. That is, I'm much more interested in traffic that has a need to view my site, rather than traffic that is generated on a random basis.

To get a site going quickly, I find that pay per click (PPC) works very well. You have to be careful that your revenues are greater than your expenses here though. Once you get started with PPC, it is necessary to constantly tweak it using split-testing techniques to improve your conversion rates.

There are many ways to generate targeted traffic, but some of the best that I have found are:

• Article Marketing
• Blogging
• Email lists
• Social networking and forum participation.

There are a number of  article directories that are worthwhile. Here are a few of the best.

• EzineArticles.com
• Article Alley
• articledashboard.com

Write articles on your subject and link them back to your website.

A blog is a necessity. Try to post to it regularly if not every day. For myself, I find it very difficult to keep it up when I involved in a software project, which is why I haven't posted anything for some time.

Email lists are essential. The best company to handle your list is AWeber. You can setup auto-responders so that your customers hear from you on a regular basis automatically.

As to social networking, you should hook up to digital point forums, Twitter, and as many others as you have time for. It's also good to post to other peoples blogs because the links will point to your website.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008 12:26:07 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]