My traffic this month has started spectacularly. I have set a goal this year to
double the number of page views to my website. Last year I had
470,000 page views. This year I am shooting for (I place my
little pinky next to the side of my mouth ala Dr.Evil from the Austin Power's
movies ) 1 million page views. So far for the month of January my numbers are
definitely up. They could be a little higher, but they are very strong.
What is the difference this year? I think it is a combination of these 8
traffic generators that I can't live without. These eight magic traffic dynamos
are bringing a basket full of knowledge hungry readers to my website each day.
Are you using all these sources to drive traffic to your website?
Google
You need to optimize your website so the search engine spiders like to visit.
You can find out more about optimizing your web pages for Google by reading my
article the
Secrets of SEO.
The search engines send me 64% of my traffic each month. The amount of traffic
that I am getting from the search engines can be improved. There are still
pages that could be better optimized. There are a number of pages and search
terms and phrases that consistently are in the top 5 searches on the SERPs.
(Search Engine Results Pages.)
As I try to average 83,000 page views a month, I need to create more pages and
to optimize them for Google, Yahoo, Live and MSN. The other search engines have
specific search engine optimization methods and techniques that I need to
implement. From the 11 sources of search engine traffic I receive, Google
commands 88% of the visitors.
Entrecard
The biggest find of 2007 and something that has totally re-engergized me and my
website is
Entrecard. The simple act of dropping virtual business cards has
opened my vision to new possibilities. I have new visitors stopping by
everyday. I have developed rss readers who wait anxiously for my newest
article. But, I feel like I am becoming part of a community of active bloggers
with a desire to share information and influence others with their thoughts and
words.
Entrecard has been a great new traffic generator for me. I receive traffic from
Entrecard users clicking on my card in the Entrecard dashboard. I have traffic
coming from links created by Entrecard users on their own sites to my pages. I
have my virtual business card driving traffic to my site when I advertise on
other Entrecard web sites.
Entrecard became my number two source of traffic in less than a month. They
have been bringing me readers, commentors and rss feed subscibers. Plus, they
have led to the creation of my number 3 source of traffic ...
StumbleUpon
When I first added
StumbleUpon to my website, I thought it would be cool and some
strangers would just randomly find my pages. I expected to receive 2 to 5 new
views everyday. Then I wrote an article titled
Ten Things To Make Your Blog Successful in 2008. Little did I
realize the traffic that would be generated by that article. It was amazing as
I looked at the page traffic numbers the first day and saw 50 readers had seen
the article. That was pretty high for one day. Then about 5 hours later that
number had jumped to 300 readers in a single day.
To say I was jumping for joy and was ecstatic would be an understatement. I was
thrilled, but unprepared for what was to occur over the next 72 hours. Within 3
days, over 2,800 people had read my article. That is the power of Stumbling an
article. Like I said, StumbleUpon is now my 3rd highest traffic producer and I
can't live without it. Go ahead take a moment and Stumble this article right
now. But, only if you like it.
Because of the power of Stumbling, I have made it one of my goals for this year
to Stumble 5 articles a day as I surf the web and read good articles. I
especially do it for my Entrecard community. I may read 50 articles a day, but
I truly only Stumble exceptional well written blog articles.
AdToll
AdToll is an advertising firm that has developed an excellent core of
advertisers and publishers. I was amazed when one of the first ads I placed on
their interface returned over 60,000 page views in one day and I received over
60 qualified visitors. Their prices are low, their interface is easy to use and
their advertisers and publishers deliver exceptional value for your advertising
dollars.
Project Wonderful
I just started with this advertising firm in the last 10 days, but I see a lot
of potential with these guys. Their interface is rather confusing, but they
deliver a fine value and I am actually receiving some pretty good traffic. You
can actually still get some advertising out their for free.
Commenting
This is a traffic igniter that I still need to refine. This is really hard
work, but it can produce big benefits. After you read an article take the time
to write a short but relevant comment to the article. The author of the article
will love you for it. Your comments could initiate a chain of comments between
you, the author and other readers.
Many comments add value to the original article. Many blogs allow you to
comment and add a link to your name. If you comment often on the same blogs
then you may receive traffic to your web site. People are curious. They might
say, "Who is this person that is always coming up with these insightful
comments?" Then they click your link and are transported to your wonderful
blog. Where hopefully they become active members of your community.
Forums
Forums are another form of commenting. You can initiate the article. You can
take polls. You can provide information to other members of the forum
community. This is like being at a big party. As you wander around the party
you begin to strike up conversations with the people at the party. If you are a
person of interest then others will gravitate to you. You will become a trusted
member of the party and you will get people coming to your web site to find out
more about you.
rssFeeds - FeedBurner
Once you get people to visit your web site or blog once, then ideally you can
get them to come back again and again. You do that with
pull technology and RSS feeds. This is software that lets
previous visitors know when you have published a new article. This will become
your direct traffic. Traffic that comes back to your site again and again with
very little prompting on your part.
If they sign up for your rss feed, (it is real easy to sign up), then they
liked something about your web site or blog. Was it your photo? Could it be
your writing style? Or even the content in your articles? There is something
that draws them to want to read more of your work. Once you get them to sign up
you have to continue to do what ever it was that piqued their interest. Blog
regularly, Blog often and Blog intelligently.
So there it is. The 8 traffic generators I can't live without. These are the
core eight that will increase my page views to 1 million views in 2008. I have
a long way to go. There were no months last year where I surpassed 83,000 page
views. This year I need to average that amount. I have made a great start this
year. Mid way through the month of January and I am already over 30,000 page
views. I will double last year's views for January. As I follow these magic 8
traffic keys, then it will be a great year.
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