Evergreen, High-Value Content Keeps ‘Em Coming

There are many different ways to drive traffic to your site.  Some of them can bring in a large wave of visitors quickly but don’t do much for the long-term viability of your project.  Others don’t create those massive influxes but can actually help you out more than the big traffic explosions.

That’s why everyone should make a point of including the production and publication of high quality, evergreen content as part of an overall traffic plan.

Quality?  Absolutely.  People are more likely to return to your site and to link to your site (which has both direct traffic flow and SEO value) if you’re giving them something into which they can really sink their teeth.  People love discovering strong resources that offer real information in an organized and logical manner.  If you can give people what they really want (and can really use), you’ll reap the benefits for an extended period of time.

Evergreen?  Of course.  Some content is red hot and valuable, but only for a short time.  For instance, you could be the go-to site for information about the current Hamas/Israel conflaguration and that could drive a ton of traffic to your site.  When things settle down, or circumstances change, you’re not going to get a lot of attention.  The person who has great content outlining the history underlying tensions, on the other hand, will continue to secure visitors long after the “news” has changed.  It’s the difference between being an encyclopedia and a newspaper.  Be an encyclopedia some of the time.  Provide timeless information that’s going to have real value over the long run.

It’s easy to get caught up in one-off traffic generation strategies.  You can easily find yourself spending most of your time chasing the next big wave of traffic.  In the meantime, webmasters who’ve concentrated on providing high-quality, evergreen material are going to enjoy consistent and, in the long run, greater visitor numbers.

When a Picture is Worth a Thousand Visitors - Getting Traffic from Google Image Search

It’s amazing.  Everyone and his or her dog is fighting like mad over search engine traffic yet almost all of them are neglecting one of the best ways to grab visitors via Google.  Images.

More specifically, we’re referring to traffic generated via Google Image searches.  More and more people are using Google to find photos and it’s not that hard to take advantage of that fact.  Competition for image traffic is jaw-droppingly low and one can develop a steady stream of visitors with relatively little effort.

We’re not talking about junk traffic here, either.  Smart, experienced users will often use image search to find products in which they’re interested.  If you’re ranking high for an appropriate image, you can secure some highly-targeted and highly-motivated traffic.

So, how do you start brining in the visitors via image searches?  Here are a few pointers to get you started:

Use images.  Unless you have a good reason not to do so, try to use images with regularity.  If you’re targeting a niche or demographic that tends to use dial-up or that has a natural disdain for images, this might not be a good idea.  Likewise if the use of visuals will muddy up your design to the point where it begins to interfere with usability.  In most other cases, though, it’s easy to integrate visuals into a web page or blog post.  If you want image search traffic, you gotta have images!

Use alt tags.  Not only are alt tags good in terms of usability, they’re also very good in terms of generating image search traffic.  When you’re coding your pages, take the time to insert that alternate text for every photo used.  This will help Google to clue in to the subject matter of the picture, improving your shot at snagging a good rankings for image queries.

Use good file names.  Your pics should be given descriptive names.  You might still get some image traffic from that file named pic0001-83763.jpg, but your odds are a lot better if the file name actually reflects the image’s content.

Use the right text around the picture.  Google will look at surrounding text as a means of determining graphical content’s subject matter.  If you’re writing the right things around an image, you can dramatically improve your odds of ranking highly for image searches related to that text.

And that’s really just the beginning.  Take a look at these nineteen ways to optimize your site for Google image searches for some additional direction.

Cyber Monday Hits

Now that ‘cyber Monday’ is past, it’s a good time to evaluate how well you did and start planning for next year. It’s also a good time to capitalize on the next 25 days of December!

That’s right - start planning for the rest of December Read more

‘Tis the Season

‘Black Friday’ exceeded the expectations of many while dashing the hopes of other retailers.The Friday after Thanksgiving in the U.S., which is typically the first day that many retailers see black instead of red in their profits, is typically the day with the highest number of shoppers and sales than any other time of the year. Retailers gear up for the big day months in advance and with today’s economy, the promotional ads and sales were plentiful.

But ‘Black Friday’ can also be a big boon to online Read more

‘Dig’ This!

Today could be one of the best times to use social networks to drive traffic to your website. More and more people are turning to social networks for information, product reviews, and product recommendations. There are literally hundreds of social networking sites, many organized by subject matter or area of interest. Of course, Twitter, Facebook, and Digg are household names when it comes to social networks.

Your social network community can Read more

Optimize PLR Content

I was reminded the other day about the value of private label rights (PLR) when it comes to ensuring consistent updates and refreshing website content. Many of us take it for granted, but it’s worth a reminder to many people as well. PLR material is a great way to have a huge amount of content available at your fingertips for little or no cost.

But there is a secret to using PLR!

Don’t forget that people want fresh new content. They don’t want a rehash of something they’ve already read or a duplicate of other website content. That makes PLR challenging, while still valuable. Here are some tips that will help you capitalize on PLR content and increase the traffic to your website by consistently providing updated and fresh content: Read more

Go Offline for Online Traffic

There are many well-known strategies for getting traffic to come to your website. Many of these online strategies are common sense such as unique content, consistently updated content, appropriate use of keywords and keyword phrases in headlines and article content, and other ideas.

Another way to increase traffic to your site has nothing to do with onsite promotion. Yes, that’s right. It’s possible to increase traffic to your website through offline promotion too. You can include your URL and basic information in any type of offline advertisement. That includes the use of radio, TV, billboards, bumper stickers, brochures, and other written materials.

Also, don’t overlook the value of including your advertisements on clothing. Many successful online marketers have Read more

Pull and Push Traffic

I was talking with a successful online marketer the other day and the subject of website traffic naturally came up. In our discussions, I asked him what the number 1 mistake he felt most online entrepreneurs make when it comes to attracting traffic. That’s where he became passionate!

“The problem with traffic generation is that most people try to ‘pull’ traffic to their websites and they neglect the importance of ‘pushing’ traffic to their sites”. His point was well taken since there is a big difference in passive marketing and active marketing. Passive marketing attempts to pull traffic. Active marketing tends to Read more

7 Things Not to do with Website Content

When you’re thinking about content management, think about what you should NOT do as much as about what you should do. Visitors and customers have an expectation of what they want and it’s your job to give it to them. This is the best way to increase traffic to your website and engage your visitors more effectively.

Consider these ideas of what NOT to do when Read more

Traffic Monetization Tips

We’re all interested in monetizing our website and growing our business. Did you know you can monetize the traffic that travels across your site too?

Monetizing your advertising efforts is a smart way to increase your revenue-producing potential. Including those advertisements on your website can also enhance your value to your visitors and customers when you use relevant advertisements.

You probably already know about affiliate advertising and are likely using this strategy to monetize your website. Affiliate advertising is simply the process of including an advertisement on your website and then receiving money for the promotion. Those small block ads and banners that advertise products and services are affiliate ads and Amazon.com was one of the first to make them popular.

Since your payment is based on the Read more

Next Page »