| The method to making money on the Internet (without | | | | 2) An Internet marketing site offers up the results of |
| being an e-tailer) is no secret: get traffic and then | | | | online marketing experiments, one or two a month. |
| monetize that traffic through advertising. | | | | Visitors will return to see the results of new |
| Such a smug, simplistic statement, offered by those | | | | experiments. |
| who already have well trafficked sites, doesn't give | | | | 3) A coupon site posts new coupons and specials |
| much insight into the process of actually getting the | | | | every day. Visitors return to check out the new |
| traffic. | | | | coupons. |
| As the next question to these web entrepreneurs - | | | | Regardless of the focus of your site, here are a |
| How do I get and keep traffic? - and you get similarly | | | | additional things you can offer on your site to |
| non-specific response: give visitors something they | | | | encourage your visitors to return: |
| want. | | | | Investment and Interaction in the community |
| But what do visitors want? That's the true question, | | | | Let the visitor help build the community. Doing so gives |
| and the one that keep web developers building site | | | | him or her an investment in it and keeps them coming |
| after site after site in the hopes of launching the | | | | back to contribute. That's why forums work and why |
| newest Internet success story. | | | | you find comment functionality on blogs and review |
| In this article, I'm going to discuss a little bit about the | | | | sites. If you involve your visitors, you can keep them |
| theory behind generating and growing traffic. Contrary | | | | coming back, even if it's just to see replies to their |
| to what that seasoned old webmaster might tell you, it | | | | comment or post. |
| has nothing to do with SEO. | | | | A useful service |
| The secret to growing web site traffic is repeat traffic. | | | | If you provide some sort of service that visitors find |
| Duh, you might be saying. What sort of secret is that? | | | | useful, they will come back to use it. Search, calendar, |
| A secret everyone knows, but not many people seem | | | | price comparison, traffic tracking, free eCards, dating..... |
| to actually consider. Most webmasters tend to focus | | | | the list is endless. It can be hard, however, to get |
| on search engine optimization and link building, but word | | | | people to switch from whatever current service they |
| of mouth and 'buzz' is the best sort of marketing you | | | | are using. So if you go this route, you're going to have |
| can get. It's the traditional 'and they told two friends, | | | | to add something new or different to the service to |
| and they told two friends, and so on and so on....' | | | | encourage people to try it. |
| Consider: which would you rather have? A visitor who | | | | Unique Information |
| finds you in the search engine results, clicks, gets what | | | | If you provide new information visitors are interested in |
| he or she wants and never comes back? Or a visitor | | | | on a regular basis (blogs!), they will come back to read |
| who heard from a friend who heard from a friend | | | | it. Another way to make information unique is to |
| who visits your site, bookmarks it, and then tells his or | | | | aggregate it (pull together information on a single topic |
| her friends about it? That type visitor is much, much | | | | from multiple sites). Lastly, you can offer information |
| more valuable than the first. | | | | that can't be gotten elsewhere, but given the current |
| If your site gets repeat traffic, then over time your | | | | state of the Internet, it could be hard to find that type |
| traffic will keep going up. But what can you do to get | | | | of info. |
| repeat traffic? | | | | There are certainly more things a user wants, but I |
| Give visitors something they want on a recurring basis. | | | | consider these to be the main three. |
| That is, they have to want it more than once. | | | | Remembers, don't build for the dollar, build the users. If |
| Examples: | | | | you get enough users, the dollars will come on their |
| 1) A movie review site posts two new reviews every | | | | own! |
| week. Visitors will return to read the new reviews. | | | | |