You have your site into the search engines, but where are all the visitors As a webmaster or site owner, you have probably received the email ads or seen advertisements of guaranteed search engine rankings and more visitors and so on. It sounds really good, until you see the price tag, and the rest of this article. Are there other forms of advertising and better ways to get traffic
Good search engines can do a variety of things for a variety of people. They provide ease when the user is trying to find something online. Without search engines, the internet would not be the same. It would be much more complicated. Now, with all the hype about search engines and the visitors they can bring, Is it possible
First off, any program offering a guaranteed ranking is a scam. Googles search results are based upon PageRank and relevancy. It is an automated process. Google does not have the thousands of people needed to manually set a sites ranking for each individual keyword. Lets examine the term ranking. You site will have a many rankings. It will have a different ranking for every keyword in the site. For instance, if a user searches dog tricks, your site may come up at number seventeen. If you also offer webmaster tools and a user searches adopting a puppy, your site could show up as the four-hundredth site in Googles list. How can an optimization company guarantee a certain ranking They can not! They can guarantee a ranking (every site has a ranking), what that ranking is, no one can tell. Sure, rankings do affect how many visitors you will get through search engines, but the safest way to get those visitors is to offer something unique, have a variety of good content, and use search engine friendly URLs. Do not be fooled by those scams and fake promises. That leads us to the solution, how you can get visitors through search engines.
To get results with search engines, there are three things you must have. The first is good content. If a website is filled with a bunch of banner ads and links, it will not have a good ranking. A website needs meat. It needs content and a focus. Your website can cover a general topic like Computers and Internet (I wouldnt recommend it) but do not try to cover everything on the planet like About.com. Second, your site needs incoming links. These links are not ones you exchange with other companies. Exchanging links can even be harmful. Engines spiders can now detect those and they have next to no relevancy. If a visitor likes you site, they could add a link to you on their site or tell their friend. Another way to gain links is submitting content, which is explained later in the article. Third, make clear what your website is about. Use your keywords (words that tell a user what your site is about) throughout your page. Although some search engines are moving away from Meta tags, you will still want to use them. Choose a descriptive title and write a good description. The keywords arent so important provided you use them in the content of your site.
If your site can not seem to get a high search engine ranking and you want visitors then you have two options. First, a site owner can choose to pay for visitors through something such as a Pay-Per-Click program, like Googles AdWords. This is the safest way to go because it is guaranteed visitors through a trusted company, but it will cost you. It will cost a couple cents a click which will add up in the long run. If you choose this type of campaign, make sure you have signed up with a quality and respected company which has many places to publish your ad, like Google or Yahoo. Pay-per-click campaigns are great if you have money, but if money is an issue settle for another form of advertising.
Despite popular speculation and what advertising companies want you to think, you do not have to pay to get visitors. However, not paying could take longer to gain visitors. I would call it free advertising for a particular service. Visitors can come through submissions to other sites. If you have a particular talent, like building websites or writing, you can get visitors. Lets use a talent for website designing as an example. You can build website templates (a webpage that has a preset design, which a site owner just adds content too) and submit them to free template sites. These sites will display your product but along with it they will display your link. Many free template sites accept submissions and I have seen traffic jump dramatically in as little as two days. If you can write articles, you can submit them to E-zine (online magazines) directories where E-zine publishers look for articles to publish. There are hundreds of categories to write about and there is more than likely a category for everyone. The E-zine will publish the author info and your sites URL which in itself is a free advertisement.
Follow these guidelines, and you are on your way to gaining high-quality visitors to the site you own.
About The Author- Jason Lutterloh is a web designer, author, webmaster, and graphic designer. You can visit his website at .
I doubt that anyone reading this article hasnt at one time or another found his or her business dropping off significantly. For some unknown reason, and without any warning, everything seems to stop. The phone stops ringing, your e-mail box has nothing but advertisements and it appears as if your business has come to an end. What happened and even more important what should you do when it appears as if your business has hit a wall
Whatever We Focus Our Attention On Expands!
Usually, our first reaction to a drop in business is to panic putting all of our attention on what isnt working. We immediately start worrying and complaining, commiserating with others who may be experiencing a similar situation. Although its a natural reaction, its actually the worst thing you can do. Why Because there is a powerful premise that says: Whatever we focus our attention on expands. Ponder that for just a moment. Have you noticed that every time you pay strict attention to what isnt working, it just seems to get bigger Whether you believe it or not, the fact remains that when we put our attention on what isnt working, it seems that things get worse. Yet when we put our attention on what is working, it seems that things quickly improve. Changing your state of mind alters the circumstances.
The Tide Comes in and the Tide Goes Out!
One of the important lessons Ive learned through the years is that predictably business will have its ups and downs. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. As a person who enjoys my work immeasurably, when I first began my writing business, I would become terrified if the phone stopped ringing. I couldnt figure out what happened and thought I needed to do something quickly to alter the situation. But once I learned that the ebbs and flows are natural, I made it a point to choose a different approach. Instead of staring at the pot of water waiting for it to boil, I started learning how to release the situation and put my mind on something else. As soon as I was really able to let go, things shifted. Either a new idea occurred to me, past clients contacted me out of the blue, new clients appeared or I simply decided it was time for a rest.
Prime the Pump!
Now whenever those quiet times occur, which are less and less frequent, I simply do my best to relax. By changing my focus and remembering all of the above, new ideas bubble up and I start to feel more creative. In fact during a recent quiet period I was inspired to donate my writing of a bio to a charity. Just as we need to prime the pump by adding a little water to it, I realized that giving some of my services away as a gift was a good way to get things moving again. It immediately changed the energy around my situation.
Taking Action!
But if youre like most of the online entrepreneurs who prefer to take action while waiting for things to shift, I suggest doing some simple things that dont put any pressure on you but give you a sense of accomplishment. The following few ideas can easily be applied during the down times.
1. Write an article and submit it to a popular publication. Nothing will give you quite the same sense of achievement as seeing an article youve written in print plus its one of the more positive things to do when you arent very busy. Just about everyone has something theyve learned through their experiences that others would love to know about. Share it in an article and youll be amazed at how quickly the tide turns.
2. Write a press release and distribute it through one of the free press release distribution services. Often smaller companies think a press release is only for the big guys and hold back from using the media. But press releases are for everyone. Several of my clients have put out a press release and had overwhelming results they never expected.
3. Narrow your focus. When one of my clients found her business slowing down, she decided it was time to try a new tactic. She had been spending a lot of money on advertisements that werent working for her, plus her site wasnt getting the amount of traffic she expected. Instead of focusing her attention on trying to reach everyone, she started putting attention only in places that were associated with her particular industry. She found that once she began focusing specifically on her arena many more people started visiting her site and business started picking up.
4. Try networking. We often forget that there are a lot of people who would be delighted to join forces with us by linking to our sites or referring us to someone they know. Recently, I made a connection with someone who aligned perfectly with my business. After communicating with him via e-mail I found that his site and services were very complimentary to my services. I then suggested to him that we add each other to our sites, which is exactly what weve done. The added exposure that we can provide each other has been extremely beneficial
5. Update your web site. Although your web site presentation has appeared online for quite a while, and you have realized a degree of success, perhaps its possible that your site needs some refreshing or revamping. Try looking at your web site from an objective viewpoint, almost as if youre seeing it for the very first time. Review it carefully and notice if it still appeals to your eye and your ear. If not, add a new article, change the verbiage or add some new pictures. Figure out a way to optimize your site by adding search engine friendly content so that more people will find you. You dont necessarily have to change your site, but simply update it while youre waiting.
6. Visit past successes. Now may be a good time to stop by and say hello to clients from the past. They may have forgotten your e-mail address and might be in need of your services again. Or if someone has been happy with your services, ask if they would be willing to recommend you and suggest that you will pay them a small finders fee for anyone who becomes a paid referral. Maintaining good relationships with your past clients and customers is a great way of keeping your business flowing.
Just because you arent busy for the moment doesnt mean that all of your hard work has come to an end. In fact this may very well be a great time for contemplation. Instead of scrambling to quickly drum up more business or fretting about the lack of income, perhaps this is the time to be still as you consider some new strategies. Before making a judgment about your quiet time, why not use it as an opportunity for expansion and growth
Copyright2005
Charlene Rashkow brings 15 years of experience as a Writing Stylist/Consultant to her creative efforts as a freelance writer. She has successfully helped companies and individuals reach their objectives by writing exceptional web site content, press releases, bios, and articles of interest, business plans and all other forms of marketing material. You may visit Charlene at