I remember back in the 1980s (history for many of you reading this), I had a friend working at the University of California who had access to the Internet through the University system. It was new, it was esoteric, it was for academicians, nerds, and professional scientists.
Another friend, a salesman, pondered the commercial possibilities. Sales and marketing, my University friend intoned, is strongly frowned upon by the Internet community.
Fast forward 20 to 25 years. What happened
A system designed for researchers and academic communities to discuss ideas has become one of the primary means of communication for individuals throughout the world. It is the great leveler: a Bosnian peasant, a Kenyan tribesman, an urban ghetto adolescent, with access to a computer, is on a level with global corporations and top decision makers. The world wide web has created an unprecedented opportunity for verbal intercourse, far beyond anything that has historically been available, for anyone, even the rich and powerful. Blogs, personalized and updated, perhaps several times a day, allow the most humble their day in the sun.
What have we done with this new weapon with its potential to unite the world and give every individual, no matter how powerless and lonely, the chance to interact on the world stage
We have commercialized it beyond any reasonable make a sale level. We have created the ultimate international snake oil salesperson. We have taken the great communicator and transformed him into the great con.
How did this happen The desire to sell something - anything - morphed into simply the desire to sell. Join any traffic site, SEO group, PR Newsletter, or Internet Forum and you will be immediately inundated with messages about selling.
Is there anything wrong with trying to sell a product Of course not, that is what makes the wheels of commerce go round. I have no objection whatsoever to someone trying to sell me something - that is their job and I respect their right to pursue it.
What totally sickens me (how about you) are the people who are not trying to sell me a product but are selling how to sell.
I belong to several traffic exchange sites (I willingly admit that Im trying to sell a book) that require me to spend 20 to 30 seconds on other exchange program websites. I have no problem with, and actually admire, someone trying to sell me something, whether I want it or not. I even find myself sighing with relief when I reach a site selling an actual product, whether a bottle of pills, a newsletter, a gift, or an e-book.
What frustrates, exasperates, and eventually disgusts me, is the webmaster out there who is not really selling anything tangible, merely selling the reader on selling. How many ads have you encountered that want you to sign-up for The List, Marketing Secrets Revealed, or Make $___ within 48 hours without lifting a finger. How many times have you clicked on a link only to find the same theme: how you can make money off everyone else
If everyone on the net is there to make money, from whom are they making their living Is there really a vast population of the unwashed, sitting quietly reading their emails and surfing unending Websites, who exist just to buy stuff from these overzealous marketing gurus Or does the money simply rotate as marketers buy from marketers toward the supreme goal of becoming a better marketer
We live in the information age where knowledge is power, the details of both history and todays world are only a mouse click away, and the ease of access to almost everything approaches the speed of interplanetary travel. What productive use have we identified for all of this data
Future archeologists, digging through our abandoned middens and long forgotten dumpsites, may finally stumble across our great weakness: that making money is the be-all and end-all of life.
Shaking their heads in regret, they will publish their findings, reporting on a great civilization that eventually collapsed under the weight of its own hype.
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Workers Edge, she can be reached at
Welcome,
Over the past five years I have learnt many tricks to gain visitors. Many are great and some are negative, even getting me excluded from major search engines. For your benefit I have comprised a list of six free, easy and simple ways that may double or even triple your visitor count within Three Months.
1: Get listed in free directories:
Dmoz.com (Open Directory Project) is one of the top places to get listed, if you get your site listed. Up to 20 other websites copy their directory, you now have the opportunity to have your link on many more websites.
2: Find out your competitors link popularity:
Do a simple search on google and find out who your competitors are. Then go to linkpopularity.com and try to get your website included on many of the sites you find.
3: Find quality and reliable links:
I have found that less than 1/10th of my visitors come from search engines. Quality links are the key; websites with a large volume of customers are often your best ally. Related websites to your own site is generally best, this is often said for a better search engine ranking, but I advise related sites purely for a targeted audience.
4: Find out where your competitors visitors go:
Alexa.com is a brilliant website, when you find your major competitors you can search their domain on Alexa.com. You can find out a lot of information about their visitors, where they come from, how many visit and best of all what other sites they visit that are related to your competitors.
5: Get yourself a signature:
Many people ignore the idea of a signature in their email, this can often be a great idea. People will see this link can often visit, you may not agree but one more visitor is better than none.
6: Setup an affiliate program:
Currently I am in the process of getting my own affiliate program custom built. There are many major reasons for getting your own affiliate program. The most important reason is, allowing other websites advertise your products for you. This has to be a brilliant idea, even though you are paying them you are only paying them from sales that they have helped generate, otherwise you would not have had these sales.
I do not recommend working too hard at trying to impress google, my main website only has a medium PR of 5. I have not optimised this site for google nor do I intend to. I have had many issues with google and they will find any excuse to exclude anyone from their index. Google make their own rules, you cannot defend yourself. Even so I still recommend submitting your website to the major search engines, do be careful to do so only once.
Good luck with improving your visitor base, I cannot guarantee these techniques will improve your traffic. Although I have tripled my visitor count in three months, I am very happy with my results. Even within the past week my site is receiving an average of 10 customers more per day, without any extra work.
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