Maximize Your Website Traffic: Basic Concepts to Understand

So you've built your website. Now, what will you do to attract traffic? You can use any number of possible strategies from search engine optimization to writing articles, from issuing press releases to creating joint ventures, to name just a few. But, for now, let's start with the basics. What do concepts like search engine optimization, traffic generation, traffic conversion, affiliate marketing, email marketing and joint venture marketing mean? What impact will they have on maximizing your website traffic? Here are some basics to get you started.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is all about writing text within your website that is not only easy to read and understand, but also which is highly attractive to internet search engines. Key words or phrases are basically popular search terms that internet surfers will input to a search engine like Google or Yahoo. Key words are important to your search engine ranking. Your mission is to figure out what those words are so that you can use them within your website text. These key words can be used in titles, subtitles, descriptions and even in the meta tags within your website.

Traffic Generation

Traffic generation is all about getting people to your website. Nothing can happen until they arrive at your doorstep. You can cultivate traffic by doing any number of things - announcing your website on radio or television, trading links with others, writing and issuing press releases, writing articles which include an information-filled byline, and engaging in joint ventures. There are many other things you can do including something as simple as including a mention of your website in your email address. All of these strategies and many others will serve the purpose of directing people to your website. But, that's only the first step. It isn't enough to just generate web traffic, you need to convert it.

Traffic Conversion

Traffic Conversion is the other part of the equation. First you need to generate traffic - you need to drive traffic to your website. Next you need to start building a relationship with the visitor. People like to do business with folks they know, like, and trust. Granted, there will always be those visitors who buy right away, but for the majority, you will need to be in it for the long haul. You will need to educate them about who you are and what you do. Traffic conversion is all about convincing visitors to take a desired action. You might want them to sign up for your newsletter or to download one of your articles or a special report. Or, you might want them to buy a product or service. Each event is an opportunity to convert visitors to take some sort of action. There are specific website tracking tools that can be used to measure and track these results. You may have heard the term conversion rate. In simplest terms, it is the number of visitors who take a defined action (like signing up for a newsletter), divided by the total number of visitors.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is all about working with others to generate revenue. It's like having your own private, commission-only sales force. An affiliate is someone who agrees to promote the products and services of someone else in exchange for some compensation, a percentage of the total sale. It requires very little effort on your part except for setting up a system (there are many automated, easy-to-install programs to purchase) and writing the checks for any sales that are made. It's a great way to earn passive revenue. Affiliate marketing is an effective strategy to reach others outside of your normal, everyday network, to generate traffic, and best of all, to convert that traffic to paying customers.

Email Marketing

Email is still the best way to connect with others despite all the restrictions now in place due to spamming laws. As the lifeblood of marketing, it's one of the most effective ways to convert new prospects into buying customers. Email campaigns are a strategy to provide access points for your already opted-in mailing list to make a purchase. It is one more step along the way in creating a relationship while offering special incentives or promotions to encourage commerce. By tying campaigns to special holidays, seasons, or other events, you can generate excitement around your products and services. The only caution is to carefully plan your campaigns so as not to overwhelm your precious and valuable list with too much email. As a suggestion, don't plan more than one email campaign per month, including any you might do with joint venture partners. Remember, your list can always opt-out, so make sure that you always treat them well.

Joint Venture Marketing

Joint venture marketing is all about working with others. A joint venture is when two or more people or businesses combine forces to create an opportunity with hopes to bring increased revenues to both. Joint ventures can be anything from promoting products on each other's mail lists, to writing books or articles together, or even producing programs that are delivered through teleclasses or onsite seminars. The opportunities are only limited by one's creativity and willingness to work with someone else. As with anything, two heads are better than one. Working together allows you to bring your best skills and talents forward. Partnering with someone who has strengths where you might have weaknesses and vice versa, you can create a synergistic environment where you can accomplish more with a lot less efforting. Take the time to network and get to know others. A joint venture marketing opportunity might be just what it takes to take your business to the next level of play.