Probably one of the most-asked questions by anyone who has a website is, “How can I get the traffic I need to create the profits I desire?”

 

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While this is a very good question, it may not be the most important one that needs to be answered. Before getting the answer to that one, he or she might need to give an answer to another question: “What is your marketing plan?”

Although there are many facets to a marketing plan, some of its basic aspects include:

• Determining the price point for your product

• Designing specific methods to reach your target audience

• Determining which advertising avenues you will use

• Setting up an advertising budget

• Choosing strategies to create Joint Ventures with successful marketers

• Which methods to use to generate targeted traffic to your site

So, unless you’ve figured out the answer to questions like those above, asking how you’re going to get targeted traffic to your site is like putting the cart before the horse. You’ve got to put first things first.

Now, once you’ve got your plan organized, then you can start focusing on driving targeted traffic to your site. While there are essentially two ways to do this, free and paid, there are a number of ways to implement each of them. Here are five excellent methods using free traffic.

One of the easiest and most effective methods for not only generating targeted traffic but also Joint Venture partners is online forums. Here is where members of your niche market meet to discuss their concerns and share ideas. If you make the effort to provide answers to their questions and provide additional information through your products or newsletter, you can’t help but be successful in generating targeted website traffic.

A second method that is highly effective, but that also takes a bit of work on your part, is writing and submitting articles. This is something that very successful marketers do on a regular basis. In fact, it is probably a major contributing factor to the level of success they currently enjoy. Writing articles on subjects of interest to your target audience, with a link to your site in the resource box, is a powerful way to create a potentially significant website traffic flow.

This next method is especially effective for successful marketers; it’s Joint Venturing. If you can create a product or service that someone with a large customer or subscriber list would want to make available to that list, then you’ve found a sure-fire way of creating massive targeted traffic (and profits) for your site.

Lastly, you could create a Blog about your niche. This is an extremely popular way of sharing information online. For example, you could use it to announce the latest issue of your newsletter. It could also feature links to your product or service. Another suggestion is to include a newsletter sign-up form on your blog. And of course, don’t forget to post your latest articles on there as well.

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So, you’re still scratching your head and wondering, “How in the world can I get the traffic I need for my site without hiring a search engine expert?” Well, believe it or not, the search engines do not have a monopoly on traffic generation. And to prove it, here are five additional methods to help you capture website visitors.

 

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1. Design a survey that asks questions to help you learn specific needs and interests of your target audience. Then have them pick up their thank-you gift for responding at your website address.

2. Purchase and then put to the test a quality, proven product or service that will help your online business endeavors and then write a testimonial for it including your website address. Submit it to the author/creator and ask him or her to add it to the testimonial section of the product/service’s website.

3. Put together or find a free report that ties in to the needs/concerns of your target audience. Upload it
to your site and then advertise the free report which can be downloaded from your website address.

4. Find online forums that focus on your target audience, then join and follow the ones that are of particular interest to you. Follow the posts to determine specific needs, concerns or problems being discussed. Come up with a solution yourself or find an existing professional solution. Create the solution or purchase it and place it on your site. Then post a response sharing your solution to your target market’s problem that includes your site’s link to it.

5. Here’s a slight twist on the previous tactic. Do a joint venture with a respected professional in your target audience’s field of interest. Find out the needs/concerns of their ‘list’ and then either create or find an existing solution to the problem. Give the ‘list owner’ a copy of the solution you’ve created or located. Write a letter endorsing the product for the ‘list owner’ to send to his ‘list’ that also credits you for finding or creating the solution along with your website address.

Now just in case you’re wondering if these simple little tactics really do work . . . The answer is yes because you’ve just proved it by reading this article, which is a slight variation of tactic number three.

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If you’ve got an online business, no doubt you’ve probably wondered many times if there was an easier way to create traffic for your site without having to jump through the hoops created by the search engines. Well, believe it or not that there is. I’ve found at least five that require little if any cash outlay. Read through the list below and choose one. With just a little bit of effort on your part, soon you’ll be on your way to driving traffic to your site.

 

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1. Conduct your own online search and find the best sites related to your target audience’s needs or interests. Then put together a list featuring the best of these sites. Or, you might choose instead to write a critique or review of the sites on your list. Include your website address and offer it as a free gift to your target audience. It might also make an excellent bonus item as part of a product purchase.

2. Interview an expert or celebrity known and respected by your target market on a subject near and dear to them and offer it (or a portion of it) for free from your website.

3. Write unique articles that focus on solving a specific problem and submit them to ezines that fit the audience you’re writing to. Be sure to include your website address in the resource box.

4. Create or purchase an autoresponder series featuring unique information about an item interest to your target audience. At the start of each message include your website’s name and address as the sponsor.

5. Create or purchase an e-book that relates to the interests of your target audience. Brand it with your website address and offer it as a free gift to your visitors or subscribers.

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When it comes to the public domain, it’s amazing to me that most people recognize the great potential it offers for starting a new business, while at the same time they seldom realize that one of the greatest assets it can provide them with is—ready-made content. It’s really quite a simple concept. If you have a business that can is in dire need of supplementary content, then examine the public domain for sources of potential content.

 

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Part of the reason why many people fail to realize this aspect of public domain content is that in most basic Internet Marketing courses the emphasis is on choosing your first business based upon your own interests. The thought process is as follows: People share hobbies and interests, and if there are enough people like you searching for information about these same interests, then the potential exists for you to make some serious money. The problem is that this kind of advice is both good and bad. It is beneficial to start your first business in a niche that fits your interest. However, many times these niches aren’t very profitable. Either there’s too much competition or there’s just not enough demand.

On the other hand, hobbies such as bowling, playing poker, crochet patterns or even architecture are excellent avenues for starting small public-domain-supported business sites. By incorporating public domain works including everything from playing tips to history as well as immediately usable information, you can not only create your own little niche and generate yet another income stream, but also enjoy yourself in the process.

You could choose several public domain works and then create different products for each of them. Once you’ve set up their individual websites, then go back with the intent to improve and diversify each of them. This approach will enable you to generate multiple income streams and also maximize the income potential of each stream within a short period of time.

Of course, it’s not always possible to find relevant content for current topics, but there are many niches that are essentially “timeless.” If you operate a business that focuses on “evergreen” niches, then public domain content is an immensely superior resource than anything a ghostwriter could write! This kind of new content could also be used help to “sell” your other products and services by building your business reputation as an expert.

The bottom line is that you should assess your current resources – your business and your hobbies – to determine ways in which public domain content can create additional revenue for you.

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It’s no secret that e-mail is quite possibly, the quintessential “killer” online application. How else can you get your message to potentially thousands of people in your target market, in a personalized manner without spending a dime? While e-mail is extremely useful and convenient, like any other tool, its effectiveness often depends upon the skill level of the user. With that in mind, here are a few tips to help you make the most of your e-mail endeavors.

 

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First and foremost, you should strive to be concise. With the continual barrage of messages less definitely means more. An important rule of thumb to keep in mind is that when you reply to an e-mail message it isn’t necessary to include the original message. Obviously the sender has a copy of the message and if you want to inform them that you also have a copy, including the original message really wouldn’t make any sense. According to e-mail experts, any message in excess of 100 lines is considered lengthy and will usually end up never being read.

Next, when writing your email message, be especially careful about using attachments. Just because you have the option of using one doesn’t mean that you should. For example, if you chose to send a short message as an attachment, you will only end up annoying the reader. He or she will open your e-mail and then wait while another program opens the attached document. Imagine the reaction when your recipient learns that the attachment only contains a brief reminder about meeting after work at a particular restaurant! If you must use an attachment, then be sure to let the recipient know in the body of your email message what it contains. E-mail savvy people know that attachments with strange extensions often contain viruses and that the best way to deal with them is to delete them.

You should also take extra care when sending e-mail to multiple recipients. Take a moment before you hit the “send” button and ask yourself, “Does everyone on my e-mail list really want to know how I spent my weekend?” Remember, everyone who gets your message will be annoyed if the content is of no interest to him or her. In fact, you could be accused of spamming them if the message is sent repeatedly. And keep in mind all of the people whose e-mail addresses are a part of your e-mail client’s address book; there may be some people whom you definitely wouldn’t want to send your message to! The best way to avoid this situation is to learn how to use the Blind Carbon Copy feature.

There are two key aspects to writing an effective message: what you say, and how you say it. Which means, you should be careful how you write. Not everyone appreciates receiving an e-mail message with terms that are too familiar and “generic” emails are not appreciated at all. If you are addressing someone that you don’t know, don’t use short phrases. And while we’re on the subject of abbreviations, avoid using those cute emoticons; this also might seem too forward to some people. One more thing to keep in mind before deciding to send off your message: be sure to check your message for any misspelled words. Most e-mail clients have a spell-check. An e-mail message sent out with spelling errors can be hard to understand and will leave a bad impression.

One of the biggest pet peeves among e-mail users is receiving a poorly formatted message. Not all email programs are simple, so be sure to use the simplest format possible. Depending upon the program used by your recipient, he or she may not be able to see the colored font and image in your message. And speaking of formatting, keep your lines at a 55-character maximum and use a hard return at the end of each line. Email is intended to be a communication device, not a design exercise, so keep it simple.

Lastly, use care in how you open and close your e-mail message. Don’t begin your message with just a simple “Hello”. Most people forget the salutation and instead jump right to the subject. You don’t have to be formal, just be polite. Use “Dear” or “Hi” along with their name, for example. The same rule applies to the closing. “Sincerely” might be too formal so instead use phrases like “All the best” or “Yours truly”.

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It all started just a couple of years ago with the introduction of a couple products for adding audio to websites. Suddenly, it wasn’t enough just to have a sales page or content to read. You needed to include an audio clip or two.

 

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Next came the arrival of the iPod. Thanks to this little gadget, anyone could download and replay audio content practically anywhere, and at anytime.

Then in 2006 online video started appearing across the Internet. And after YouTube® was acquired by Google®, video suddenly has become one of the hottest online mediums.

With the rise of multimedia applications online, websites are becoming increasingly interactive. And largely due to the availability of audio and video content on demand, web site visitors are seeking sites that offer this feature as well as interactivity. Thus, the ‘Net is quickly becoming a user-driven economy.

As a result of the daily addition of thousands of new websites and blogsites, it’s becoming more difficult to standout and draw attention to your website or blog. And with the technological advances, users are much more sophisticated, which also means that it will take more skill and effort to market your site and its message.

But the good news is that thanks to the rise of online audio and video technology, it’s fairly easy to use these tools to create your content and message. Furthermore, thanks to the growing interactive aspect of the ‘Net, you can zero in on your target market more effectively, find out exactly what they want so that you can give it to them the way they want it, in an interactive format.

However, before you can move to this step, you must first overcome considerable resistance to your site and its message. With the rise in the use of multimedia online, you’ll need to go the extra mile to establish credibility with your prospects. A simple “About us” or a “bio” page won’t cut it anymore.

So, what’s the answer? Easy. Use multimedia to build and enhance your credibility. In short, give them what they want. Give them something to watch or listen to that tells a little about yourself, your site, and/or your product or service. By demonstrating that you’re not hiding behind a website, and have taken the time to communicate with them via a multimedia presentation, you can build trust and credibility with your audience. Use this method also to provide a sample of what you’re offering, and you just might be surprised at your conversion rate.

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An effective Internet marketing plan in place is essential to run your online business smoothly and make it more profitable for you. Unless you have a plan your efforts in Internet marketing may fail to get you good results. A venture in online business requires you to have well drawn plans and strategies to succeed.

 

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Just like any other business marketing, you have to firstly set your goals and objectives. A business without a goal would go haywire like a kite flying aimlessly here and there. This would only land you in frustration.

Here are a few suggestions that would help you build a strong base for your Internet marketing plan:

First of all you need to know your target customers - You should know the kind of people you are planning to sell your product to. Unless you know your target customers it is not possible to draw a marketing plan properly. Factors such as gender, age groups, geographical locations, marital status, educational level, income level, etc. are necessary for you to identify your prospects.

Find your niche market - After you do your research on your target customers, you need to look into your niche market. Your knowledge of your target population helps you to design the kind of website that would suit their needs. You should be aware of products or services that are likely to sell among your target customers.

Design your website - Based on your market research and your niche, you would start designing your website. Designing your website needs care in providing your customers with quality content, online order processing facilities, subscription sign-ups online, automatic email responses, shopping cart, secure server certificate, etc. You should make sure that your website is given proper colors to accelerate your products or services and the message that you would like to convey your customers. Your website should speak for you. Making your targeted customers satisfied with your website presence is important to enable repeat visits from them.

After a careful design, you start selling your business to your customers. Selling online is a continuous process.

Your Internet marketing plan should include regular advertisements about your website. You should post effective advertisements on forum boards, blogs, etc. along with a rich-content article and links to your website.

Submitting an article related to your products and services to other article publishing websites would generate targeted traffic to your site. Targeted traffic refers to those visitors who would be interested in buying your products and services. They are the ones who would promote your website sales