There are several traffic generation techniques that work but there are also several that don’t. Some people have gotten lucky with them while others have had no luck whatsoever.
Targeted Traffic Campaigns
These are basically sites that do nothing but make people angry. They send spam, they use pop-ups and domain squatting. Domain squatting is something that you have probably ran across when you accidentally typed in the wrong address of a popular website. These sites set-up misspelled domains and then cover them in advertisements. Unsuspecting surfers end up in their tangled web of useless advertisements. This is something you don’t want your site to get caught up in, as it will only lower your credibility and send angry people to your website.
Visitors who are really unhappy may also report you to your host. This could cause you problems with your hosting service that you don’t want to deal with. These campaigns are usually bogus and are a waste of money.
Classified Ads
Very rarely will you be able to write a classified ad that will get people to go to your site. They are also not targeted well at all, as they are tiny boxes of text mixed in with a million other boxes of test. The ad may receive hundreds of reviews, but you will have a horribly low conversion rate. The chances of someone finding the ad are pretty slim as well, even in high circulation papers. Online classified ads are even worse. Many sites only host classified ads to generate revenue through the ads and their affiliate advertisements.
Getting Non-Stop Traffic
The number one key to getting non-stop traffic is to get people to come back. If you receive thousands of hits, you really want to double that number the next month. That means that you need to give people a reason to keep visiting your website. If you are able to recycle your traffic, your monthly hits will increase each month and will keep people coming back for more, especially if you hold up your end of the deal by giving them something to come back for. One way to keep people coming back is to offer a service such as a community forum. This allows people a place to visit and they will come back to see if people have posted new messages that they are interested in, etc. You can also set-up a service such as a URL cloaking service or free image hosting. If you provide unique tools, people will keep coming back to use it and they will tell other people about it.
Viral Promotion
Viral marketing is all the rage on the Internet because it works. If you create a viral product on a regular basis such as a piece of free software, a PDF, an eBook, audio or a video, people will always come back looking to see what you have to offer each month. They will then tell other people about it as well. Also, if you can offer something for free that helps other people generate traffic on their website as well, you will be even more popular. Viral marketing is all about creativity. The more creative you can be the better your traffic will. If somebody likes what they see, they will pass on the information to their friends and family. This means that you are able to double your traffic because your free product is so popular. This has become a very popular form of advertising and marketing because they have a relatively low cost. You can also plaster it with your website address and company logo. Many companies will also offer discounts and rebates with their products to keep people coming back to their site to purchase products and see what the next freebie is. The best thing about viral marketing is that you are attracting repeat traffic that is willing to buy something, which means that your sales have the potential to skyrocket.
Link Exchanges
Search engines love to see links incoming and outgoing. If you use sites that get a lot of traffic, you will get a lot of traffic in return as well as a decent page rank. This is a great way to gain traffic, which you may have not gained otherwise.
Tell-A-Friend Script
Have you ever been reading an online news story on MSN, Google, CNN, etc., and notice the little envelope that says “send to a friend”? This is a similar tool that people very rarely use. However, if you do choose to use it you will find that it is a great way to build traffic. This is an incredibly easy way to gain traffic, especially if your content is good. This is a simple script that you can attach to the code of your website. It is installed in pages where a media is so that a person can send it to their friends or family. The person inputs their friend’s name, email and sends the media to the intended person like an email attachment. The person receives the email from their friend so it is not perceived as spam. It shows their friend’s email so that they do not delete it and trust it enough to open and read. The script eliminates the chances of the email being blocked because the information is input by the sender. It also allows for a wider marketing arena. With the email, the recipient receives the media and a brief description of the website where the media is from. As more and more people use it, it keeps spreading to more friends and family. The script is simple and does not require complicated programming. You can simply copy and paste the script and place it on your pages. You can find the code by simply searching for it on a search engine.
This is a viral marketing campaign that can be very useful and best of all, it’s free. Be sure to place it in places on your site that will encourage people to use it on a regular basis.