Why would you want to generate more quality traffic towards your website? The answer is simple:
More traffic to your website -> more eye balls -> more clicking -> more sales -> more money.
Last night, I attended Gene Chamson’s Bay Area Net Marketing Alliance Meetup where he hosted Nadir Hussain, COO of MediaFlint, Inc., at Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA. In his presentation titled “The Top Ten Ways to Generate Targeted Traffic To Your Website“, Nadir diligently covered the following 10 ways that can help you generate more quality traffic to your website and increase your sales:
- Search Engine Advertising
- Ad Networks – Text, Banners, Videos
- Shopping Engines for ecommerce
- Search Engine Optimization
- Referring links wherever you can place them
- Advertising Locally on additional sites
- Affiliate Marketing & Networks
- Email Marketing
- Social Media/Viral Marketing/Word of Mouth
- Video Marketing
According to Mr. Hussain, the combination of Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media are the top 3 ways to generate traffic to your website. I believe it’s a valid point, especially using Social Media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, Yammer, Digg, Delicious, YouTube, MySpace, etc. When managed vigilantly these websites can help you spread the word about your business like wild fire. But there is a catch (isn’t there always!) which is that you have to MONITOR what you are doing. I emphasize the word monitor because monitoring what is going on at those websites with regard to your business is very important. Bad news spreads much more rapidly than good news (eg: the Domino’s pizza video that showed employees’ tampering with pizza before it was sent to a customer). One bad video or article like that and it can tarnish your credibility. But if you manage it diligently, then a good video gone viral can help build your business (eg: search for “will it blend” videos on YouTube and how it helped a blender company increase its sales). So let me say it again, MONITOR what is going on in social media with regard to your business.
The second point I want to mention is that before you jump in and start using any of the social media outlets, please, please, puhleezz make sure you understand how they function. Learn about social media sites and tools from the inside out so you know what happens when you do post an article or video on Facebook, Twitter, Digg etc. This will help you keep control (to some extent) of what is going on and how it is going on. There are plenty of social media outlets, but choose one that you will come to fully understand. Do not try to use ALL of the most popular at same time, start with one site like Twitter and once you get a good grasp of its tools and functionality, then move to next one.
Follow this Mantra: Learn a social media site inside out -> Try It -> Monitor if it is working -> Adjust what is not working -> Try It again -> Monitor and then -> Adjust -> Try it again.
If you keep doing this, you will discover what works for you and then concentrate your efforts on what is generating the sales.
There are two key points that Nadir mentioned during the conversation, that are not in the slides, but are worth noting:
- If you are a local merchant, make sure you get on Google Maps. It’s a free listing but it will help your local customers find you.
- Email Marketing is good way to get repeat customers but make sure it’s the email list you have created. You still can use 3rd party lists, but they will be very generic and your ROI would be insignificant.
To request a copy of Nadir Hussain’s complete presentation, please send an email to this addess: GetYourCopyHere@gmail.com
Also, don’t miss Nadir’s next Traffic Bootcamp: Get Targeted Traffic to your Website hosted once again by Gene Chamson. It is an all day class on February 20th from 10 am to 5pm that will cover all of the above in much more detail and would be helpful to get your marketing campaign going. Take advantage of their early bird discount of $95 which will expire this weekend.
