What are your website traffic secrets??

[vegmom]

I thought that I would ask this question to mastermind with others. I have been working on my website for some time and want to optimize it. I have done all the work myself and I am not sure yet if I can pay $ to make it pretty.

- So I get some traffic through google with long tail keywords (about 2-3 a day).
- I post on my blog.
- I will soon get video up (hopefully this weekend). I will post it to youtube and viddler.
- Social networking

ETA: What do you do? And how well does it work for you? What is a good day for traffic?

[bellee]

Social networked is the best way I've found to get traffic to my site(s). I really want to do a banner ad somewhere, but I've got three totally different business, so I don't know which one I'd do an ad for.

I wish I knew more about seo and all that crap, but I just don't have time to learn

[nursingmom]

Here is a google article on what they are looking for

http://www.google.com/support/webmas...n&answer=35769


The more pages you have with more content, better it is for SEO

Make sure you write relevent META title and and Key words.

When u write a meta title, try to be as descriptive as you can. For example, in stead of writing just "sling", I write "oopa baby silk sling baby carrier in kiwi color". more description about that particular product.

when u write your content, make sure to have relevent keywords in your content.

[dogmom327]

I really think posting here on MDC has helped immensely. I noticed that my posts were better indexed than my site but now I come up in the top five for most of my key search terms. This started happening when we'd been up for maybe 6 or 7 weeks.

[Night Owl]

Sounds like everyone is on the right track.

I also suggest that you need time patience and hard work.

• Focus on just two or three marketing methods until you have mastered them.
• Test and track so that you know what is working.
• Keep doing those things that are working.

The ideas listed above are good ones. I recommend though, that you review your existing site to make sure there isn't anything on the site itself that is preventing you from getting the search engine traffic you need.

[vegmom]

Writing articles and submitting them to article directories such as

www.ezinearticles.com and www.ezine-articles.org is great. These directories are used for sharing information and articles as long as the author and website are included. It is a great way to get your name "out there"

[JenniferH]

Everything I've ever learned about SEO is content, content, content. I never set up a web site without it being either a blog or having a blog attached to it.

Fresh content is the best way to catch the "eye" of the search engines. Of course, everything changes quickly, and there may be new tricks and gimmicks I haven't learned.

[CawMama]

Press releases!

[kokonutmama]

Originally Posted by JenniferH

Everything I've ever learned about SEO is content, content, content.

2nd that.

Also, you can do _relevant_ link exchanges, network, and place ads. I agree with PP that it's a good idea to try one thing at a time so you can see what effect each has... though I think I'm guilty of trying everything at once when I am desperate for traffic.

[Kristine233]

I dont do ANY link exchanges, yet I'm first page for my preferred keywords.

My blog drives a LOT of traffic, even though its not very up to date ATM. I have articles that a lot of people search for. Then, its all about keywords in content. Lots of content... lots! The more RELEVANT text the better. But don't go over board with spamming keywords. Always link with your keywords.

[vegmom]

Originally Posted by Kristine233

Always link with your keywords.

Thank you for this tip. I did that for my last post.

[annie_noah]

Originally Posted by vegmom

ETA: What do you do? And how well does it work for you? What is a good day for traffic?

I think a lot of it depends on your goals.

My web site is just a blog for the purpose of informing and engaging people. I'm not selling anything, I don't do any advertising. It is just another way for me to engage in discussions with interesting people and share ideas beyond discussion boards.

A good day for me is about 500 page views and a great one around 1000! I'd love to get to the point of having 1000 page views regularly. But more important than the number is seeing that people clicked on something other than the page that brought them there in the first place or that they stopped and left a comment on the page that they were looking at. Ideally they will decide to subscribe to my RSS feed and come back regularly. A lot of people may come across one of my posts via Google and if they just glance at it and decide it isn't for them, that is not a successful visit for me.

That said, if I was selling something, I would be looking to translate visits into sales. A completely different thing in many cases!

What do I do?
- Comment on other peoples blogs on posts that are related to the topics I cover on my blog
- Participate in related discussion boards (like this one and others)
- I answer questions on Yahoo Answers with a link to relevant posts on my blog
- I choose titles, tags, link names, etc. to facilitate being found by search engines on my keywords
- I use twitter and facebook as means of letting people know about new posts (but that isn't the only thing I do there - people get annoyed if you are only using those tools to market yourself).

That's about it!

[vegmom]

annie noah - thank you for your imput. My goal is too reach 1000 page views/day. I am far from it.

Thanks to everyone that has shared advice!