12 Dynamic Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website And The Single Biggest Secret To Internet Sales.

You've tried posting to newsgroups and online classifieds. You used automated submission programs and still can't find yourself on the search engines. You know that bulk e-mail will turn into a disaster· so what are you going to do?

We picked the brains of our marketing experts at the "Hits To Sales" webzine (http://www.hitstosales.com) and came up with several ideas and resources to help you with your online marketing and promotions.

1) Revisit Search Engines

Take a look at how the major search engines have changed over the past year. There is now a large amount of accumulated data on keywords and their derivatives. After analyzing search patterns, the major players have reorganized their sites into channels and categories. These present new opportunities to find targeted eyeballs specific to localized or niche markets. If you have a broad market, or a site with popular appeal, you can't ignore the search engine game. It is more important than ever to be on top and stay there. We have found two reliable services that keep us up-to-date as the unwritten rules of the game change:

http://www.searchenginehelp.com/promote

http://www.promoteone.com/var2

For more resources related to search engine placement, and a detailed submission strategy see:

http://www.hitstosales.com/2search.html

2) Don't Overlook The Value Of Prospecting

Instead of passively advertising, consider using newsgroups, classifieds, auction sites and search engines to actively seek out and pre-qualify new leads. Look for people who "by their actions" have already demonstrated an interest in your products or services. Once you identify who your target audience is, you can look for them directly. Or, more importantly, you can identify key influencers who know your target audience - people who interact with your prospects at a time when they are considering a purchase of your product or service... Make these people your best friends. Why? They will become a lead generation source for you. For more ideas, pick up a copy of "Prospecting For Dummies" by Tom Hopkins. We contributed several specific strategies to the online marketing section, including a recommendation to use WebBound magazine as a starting point for your prospecting activities.

3) Generate An Endless Stream Of Referrals

I truly believe that all salespeople and professionals need to own a copy of "Endless Referrals" by Bob Burg. There is no better insight into building a constant stream of new business leads. We have used Bob's principles in the online world to successfully build our business and promote our high-profile clients. His techniques are a constant thread in all of our promotion efforts. The upcoming second edition of his book features a brand new chapter on networking by way of the Internet, called Inter-networking. Part of this strategy can be viewed online at:

http://www.activereferral.com

4) Link Strategy

I can't stress the importance of effective linking strategies enough - they are the hidden power of the World Wide Web. There are two benefits to exchanging links. One is the immediate increase in traffic to your website from referral partners who are thinking of networking with you. This can quite often lead to sales. The second benefit, and most important in our minds, is the ongoing funnel of new, pre-qualified prospects it brings to your doorstep. Marlon Sanders interviewed us to find out how we used our link strategies to drive two million hits to a site in ten days. He includes it as part of his Internet marketing course at:

http://www.higherresponse.com/doubler3.htm

5) Advertise In Magazines

Yes, believe it or not, advertising in the real world will drive traffic to your website. In fact, any ads that you place should ALWAYS include a web address. Think about it - which is easier to remember, 800-955-3337 or www.SitePromoter.com? Pointing people to a website effectively extends the display space of your ad, giving you the ability to present more information and benefits as you lead up to your offer. Many prospects won't call an 800 number because they don't want to talk to a salesperson. These people view a website as a non-threatening way to find out more information prior to contacting your company. Are you shocked by the high price of magazine advertising? Here is someone who can help you arrange for discounted rates. Send an e-mail to: snead@mindspring.com

6) Work The Newsgroups

Newsgroups can be the most humiliating and infuriating way to try and market your business. They can also be the most incredible way to gather information about your target audiences' needs and desires. Newsgroup postings can also require a lot of effort, so you must enjoy this activity to get the most benefit from it. Bob Burg has a chapter in "Endless Referrals", called How To Work Any Crowd, that will teach you how to identify Centers of Influence in a newsgroup and develop win-win relationships with them in order to gain the benefit of their respected position within the group. Other useful tips can be found by contacting Brooks Douglass, Publisher of BizBot Weekly, and asking him for a copy of his excellent article, "Secrets Of A Newsgroup Poster":

http://www.bizbotweekly.com

7) Opt-In E-Mail Lists

These are quickly replacing bulk e-mail as the preferred approach to direct marketing on the Internet. There are two good reasons for this - one is avoiding the obvious problems associated with SPAM, but the bigger reason is the ability to "target" an audience based on their interests. Direct marketers have always said there were three factors to their success - the list, the list, the list. Opt-in lists allow you to test several small mailings before rolling out your campaign. Two companies that have been quite reputable are:

http://www.edmarketing.com/optin/

http://PostMasterDirect.com/business-bottom.mhtml

There is also a very informative "white paper" on opt-in strategies, written by Jonathan Mizel at:

http://www.cyberwave.com/opt-in.html

8) Newsletters & E-Zines

There are three ways to pull traffic from e-zines. One way is to advertise, the other is to participate or contribute articles, but the overall best approach is to create your own. There is no better way to introduce yourself to prospects and warm them up into repeat buyers! If you are considering publishing your own e-zine, you must get a copy of "How To Create, Publish, And Attract Subscribers, Advertisers And Sponsors To Your E-Zine", by Jim & Audri Lanford. I've seen the pre-release of this information and highly recommend it:

http://www.netrageous.com/ezines/index.html

After searching for quite some time, I finally found an inexpensive service that will automatically deliver your e-zine, without the pain of manually subscribing readers and dealing with remove requests. For details, send an e-mail to: steve@4SecureOrders.com

9) Autoresponders

Put your lead generation on auto-pilot! E-mail autoresponders are an efficient way to introduce yourself to people and move them through your sales process automatically. If you have heard about these but don't understand how to use them, send e-mail to the following two places. One teaches you how to use the tool - and then offers to sell them to you! The other demonstrates a way to quickly get a lot of information to your prospects and pre-qualify their interest. Study the sales process in each of these two brilliant examples and model your approach after one of them:

sales-leads@rapid-reply.com

secrets@profnet.org

10) Banner Ads

Banner ads are an interesting permutation of billboards and direct mail envelopes. They can yield a constant flow of daily traffic. If you are new to the concept there is only one place to start - Mark Welch has put together the definitive banner ad information site at:

http://www.markwelch.com/bannerad/

For broad reach there is no better place to position your company than at Yahoo. For targeted promotions it is best to seek out specialty websites that may have much less traffic, but are more likely to generate a qualified response. The key to success is testing different ads in order to increase the click-through rate. We have been researching ad copy, graphics, the new "talking" banner ads, and "interactive" ads to find the factors that improve click-through by the most significant amount. If you are interested in our results, send e-mail to: bannerads@hitstosales.com

11) Create Multimedia Events

Our experience with the Olympics taught us the value of this strategy. We were featured on the Discovery Channel and our hits went through the roof. Even if you don't have the ability to attach your site to a hot topic in the popular press, you can create an Internet infomercial (Intermercial?) and promote it as though it were an event. We did this using TalkPoint technology and the results were phenomenal. TalkPoint has the added advantage of getting your prospect on the phone at the same time that they are surfing the 'net. As soon as our readers began to listen to the presentation, they were hooked. Then, because they were already on the phone, a high percentage actually called the number on their screens to ask for additional information! You can still see our three-part series "Search Engine Secrets: Meet The Experts" at:

http://www.hitstosales.com/searchengines

Find out more about adding TalkPoint presentations to your website at:
http://www.talkpoint.com

12) Keep it changing to keep them coming back

A highly trafficked destination site relies on repeat visitors. Which pages of your website are designed to keep people coming back for more? Specials, schedules, news, events, articles, and inventory can all be rotated on a frequent basis. In the past, this meant hiring a full-time webmaster. Now with new Internet software tools the task can easily be done by your existing staff. We use ActiveEdit for our webzine to keep our articles rotating on a daily basis. Find out more at:

http://www.activeedit.com

What if you don't have a lot of new information to display? Consider adding a bulletin board, chat room or classifieds to give people a reason to continually check back with you. Be sure to encourage people to bookmark the site and tell their friends about it. A moderated guestbook is another quick way to develop a sense of community. Destination sites that build their content from contributions of their readers can be the most rewarding -- emotionally as well as monetarily! For more strategies in building a highly interactive site see Declan Dunn's "32 Ways To Contact Your Customers" at:

http://www.webletter.net/ordinary/index.html

And finally, THE BIG SECRET:

Let other people sell for you! Duplicate your efforts and receive third party endorsements. By now you've probably heard of Amazon Books. They achieved their overnight success primarily by implementing an "associate" program that allows other people to recommend their books and receive a referral commission. Several other companies have taken this idea to a new level. By allowing other people to advertise for them in exchange for a percentage of the profits, they have extended their reach without adding to their advertising budget. Find several examples of associate programs at Allan Gardyne's well researched site:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/

Manufacturers who are capable of shipping orders one-at-a-time can really take advantage of this by creating a template for a "virtual storefront" and sharing it with their distributors and retailers who want to sell on the Internet. This creates goodwill with the retailers -- who will perceive the manufacturer is acting in a supporting role rather than as a direct competitor. Each of these online stores can compound their sales by adding an "associate" program to their shopping cart. For more information contact the author at:

associateprograms@adnetintl.com

Mr. Anderson and Henderson also operate ADNet International (http://www.adnetintl.com), a prominent web design and marketing company that has promoted the CMA Awards and Paul McCartney's Standing Stone Concert. ADNet International provides marketing advice for web hosting customers at MindSpring and has been featured on AOL's PrimeHost.