Q: Thank you for your offer.  I checked my listing there and it was terrible.  What can I do?
Ken D.

Hi Ken, It looks like you are pretty much promoting one site. I’ve never heard of 100dollarbills2u.com. You won’t know how well it works unless you can get some targeted traffic to your affiliate pages. I’m assuming you aren’t getting direct traffic or with other trackers.

It looks like you are already subscribed to our Tracker Blog. I would recommend you subscribe to the Extreme Ezine too but that sounds a little self-serving. I think a question related to targeted traffic would interest many of our visitors. It sounds like a fun question. Lets see what kind of tips we can generate…

Have you checked out Google’s newest creation SearchWiki? SearchWiki is for Google users that are signed into their Google accounts. I don’t know how many users that is but it has to be in the millions at any given time. When SearchWiki was launched a couple of days ago I didn’t give it much thought.

That was until I read a post on John’s Tech Blog Google Turns SEO On It’s Head! John’s post made me go back and pay attention to a Google search that I had just made. I was checking our ad tracking site’s current position by searching ad tracking in Google search – still number two So I went back and noticed the little icon  where I could add a note to my URL.

I didn’t even think that was so special until I noticed that is was public! Wow, a public comment next to your URL in Google’s search results. SearchWiki does not affect the way websites are ranked by Google but adding a public comment about your site is a great way to make it more visible and perhaps even a little more legitimate in the eyes of some.

Related: The Official Google Blog SearchWiki: make search your own

We all know that if no one goes to your site it doesn’t have a chance of generating an income. Common sense also tells us that we need a steady flow of website traffic. If there was one single hard and fast rule in generating income for your website, which there isn’t, it would be a steady and continuous flow of traffic.

We want a lot of site traffic but not just any traffic, it MUST be targeted traffic. That term, targeted traffic, may seem to be getting a little old or worn out but it’s just as true today as it ever was. If your site is a tool to sell E-Book software, for example, what good does a thousand people auto-surfing for their own site visitors do? The fact they are jumping through hoops to get low NO quality traffic should be a pretty good indication they’re probably not buyers.

Generating targeted visitors to your site is just as important as sales copy, pricing and every other sales consideration – other than ROI (Return On Investment) of course. If you’re taking a loss then the whole business in in trouble.

The need for targeted traffic is the same as it always has been but many of the preferred methods of generating those site visitors is changing. Not completely, the traditional methods such as article marketing, ezine advertising, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) etc. are still necessary but now we have many other options with the success of Social Networking or Web 2.0.

It’s a very exciting time, especially for those of us taking advantage of the Web 2.0 era. I hate that term, Web 2.0, it sounds like an alternate internet somewhere. I remember when I first heard the term I was wondering how they were going to keep it separate from the old web lol. Social Networking and Web 2.0 are the same thing if it’s still unclear. Not to complicate things but I prefer Social Marketing.

What makes social marketing exciting from a traffic generation stand point is just how ‘targeted’ it can get. When sites like MySpace started getting Internet Marketers excited, I jumped right in. Right from the start I could see how if not used properly the whole thing could be a huge waste of time. Those marketers adding anyone and everyone as ‘friends‘ in order to get their friends list up into the thousands were going about everything wrong. I decided to only allow other members in that had something to do with online business. My MySpace page only has less than 600 members but it’s targeted. I even had the Google PageRank up to 05/10 but I see it’s down to 02/10 now -slap:-( My niche is Internet Marketing so now if I send a broadcast it can be seen by several hundred other marketers and online business owners. For that broadcast to go out to ten thousand teeny-boppers, bands and spamming models (I’m being very kind with that term) would only be a waste of everyone’s time and completely ignored. So you can’t just sign up, jump in and start sending traffic to your site like many are implying, you still need to give it a little thought and planning to make it work.

MySpace was my first but it’s certainly not the only kid on the block. There are literally thousands of Social Networking sites out there. Many with their own twists and benefits. In fact, there are so many you could easily get caught up in another problem – no time for anything else. What good is the traffic if you never have new content for the visitor to see and you don’t have anything to offer? Combine all of the various sites out there for social networking, social bookmarking, Blogging networks etc. with the fact that you’re actually making new friends and having fun and you have the potential of becoming addicted.

Social Networking has turned the tables on large sites. Many of the larger sites that were dominating the search engine listings and there niche market have all but taken a back seat to someone that just runs a blog and it grew by accident. That’s got to hurt, right? You spend years developing an online business. Countless hours and a ton of money building traffic and growing your list and some guy with a blog comes around and kicks your butt right off the top search results! It’s just amazing to see someone posting daily to a blog and just being social skyrocket to a pagerank of 7/10 with RSS feed subscribers of twenty thousand or more. You see, it pays to stay on top of things. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Would you like to use this article on your website? See our EzineArticles.com bio page for details and a list of available articles. You must include the author resource box below each article published and please make sure each link is ‘clickable’. Don’t forget to come back here and leave us the page the article is on using the comments feature of this post. That will give you a search engine friendly link back

Everyone likes the idea of winning a contest. You can build site traffic, visitor participation and even your list by promoting the perfect contest. Contest and giveaway campaigns can be customized to get the results you are looking for.

Match a simple contest with a nice prize and you’ll be the winner. Pick an easy to understand and easy to enter contest that fit’s your target market. Promote it everywhere and give it time to work, two to four weeks for example. Get it rolling and keep the momentum during the entire promotion.

Contest Ideas and Examples:

1. Generate visitor participation by allowing them to enter the contest by commenting on your site.

2. Build links and traffic to your site by selecting a contest winner from the best site review or blog post about your website. You could even let people enter the contest by simply linking to your site.

3. Build your list by making it a referral contest. Many affiliate programs use contests to boost the efforts of their affiliates and joint venture partners. Grand prizes for big ticket products from well known marketers can be as extravagant as a computer, paid vacation, big screen TV or even a car.

4. Increase your newsletter open and click rates by having a ‘find the hidden word’ or similar contest within your email publication.

5. Help your sponsors get the most for their money by creating a contest based on their site or product. You could offer your ezine readers a free ad in the next issue if they can answer a question found on the sponsor’s sales page, for example.

6. Need a website designed or a new logo? Setup a Logo Design or Site Design Contest. Give a permanent link to the winner’s website as a prize. Offer a grand prize that’s of real value in the form of a download or software.

Point System

Many marketers take full advantage of their contests by using a point system. Just recently I reviewed a site that offered points in this manner:

Purchase a Banner Ad (50 Entries)
Blog about the contest (20 Entries)
Subscribe to their RSS feed via E-mail (10 Entries)
Comment on the contest post (1 Entry)

There are multiple benefits for a point system such as that. The competition is covering a lot of bases by building traffic, selling banner ads, generating one-way links, building their feed subscriber list, and getting site visitors to participate by posting comments! Wow, who can ask for more?

Get Other Sites Involved

You can build both the contest and promotions very quickly by partnering with other sites. Allow other sites to contribute gifts and prizes in exchange for sharing in the benefits. Now your prizes are bigger, your promotions are bigger and everyone wins if planned and administered correctly.

Get legal advice

Always cover yourself legally. Consult with a professional or attorney before launching your contest or give-a-way campaign. Even a small mistake can cost you dearly. That’s why we see terms such as, “This contest is void where prohibited by law” or “All submissions become the exclusive property of whatever company”. What if one of your contest winners violate copyright laws? Are you legally authorized to give the prize or product away? Do your rules and terms violate another site’s rights? Save yourself the trouble of defending yourself later by getting legal advice before you launch.

Online Business

Contests, sweepstakes and give a ways have been a healthy part of business marketing for many years, way before the internet. Online business is perfectly suited for this type of competition. With the ability of offering instant downloads and the availability of worldwide payment processors you’re not restricted to one country or region. Costs can be minimal if planned well. No shipping costs, prizes in digital format can be purchased at very reasonable rates and advertising can be very cost effective.

Whether you run a very small site with one product or your online business involves many employees and sites, contests can help you achieve your business goals. A simple program can be up and running within hours so jump in and get started.

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Would you like to use this article on your website? See our EzineArticles.com bio page for details and a list of available articles. You must include the author resource box below each article published and please make sure each link is ‘clickable’. Don’t forget to come back here and leave us the page the article is on using the comments feature of this post. That will give you a search engine friendly link back