5 Easy Ways To Increase Your Website Traffic
Getting the word out.
I am always busy exploring ways to drive more traffic to my site, Dravenstar Paranormal Research Team, and my BLOG here at Hubpages. While there are tons of agreed upon methods, we must remember that what works for one site may fail to bring in the traffic to our site. I have listed 5 ways that I have been working with that are working rather well for me and my online existence. I hope they provide some help for you as well.
Forums
Posting on forums is not only a great way to drive some serious traffic flow your way, but it is also fun. The easiest way to get traffic is to make use of forum signatures. A signature will appear at the bottom of every post you make on the forum. If you create an original, eye catching signature and include your link with in that signature you can almost guarantee a few hits from the posts you make.
When designing your signature you want it to catch the eye but not be overwhelming. A signature that is to full of movement and color might be less appealing than a nice 2 or 3 color one. Let the signature define your site.
Also forums will have a page that you use to talk about yourself. Place a link to your site there as well. Remember the more links back to your site the more popular you will grow on the search engines and getting major traffic required mucho Google juice!
When using a forum please follow the rules and guidelines set fourth by the owners. Never abuse the forum by spamming your site information. Be professional and courteous. I have found that becoming an active community member can be a great way to not only get traffic but also friends who will always be there for you to speak with.
Yahoo Questions
It takes a little while to make this work for you. To be able to put click through links you have to have level 2 status. Once that is achieved you will have a world of promotion possibilities. The best advice is to find a question in your niche and answer it. After you answer it put a link to your site in the resources section. Every time you do this you create a permanent back link to your site or blog. This is a valuable tool for those searching to increase search engine ranks.
Another real easy trick to drive traffic is to ask a question. maybe ask what would be the best color scheme for your site. Post the link to your site and wait. People will go to check the site out and each visit is a hit. If you have a good site with quality content you could have repeat visitors. Some people will spam and flame your questions but if they check your site you still are the winner in the end.
If you BLOG or make videos you can find questions relating to subjects you write or broadcast about and post them in the answers section. This is a great way to drive serious traffic back to your sites.
E-mail Signatures
These work like the forum signature but are controlled by you as the sender. Using this type of advertisement is not going to generate a heap of traffic to your site but it serves as reminder advertisement. Maybe a friend gets an email from you and he sees the signature and visits the site. It is a great way to get repeat hits as opposed to fresh new traffic.
I use my email signature to do just that. Don't get me wrong there are times when I have to email someone over a business matter and the signature brings them to my site, This is a great and easy tool to have at your disposal.
Facebooks and Myspace
While Myspace is not the mecca it once was it still has it's fair share of followers and devoted members. These two social megahouses give you a world of promotion potential with little effort. Simply update your status with a link to your site. Maybe say "is updating (than list your site). You can even utilize pictures to advertise your site and BLOGs.
Facebook is actually a bit better for this than Myspace as it allows you a much broader range of people you can reach. Facebook allows you to send out status updates as well as posting on other people's walls which give you the option of advertising to people who are not on your list.
Blogging
Using a Blog to increase website traffic is a great tool. Blogging is a very important part of cyberspace in this day and age and should be utilized. You can make a blog about something related to your niche and then link that post back to your site. This is a great way for sites to not only get a link back but to keep content on there fresh and new.
Blogs also allow visitors to the site to get to know the site owner as a person. When we can relate to our viewers and they to us than we can create an ongoing relationship that will lead to repeat visits. I am all about traffic but I want mine to be continual.
Blogs are also good in that some have what is called dofollow access. This means you can leave a comment and link back to your site from that comment. This is an excellent way to generate heaps of new traffic.
Wrapping it up
Like I said these have been very useful methods for me and are generating a fair amount of traffic for my sites. They may not do the same for tyou but it could not hurt to try. I wish you the best.