How to Increase Traffic to Your Website, Blog, or Online Shop

When starting up your Online business, whether it be Etsy, eBay, Amazon, etc; most people are concerned about shop views. And you should be! Before you can make any sales, you have got to build your brand by getting your name and products out to the public. Here are a few easy ways to drive traffic to your shop or website (Most are FREE!!!!)

This is simply a brief overview of simple and free ways to QUICKLY increase views, hype, and traffic to your shop. I have used these techniques for Etsy, eBay with great success; give them a try!!!

If you have not already- sign up for Stumbleupon.com.

This Site allows you to add "pages" which will be found by other members of Stumble upon by their interests. You can add the URL of your Home page, a listing, or a section of your shop (just about anything you want!)

You can also add as many Tags as you like- which will get the page to more people.

Lastly, you can chose the category of the page (fashion, shopping, marketing, etc)

You can add as many pages as you like- which means limitless variations of tags and categories- but be sure they are relevant to the page. Stumbleupon will catch on if you are just throwing random tags and categories on your pages for views.

Also; explore the site- it is pretty amazing! just hit the stumble button and "like" or "dislike" the page. If you have ever used Pandora Radio- it is the exact same.. except with the Internet- and None of those commercials!

This is an awesome FREE resource that will get you immediate views!

Blogging is a great way to reach target markets; blogger.com is free and has an amazing dashboard where you can check your stats (Views, Readers, etc).

Blog about what you know, and make it useful for readers. If your information is not useful; the readers will most likely not come back to it!

Throw a few links to your shop on the blog; but DO NOT over advertise- as it may turn people off. So many people over advertise and loose potential clients because of it.

There is also Wordpress.com, tumblr.com, thoughts.com, etc. Jump into a few if you think you are ready- just remember... pace yourself, as it can take a lot of time to maintain one, let alone three!

Try out one, test the waters, and decide what blog site works best for you

Definitely have some business cards made!

vistaprint.com ALWAYS has deals going on and their rates are amazing (as well as the products!) I had 500 cards made for about $7 and they threw in a free pen!

Ask local businesses if you can place these cards in their venues. I always leave a few near the check out of ANY store (gas stations, grocery stores, retail, literally everywhere).

Also, tell your friends and family, give them a few cards as well. This will build your brand a bit slower, but will grow hype about you and your shop locally.

Pinterest.com is a great site to use if you have pictures anywhere on your website ( hubpages, blogger.com, your own domain, etc).

You can also easily pin any photos of products you may have on your online shop ( eBay, etsy, amazon, etc)

Create a few Boards on Pinterest, pin images that link to your content, and explore other boards on Pinterest.

The bottom line: if the content is not interesting, traffic will drop.

Research your audience; study the niche, and make a list of keywords that are found in their discussions and communities. Use those keywords to draw in new customers/ readers. Write about what they care about!

Join some online communities that discuss your niche. It is not about selling, or gaining traffic, its about understanding the needs and wants of the community.