How to draw traffic to your website

I recently received this email:
I'm not sure what is available to me as a WAHM with my own internet retail site. I do blog, and I do have a newsletter, but what else can I do to help me gain more traffic (it has been gaining traffic since I opened (in Feb 2008), but I'm thinking that I may have hit a wall lately. I do my own SEO work, but wonder if I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle?

Here’s my tips about drawing traffic to your website.

The great thing about internet marketing is that we no longer have to rely on traditional media (newspapers, magazines, TV) to publicize our message. We can now market directly to our customers. However, the internet is not a one-way marketing vehicle. Use the various sources within the internet to develop relationships and position yourself as an expert. Social marketing should be done on a regular basis. You can’t just create a blog or MySpace account and forget about them. You must use them regularly. Link back to your website as often as possible when creating and using all of these social media sites.

Blogs
If you have a blog (which all companies should have a blog), search other blogs, read them and make genuine comments. If you have a babywearing business, read and comment on the blogs of pregnant women and women with babies. If you have a cake company, read the blogs of chocoholics and those who love to bake. You can read more about the powerful marketing effects of blogging on my website.

Forums/Yahoo Groups
There are many forums and or groups within your community or in the internet world. Does your city have a forum? Mine has 380 Guide. My community has a forum specifically for moms. Whatever your niche or target market there is a web forum out there where people are talking about your type of products. I suggest you become a member and these forums or Yahoo Groups and participate in the conversations. Don’t use the forums to directly sell your product, but provide your expertise when members have questions pertaining to your industry.

MySpace/FaceBook
According to MySpace for Dummies, “A social networking site is a site that allows users to create individual profiles in hopes of making contact with other site users that share similar interests of goals.” Businesses that create profiles on MySpace or Facebook have an excellent opportunity to generate a lot of “grass roots buzz.”

Traditional marketing tactics have always been a release-it-and-forget it process: place an ad, run a TV commercial, post a billboard. With on-line media outlets like MySpace and Facebook, it’s a two-way communication process. You simply can’t just create a MySpace page and hope for friends. It’s important to use the “tools” within each site to build relationships. Ideas include commenting on your friends’ pages, creating your own videos and posting them on your profile page, sending your friends bulletins about upcoming events and articles of interest. Be careful not to spam. The on-line social participants expect to be able to comment, leave questions and are uninterested in one-way dialogs.

YouTube
Another social networking site that provides beneficial marketing opportunities for spas is YouTube. Simple and effective video cameras are very affordable these days. Short videos about the services you provide, product demonstrations, wellness tips from your technicians and tours of your facility require little editing. Sites like www.onetruemedia.com allow you to clip your videos and create montages which you can then post to YouTube. Once you’ve created and posted your videos, there many marketing opportunities within YouTube for you to reach customers: share it with the friends attached to your account; post a message on a bulletin board; and invite friends to subscribe to your account. Your YouTube videos can also be posted on your blog and within your MySpace and Facebook profile pages.

eMail Marketing/eNewsletters
I’m a big fan of user-friendly on-line email marketing programs like Constant Contact, which allow companies to easily and effectively create high-impact, professional quality emails. The key is to provide valuable content within your eNewsletters – don’t just advertise your products and services. Valuable content includes success stories; photos of customers using your product; and news about your company; I always recommend that customers have an “Over at our blog” section with links back to posts for customers who may not have read your blog.

Twitter
Twitter has many faithful followers who are loving the marketing results they are seeing with Twitter. I haven’t played around in Twitter very much. However, the blog for New World PR, writes about Twitter quite frequently. You may learn more about the marketing vehicle over there.

Free Social Media Book

Paul Gillin is giving away free galley copies of his forthcoming book, "Secrets of Social Media Marketing. "

"We have 250 copies available for this special offer."

I just ordered mine.

Click here to receive your copy.

A Brilliant and Blessed Blog Campaign

I learned about the Compassion International blogging campaign from BooMama.

I periodically read her blog – she’s hilarious!

Compassion International invited a dozen influential Christian bloggers on a trip to Uganda. The bloggers journaled their trip and wrote about Compassion at work in the lives of impoverished children and their families.

Every time I checked back onto BooMama’s blog to get an update on her journey in Africa:

I felt her love for the kids;

I felt her love for the Lord and his love for these families of Uganda.

I got to see the adorable faces of the precious children and read first hand account of their reactions to their sponsors.

I got to share in BooMama’s shock at the absolute, deplorable poverty some of these kids live in.

BooMama would post the photos of children who still needed sponsors and the next time I logged on, they had been sponsored!

I got to see BooMama evolve as a person as well. She’s not used to hiking, sleeping where monkey’s can invade your room or being away from KFC. Here’s a quote from her blog:

“Perspective. It’s a mighty good thing. And that day - in the middle of a remote Ugandan village that has no power, no running water, no telephone lines and no cable television - I found tons of it.”

According to Compassion’s website, they started the blog for “emphasis on social networking and increased communications avenues.” They wanted to “energize sponsors and donors to become active advocates for children in poverty energize sponsors and donors to become active advocates for children in poverty.”

Congratulations Compassion on such a brilliant and blessed blogging campaign!

Click here to see BooMama’s Uganda journey.

Social Networking Sites

In today's Dallas Morning News, there was a great article by Angela Shah about entrepreneurs turning to social networking sites.

I would link to it but it hasn't been posted on the DMN site. Here are some points that stood out in the article:
1. Increasingly, small businesses are turning to such sites as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube as a way to reach young customers who have embraced them as part of their lives.
2. For firms with little money to spend on advertising, the Web sites can be a cheap, efficient marketing tool.
3. Basically, you search the individual profiles for people who might be interested in your product and invite them to join your network as "friends" or customers for the small business owner. You can then send messages about your company to these friends.
4. Membership in general online networking sites reached as high as 41 percent for 18-29 year olds.

In my experience, many moms with young children have MySpace accounts.

If your target market is geared toward this age group or moms with young children, your marketing and PR plan should include social networking sites. You should take the time to create a page on any or all of these social networking sites.

I recently read a great book that could guide you along the way, "MySpace for Dummies."