Many people will tell you that to get your web site noticed you
need to ‘optimize’ your site for the search engines. You are then
led up a path where you have to keep changing your web site as
the search engines change their ways of listing things. As fast
as you ‘optimize’ your site, Google and the others have moved the
goalposts, meaning you have to keep optimizing over and over
again.

Now consider some facts. Most people in the world are not users
of the Internet. Let’s repeat that. The vast majority of people
who you want to reach don’t use the Internet. It doesn’t matter
how well you optimize your web site, they simply will never find
it.

Here’s another fact. Some of the best Internet marketers make
most of their sales ‘offline’. They sell their books, CD-ROMs and
so on at seminars, workshops and conferences. Indeed, for many
‘Internet marketers’ these ‘offline’ sales represent the bulk of
their income.

So what do these facts tell us? They show us that ‘offline’
promotion is more important than online promotion. You may be
able to optimize your web site to get high rankings in a search
engine. But that doesn’t mean you’ll reach the vast majority of
people who could buy your product or use your information.

This was confirmed recently by one study that showed most people
go to an Internet address (URL) after having read it in a
newspaper or magazine, been given it by a friend or colleague, or
having heard it being mentioned by someone speaking at a meeting
or on TV. In other words, it seems that significant numbers of
people who get to your web site will do so having heard the URL
somewhere outside the Internet.

You can get many people visiting your web site, even if you are
not ranked highly by the search engines. You can do this in two
main ways:

1. Write articles for use in regular publications – newspapers,
magazines and so on. Always include your URL in the article and
you’ll get millions of people to notice your web site address.

2. Speak at every opportunity. Make presentations to business
clubs, chambers of commerce, local societies – you name it, you
should speak at it. Every time you speak, announce or your web
site address.

Although these are the two principal ways of gaining offline
publicity for your web site, don’t neglect your business
stationery, posters, car stickers and so on. The more your web
site address is visible outside the web, the more visitors you
will get regardless of how kind the search engines are to you.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Everyone who has a website knows that to have sales you must have
traffic, but not just any traffic it has to be targeted traffic.

What is Targeted traffic? It is simply visitors to your website
that are interested in what your website is about. For example,
people interested in buying jewellery will find jewellery
websites interesting.

How do I get targeted traffic I hear you ask? The following are
tried and tested methods:

Forums: Subscribe to forums that discuss your topic. Answer
questions and join in the debates there. Become an expert in the
field. Then with each article reply you write have a discreet
link to your website in the signature file. What can be placed in
your signature is often determined by the forum moderators. Do
not spam the forum or you will be stopped from posting. This is
one of the most productive ways of getting free traffic as those
who click your link have already read and liked your style.

Linking from/to other websites: Contact website owners that have
similar but not competitive websites to yours, ask them for a
reciprocal link from their website to yours. Be sure to select
your link partner to match closely your customer profile.
Software programs such as Arelis are very helpful in this
process.

E-Zines: Contact e-zine owners that have your target readership
and buy advertisements from them. Be sure to have a test run to
see that the return on investment is sufficient to cover the
costs involved. If you are buying an extended run of
advertisements haggle with the e-zine owner over price. You may
save a considerable amount.

Newsletters: When people visit your website offer them something
of value for free if they sign up to your newsletter (like an
e-Book). Your newsletter should be written tightly geared towards
your topic. It should be published regularly at weekly
intervals.

E-Books: Often used, these are usually free informational books
for your clients and for others to give away free if they leave
your links in the book itself. You can place links back to your
website in the books you sell or give to your clients.

Joint Ventures: Contact online marketers looking for new products
to sell. They often have large mailing lists with eager to buy
customers. Normally they are willing to email their list for a
cut of the sale price. This works particularly well with
informational products. It has several advantages. It can give a
very sizeable boost to both your sales and mailing list within a
very short period.

Buy Traffic: This is probably the cheapest in terms of time and
most expensive money wise. It gives a traffic boost normally
within 30 days. What are you buying? You are buying traffic from
expired domain names which the company selling the traffic has
bought. They are domain names still registered on the search
engines which get a considerable amount of traffic. The previous
domain name owners have either lost interest in the name or
simply forgot to renew the registration. This means that the
traffic from the expired domain name is simply redirected to your
website. This is usually high quality traffic as only websites
with traffic such as you want is redirected to you. As always, a
test run to see if this traffic is suitable should be
undertaken.

When you combine these techniques and apply them consistently
over time you will find a rich source of targeted traffic coming
to your website. This, combined with quality products will ensure
the success of your online business.

Popularity: 20% [?]