Paying for Traffic: Good Idea or Good Way to Go Broke?

Traffic is essential to any online business. If you have enough traffic, then any offer, no matter how terrible, will eventually make money. People actually do make money, albeit small amounts, from AdSense sites that are designed to be so bad that they will encourage people to click on an ad just to escape the horror.

On the other hand, without traffic, it doesn’t matter how good your product or offer is. You might have created a product that solves all your potential customer’s desperate needs and written copy that converts at fifty percent; you won’t sell a thing if you don’t get eyeballs on the page.

Paid Traffic – The upshot is that getting traffic is easy; you can pay for traffic and get as much as you want, whenever you want. The problem is the matter of paying for it. While pay-per-click and other forms of paid traffic can make you a lot of money, they can also drain your bank account faster than Bernie Madoff on a gambling spree.

Paid Traffic

There is a couple of things you need to have in place before you start buying traffic:

A budget – Obviously, you need to pay for paid traffic, but you also need to keep in mind that there is a learning curve involved, and that you are likely to have to spend money for a while before you make any. If you can’t afford that, you’re not ready.

A product that converts – You need something that people are actually going to buy. Basically, you need to know what your conversion rate is and what your other relevant numbers are. If you don’t, or if they suck, you should hold off on buying traffic.

Discipline – Success with paid traffic is all about testing and tweaking. You need to be able to make and track changes in an orderly meaningful way. If you just switch things randomly without hard data, you won’t succeed. This can be hard to stick to when you’re losing money, so you need discipline.

If you want to learn how to get cheap paid traffic, make sure you watch the video I made not so long ago:

– Cheap PPC (highly recommended video)

Any questions? Feel free to leave a comment! Do you pay for traffic or do you stick to organic traffic from the search engines? Remember that you can also get in touch with me via my Facebook page!

Author:
Julien
Your “Go Live” Website Checklist

When you’re launching a website, there are a lot of things to balance, whether it be content issues, client issues, coding issues, and so on. It is easy for some things to slip through the gaps.

In order to avoid that, here are a few simple things to keep in mind for every website you design. These are the little things that may slip through the gap:

* The Favicon: The favicon is the little icon that shows up in a web browsers navigation bar when you visit a site. It also is recorded when people bookmark a website. Create a favicon and put it into the root directory of your website as a way to brand your website.

* Title Creation: If you are using a Content Management System (CMS) or are making each individual page yourself, make sure that your page titles and meta data accurately describe your content and are keyword–rich.

* Browsers: Don’t just check your website using one web browser. If you use Internet Explorer, then also check older versions of IE, as well as Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and mobile devices.

* Validate Your Website: The W3C is an international organization devoted to creating standard coding procedures for internet content. Check out their website (http://validator.w3.org) for an online code validator. Simply enter your web address and it will check to make sure your code is up to standard. This blog (http://www.ColinKlinkert.com/) has over 100 issues, so that is quite high, but its a trade off, making the site have the functions you want, often means it won’t be perfect code.

* Offer RSS: Does your site have regular content updates? If so, offer an RSS news feed so people can check out your website in the RSS application of their choice. If you are using a CMS, most of these have built-in RSS capabilities. If your site doesn’t receive content updates regularly (like a static business page), then don’t bother… Rather use Aweber to capture subscribers that you can then mail offers to 🙂

* Tracking: Have a way to track your traffic. Google Analytics provides free tracking services, and there are numerous others like Clicky and Mint. These services give you valuable information like total traffic, page traffic, and time spent at your website.

Just a few pointers there to ensure you have everything on the next site you build 🙂 – If you can think of any things that I have forgotten on this list that others are likely to overlook, please post them in the comments section below

Author:
Colin Klinkert
WordPress Ping List

WordPress Ping List – Just a short blog post to share my recommended WordPress ping list (also known as update services) with you. I gathered this information from both personal experience and external resources and you may use it for your own WordPress blog(s) of course.

Ping services are tools that you can use to let other people know that you have updated your blog. Every time you publish a new blog post or update an existing one, WordPress notifies these update services, so people visiting sites like Technorati can find your most recent posts.

If you aren’t too sure where to add these, log into WordPress and go to the ‘Writing Settings’ section. Click ‘Writing’ under ‘Settings’. Then simply add the WordPress ping list to the dedicated text box, so when you publish a new blog post, WordPress automatically notifies these sites and you get more exposure.

WordPress Ping List

WordPress Ping List

Simply select all the links (below) and copy and paste them into the text box (above).

WordPress Ping List

http://rpc.pingomatic.com
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://www.feedsubmitter.com
http://blo.gs/ping.php
http://www.pingerati.net
http://www.pingmyblog.com
http://geourl.org/ping
http://ipings.com
http://www.weblogalot.com/ping
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping

WordPress Ping List

If you have any suggestions of sites to add to this WordPress ping list, feel free to leave a comment. We would actually love to hear from you! On a side note, make sure you start reading my series of hot topics, starting with keyword research tips and tools. Stay tuned for more!

Author:
Julien
Using YouTube Videos for Search Marketing

YouTube Video Marketing

Have you ever wondered how YouTube video marketing can help you generate traffic to your site? Well, the answer is pretty simple. YouTube is a site that has one of the largest reaches in the Internet. It receives millions of visitors everyday and because it is owned by Google, video results for searches are generally featured at the the top of almost every Google search.

So, with all the traffic going through YouTube, why not try to get some of those people to your site? YouTube video marketing is actually a lot easier than you might think. First, you need to make a video. Pick one of the most popular articles or sections of content of your site, understand exactly what the content says, and repeat it, in your own words, in front of a camera. Limit the length to a maximum of five minutes.

Most modern computers have built-in cameras, but if you don’t have one, don’t hesitate to purchase one online or at a local store. Webcams are pretty cheap nowadays, and the fantastic Flip Video cameras are not only inexpensive and mobile phone-sized, but they come with a built-in USB connection that pops out the side and plugs straight into your computer.

Once you have the video recorded, head over to YouTube and sign up for a free account (if you don’t already have one). In the meantime, join my YouTube channel for great internet marketing and money money online video content. There are a lot of videos set to be released.

The uploading process is very easy and streamlined. All you need to do is select the file from your hard drive when prompted and enter a title and description for the video. Feel free to use the same title and keywords you already used in the source article you used to create the video. Very importantly, at the beginning of the description, make sure to include a link back to your site.

That’s it! The process requires little to no initial investment (depending on whether or not you already have a camera), and doesn’t take that much time. You may then repeat the process to make more videos using other popular articles from your site to increase the odds of generating views and most importantly traffic to your online presence. Don’t forget to share your videos on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, etc. If you don’t know about the latter yet, learn how Google goes social with Google Buzz!

Author:
Colin Klinkert
Highly Recommended Traffic Tool

This week I want to tell you about a new traffic site that is just launching. It’s called
Perfect Traffic Storm and is run by longtime business partners of mine: Todd Gross and Mark Lareau. Todd and Mark have done a great job again. I’m really impressed! Perfect Traffic Storm will help you boost your web traffic and get your promotions in front of more qualified visitors, guaranteed.

Make sure you get your hands on the early bird bonuses before they expire. It just went live and if you hurry you might still be able to get a fast action bonus. It took them over 2 years to develop this unique traffic site which focuses on conversions rather than just hits and visits. I’m talking signups and sales here… in other words: cash! Here is a great opportunity to speed up your online income in no time.

I highly recommend Perfect Traffic Storm to anyone who’s after targeted traffic that converts (almost everyone, right?). The system is pretty ingenious, make sure you check out all the features and benefits and join before the bonuses are all gone!

Click here to get Perfect Traffic Storm

Author:
Julien
How To Get Quality Inbound Links To Your Site

With HubPages, Squidoo, Tumblr, Posterous… and ViralHosts!

Inbounds links are useful for two main reasons: they can generate additional traffic to your website and, most importantly, influence search engines in the ranking of your pages. There are plenty of ways to get inbound links to your website. One of them is becoming increasingly popular: through user generated content websites and micro blogging platforms.

HubPages

HubPages is certainly the most popular user generated content website. It has been designed around sharing advertising revenue for high quality, user generated content. Some of the pages – all built by web users – are very popular and generate a significant amount of traffic. Just so you know, some people are making heaps of money with these kinds of websites. I’m not explaining you how to make money with them though, but how to get more quality inbound to your website. Anyway, HubPages is the first website you want to look at.

Squidoo

Squidoo was founded about a year before HubPages and is also very popular. It doesn’t generate as much traffic as HubPages but is still a big player. Squidoo was designed to help web users easily find useful overview pages – called lenses – written by real people. With Squidoo, you have the option to give your earnings to charity, which is a good thing if you’re not really interested in monetizing your page.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a micro blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos and other types of content to their micro blog. Tumblr is popular for its customizability and ease of use. This is not the ultimate blogging platform, but if you’re not too familiar with blogging, or just want a simple but effective blog, then you should consider Tumblr. Signing up on Tumblr only takes a few seconds, and everything has been done to make you publish your content in the most simple way possible.

Posterous

Posterous is another micro blogging platform but is slightly different from Tumblr. With Posterous, you can publish blog posts by simply emailing your content to a dedicated email address. If you’re confused about blogging, well this might be the best option. I just cannot think of a more simple way to publish content. You email your content and… that’s it. Your blog has been created. You don’t even need to log into the system to publish your content. You can do so though, if you really want to, to edit your existing blog posts for example… It is not as big as Tumblr but I really like the concept. Give it a try, it is definitely worth it.

ViralHosts

ViralHosts is also a great way to get more quality inbound links to your site. This all-in-one cPanel hosting, list builder and mailer system allows you to host and build a site in no time. With ViralHosts, you can link to your main site, squeeze pages or any other pages you want. You know how much value search engines give to inbound links… ViralHosts is your chance to get quality ones! To be honest with you, I just can’t stop finding new benefits to using ViralHosts, so make sure you join free today and see how this system can help you build a strong online presence!

Otherwise, you may want to look at alternatives like Google’s Knol, SpongeFish or LaunchTags. Browse around and choose the ones you like. If you’re really after inbound links, then create a page on each of these websites. Keep in mind that not all will allow you to post links without a rel=nofollow attribute (which basically remove the value of the link for search engines), or only allow you to do so once your page is considered as a high quality page. Focus on quality and don’t insert too many links, one or two (to different landing pages) are usually enough. There is no use linking twice to the same address on the same page.

Author:
Julien
One-Way Link Generation

The one-way link to your website from somebody else’s is one of the main factors for search engines in deciding whether or not your content is important. When other web users decide your content is worthwile, they create a link to it either on their own website or a social bookmarking site – or so goes the search engine logic.

With that said, here are a few proven strategies that you can use to begin generating links to your site in no time:

• Article marketing through sites like ezinearticles and other similar sites provides you not only with the ability to link to your site, but also a way for you to give people a preview of what sort of content you offer. If people read your articles and then decide to click over to your site, they will be highly relevant traffic.

• The AddThis and ShareThis buttons are small widgets that you can insert into your webpages. Visitors to your site can then use these widgets to submit your articles to social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, Mixx, etc. If you have regular content updates and readers who will click these widgets, then you can generate links without doing any actual work yourself.

• Link directories are kind of like the internet version of phone books, as they separate websites into different categories that you can submit your link to. Some are free to submit links and others require a payment. It’s a good idea to stick with the free ones at first, until you learn more about what kind of traffic you can potentially generate and what sort of descriptions and advertisement-like text you should enter. Once you have this refined, feel free to try out a paid site, or avoid them, if the free ones are having a good effect and spending extra money wouldn’t be worth it.

Author:
Colin Klinkert
Focus On Content

When the internet was young and web programming languages like JavaScript were first coming out, a flashy website was a big customer draw. Now, all those flashy graphics and design structures are passé. These days, internet users are far more sophisticated and are very skilled at finding the exact content that they are looking for. With that in mind, here’s a piece of advice: Forget flashiness, focus on content.

The term “bounce rate” refers to how many people dig into your site. If people link to one of your pages, but then immediately click out to another site, that is a bounce. If they look at one of your pages and then click through to another section of your website, that is a stick.

Which is more likely to cause people to stick around on your website, flashy graphics or compelling and informative content? If your content is well-written and engaging, and it provides the value of either information or entertainment to your audience, then people will stick around and spend time with your site.

Whether your website is designed to sell a certain product or makes its money from advertising, the longer a viewer stays on your site, the better. If the viewer immediately leaves, you won’t be able to charge top advertising rates on the site, and if they leave immediately, you never have a chance to sell them a product.

Compelling content is one of the most important, if not the most important, factor when it comes to creating a website that will be profitable.

Look at websites that attract you. How is the content delivered? Where are the big pieces of information located within that content? How easy is it to link from one piece of content to another interesting article or webpage? Apply the techniques that work for you to your own site.

Something I plan on doing in future is adding a training series via email for my members to opt-in to. try to deliver content in as many different ways as possible to appeal to all your readers prefered viewing and learning methods.

Author:
Colin Klinkert
Blog Comments Can Help Build Your List

A Short Video Into To This Post Can Be Found: http://viralnetworks.com/view/XPuSc

If you’ve ever read a blog’s comments section, then you’ve probably come across a comment that was submitted for the sole purpose of generating a backlink. The comment usually reads like gibberish, but has a whole bunch of keywords and links peppered within it.

In order to neutralize these sorts of comments, there are all sorts of spam blockers for blogs (with Akismet being one of the most used) and there are NoFollow HTML codes that prevent search engines from giving any credit for these comments.

That being said, commenting on blogs can still be a great way to build buzz and traffic for your site.

Add Value

The idea of blog commenting is to some sort of valuable contribution. For example, if you read a popular blog in your niche and you have an opinion or idea related to a post, then comment on it and feel free to leave a link to your website. When the administrator of the blog sees your comment, the value of what you wrote in advancing the blog’s community far outweighs the small favor of providing a backlink, so they will likely keep the comment live.

If you comment regularly on a certain blog (or series of blogs), then you can begin to develop a relationship with other people in your niche. These people will visit your site and may even link to you or reference you in their posts if the content you provide is worthwhile.

Commenting in this manner, helps out both parties. The blogger builds his community and makes it more likely that other readers will engage in a conversation and keep coming back, and you get a valuable backlink to your site from a blog that focuses on your niche, ensuring targeted traffic.

Another Place Worth Adding Value

Social Networks that have a target audence is a good place to use to add value. It is for this reason I built ViralNetworks! The idea is that you build a reputation among your peers and make those million $ ventures you hear about, as well as getting people to like and trust you. (These are the only reasons people will buy your products, if they know, like and trust you or of course, your product).

Come join me on the online business social network today!

Author:
Colin Klinkert