Forum Moderators: phranque
Mine:
1- Producing your own newsletters.
2- viral: e-a-friend.
3- ummm, usenet and ummm ahh forums.
4- contacts. Word of mouth is killer. Get a couple of vocal people "enrolled" in your site, and they can be traffic producers.
5- links links links. Swap those babies. Not for the se boost, just for the branding a click value.
can you get a celeb endorsement?...if you can then send that baby out on a press release and hold on to your hat
can you make the site into a news story?...human interest always sells...pretty pictures sell...editorial is worth far more than ad space..at least have a shot at it
3- ummm, usenet and ummm ahh forums.
Just not this forum, eh Brett? ;)
i don't know what area you sites/company deals in but, newsletters are usually free, as long as its relevant to the online mag / community.
Free tools, too - like Brett's various offerings for link-pop checking, etc. These may be time-consuming to set up and maintain, but if they are useful they can bring new and repeat traffic.
I havn't done it myself but I imagine it would work if you provide some kind of incentive to provide a few friends email addresses e.g. a free thingy.
1) Link Exchanges with other web sites.
I am not talking about a link popularity farm or anything like that. I am talking about getting valid links for free from other web sites. If you do this alone and are consistent with it your web site referred traffic can eventually outweigh your SE referred traffic.
2) Write Content For Other Web Sites
No matter what your field, you can probably find web sites that carry current information for your chosen topic. Offer to share some of your content or write a feature article for them in exchange for a link back to your site.
3) Newsgroups
Another great traffic driver. However, you have to give some consideration to where you spend your time posting.
For example, before I became an SEO I was a web developer, and I was also a Macromedia Evangelist. As such, I posted thousands of posts regarding Dreamweaver in their forums and sat back and hoped that it might bring in some business. However, my efforts went largely unrewarded.
The reason? It's simple! Everyone who was reading my posts was also a web developer. They did not need to hire one! For the most part they were my peers - not prospective clients.
However, after making the transition from web developer to SEO and continuing my postings there I gained many new clients. All of a sudden I was posting in a place where my services WERE needed and, in fact, were in great demand.
Continue your postings in your trade groups. However, also find the groups that need your service or product and start post there.
That is where the money is.
4) Award Programs
Want to see your hits soar? Win the Netscape "What's Cool" Site of the Day or one of many other prestigious web site awards. You'll get a huge one time increase in traffic.
But even if you win a smaller award, you'll still get hits. The more you win the more hits you get.
5) Newsletters
Even if you can't start your own you can usually find someone in your field who is running a successful newsletter. Offer to be a guest editor for them.
If you know your subject matter you can probably crank out a good article in less than an hour.
It's easy peasy - and it's free!
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Nice post JK.
Pretty neat!
(edited by: Marcia at 7:53 am (gmt) on Oct. 27, 2001
Is Eric Ward a member?
don't hype it up too much...present it as news...but concentrate on your big selling points right from the off, both selling to customers and selling the story to newspapers
don't try to say too much...two or three points are all you are likely to successfully convey
include either a picture or a description of possible pictures available on request
if you really think you have the makings of a reasonably big story then hire a PR company to do it...they can be terrific value
HTH
I guess to every newspaper etc I can think of - do I address it to a specific person? (Job title?)
This is something I've never had to worry about before (hence dumb questions) but I think I might just have something that would get some interest.
pick out a set of likely publications...don't waste your time (or theirs) with a publication unlikely to give you some ink...make it a good mix of specialist and general titles
So, we are going to send out press releases, something we've never done before. I suppose it would be okay to mention their name in our press releases without contacting them, or would it be a good idea to ask them first (but what if they say no)?
Also, would it be a good idea to mention their review when sending our releases to other magazines? Would that help or hinder our chance of being mentioned in the other magazines?
Make the title interesting and relevant to intrests of magazine etc.
Include the release date or "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE"
Include all contact details including that of who wrote the press release and of course the web site and emails
Write so the copy can be cut off at any para and still seem "complete"
Address to the jobtile (eg: Editor) or even better actual name of the editor
Should be 1 page, no more than 2 pages
Double spaced for easy readability.
Include a quote from an officer of the company if possible to add personality and authority.
