Traffic Building Tips

I'm going to go over some of the basics of generating traffic.

1) Get organized.

Start to build up a list of places you submit to, and track the results. You'll need to record and note things like:
- Who listed you easily.
- Where you're having trouble getting listed.
- Who NEVER lists you (a black list should be set up for these people).
- Link trades ... so you can farm out dead wood.

My free script, Easy Rank, can automate link trading:

Easy Rank
More information

2) Get stats.

It's absolutely essential that you have a way to track traffic. Some hosts provide stats which are what could only be described as 'lack-lustre'. You need to be able to record the following information:
- Where the surfer came from.
- Which page they visited.
- Daily traffic (not all lumped together...)

Webstats is a free stats package that you might want to look at:

Webstats

3) Research.

TGPs, link lists, toplists, CJs, search engines, buying traffic - all have one thing in common. The people that are making good money from those places, and building good traffic, know their game inside out.
- Study sites or galleries that ARE listed.
- Study the rules very carefully.
There's a 'link list' board here - Link List Message Board - which might offer some insights into getting listed.
- Read as much as you can about whichever area you're getting into.

There's links and help here on traffic:

TutorMatrix: traffic

4) Mirror.

I've not checked out your sites yet, and I don't know if you've discovered mirroring sites and galleries yet, but it's unlikely that a handful of link lists these days will be able to generate enough traffic for you. Build up a lot of places to submit to and MIRROR your work to get the most out of it.

A guide to mirroring sites and galleries

5) Don't ignore the search engines.

Even if you're not that interested in becoming the worlds greatest search engine expert, STILL do a quick 'once over' on each of your pages. A few surfers per page over 1000 pages will seriously increase traffic and sales. And you don't even need to submit. Google will pick up sites and pages from the link lists, TGPs and other places you submit to.

Here's a 'cheat sheet' for optimizing search engine pages:

Search Engine Magic Sheet V6

6) Repeat, repeat, REPEAT!

That adage has been around pretty much since this board was started. And it's as good today as it was back then. If you're making TGP galleries - one won't do the job. You need to build daily. A few link list sites aren't going to keep the fires burning for long - you need to continually build and submit. There's a lot of competition in the SE's, and most pages won't bring in more than a few surfers - what's the answer? REPEAT! 10,000 x junk pages with zero traffic is 10,000 x ZERO! That's not going to bring in any traffic. But 10,000 x a page that gets 2 surfers? You've got a lot of traffic on your hands.

7) Target the right people and you don't need 100's of thousands of surfers.

Although more to do with marketing, targeting still relates to traffic. That's because there are times when simply by targeting the right audience out there (
Most sites are doomed before the webmaster fires up the HTML editor. Not choosing a
... and tied in with all that is...

8) Filtering.

Again - more to do with making sales - but still related to traffic. This is something to think about a little way down the line (but I'll mention it here anyways). 100 surfers come in to your website. 10 click on a banner / ad - what happens to the other 90? Finding an answer to that question will make you a lot of money. Filtering is about giving surfers choices. You bring in some lesbian surfers - but then give them choices for "lesbian movies" or "lesbian live shows" - then sell to them on whichever choice they make. It's about breaking your traffic down into separate areas. Imagine walking into a department store: there's always a sign telling you what's on the different floors. That's FILTERING!

But for now - repeat, study, submit, analyze, and do it all over again.

9) Learn how to learn from results.

At the end of each week, sit down at word - or with a pen and pencil and write two headings on the page:

What worked?

Then further down:

What didn't work?

Under each heading, briefly list your week's successes and failures. It's likely that each week you'll have two very common 'negatives':

1) Not enough traffic.
2) Not enough sales.

They'll be with you for as long as you're an adult webmaster - don't worry... you're in good company on that one. Show me an adult webmaster that's happy with their traffic and sales - and I'll show you a flying pig.

OK so take 'not enough traffic...'

Then try to work out...

WHY didn't I get enough traffic?

Your chain of thought might go something like:

I submitted to about 10 link lists - and my stats said I didn't get anything back. Hmmm... I'll check to see if they've listed me. Nope - not listed on any of them. Well - it's only been a week... I'll leave them another week.

Write under that - "Leave another week and re-check..."

At the end of your "What worked, what didn't" session, you're only half way through the job. Now write at least 10 NEW things that you're going to try this week. You might think:

"I like the sound of trading links..."

And then write:

Trade at least 20 links.

DURING the week - as well as the print outs you make from this board, others - and from other resources out there... Get a simple note pad and scribble down things that you have learnt. Some of these things will go into the "Action plan" for the following week.

I wish I had an article that I'm thinking of now. It had a list of things that someone planned to do in a week to promote one of their sites. It was pretty scary - "trade 50 links, submit to 200 link lists..." And so forth. But it showed the determination and continued effort that is required to build traffic.

But my point with this weekly evaluation is that:

a) You'll learn from what worked.

b) And from what DIDN'T.

Negative results ARE EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT. Every result with traffic can be learned from.

If you're not getting traffic - there IS a reason. Unless you break it down and find out exactly what that reason is... you're never going to get the traffic you need. Here's some possible reasons that people in the past have NOT gotten traffic:

Didn't wait long enough after submission.
A minimum of 2 weeks but often more with link lists.

Didn't submit enough.
Covered that. Mirror and persist.

Expected one or two sites to bring in a wealth of traffic.
Think hundreds or thousands!

Didn't get listed.
Sometimes the traffic source owner's fault; sometimes the submitter's. Often new webmasters break the rules (which are often VERY strict) unintentionally.

Didn't take time to build a good submission list:

Finding new link lists to submit to

Submitted and waited - fatal!
Build and submit x infinity.

Missed all the important results.
Even a tiny spark of traffic needs to be analyzed and repeated.

Just not been doing it long enough.
Traffic takes time to build. Make a business plan that spans months or even a year. It's not that long a time.

Further reading:

Planning a Traffic Campaign

Planning a traffic campaign

Traffic is HARD to get! ... Isn't it?

Traffic Options Rated

Traffic Pros And Cons

Feeder Sites & Pages

TOM ^"^

ICQ 12616560
Email tom@tomsnewbiebooster.com

Enter TOM'S NEWBIE BOOSTER

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