There are thousands and thousands of websites online, but what are the secrets to a successful website, blog or forum?
CMS, or Content Management Systems software like Wordpress makes it easy for anyone to create a website, but once you create your site, will they come? How do you get visitors on your site? How do you increase traffic? And how do you increase your online presence?
If you are reading this, then you probably have a website, blog, or hubpage which you want to promote, but you need an easy "how to" explanation on how to accomplish this. You can certainly pay someone to promote your website, but in doing so, you won't be engaging yourself in the process. Instead, consider learning more about what "YOU" can do to promote your website or blog.
Focus on the buzzword: "promote". If you open a restaurant, write a book, act in a play, or open up a store to sell products, in all these cases, you have to apply the basic principles of business in order to be successful. You need to be involved in the decision making, creation, maintenance, accounting, and advertising of your business, and most important, promoting your business. The same holds true for any website. The more effort you put forth, coupled with creativity and originality, the higher the chances that your visitors and traffic will increase.
This article provides a list of 7 steps to follow to increase internet traffic to your website. In addition, it provides tips on blogging and social networking.
CMS, or Content Management Systems software like Wordpress makes it easy for anyone to create a website, but once you create your site, will they come? How do you get visitors on your site? How do you increase traffic? And how do you increase your online presence?
If you are reading this, then you probably have a website, blog, or hubpage which you want to promote, but you need an easy "how to" explanation on how to accomplish this. You can certainly pay someone to promote your website, but in doing so, you won't be engaging yourself in the process. Instead, consider learning more about what "YOU" can do to promote your website or blog.
Focus on the buzzword: "promote". If you open a restaurant, write a book, act in a play, or open up a store to sell products, in all these cases, you have to apply the basic principles of business in order to be successful. You need to be involved in the decision making, creation, maintenance, accounting, and advertising of your business, and most important, promoting your business. The same holds true for any website. The more effort you put forth, coupled with creativity and originality, the higher the chances that your visitors and traffic will increase.
This article provides a list of 7 steps to follow to increase internet traffic to your website. In addition, it provides tips on blogging and social networking.
Seven Steps to Increase Your Internet Traffic
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - If you are new to the world of SEO, the good news is that there's a wealth of knowledge online to explain the basics of SEO, including the Hubpages Learning Center. Making your content search-friendly, crafting a search-friendly title, and adding a few keywords and keyword phrases in your content are just a few things you can do to get started. Be careful to not use too much "keyword stuffing" which search engines can detect. To know what keyword phrases work best, search on google to see what phrases appear in the search agent. Also consider adding image tags on your site. Adding verbal descriptions to the images on your site can be picking up by search engines, thereby increasing the possibility that your site will be listed in search results.Submit Your Website on Major Search Engines - You can do this yourself for free.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - If you are new to the world of SEO, the good news is that there's a wealth of knowledge online to explain the basics of SEO, including the Hubpages Learning Center. Making your content search-friendly, crafting a search-friendly title, and adding a few keywords and keyword phrases in your content are just a few things you can do to get started. Be careful to not use too much "keyword stuffing" which search engines can detect. To know what keyword phrases work best, search on google to see what phrases appear in the search agent. Also consider adding image tags on your site. Adding verbal descriptions to the images on your site can be picking up by search engines, thereby increasing the possibility that your site will be listed in search results.Submit Your Website on Major Search Engines - You can do this yourself for free.
To add your website's URL to Google's index, for example, just search for "submit your site to google" and follow the link to submit your content. You can do the same for other sites, like Yahoo and Bing by searching for "submit your site to Yahoo" and "submit your site to Bing". You can do this individually yourself, or use free online tools to submit your site to search engines.
Post in Online Forums - Join forums related to the content on your website, and post good, quality answers to forum questions. Providing it's allowed, link to your website or blog, etc. to further promote your site.
Post in Online Forums - Join forums related to the content on your website, and post good, quality answers to forum questions. Providing it's allowed, link to your website or blog, etc. to further promote your site.
Join Linkedin - Linkedin is one the large business social networks, and it is an excellent forum for business networking. You can join Linkedin for free, and once your create a profile, you can link to fellow co-workers, and others in the industry. There's also Linkedin groups which you can join, or you can create new groups for others to join. Once you belong to groups, you can post questions, answer questions posted by others, and add links to yourwebsite or blog to further promote your business.
Create a Facebook Business Account - Although you might already have a personal facebook account where you connect with your family and friends, consider creating a second account for business, and include related content (similar to your website). From your facebook business account, you can add link to your articles, content, blogs, etc. from your main website or other sites.
Create YouTube Videos and a YouTube Channel - Create one or more educational or informational videos to further promote your business, website or blog, but instead of making it into an advertisement, offer tips, information, learning guides, etc. to visitors to encourage bookmarking and sharing of links.
Create a Blog -To promote your main website, consider creating a blog, or writing online articles which link back to your website. For more information on blogging, see the Blogging sections below.
What To Blog About
First and foremost, you must have a passion for what you write about, so if you are thinking about creating a blog, developing a website or creating a web-based business, it should be something that you have a lot of knowledge about. For example, if you want to start a blog about how to make chocolate covered strawberries, but you don't like chocolate and you don't eat strawberries, then that blog category is not for you.
What do you enjoy doing and what do you know a lot about? Is it gardening? Then start a gardening blog and consider writing project reviews on gardening products. Once you build an audience and have increased your traffic, you can consider adding ads on your website to sell gardening products.
Do you know a lot about cars? This is a popular topic, but might be too broad of a subject to blog about, so try to narrow down your blog category. Maybe you go to car shows and own a classic car, in which case, this would be the focus of your blog. Or maybe you have a knack at fixing cars, and would like to share your knowledge of car repair to others. This is a perfect opportunity to create a blog or website with articles on how to make minor car repairs or perform maintenance on cars. Many people don't how to check their tire pressure (me including). This could be a blog all in itself...tire maintenance.
If you already have a main website for your business or hobby, consider having a blog to compliment the content and link to your main website from your blog.
If you don't have a main website and you're just starting out, a blog is a simple way to get started sharing the knowledge on a subject your know a lot about.
Setting Up a Blog Website
Once you decide on your blog topic, the next step is deciding on how to setup your blog website. One example would be google blogger, which is similar to use and free. Just visit www.blogger.com to get started. You'll need a google account and once that is setup, select your design layout and then plan to write a few articles for starters to get your blog going.
Another popular blogging site is Wordpress. Both Google Blogger and Wordpress are very similar, and include various theme for you to choose from.
There are many others, but if you are new to websites, I would recommend starting with either Google Blogger or Wordpress to get started.
If you want to research a little further, search for "best free blogging sites" for further information, or search for "online blogging platform comparison chart" to see a comparison of different sites.
Final Suggestions for Internet Success!
Have patience...building traffic takes time.
Know that every website owner may have tricks of the trade, but what works for one site owner, may not work for another. You have to find methods that work for you.
Quality content Matters...the more interesting, unique and creative you are, the more visitors will want to return to your website!
First and foremost, you must have a passion for what you write about, so if you are thinking about creating a blog, developing a website or creating a web-based business, it should be something that you have a lot of knowledge about. For example, if you want to start a blog about how to make chocolate covered strawberries, but you don't like chocolate and you don't eat strawberries, then that blog category is not for you.
What do you enjoy doing and what do you know a lot about? Is it gardening? Then start a gardening blog and consider writing project reviews on gardening products. Once you build an audience and have increased your traffic, you can consider adding ads on your website to sell gardening products.
Do you know a lot about cars? This is a popular topic, but might be too broad of a subject to blog about, so try to narrow down your blog category. Maybe you go to car shows and own a classic car, in which case, this would be the focus of your blog. Or maybe you have a knack at fixing cars, and would like to share your knowledge of car repair to others. This is a perfect opportunity to create a blog or website with articles on how to make minor car repairs or perform maintenance on cars. Many people don't how to check their tire pressure (me including). This could be a blog all in itself...tire maintenance.
If you already have a main website for your business or hobby, consider having a blog to compliment the content and link to your main website from your blog.
If you don't have a main website and you're just starting out, a blog is a simple way to get started sharing the knowledge on a subject your know a lot about.
Setting Up a Blog Website
Once you decide on your blog topic, the next step is deciding on how to setup your blog website. One example would be google blogger, which is similar to use and free. Just visit www.blogger.com to get started. You'll need a google account and once that is setup, select your design layout and then plan to write a few articles for starters to get your blog going.
Another popular blogging site is Wordpress. Both Google Blogger and Wordpress are very similar, and include various theme for you to choose from.
There are many others, but if you are new to websites, I would recommend starting with either Google Blogger or Wordpress to get started.
If you want to research a little further, search for "best free blogging sites" for further information, or search for "online blogging platform comparison chart" to see a comparison of different sites.
Final Suggestions for Internet Success!
Have patience...building traffic takes time.
Know that every website owner may have tricks of the trade, but what works for one site owner, may not work for another. You have to find methods that work for you.
Quality content Matters...the more interesting, unique and creative you are, the more visitors will want to return to your website!
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