You've done it! You've created a wonderful website, but that is only half the challenge; the other half is making people aware that it exists. There are many ways to increase a website's page views, but bear in mind that CREDIBILITY is still the most important aspect of improving traffic. Don't trick people to coming to your website with false pretenses or they will never come back. With that in mind, let's find out how to make your site come out from obscurity!
Before making plans to increase traffic to your site, make sure you have the right tool to monitor your progress! If your website is hosted by an external provider, there is a great chance that a traffic analysis tool is already included in the package. If you host your own website, then you should make a conscious effort to pick an analysis tool that meets your demands. The more popular Web analytic tools include Urchin and Webtrends.
Most people find websites through search engines, so make sure that your website is listed on the most popular ones. But before you do that, make sure that your Web pages are optimized so that they will rank higher than others. You should do this before you submit your site!
Following are some basic search engine optimization (SEO) tips:
- Write something good in the <TITLE> tag of your Web pages. This is what appears on the results page of search engines. Think of yourself as the potential ‘visitor' and write a description that you feel will most likely be used by others when trying to find your website.
- Use only relevant keywords in the <META> tag of your Web pages. Some search engines scan your pages for words that you have placed in the attribute of your <META> tag. If none are found, this could hurt your chances of being ranked highly.
- Include relevant words on the header tags, such as<H1>, of your Web pages. They are often scanned by search engines, so make sure your headings include the keywords or phrases that describe your site.
Have your website listed in open directories so more people can find you! There are virtually hundreds of directory listings on the Internet. You can also ask other relevant websites to link to your website, in exchange for a link to theirs. Popular search engines, such as Google, base their rankings on the number of websites that link to you, so this can also improve your search ranking.
Do not send unsolicited emails (spam). Due to the unruly and misleading ways that some advertisers have used unsolicited email, this has largely become illegal. Further, people are so weary of spam that they just delete this type of emails without going through them. However, if you are willing to invest time on it, you can set up a newsletter subscription service on your website. An opt-in subscription service, especially if you have terrific content to broadcast, is one of the best ways to build audience loyalty and increase traffic.
Although this strategy costs money, it guarantees better results in a shorter timeframe. There are basically three types of online advertising schemes you can avail of: (1) CPM or cost per thousand (the M is for the Roman numeral representing one thousand), (2) CPC or cost per click, and (3) CPA or cost per action. These terms pertain to the pricing scheme that is made between the advertising company and the websites that will show your ad. However, all types use the same method of displaying banner or text ads that point to or promote your website.
