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How to get TRAFFIC on your new site.


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#1 Faken

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Posted 30 June 2004 - 02:51 PM

You’re all pumped up! You’ve been working hard on a new layout and have tons of ideas and wonderful miracles to show the online world. One problem, how do you let people know you exist?

When I first started Pixel2life.com back in January 2004, I already had a large amount of friends in the gaming community that I knew would visit my site to check it out, but I wanted to get a targeted audience of visitors. People that would be interested in the content I had to offer them. I love my friends in the gaming community (some of which I’ve known for over 6 years), but only a small portion of them really cared about design. So through trial and error, I’ve found ways to increase my traffic by targeting the proper audience without having to pay for it. These methods don’t compare to buying targeted traffic, but it’s the next best thing. P2L is not a profit oriented website, so I don’t exactly have tons of cash to spend on Ad campaigns.

First off, I must stress the importance of a quality design and quality content. You can draw as much traffic as you want, but without a quality website that will interest your guests, you’ll never make it to their coveted Bookmarks. In the case of design oriented websites for example, there are millions of personal websites that have a few wallpapers, a personal portfolio a shoutbox , and loads of spelling errors. What makes your site better than the rest that would warrant someone to re-visit? Be original, provide quality content, and update often. It’s that simple. If you’re not willing to commit to those rules, don’t bother trying to be the next DeadDreamer or Shiver7. I may write an article in the future regarding this topic in a bit more detail, but for now, I’ll assume your site is a smoking gun and ready for the eyes of the world.

Before you start anything, optimize your site for search engines. You should have a title, meta keys for keywords and description, and nice full sentences in the body of your site. Keyword density is important and with proper SEO techniques, hits from search engines will grow quite a bit. Make sure you customize each page as required. A page about 3D Modeling should not have the same keywords as a page about your graphic portfolio. And remember to include the main keyword(s) in your title. If you’re not sure what exactly to do, check out these results on Google for keyword optimization: Keyword Optimization

For Pixel2life.com, our first month of operation (January 2004) yielded about 200 hits from Google. After spending a week or so correcting my lack of meta keys and keyword density, I received well over 28000 hits from Google in June. This isn’t simply because I worked the keywords, but it had a large hand in it. The other part of the puzzle is reciprocating links.

Now I don’t work for an SEO, nor do I pretend to be an expert in the field, but in my experience, the more reciprocating links to Pixel2life.com on other websites, the higher my Google ranking climbs. In some of my main keywords, I wasn’t even in the top 1000, but after a few months of affiliating and spreading the word, I place in the top 5 in many principal keyword searches. Examples include:

Cinema 4D Tutorials
Swift 3D Tutorials
Corel Photopaint Tutorials

You can check your google rankings for your choice of keywords at http://www.googlerankings.com

AFFILIATE! It’s important to affiliate and get the word around about your site. Do a search on Google for sites similar to your own or have something to do with the topic your site is about and ask the webmaster if they would like to exchange 88x31 pixel banners or text links. If you have a good site, then many webmasters won’t care about your traffic, because they know it will climb in fairly short order if your site is obviously a quality link. I have affiliated with many sites that do not get the same traffic as I do because I love their site and I think my visitors will enjoy it too. So don’t be shy - just ask! It’s not like they’re going to sue you for asking. The worst that will happen is you won’t get a response or you’ll be declined. I’ve been declined many times… it doesn’t hurt, trust me. Don’t send a generic cut and paste email to the webmaster either. Send an email addressed to them personally and let them know you’ve actually checked out their site and why you think you could mutually benefit from exchanging links. Be polite, check your spelling and make sure you send them your details including a short description of your site, current traffic, URL and how you can be reached.

So, affiliation is extremely important. Not only will the visitors of an affiliate see and possibly visit your link, but you’ll increase your search engine ranking as well.

SOTM, SOTW features! There are tons of websites (Pixel2life.com included) that have a featured Site of the Month or Site of the Week section, usually on the main page. This is a great way to get some free exposure, assuming you have a site that would earn this kind of regard. If you’ve got quality, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t win a few of these features. How to find them? Easy as pie! Get on Google and do a search for any of the following:

“Site of the week”
“Site of the week” subject*
“Site of the Month”
“Site of the Month” subject*

* Customize subject with whatever your site is about – like graphics or programming etc…

Here’s a little cheat for you… I won Site of the Week at FTP Planet (http://www.ftpplanet.com) and received 3000 unique visitors the day it was posted in their newsletter, and I still get hits from the archived link. You can post your entry at FTP Planet SOTW Submissions

Innocent advertising is a non-obtrusive way to plug your site IF you do it properly. Check out http://www.big-boards.com for large forums that are in line with your interests. Sign up and check the signature guidelines… staying within the guidelines, plug your site in your sig and start posting! Now, here’s the catch… post relevant information to the forum and genuinely contribute to discussions. Don’t just fly on there and start plugging your site or you’ll probably get banned. Just go shoot the shit with the forumites and let your sig do the rest. This is guaranteed to get you additional traffic. Same thing with every place you would leave a signature. Email, forums, blogs, newsgroups etc… but actually post something worth reading, otherwise you’re just another spamming asshat.

The bottom line is that you need to get involved in the community that your site revolves around. Talk to people, learn about your community and make adjustments as you go. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so you have to work at it. The harder you work at it, the better the results. You’re not paying for anything money-wise, but you will be spending quite a bit of time in front of the screen, especially at first.

Sign your work! If you create wallpapers or post photography (YOUR photography) sign your work with your website address. If people like what they see, they know where to go for more.

Tell a friend script, and a newsletter is also important (Yeah, I know I haven’t got one, but we’re working on it). Tell a Friend is a little script that allows a visitor to send a pre-made email to someone he or she knows that tells them about your website. The person just types in the email address they want the notice to go to and click submit. This is a nice simple way for your guests to share your site with others if they like it enough and want to share their find :lol:

A newsletter is a great reminder tool to previous visitors to come check out your site for new features and content. Many of your visitors will visit your site and forget about it, even if they really enjoyed their first look. This is natural and a common internet fact. By keeping an opt-in newsletter, you can send a monthly email to anyone that has joined the list and that will remind those “one night stand” people that you’re still around and the site is better than ever.

Well, that’s about it for the time being, I hope this helps you get your new site off the ground, or lift your old site even higher. Feel free to post your own traffic grabbing suggestions or comment on the pointers in my article.

Remember, be polite, be personal, get to the point, and don't be shy. If your site has quality content updated on a regular basis, there's no reason why you should feel intimidated when trying to share it with others. Just don't spam and annoy people, and you'll be amazed at what happens over the next few months.

All the best,
Faken

#2 _*vegetto37_*

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Posted 02 July 2004 - 02:31 PM

I read that article with growing intensity ;)

It's true, affiliation is important, so is google ranking. But first of all I guess it's the kind of site you run. For example: When my friend Nubis went online a few days ago, he got alone 1000 clicks at the first day he was affiliated with P2L from here. And there surely was more hits...he didn't have a counter that times unfortuanately. But I'm sure he did. Ok, now take me, running an anime website.....I get maybe 500 clicks a day, sometimes it's a 1600, but usually it's under 1000. It just appears - in my opinion - on what community you have behind you. Everybody wants to see tutorials and stuff, at least more people that wanna view anime sites. Also I find that the admins of the big GFX sites are nicer......that's no slime action......it's just that I met a bunch of arrogant anime webmasters which pisses me off. You ask them for affiliation and they are like "That's not in my concern, I'm so good...you aren't......" They must have forgotten that they all started somewhere one....

Well, thanks for the tips with google Faken, I'll go after them :lol:

#3 Faken

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Posted 02 July 2004 - 03:03 PM

I read that article with growing intensity ;)

It's true, affiliation is important, so is google ranking. But first of all I guess it's the kind of site you run. For example: When my friend Nubis went online a few days ago, he got alone 1000 clicks at the first day he was affiliated with P2L from here. And there surely was more hits...he didn't have a counter that times unfortuanately. But I'm sure he did. Ok, now take me, running an anime website.....I get maybe 500 clicks a day, sometimes it's a 1600, but usually it's under 1000. It just appears - in my opinion - on what community you have behind you. Everybody wants to see tutorials and stuff, at least more people that wanna view anime sites. Also I find that the admins of the big GFX sites are nicer......that's no slime action......it's just that I met a bunch of arrogant anime webmasters which pisses me off. You ask them for affiliation and they are like "That's not in my concern, I'm so good...you aren't......" They must have forgotten that they all started somewhere one....

Well, thanks for the tips with google Faken, I'll go after them :lol:

That's true to a certain extend... but with tens of millions of people surfing the net and using search engines, there's always a few thousand a day on with a shared interest or purpose. The trick is finding them ;) If a site about building mule carts can get thousands on per day, then I'm sure pretty much any other site can get their traffic high up there. It's just a matter of patience and creativity. Affiliation is definitely not the only trick in the book.

And I know what you mean about some nasty webmasters, but that's life. I've met tons of people that seemed to be puffed up in their own importance, but there are so many nice people out there, why let a few bad apples spoil it for you? Just /ignore and move on...

By the way, a great anime related site and affiliate worth visiting is http://www.operationg.net/

They are our first affiliate site - you may want to apply there :)

Faken

#4 _*vegetto37_*

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Posted 02 July 2004 - 06:17 PM

I just asked for affiliation, thanks for the tip dude :lol:

And yeah, the bad ones won't neither fool nor stop me. And they shouldn't do same with all who reads Fakens idea of becoming more known!

Thx again.

#5 _*sdesign_*

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Posted 06 July 2004 - 01:24 AM

Excellent Article !!!!!

I found it very helpful, I had no clue the importance of keywords. Specially for each page presented on your site. So I decided to take your great advice and apply the changes to my site. I found a great site on google that help me through the process.

Now my site is fully keyword optimized, and I added a more descriptive phrase for my description tag.

I guess its wait and see if I get any improvements. :)

Thanks again :)

#6 sully

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Posted 30 September 2004 - 05:37 PM

Pointed out all the main points. Couldnt of put it better myself.

Well done on a great article Faken, its helped me and many others :)

- Sully

#7 Gio

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Posted 30 September 2004 - 06:11 PM

Meta Tags are key in search engine indexing. Spiders love to index pages with meta tags! Excellent article!

#8 Ghost

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Posted 11 December 2004 - 03:22 AM

Woah! Thanks for that Faken. I'm building a site of my own at the moment, to do with tutorials, and my friend is kindly buying me a domain name for chrsitmas. Maybe one day if my site goes well, I could affiliate with P2L. :blink:

Thanks again.

B) Ghost

#9 Canen Art

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Posted 11 December 2004 - 12:21 PM

Wow.. Faken,

You always have some of the greatest articles I've read any where. Im always learning something new on your site here all the time. Im telling you this site has been a big help for me helping my business grow and to better all of my site. Just when I thought I almost was catching on, you introduce something new and I see where I need to apply these new ideas. Considering your first month of operation was in January 2004 Im really impressed by the growth of your site. I figure I will keep on taking all these great ideas and adding them to my site, and I know I will become as big as P2L one day B) .

Thanks again for the article. Its a big help.

Regards,

Jason

#10 F.A.B.

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Posted 15 December 2004 - 07:37 PM

Nice Article Faken, And Thanks For Shedding Your Knowlegde And Tips!

#11 Faken

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Posted 02 February 2005 - 11:53 PM

My pleasure guys and it's really great to hear that I've helped you grow your site. I'll be writing more articles in the near future so hopefully we'll have some new tips for you to try out ;)

Faken

#12 maansson

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Posted 10 February 2005 - 05:50 PM

I don't have any thoughts of starting my own website (there are still people who are better than me), but i snaped up a thing or two reading this article. You must have put down tons of time in the beginning. But it has paid of really well, I must say! In a year only. Mighty impressed! This is definitly the best site a have been on when it comes to coding, graphicing, yeah all of the stuff you got here! Have you ever been contacted by companies that wants to place an ad on your site for a couple of dollars? Daily maybe? This is a potensial gold mine!

Sincerly yours,
maansson

#13 Daedalus

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Posted 13 February 2005 - 08:45 PM

i enjoyed reading that, much info thanks :D im trying to do alot of that, posting on some forums and boards, affiliates etc, iv applied to affiliate with P2L but no response.... so i ask now please all check out my website and submit tutorials, also please P2L affiliate with me? thanks

#14 Fed

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Posted 14 April 2005 - 10:15 AM

hi there

I found it really interesting!!! good article!!

#15 Xanderdude

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Posted 14 April 2005 - 10:40 AM

Wauw p2l articles are sooooooooo gooooood i love them,
good job p2l keep it up!

#16 Cuong N

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Posted 19 June 2005 - 03:47 AM

After I read the artical I was amaze heheh, there some information I didn't know hehe I am still a beginner at website. Thanx for the tips

#17 TMZHosting LLC

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Posted 19 June 2005 - 06:02 PM

wow man thanks for the tips man i have my own site but i never knew some of those stuff

#18 RockBridge10

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Posted 14 July 2005 - 07:46 PM

you are amazing.. some key things in there, important info for newbies.

#19 alexames

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Posted 14 July 2005 - 08:03 PM

This was exactally what i need. It will help my new site so much. Thanks Faken! :huh: ;)

#20 xiLLeNtz

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Posted 16 July 2005 - 03:46 PM

haha, sorry...can you fill me in with the 'meta keys' and how i can start using them asap =)? btw thanks for the article, most of it is known to me already but thanks, i couldn't have said it any better myself =P.

Edited by xiLLeNtz, 16 July 2005 - 03:46 PM.





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