Archive for Increasing Traffic
Use Answer Sites For Traffic
Posted by: | CommentsI wanted to do another post for how to generate traffic since that seems to be the thing people struggle the most with. In case you missed last week’s free traffic building example see it here. Today I want to show you another really easy way to use Answer Sites to make money and build traffic at the same time.
So what are answer sites? You probably are most familiar with Yahoo Answers but, basically what happens at answer sites is someone asks a question seeking answers. Then people will post an answer the posters questions. The originally poster will then select the answer they like best.
I use them a lot for marketing my own business and my own affiliate products and sites. Many people have thought answer sites to be a waste of time but I’ll have to admit it’s truly a marketers dream.
Here’s why.
The hottest prospects are those who ask question and are actively looking for a solution. People looking for a solution usually will spend money to get it.
When someone needs a solution and you give them an educated answer you’re more likely to see that person visit your site. If your site has a product (whether yours or an affiliates) that will help them – they are very likely to buy and your answer could very well presell them.
This makes answer sites a real gem.
If you log into http://answers.yahoo.com or make a new account there if you haven’t yet, it’s free.
Next, use the search menu to look up keywords based on your niche. For instance if you’re in the iguana care niche then you might type in something like "Iguana" or "pet iguanas".
(TIP:) When you’re going to search click the little advanced button. Then, type in your keywords and go down to an area where you can select OPEN QUESTIONS. (shown below.)
This will allow you to find and answer only questions that have not been resolved. This is helpful because you cannot post new answers to closed questions.
Next, simply browse the list of questions and start answering away. Keep your answers on point and never include URL’s in the body of your answer. Put the URL in the reference/resource box. If you put the URL in the body they Yahoo Answers isn’t a big fan of that and might give you an infraction.
Another important thing to do is to make sure your answer is thorough and well thought out. The best answers are the ones that are explained in simplified detail that actually helps the person asking solve their problem. After their problem is solved they are likely to see you have a link in your resource box. Other people who find this question will be interested in your answer as well and may visit your site.
Make sure you use your keywords throughout your post and other linking words to help this question be more easily found in the search engines and the Answers search engine.
If you are voted and receive the BEST ANSWER your answer will show above everyone else’s answer.
Now if you’re wondering where all the traffic is going to come from it’s simple. The traffic will come from people browsing the answer site and of course through the search engines like yahoo, MSN and the Google. Many times people will search in Google and the other search engines with phrases like "how do I", "how can I", "why" etc. People will basically search in questions which will often pull up (you guessed it) answer sites question in the search engines.
Once a person visits that page at the answer site they are likely to see your answer and resource site listed there. 
Now go put this to use for your business or website and watch interested prospects start coming to your site.
Here are a couple of the most well known answer sites.
#1. http://answers.yahoo.com
#2. http://askville.amazon.com/
Let me know your experience with answer sites below. If you need any help or have any questions – leave them.
Finding Your Traffic With Articles
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the biggest keys to success for your online business, products or affiliate sites is finding your traffic. The reason I say finding your traffic is because often times people think that doing nothing will bring great results.
While there are many ways to gain traffic I want to share some easy to use tips today for using articles to find traffic sources. While this technique isn’t new or some earth shattering revelation…. many people are not using this technique.
For this example we are going to assume you’re in the dog drooming niche.
OK, the idea we are going to use here is to get your article viewed by more people. First, if you’re unsure what to write about in your niche you’ll want to do some research.
FIRST: Go to www.ezinearticles.com
#1. Type your keywords in the search bar.
#2. Browse the articles in the database.
Simply click on one of the articles that comes up (or all of them if you’d like) to see how many searches they are getting. If you can find several articles getting a decent amount of article views chances you’ll want to look at what keyword phrases they are using. For instance if your main keywords are Dog Grooming but you see an article for Dog Grooming Kits Online you might want to figure out if they are getting traffic for Dog Grooming Kits instead.
So how do you do that?
Simple. Open up your browser to www.google.com and check. Most of the traffic to articles comes from natural search engine rankings (usually).
Inside Google simply type in "dog grooming". If that doesn’t return any results for an Ezine Article then type in Dog Grooming Kits. If that brings up the keyword results then you know that they are ranking for those keywords.
Next, simply write a similar article (do not copy them or write anything too similar but use similar keywords). I like to write most of my articles at 500 words or more but I’ve found hundreds of barely over 300 words ranking well (like top 5) on Google.
Make sure your resource box has links going back to your site where you want people to either click you affiliate links or adsense banners.
That’s it! Pretty simple and easy.
Let’s look at a couple other things though. I like to give my articles a boost by writing an additional article and pointing it from other article directories to article I want to rank high in Google. I simply write another similar article that and add it to a few other top directories (www.goarticles.com , www.articlealley.com, www.buzzle.com – will do). Inside the resource box from that article I put a link with slightly varied anchor text pointing back to that original ezine article I wrote. This will give you some extra juice in Google.
What I like tyo do is fire up my copy of Niche Research Commando and check that original article I want to compete with (the article we originally found in the search engine "dog grooming kits")
Inside Niche research Commando I just type in the keywords (dog grooming kits) and then start and within as few seconds I’ll be able to see all the backlinks going into that article. This will allow me to decide if I need to promote more links pointing into my article or just a few. If they have no backlinks I’ll usually just put only one article into 3-4 other article directories with a link going back to my article I want to rank for.
It typically doesn’t take long for Google to pick up my article and for it to start climbing the ranks in the search engine.
I’ll probably do a follow up to this post later this week as this is just the surface. in fact, there is so much more you can do here. But, for most people reading this, this is a great start to getting more results from your articles.
Let’s recap what to do.
#1. Search ezinearticles.com for you niche keywords.
#2. Look to see if the articles are getting views.
#3. Find a few getting the most views.
#4. Determine if that article is ranking for the main keywords or some other keywords.
#5. Search Google to determine.
#6. Write a similar article. (includes links to your site in the resource box).
#7. If you own Niche Research Commando fire it up and check for backlinks. (optional)
#8. If article has low backlinks you’ll only need 1-2 articles written.
#9. Write the additional articles and upload them to some high PR article sites (shown above.)
#10. Make sure the article points back to your article that you want to rank. (Vary the anchor text – don’t just use one phrase).
#11. Repeat if you want to do more. ( You should want more 
)
This works great for users of www.nicheblitzkrieg.com and www.megaclassifiedmillions.com as well.
You can do this in any niche and it’s an easy way to generate some more traffic to your site or affiliate sites. Leave you comments, questions or any further ideas below. Already using this technique? Tell us your results.
