Increase Online Traffic

Let's discuss some ways you can increase online traffic.  It doesn't do much good to have a great website if no one sees it.

Link Exchanges

Although it may not carry as much weight as it used to, it is still beneficial to exchange links with other relevant websites.  In other words, if you sell candles, you would want to exchange links with home decor sites or sites that sell candle holders.  It is best to not exchange with competitive sites (in my opinion) but related sites.

Make sure the sites are good quality ones, as you will be sending your visitors there and you want to maintain a good reputation.

It is thought, that as far as Google is concerned, one way links carry more weight.  That means someone links to you and you do not link back to them.  You can obtain one-way links by submitting your website to directories and also by writing articles and submitting them to article directories.  You would include a link to your website in the author resource box at the end of the article, giving you a one-way link back to your site.

Newsletter Ad/Recommendations Exchange

Another way to increase online traffic is by swapping ads with another newsletter owner (that has a good reputation).  You would place their ad in your newsletter and they would put yours in their newsletter.  Make sure they have a decent size list if you do, so it is a fair exchange.

Blog Recommendations Swap

You can recommend a product or service of a colleague and then send them the link so they can see what you have written about them.  In many cases, they will return the favor and write about one of your products /services.

Thank You Page Swap

Normally, if you have a newsletter list, your subscribers are sent to a "thank you" page after they sign up for your newsletter.  You can put a special offer on the page, or you can trade ads with someone who targets the same market as you do.  Their ad will show up on your thank you page, and your ad will show up on theirs.  It is a way to reach more people in the same market and increase your traffic.

Good tip

If you have an affiliate program, you can offer to swap ads and let the other person use their affiliate link in their ad.  That will attract more exchanges because they will benefit from it twice - you placing their ad in your newsletter/blog/thank you page and having the opportunity to make a commission from an affiliate sale.  It will benefit you by getting more people to trade ads with you, thereby getting your product out to an even bigger audience.   It will also increase your online traffic to your website, and hopefully, thereby, increase sales.