1) Offline Advertising (TV, Print, etc.)

2) Pay-Per-Click Advertising (Google Adwords, Overture, etc.)

3) Natural Search Engine Traffic (Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK, etc.)

Now, the first two options are typically very costly, but don't require that your website be optimized for search engines. All you do is write the check and the traffic will come in - and as long as you keep writing those big checks, the traffic will keep streaming into your website.

The last option I mentioned, Natural Search Engine Traffic, takes quite a bit of work early on, but can pay you back in the form of no-cost search engine traffic for many years to come. In my opinion, this is a much more valuable form of traffic because it is usually highly targeted and tends to just grow and grow over time.

It's important to keep in mind though, that once you venture online, you're suddenly in competition with millions of other website all vying for those coveted TOP search engine spots. It's been shown that the top 3 - 5 search results for any keyword search receive somewhere around 80% of the traffic for that keyword. So, for example, say that Google gets 30,000 searches per month for the exact keyword phrase "mortgage refinance tips"; and you rank #3 for that term, you could likely see thousands of visitors each month just from that search term on that 1 search engine.

The point I'm trying to make is that it is worth the effort early on to optimize your website and your pages for this super-valuable search engine traffic - because if you had to purchase this traffic from a pay-per-click search engine you could literally pay a fortune for it. The keyword term, "mortgage refinance" for example, receives about 5 MILLION searches per month overall and costs about $4.00 - $6.00 per CLICK!

The search terms related to your business may cost more or less per click, but still..., imagine how valuable a top spot in your specific category could be worth to your business.

So, how do you get these valuable search results?

Here are my top suggestions:

1) Give your website he respect it needs and deserves.

Many people build a site and think of it as nothing more than a static, virtual brochure. You won't get very far with a site like that. Your website can be a highly valuable asset to your business or a colossal waste of web space, it all depends on how much effort you put into it. If you currently put 5 hours a week into your offline marketing efforts, you should give equal time to the ongoing development of your w= ebsite.=20

2) Content, Content, Content...

When it comes to indexing your website, search engines look only at words. A search engine doesn't care = that you have a the most beautiful photo of your favorite recipe, they're only interested in the recipe itself. So, start writing!

Having your own unique content is very valuable. Search engines have what's called a "duplicate content penalty", which means that if your site just rehashes close to the exact same text that appears on other sites, your ranking will suffer. Writing your own unique content means that your site becomes much more valuable and your search rankings will reflect that.

I realize that not everyone likes to write.., but having unique content is so important to your long-term search traffic that you should just put your fears aside and dive in. It's really not a big deal. Start out easy..., have you ever done a project around the house, or explained to someone how to do something? Great. Just write a few paragraphs describing project. Say you recently put down a new floor in the kitchen. A writing example in this case would be to describe why you wanted a new floor, what type of floor you chose to install, the products you used,  how difficult it was, the final result and any post-project suggestions. Or say you just showed someone how to apply for a college loan - just describe your experience with the process in a few paragraphs and - voila - you have web content.

You'll be amazed that there are likely thousands and thousands of people looking for that exact information - and that search engines will pick up your content and send them to your website.

You may be one of those people that say "I don't have time to write anything..., I'm too busy!" - Well, to you I say be efficient. What are you too busy doing? If you're busy writing e-mail replies to clients or customers, turn those replies into new web content in the form of online tutorials or frequently asked questions. You'll not only save time later by being able  to send those clients and customers to your website first before calling on you - you'll also have some valuable new web content. Whatever you're busy doing, there's probably a way to turn it into web content. If you tell me you're busy training new employees, I'd say record yourself and run it through one of those automated transcription tools - If you're busy creating new bread and cookie recipes, then quickly write out your thoughts on the baking process, along with your favorite ingredients, certain brands, etc.

In fact, this article I'm writing to you know will be online on the BBI website by tomorrow and by next month will be generating daily traffic . I've learned to be efficient when it comes to my writing. Just about everything I take the time to write will eventually end up online generating traffic long into the future.

3) Contribute to Several Sites.

With more than 60 websites of my own, I can tell you that it's a huge help to spread your writing across several sites. For daily or bi-weekly content additions, a blog site is a good choice. You might consider registering a Blogger.Com account. It doesn't cost anything and is hosted and maintained by Google. You can also set up a blog on your own website. Blogs are good because you can add to them yourself without having to use your web developer.

If you'll be having your web developer add your new content for you, it can get costly if you're adding new content to your main website more = than once each month, so try to work it into a monthly maintenance plan. Keep in mind that it takes about an hour or so for an experienced developer to create a new page using your pre-written, pre-edited text to your existing web template, optimize the page for search - add new links, upload and test the new page. If editing and formatting needs to be done it can take longer. Estimate a cost of about $75 - $100 per page to add to your main website.

Adding content in several locations has lots of benefits. Keeping content on your main website increases the number of search listings you'll have over time, as well as the number of back links from other related sites wanting to reference your content. This in turn will increase your web site's popularity. Having content on other outside blog sites also have many benefits - one being that you can easily add new content anytime - and another being that it will give you an outlet to write about topics that may be somewhat related to your main site, but not necessarily appropriate for your business web site. For example,  if your business is in selling home furnishings, you may find that an outside blog is a better place to post your content about new decorating ideas, product complaints or gossip about Martha Stewart. These topics may not fit on your main website, but they can still bring in traffic to your blog - and you can route that traffic to your main website by way of ads, links, etc.

Hope you enjoyed this article. Start writing today and start on your way to super-charging your website traffic for 2007!


Steve Rinaldi
spr@bbiworld.com
http://www.bbiworld.com