Search results for: “label/Web%20Site%20-%20Design”

There is much discussion on how to generate traffic to your Web site, but I decided to list a few points on the methods I like to use.

1. It’s All About Content

   You may have heard that "content is king." What does this mean? Visitors to your site like to read updated and unique content. This means you must update your Web site on a regulary basis to keep your visitors coming back for more. Search engines also love unique content. The more content you have the more you will get listed in search engines. When you first start a site search engines may be your main traffic generator so it’s best to get listed in them. Also remember to check your spelling and grammar.

2. Write Content For Your Visitors

   When writing your content, write it for your visitors and not search engines. This means don’t load up the content with keywords that is hard to read and understand. You need your visitors to keep coming back and not the search engines. If you write unique content the search engines will list you…don’t worry.

3. Linking to Your Web Site

   This is a big part of getting listed in search engines, and thus getting more traffic. The more quality Web sites that link to yours, the better search engine rank you will receive. You should have sites that share the same niche as your site link back to you. When a search engine indexes the other site, it will find the link to yours and then index your site.

4. Get Listed in Directories

   Besides search engines, there is another type of site you should get listed in: a directory. A directory is a list of Web sites that are organized into various categories. Many of these Web sites are very popular so getting listed in one of them can help you generate traffic. A bonus to getting listed in a directory is that they usually have a high page rank, which will help increase yours. Do a search for directories that contain your Web site niche and get added.

See also Open Directory Project.

5. Forums and Blogs

   I put these two into the same point because they essentially do the same thing: you leave comments and a link to your Web site. Let me explain. Do a search for a forum that is related to your niche, and sign up. Add your Web site name and URL in your signature to your profile. Now leave comments to some of the posts in the forum. Search engines will index forums, and at the same time will find the link in your signature which will once again act as a link back to your site. Leaving comments in blogs acts the same way as comments in forums.

   See also Website Babble.

6. Write Ezine Articles

   Ezine articles are similar to magazine articles except they appear online. There are several free Web sites that allow you to write your own article. These are great as you can become a well-known leader in your niche. You should then put a link at the end of your article to your Web site, so anyone reading it can click the link and go to your site. Search engines will also index any article you have written. Other sites that also enjoy your article may print your article with the link to your Web site included. You can’t get any better than that for something that cost you nothing but time.

   See also Ezine Articles.

7. Good Site layout

   This one is important to get your visitors to return. Make sure your site is easy to read and navigate. Having light grey text on a white background may be hard for some to easily read, so use black instead. A visitor to your site should be able to understand how to navigate within the first few seconds of loading the page. Keep the navigation simple, such as a menu on one side of the page or across the top.

8. Submit Your Feed

   If you have a blog make sure you submit your feed to various Web sites. A feed is the content that you have created in a specific format. You can also create feeds for a regular Web site as well.

   See also Feedburner or Ping-o-matic.

9. Advertising

   This point is not one to generate traffic as much as revenue, but I felt it important to list, as it can reduce your traffic. Placing advertising on your site is a debatable issue. The issue that is up for debate is when should you place advertisment: when you first start your Web site, or when you get a large number of visitors? My take on the issue is that it is your choice, just don’t load your site with advertisment. I hate sites that display advertisement at almost all possible locations on a Web page: top, bottom, left and right. I prefer that the advertisement be in one location and blend into the site and not stand out.

I attempt to provide useful advice on various technologies in use today on Technically Easy. There are many times that I find myself looking for answers to some of my technological questions on other Web sites.

When I started this blog I was new to blogging and to some degree Web site management. There are many aspects to designing a Web site that I hadn’t thought about before. I have found a very helpful Web site that I’ll share with you in this post.

Website Babble Forums

The Web site is called Website Babble, and is a forums frequented by those who have experienced many of the pitfalls of Web site management. The administrator of the Web site is Lisa, who many know online. She has created a successful online business through her Web sites. This is what many of those who start Web sites strive to be like.

In the past, I have registered to various forums and Web sites only to not login after the first time. I also found that on many of those forums it seems that asking certain questions gets you branded as a newbie or idiot.

At Website Babble, it is a different experience. I find that you can pretty much ask any question related to Web sites and someone will provide friendly, useful advice that will hopefully answer your question.

Similar to other forums, there are the regular contributors to the forum, which I try to be. The contributors are by no means the authoritative source on Web sites, but they have had various experiences in the past that could help others prevent a similar fate. Chances are if you are having problems with your Web site, one of the contributors have experienced the same problem and can provided a solution.

Lisa has also been known to hold contests to those who provide helpful posts on the forum. Her contests award quality over quantity, so you don’t need to post the most to win one.

The forum is free to join and post. You can include your Web site in your signature but not in your post as that is considered spam, which Lisa is very good at tracking and removing. Google has indexed some of the posts from the forums in its index, so chances are good that it will find the link to your site in you signature.

I recommend that you join if you are new to anything Web site related. If you do register on Website Babble, keep an eye out for me. My ID is TechieGuy.