Lately I've come across quite a few online entrepeneurs with good business ideas, and great sites, but no clue how to generate web traffic. This is something that even the most web savy business owners are always trying to improve, so I figured I would focus on this topic for a few days.
For any and every newbie out there, when you seriously want to generate more site traffic the first thing you have to do is research! Sounds simple I know, but the question is research what? Well, you need to define your target audience and find out what sites the like as well as what content those sites generally carry.
I'm in the business of creating black websites, so while doing my own research I thought it was a good idea to create a list of some of the most traffic heavy black sites online. If you have a large African American target audience as well, this is definitely a list that you want to check out.
You also want to start visiting websites and forum where fellow web entrepreneurs frequent. I encourage many of my fellow Black Business Women to connect with me though my Sistas Making Money on myspace page or popular forums like izania and connecting black. One imporant part of generating traffic is creating business alliances, these are the people who can give you that free -priceless advice we are always looking for and also potentially provide you with free or lowcost ad space (provided their website attracts the type of people you want to market to). For example my site, Sistapreneurs Network attracts professional black women, so I tend to work with advertisers who want to reach this audience.
You always have to remember that banner advertising isn't just about putting up banners. If you buy ad space on a site that doesn't attract your niche group, then you are wasting your money.
Also, remember that one of the most important traffic builders is search engine optimization. Make sure you have the right keywords listed on your site. If you need help, go to a keyword search tool like: http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion or try google suggestions (http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&complete=1). In conjunction with having the right keywords you have to have a google site map. The easier it is for google to search your site, the better chances you have of your pages being indexed in the search engine.
So if your ready to start generating more traffic then go check out your competitor pages, put together a strong list of keywords, and advertise on sites that reach your audience.
I'll be sure to post more on this topic in the future, but this is the best place for you to start.
