Hi,
My website(www.mdegills.biz)has been up a running for 2months now and I've seen very little traffic. I've sent out the grand opening email to family and friends. I've done the search engine submission with earthlink and I am still not seeing the traffic that I thought I would. What should I do now?

Thanks in advance!

As you have found, marketing a web site is not as easy as it sounds. It takes continuous effort. Especially so with a new site.

Another strategy to try is writing articles. Write some articles about jewlery or accessories or fashion, and submit to article directories. They will be picked up by other web sites and your site will gain more exposure. You will add a short bio at the bottom of your articles with your web site address.

Thanks for the insight but where do I find these article directories. Should I look into linking to other websites? I am really not sure how to go about doing this but I've read that it's not a bad idea.

Mdegills,

Two months? Considering what you've done so far, you are on the right track.

There is very little you can do in the form of "instant gratification" when it comes to website traffic - except for one thing. I'll explain more on that a little later.

Sending an e-mail to your family and friends is the right thing to do; however, word-of-mouth spreads very slowly.

Search engine submission is a good idea, but it does not bring you instant traffic. Search engine submission simply lets a search engine know that you exist. It does not mean that the engine will stop by your website and index it. If the search engine decides to index your site, it will take a while before it actually does.

Let's take Google for example. On average, it takes about 6 weeks before Google visits your site after submission. Once visited, it can take another couple of weeks before you show up in their index. So now, we're already talking about two months.

Now, assuming... and I'm making a HUGE assumption here... that your website has been optimized with proper search terms, only then will you start to see some results. Natural search ranking traffic takes a long time to develop.

The word is patience, my friend.

Because natural search traffic takes a long time to develop, something called "pay-per-click" advertising or "sponsored advertising" was invented. Once you set up an advertising account and dedicate a traffic budget to it, you will then almost instantaneously receive traffic.

If you'd like more information on sponsored advertising or more information on search engine marketing in general, check out this special page located at http://www.patrickhardy.com/cafesem or call me at 1-800-896-4022.

Let me know if this helps you.


Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
Retail and Internet Consulting Solutions.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400, Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 (phone) 516-342-4825 (fax)

Looking for higher profits this holiday season? Visit:
www.phardy.com/ideacafe for more information.

Thanks! The information you provided has been very helpful! I didn't realize just how intense this process would be. Right now I am going to try exercise a little patience. This is a small business that I am funding with my day job and before I jump into pay per click I want to understand the process completely.

Thanks!

I think that its important to add that marketing a website isn't just counting on search engines.

Regional marketing happen by you coordinating some advertising and printed materials that all have your URL on them. If your product has local value and not just net value advertise in some of the local neighborhood papers. The ads are usually very inexpensive and the circulation is limited to a subdivision or a smaller area. However, its an inexpensive way to get your message out there that you exist.

Make sure to have a "Promotional Code" on the message so when you ask people "how did you hear about us?" when they call or email an order you'll be able to track the effectiveness of your ads.

You can do similar things on the internet. Go to sites that cater to the interests of your customers. For instance you might find fashion, art, or similar sites where you can post an add. Write articles for these sites and they will normally put up your article with a resource box that has your business name and URL.

Try some of the online free classifieds listings like www.craigslist.com. There are many of these out there and while you may not get a lot of direct business out of them at first the search engines find links back to your site making it more interesting and giving it a higher ranking.

Run a few auctions of your wares on ebay or even get an ebay store. Use their muscle to help get you going. A yahoo store is another way to get some good exposure as well as some good business.

You can also become an Amazon affiliate. Its free and their URL ties you back to some good link equity with the search engines.

Another really good way to market an internet web site is to go to forums and answer questions. There are a ton of folks who do that at this site. Go to women's fashion forums, crafts sites, teen sites, art and design sites, etc.

If you are geared for good production you could offer affiliate opportunities to others who may already sell goods that your products might go with.

The bottom line is that website promotion and online sales is a multi-faceted and you have to fit all of the pieces in your marketing mix.

Thanks for the information. I'd thought about doing newspaper ads but I wasn't sure if it was a good route to take considering that I am on line and i'd be competing with the local markets. You made a lot of good points so I am going to look into running ads and never thought about the fashion forums and etc. THANKS!!!

I took a look at your website. There are a number of issues I see right away that optimizing will not help with. You can call me at the numbers below and we can go over the issues I see.

Tip #1: Consider your visiting demographics -- gather information from them in exchange for something free (like a newsletter or coupon for a 2-for-1 deal).
Tip #2: Consider the gender of your visitors -- if more women than men visit your site, cater to them with a feminine look and feel, and vice versa.

Regards,
Bill Topp
Owner
JMC Consultants
269-341-9263
269-744-1509

Good tips! What issue do you see that optimizing won't help?

Keep on working. It doesn't happen overnight. A couple of things you can do is to write and submit articles. Be sure you post the articles on your site as well (more content). Links are like roads leading into your site. Check the bottom of the sites you visit and many will have something about links or add url. One of my sites has one you can check out. http://www.infoworthsharing.com then check out the link page.

Forums like this one can provide links if you use your signature option. Craigs list is free but be sure to follow the rules. When you add a blog (free too) you can post and link to your own site.

If you want to pay, google adwords (ppc) be sure you learn more first.

These are just a few ways you can get some more traffic. Also, there are lots of ebooks on the subject of SEO.

Again, just keep working.
Ocha

Thanks for the encouragement and the site!

Hi Mdegills,

Like many other people are saying, traffic doesn't happen overnight. Here are a few things to consider to generate traffic to your website:

1 - Word of mouth.

2 - Participating in online bulletin board discussions.

3 - Hand out flyers.

4 - Include your business information in your email signature.

5 - Sponsored (pay-per-click) advertising.

6 - Search engine optimization.

7 - Networking on websites such as Idea Cafe, LinkedIn, and Ryze.

8 - Writing articles on your area of expertise.

9 - Include your contact information on your stationary.

Others may have additional ideas.


Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
Retail and Internet Consulting Solutions.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400, Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 (phone) 516-342-4825 (fax)

Looking for higher profits this holiday season? Visit:
http://www.phardy.com/ideacafe for more information.

Thanks! I keep hearing that it's not an overnight process and that are a lot of other ways that I can market my site! I am so glad that I came across the site. I am learning so much!

hello-
i certainly understand this issue. it was for me to.
do you have a tracker on your website? that is very helpful.
passing out biz cards and fliers was the key for me. i went to libraries, barnes & nobles, etc (any established business that relates to your market) and put them on cars or walked around in the businesses. it takes hard work, really. but i saw a significant increase in my website traffic after i did that.

hope this helps.

www.hurtnpoet.com

aleasia hurt, CEO
HURTNPOET, LLC

So what I am experiencing is normal?! I am doing the business cards and when I do get purchases I include a biz cards in the mail outs. I'd thought about flyers but wasn't sure, I even thought about doing some direct mail. I am starting to realize that all of this methods have potential. So, I am going to go for it!
Thanks!

It does take time to generate a lot of traffic, and it takes an ongoing effort. Put your URL on everything. Order some really inexpensive promotional items with your URL. Pens are great because they're so cheap and they get passed around.

You mentioned sending an email to family and friends. Send them some pens and ask them to pass them out for you. If they're all in different cities, that's even better.

Another good place for URLs is on a bumper sticker.

One of the best ways to increase traffic is to do everything you can do encourage repeat visits, especially since they're the ones who will eventually refer your site to others. For your site, a good way to do this might be to sign up people for a newsletter alerting them on special deals.

Nancy
http://www.CreateYourMarket.com
A Resource for the Home-Based Entrepreneur

GREAT IDEA!I really like the pens, I am going to start researching tonight......this is great! I'd giving the bumper stickers a thought but didn't take action but I quess that it's the right thing to do, if I want to make this thing work. Thanks to ALL!

Traffic to a website does take time, but can be jump started with many of the suggestions listed in your replies. My first indication that something is going wrong is with the search engine submission by earthlink.

Submitting your site only gets your site indexed by search engines, so now they know your there.

What you have not done is tell them what your site is about: There is no content (text). You are using images for content. As a web developer and Search Engine Optimizer what you are doing is not separating Design from content, by doing this you are not "telling" Search engines what your website is about.

Dan La Bate
Creative Director/SEM
engines of creation web design
518.693.7451
sales@enginesofcreation.com
http://www.enginesofcreation.com

So how do I fix this?! Should I add content to the index page? If so what should it say?!
thanks

Fixing the problem is not just a tweak of one part then another. SEO is best done from the ground up, in this case it requires a re-design. Part of the reason is you are using non-semantic markup. There are guidelines for HTML, your HTML is not currently valid and includes over 22 errors according to the W3C. Are you using a site builder to make the website?

If you want to know what to fix as far as content look at other websites that sell what you sell and do it well.

What are the keywords you want to be found in search engines for?
ex) accessories, jewelry, etc.

As a company we specialize in re-designs, we can discuss an SEO option for you as well. There is just too many factors discuss and would constitute writing a course outline on web design & SEO.

Check out the W3C validation site at http://validator.w3.org/ to see about the HTML errors.

There are many sites dedicated to discussing SEO as well, Google has a lot of resources. http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/

What I tell every single person about SEO is that anyone can do it, but it takes a lot of time, research, learning, and doing to become proficient at it. If you can afford to practice with your website then don't worry, if you want to be set up correctly from the beginning so you can concentrate on selling then contact a professional. Sure you will spend money to do this, but you have to calculate the amount of revenue lost by not receiving traffic you would have if you contacted an experienced SEO.

Best regards,

Dan La Bate
Creative Director/SEM
engines of creation web design
518.693.7451
sales@enginesofcreation.com
http://www.enginesofcreation.com

I would add content to the index page. Splash pages (what you have) are not helpful (even according to Google) and imo are annoying.

You need to tell customers what you sell, what sets them apart, etc.

I had a hard time with content too. I suggest reading google's webmaster guidelines and writing articles about accessories,etc. I wouldn't just use an article from someone else, as you risk duplicate content (something that could get you banned from search engines).

This site has a free SEO course and a lot of great articles on getting quality traffic to your site:

http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/seo-optimization.htm


Good Luck!
Renee W
http://small-business-911.blogspot.com/

I've been reading alot lately about web site marketing and Internet marketing and it's been repeated everywhere: content, content, content. You need to have worthy text in your web site that people will want to read about and link to. It's definately tough and alot of work coming up with the content, but it's supposed to be one of the keys to success.

Another thing that I have been reading about is link exhanges. Have quality links as opposed to quantity and irrelavant links that point to your web site. I would have to say that most webmasters do not respond to emails and it gets quite discouraging, but it should generate traffic if you are successful.

Good luck! Know that you are not the only one struggling!

P.S. I saw your web site and I do have a few pointers. Make your product descriptions more elaborate like when you read a catalog with sizes and some more text with details about the product. It's also confusing to navigate through like when you have to scroll down the page to find how to get back to the home page.