Free Website Traffic

This week's question is a REALLY big and general question and normally, I prefer to answer more specific questions...so I can keep from babbling on forever, but it seems a lot of my fellow moms in business have the same question. Here it is from one subscriber:

Q - I need FREE ideas to drive people to my website. I am just starting out and can't afford to spend a lot of money on leads or ads or such.
 

A - I hear ya...starting and promoting an online business can be tough, but you can do it on a budget. But before I give you any tips, you have to promise me that you will heed this BIGGEST and possibly BEST piece of advice you'll ever get.

It's one thing to be on a budget...but it's entirely another to waste your time.

Let me explain.

We're moms...we may be a little short on cash at times, but we're also ALWAYS short on time. So I want you to repeat after me:

"I solemnly swear to NEVER participate in traffic building schemes that will not bring me residual or targeted traffic!"

I can't hear you! Please say it, so I can continue...cuz I'm very serious here.

> Let's talk about what I call residual traffic. This means that you put in place the traffic method today and it keeps bringing you targeted traffic over and over again. This means things like search engine optimization where your rankings will bring you traffic for months or years to come; a Google AdWords or Overture campaign that you set up and maintain a little while you watch the traffic roll in; an affiliate program where other website owners drive traffic to your website for you; or just having a plain old great website that people want to visit over and over again.

What residual traffic is not:
- posting ads on forums
- surfing for traffic
- posting free classifieds

WHY? Because those things are already questionable in their effectiveness, but more importantly, once you stop doing them...your traffic stops.

> Okay, so what about targeted traffic? The most targeted form of traffic is when someone hits your site when they were already looking for you in the first place. Let me put it simply -- I mean search engines! Just picture this...you sell "lumps of coal" for those who have been naughty during the holiday season. Someone enters "send lump of coal" in a search engine and your site pops up. Wonderful! They were looking for you.

Let's say, someone is surfing for traffic because they want to get traffic in return and they see your lump of coal. Okay, sure it's interesting and a novel gift idea...but they weren't looking for that and they may not even have the holidays on their mind. It's not targeted.

Of course, there's nothing barring you from advertising on other websites that reach your target market. You can get great targeted traffic from this. However, search engines --- whether it's pay per click or natural rankings will always be your most targeted source of traffic.

So, what now? You still have a very small budget and you want free traffic. Of course, natural search engine rankings are free...but they take time, so you may not want to put all your eggs in that basket. You also need to LEARN how to optimize your website and there's a learning curve. If you want targeted traffic now and you want to sell stuff, a pay-per-click campaign is always your best bet. And I swear to you, if your website is ready to sell and you do your campaign right -- you will make money. Your pay per click campaign should not COST you money or cause you to put a 2nd mortage on your house.

Okay, so it's time for some learning and we have a few resources available to you that you'll find in the freebies section of the newsletter.

But the important thing is you keep on learning and improving your skills. You can ask questions on the IBMoms forums, but I also invite you to check out MomMasterminds.com where we take you step by step through your optimization and pay per click campaigns. We also have audio courses available to help you get targeted traffic and we even have an extensive video on Google AdWords that shows you everything from setting up your account to tweaking your campaigns to make money.

Happy traffic building & happy selling. ;)