If you are a website owner you will want to know all the different ways there are to generate traffic.  Of course, there are plenty of methods that involve paying money however if you don’t want to spend any money you can still generate traffic to your website for free.  There are so many different ways and each method has it’s advantages and disadvantages.

Before I begin I need to make it clear that there are different types of traffic and lots of traffic doesn’t necessarily equal big bucks.  You see, when people connect to the internet they have different ideas of what they want to achieve.  Some people simply want to be entertained and to connect with friends.  Whilst there are others who use the internet in order to buy products.

Imagine that a very famous celebrity (for the sake of example let’s say it’s Britney Spears) was involved in some sort of scandal and thousands of people start searching for information about the scandal.  When they find the information they are looking for they just move onto other things, whether it’s checking the email or whatever.  Basically they are looking for information and entertainment (infotainment?) and that’s it.

However the person who wants to buy perfume by Britney will type something along the lines of “buy Britney Spears perfume.”  So if you’re selling Britney Spears perfume you will want this sort of traffic rather than the traffic where people want to know about the scandal she’s been involved in.

Anyway, if you just want to learn about methods of generating traffic to your website for free then here are some great ideas.  Some of them might attract people who are looking to spend money whilst other techniques might just attract browsers.  At the end of the day, you might as well give it a go and see how you get on.

YouTube

We all know that YouTube is the ‘net’s most popular video sharing website with millions of people using it to watch music videos, funny videos and also “how to” videos.  There are loads of people who go straight to YouTube to find what they are looking for however there are also loads of people who find the site via the search engines.  For instance, if you do a search for Britney Spears on Google you will see that YouTube videos appear.

If you create a video and upload it to YouTube you can tap into the traffic from the site itself plus traffic that come in via the search engines.  What kind of video you create really depends on what your website is about.  If you own a florist in Delaware you could create a video about you and the flowers that you sell.  You could do a demonstration on how to arrange flowers and the likes.  Just make sure you give the video a title you think people would search for.  For example “Florist in Wilmington, Delaware.”

Google’s Local Business Results

If you have a “brick and mortar” business such as a florist or accountancy firm then you can create an account with Google and register your details here:  www.google.com/local/add .  Before the internet really took hold on society people just looked up their local copy or the yellow pages or their local news paper to find companies.  However these days more and more people are using the internet search engines.  So sign up with Google’s Local Business Results to get free exposure to your business’ website.

StumbleUpon (SU)

This is a very popular social website where people submit web pages they like and other people can vote them up or down.  You can pay SU for traffic however you can also get it for free, especially if your website is very good and other people like it.  The more frequently people vote it up the more traffic you will get.  The problem is that the people who use SU have a short attention span and usually are not interested in buying anything.  However if you still want pursue this method of traffic generation you should submit webpages that are informative or entertaining.  Don’t just submit a product page with sales copy on it because people don’t find this of much interest to them.

Search Engine Optimzation (SEO)

If you want a constant stream of well-targeted visitors to your website learning SEO is a must.  A lot of people try to make out that SEO is very difficult.  However the people doing this are usually trying to sell SEO services so they want to make it sound as scary and complex as possible.  However it’s actually quite simple.  What it comes down to is including as many different keywords as you can within your website, especially the title of your website.  Although it’s quite simple, there is a lot to learn so you will need to do further research on this topic.

Google Trends

If you are just looking for as much traffic as you can and don’t care about whether they will buy anything, then you should look at google.com/trends/hottrends.  Basically it’s a list of the most searched for topics on the net.  Usually people are just wanting to know about celebrity gossip and politics.  However sometimes they also want to know more about new products that are being released.  If you write about these subjects you should start to get a lot of traffic, the problem is trying to make money from the traffic you get.

Conclusion

There are actually quite a lot of other techniques that you can use.  Some of them are legitimate whilst others aren’t.  There are methods coming out all the time whenever there is a new craze on the internet.  In the past people were going crazy over MySpace whereas now it’s more about Twitter and Facebook.  There’s loads of free info on the web so don’t waste your money by buying an ebook claiming to make you rich.  They’re just a waste of time and money.

Over the last ten years or so, people have been going crazy over the thought of making money on the internet.  It seems so easy and there are people who are making money without even spending a dime.  Of course, there now a lot of competition and making money online isn’t that easy but it’s still something that you might want to consider.  Let’s have a look at some of the options out there:-

Write Articles
Many website owners want new and fresh content on a regular basis to keep visitors coming back.  The problem is that these website owners often don’t have a lot of time to write the content themselves.  This is why they outsource writing to freelance writers.

If you enjoy writing about all sorts of different topics then you could make money doing this.  Of course, as with any other business it can take time to build up a reputation for quality and customer service.  Many make the mistake of pricing themselves too low to begin with and they “burn out.”  This is certainly not a good long-term strategy.

Naturally, if you live somewhere like India then you might feel that the cost of living is so low that you can afford to price yourself lower than those living in Western countries.

Whatever approach you decide to take it’s essential that you build up a portfolio so that potential clients can see what sorts of topics you can write about and so that they can see the quality of your writing.  You could create a free blog at Blogger and then add articles you fell reflect your writing skills.

Then sign up with companies such as rentcoder.com and odesk.com as they will help you find clients and deal with the billing side of things.  Make sure you present yourself professionally and respond to enquiries promptly and politely.

Blog Commenting
One of the popular techniques for doing SEO on a website is to leave comments on what’s known as “do follow blogs.”  The problem is that website owners don’t want to do the work themselves so choose to pay someone else to do the work for them.  As a result there are a number of companies out there who offer blog commenting services.

The problem is finding do follow blogs to comment on and if you have never done this sort of thing before it’s really confusing to know where to start.  There are a few software applications on the market that help you find do follow blogs but the problem is that they usually use Akismet as an anti-spam measure and if you leave too many comments too quickly all of your hard work can be for nothing.

However there are many blogs that don’t have any anti-spam measures in place and it’s very easy to leave a link with your comment.  There are lists of such blogs being sold on Digital Point Forums which you can buy to make it easier for you.  Finding these kinds of blogs requires a lot of work and sometimes blog owners shut down comments because they are fed up with spam and this is very frustrating.

If you want to make money using this method it’s a good idea to do blog commenting for your own websites first to get a hang of it and it isn’t recommended for the beginner.

Make Your Own Website
The problem with offering services such as writing articles or blog commenting is that you have to keep doing it in order to make money.  Basically you have a job.  Whereas if you create your own website you will find that once the money starts coming in from advertisers you will continue to enjoy that money for potentially years to come.

As good as this sounds there’s still a lot of hard work involved.  However, in order to get the ball rolling you need to first of all come up with a theme for your website.  A good place to start is to think of problems people have in their lives that can be resolved by purchasing products or services.  Here are some ideas:-

• Acne
• Cellulite
• Termites
• Moss
• Rust
• Weeds

You then need to see about buying a domain name with some of the keywords in it.  Go Daddy is a very popular place to buy web domains and there are many different discount codes listed on many websites you can use to get a cheaper price.  Personally I have found that the discount code emma30 works very well.  You will then need to buy hosting for your website and this can be bought from HostGator at a very cheap monthly price.

If you don’t want to spend any money you can set up an account with Word Wolf.  Not only is it free to set up an account here at WordWolf, the domain already has a lot of authority in the search engines so you will find that visitors to your articles will start arriving very quickly.  Which in turn will help you earn more money.

You will also want to sign up for Google Adsense as they will display ads on the website.  When a visitor sees an ad that is related to your articles and click on the ad, you will get paid.  Please note, that some “misguided” website owners click on their own ads in order to try and make more money.  This is a very bad idea as you will simply get your account banned and any money that is owed to you will be returned to the advertiser.

Other Ideas For Making Money On The Internet
If you have skills in website design or graphic design then you can offer your services to people who lack the skills that you do.  How much you charge will depend on how good you are however if you have a look at other websites offering the same services you will be able to have a look at their prices.

Forums such as Digital Point Forums can be very good if you are starting out and want to build up a customer base.  You can also register with freelance websites like rentcoder.com, elance.com and odesk.com.  They will take a percentage of what you earn but they have loads of clients who are looking to outsource loads of tasks.  Spend a bit of time looking around these websites to see what’s on offer.

Conclusion
Don’t think for a moment that any of this is easy.  There are people walk blindly into making money online only to find that they give up when the don’t start making the money they hoped for.  Of course, if you have lost your job or have been forced to have some bed rest then it’s something you can try your hand out.  You don’t really have anything to lose.  Make sure you don’t get sucked into any scams.  There’s no need to spend a lot of money to learn how to make money on the internet.  Of course, there are some very good tools on the market which can help speed up certain tasks, but to begin with you don’t need to spend any money at all if you don’t want to.

You’ve probably heard people talking about how easy it is to make money with a website.  But if you have never even set up a website before it can be really confusing to know where to start.  You will find all sorts of different websites telling you about the “perfect” way to make money and how easy it is. 

Fist of all, you should know that making money with a website can take in various forms.  Some people set up what is known as an e-commerce site where real products are sold.  Basically you need to find products that you can sell for a profit, is in demand and can easily be shipped out to the customer.  This is much easier said that done.  Here are the problems with setting up an e-commerce site:-

 

1)  A lot of companies require you to spend a minimum amount of money with them yet if you don’t have much money to spend you might not be able to afford the minimum order.

 

2)  Many companies don’t provide photographs of the products which means if you are selling something like fashion accessories you will need to take the photographs yourself .  This isn’t very easy if you are not familiar with product photography. 

 

3)  You’ll have to compete with the larger stores that have really professional photographs and website design which make the products look amazing.  If you are on budget and have to do all the website work yourself you might not be able to create the professional image you are looking for.

 

4)  What if you don’t get enough people to visit your store and you are left with loads of stock you can’t sell?  You could therefore end up losing a lot of money.

 

5)  What happens if you want to take time off for vacation or illness?  If you are working on your own you might not have anyone to run your business which means shutting up shop for that time.  Resulting in loss of revenue and customer trust.

So is there a way of making money with a website that  will offer you the following benefits?

 

Requires no start-up money

Requires no technical knowledge

Will earn you passive income 24/7

Actually, the answer is yes.  Here at Word Wolf you can easily make money by writing articles on any subject you wish and in return you will receive the majority of the advertising revenue.  Here’s what you need to do:-

Get Yourself a Google Adsense Publisher ID

For those of you who are not familiar with Adsense, Google displays targeted ads on your webpages and you then receive a percentage of what the advertiser spends.  Thousands upon thousands of advertisers from all around the world advertise their products and services with Google which means you don’t have to worry about finding these advertisers yourself.  All you have to do is write the articles and Google will then display the most appropriate ads.

How to Create An Adsense Account

If you don’t yet have an account with Adsense you need to create an account with Word Wolf by clicking here.  Then you need to add at least 6 articles which are about 400 - 500 words in length.  Make sure that these articles are helpful to visitors and will help them find what they are looking for.

You can then sign up for Adsense here.  When signing up for Adsense they will ask you for your website address.  What you need to give them is your author profile page which will look something like: http://wordwolf.com/author/myusername.html.

What Should Your Articles Be About?

They can be pretty much about anything, however it’s a good idea to write about a topic that you are familiar with.  If you have a dog you could write about dog training or the costs involved in owning a dog.  If you’ve just been on vacation you could write about that.

When giving a title to your article make sure you think about what someone might actually type into the search engines.  There’s no point in giving your article a title of “Why I Love Barbados” because it’s unlikely anyone will search for that.  Instead something like “Where To Stay in Barbados” would be more appropriate.

Hopefully this article will give you some ideas about how you can genuinely make money with a website, no matter what level of experience you have.  How much you earn will entirely depend on how much work you put into it.  You might only have an hour a day which means you’ll possibly earn enough to buy a few treats for yourself.  Whereas if you have several hours a day you can easily make a full time income.  You can also work wherever and whenever you like as all you need is a computer with an internet connection.

If you are a website owner then you really need to get visitors/traffic to it in order to promote your business and make sales.  A lot of people go to their local website designer and get a website created but then do nothing to promote it.  It’s kind of like having a printer print you up some fantastic looking business cards and brochures but then you simply stick them up in your attic to allow them to gather dust.  What’s the point in that?

So here you will find out about what you need to do to get traffic to your website and what the different types of traffic is.

Un-Targeted Traffic

In order to understand what type of traffic you want to get to your website, you need to understand the type you should avoid.  A lot of people who are new to trading on the internet think that somehow the rules that apply to the offline world don’t apply to the internet.  This is how so many people get ripped off by buying into products and services that are completely and entirely useless.

(Ultimately it’s traffic that comes from the search engines that convert best into buyers so it’s search engine traffic that will be discussed here.)

If in the real world you are trying to sell a guitar, would you walk into a shoe shop and start trying to sell?   Of course not because the people in the shoe shop want to buy shoes - not a guitar. 

Even if you target people who like music and perhaps can play guitar you’re going to have quite a hard sell on your hands because the person isn’t really in a buying mood.  They might make an impulse buy if the price is cheap enough or your are lucky enough to find someone who is looking for a guitar.  But generally you’re going to have to be a very good sales person to sell anything this way.  And you are going to have to approach a lot of people in order to get a sale.

Targeted Traffic

However if someone has been thinking of buying a guitar for quite some time, they’ve done lots of research on the subject and have decided they want to buy a red Yamaha Pacifica with practice amp then selling to this person is going to be much easier because they have a need for the product.

When it comes to a website the trick is to identify the sort of keywords that people type into the search engines in order to buy a product from you.  Sticking with the guitar theme, according to Free Keyword Tracker, ~4000 people a day search for “guitar“.  But exactly do you think they are looking for?

Your guess is as good as mine, they maybe want to buy a guitar, download tabs, watch videos, find out about the different types, the history and anything else for that matter.  Basically ranking for “guitar” might seem really impressive but you’re only going to end up with a lot of useless traffic.  Also, remember traffic costs money in terms of your website hosting account so you could end up spending hundreds of dollars on hosting just to get useless traffic.

If someone is looking for a guitar they will quite often start with something very basic like “guitar” and then start refining their search as they gather more knowledge.  The sequence might look something like:-

Guitar
Electric guitar
Fender electric guitar
Fender Strat electric guitar
Fender Squier Affinity Electric Guitar Pack

Basically the more specific they are in their search, generally it’s more likely they are going to make a purchase.  So instead of putting your efforts into ranking for what’s known as a “top level keyword” you should be trying to rank for the “long tail buying keyword.”  You’ll not get as much traffic but the conversion rate is going to be considerably higher.