Archives for June 2011

Driving Traffic to Your Website


Quality, original content is a key ingredient in a successful website, but it doesn't matter how well you write if there is nobody there to read it.

So, I am going to share the key sources for my website traffic.

Website-traffic

There are lots of ways to drive traffic to your site, and it is important to diversify, so you don't suffer if one of your traffic sources stops working out for you.

Here are the methods I leverage to drive traffic to my sites…

You will also get some traffic from the search engines, based on your content.

Back when I was going over WordPress Plugins, I mentioned Google XML Sitemaps to help search engines index your blog.

Be sure to install those plugins if you haven't done so already.

Register Your User Name on Social Media Sites


You've got your user name on Twitter and Facebook, which are the most important of the social media sites, but there are hundreds more that you should secure, too.

Why? Because you never know which sites will be the next Facebook or Twitter, and it's well worth your time to lock down your brand across the board for future use.

There is a really helpful service called KnowEm that enables you to search over 550 popular social networks for your user name.

KnowEm

After you run a search in KnowEm for your preferred user name, you'll see where it's still available or already taken, and each result has a link to register the user name (or another if it's not available).

This can take quite a while, so I'd recommend one of their paid packages to have them do all of the legwork for you.

But if you have more time than money, go and do it yourself.

Create a Facebook Page


Facebook provides the ability to create a page about a business, brand, product, etc., which is a prime opportunity for you to get your new blog posts in front of people in Facebook.

Facebook pages

Just go to the “Create a Page” section on Facebook – it's a quick and easy process.

After you've submitted the category for your page, you'll be brought to a page to get started with it.

Get Started Facebook Page

Upload your logo or some other related image for the page. Other customizing can wait, because nobody is going to be clicking “like” on your page before it has some content anyway.

Initially, you'll have a messy, long URL for your Facebook page.

Mine for the Extra Money Answer page was http://www.facebook.com/pages/Extra-Money-Answer/173563666036393.

You'll want a shorter URL where you can use your site name, which is hopefully the same as your Twitter name.

But you cannot customize that URL on Facebook until 25 people “Like” the page. It's the old chicken and egg thing – it's harder to promote until 25 people like it, and people won't like it until it's worth liking and you can get them there.

So go to Fiverr.com, a community where you can get all sorts of things done for $5.

Search for Facebook likes on Fiverr. There are a bunch of people who will help you out and get the needed likes in a short time, so you can then get a custom name for your page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/username/.

Facebook likes on Fiverr

After getting my 25 likes through somebody at Fiverr, I was able to change my user name, so I now have this url: http://www.facebook.com/extramoneyanswer.

Also, there is a service called NetworkedBlogs, where you can connect the RSS feed from your blog to your Facebook page.

Create an account there and register your blog.

NetworkedBlogs

Then follow the instructions from NetworkedBlogs to connect your blog to your Facebook page.

Pretty soon, you'll have your blog posting to your Facebook page, and then you can start promoting the Facebook page from your blog, as well as to your Facebook friends.

Register Your Name on Twitter


Twitter is an important place for you to reach people with your site and your brand.

TwitterThere are all sorts of numbers out there on how many people are on Twitter, numbers of followers, ReTweets, etc.

But don't mind the statistics. More importantly, there are a lot of people there who will be willing to follow your Twitter account, and click your links to read your blog posts.

So go and register a new Twitter.com account in the name of your site, if possible. If your domain name is taken, try some variation of it – the shorter the better.

But pick something you really like, because this is a name you'll be using on Twitter and a bunch of other places.

I ended up getting @xtramoneyanswer for this site, because there is a limit of 15 characters.

Get the name now. I'll wait right here.

Stop-watch

Great, you've got your Twitter name, so now what?

I have two services I would suggest you now sign up with and link to Twitter:

  • SocialOomph: lots of features, but most important are the scheduled Tweets and tracking keywords
  • TwitterFeed: hook up your Twitter account and RSS feed, so new posts automatically hit Twitter

One last thing for you to do. Create a Tweet Button, so people can help you spread the word about your Tweets.

Secure Your Social Media Names


You have your domain name for your site, which is your brand and identity.

But that's not enough. You should secure that same name with the various social media sites, too.

Social media sites

The two most important places to get your name are Facebook and Twitter.

There are literally hundreds of other social media sites that you should consider, too.

It could take a very long time to handle all the others. The good news is that I have a shortcut for you.

Email Follow-Up Series


An email follow-up series is a great way to share a collection of content with subscribers over a period of time.

Some people use email follow-ups to build a relationship with subscribers, while others use the strategy to stay in touch with potential leads as they try to close a sale.

Email follow-ups

This feature from AWeber is only relevant if you have a bunch of content you're ready to assemble as a follow-up series, or you plan to compile content for this purpose.

Anyhow, have all of your content written in Microsoft Word or whichever program you prefer, so you can have it saved locally to your computer.

Your first step will be to roll your mouse over the “Messages” tab, and then click on “Follow Up”.

AWeber follow-up

Then click on the “Create a New Follow Up Message” button.

Create a new follow-up message

The process here is similar to sending an email newsletter in AWeber, as you've got the content ready to go and just have to add information in a couple spots.

Like the email newsletter, the first and most important component is the subject.

This is your headline in the busy inboxes of your readers and you have very little time to convince them they should open it.

Use the option in AWeber to personalize the subject and include a short, descriptive, and interesting subject.

Follow-up headline

As I suggested previously, keep it to seven words or less, so subscribers can quickly scan and decide whether to open it.

Next up is the email itself. You have the option to send both HTML and text versions of the email.

While AWeber provides a variety of nice templates for HTML emails, I would suggest just going with text emails for now, and then start playing around with HTML newsletters down the road.

So jump on down to the “Plain Text Message” area and paste in the newsletter you already wrote.

AWeber plain text message

Click the “Wrap Long Lines” link at the top and edit your text, so that it stays within the “Recommended Width” in the white area.

There is an option to attach that file. Don't do it. People don’t like getting attachments they don't expect, and they could delete your email right away with the thought that it has a virus attached.

The first email in the follow-up series is set to send immediately after somebody subscribes and the box is pre-checked to track clicks, so you're good.

Finally, click the “Preview” button. If things look alright, go ahead and click “Save Message”.

Now your email follow-up is ready to test.

Click the “Test” button and send a copy of the email to yourself. Did it get past your spam filter? Does it look good?

OK, so now you just click “Create a New Follow Up Message” and repeat the process for your second in the email follow-up series.

The only difference is to choose the interval that this second message will go out.

The default is for it to go four days after the first email. Stick with that for now, and you can tweak later to test different patterns of days.

Follow-up 2 interval

There was also the option to only deliver this message on certain days and times. AWeber leaves this unchecked by default, and I'd suggest you do the same until you have more time to test the days that seem to have more impact for your subscribers.

You'll just repeat this same process for each additional follow-up email you want to add into the system.

Email Newsletters


Email newsletters can serve a number of purposes.

Not only can you send an email newsletter on a regular basis to communicate with your subscribers, but they can also be used to send emails focused on promoting affiliate links for one company, to send breaking news, and anything else you think is important to share.

Before you get into AWeber to setup the email newsletter, I'd suggest writing it first in Microsoft Word or whichever program you prefer, so you can have it saved locally to your computer.

Email newsletter

In order to get started on an email newsletter in AWeber, roll your mouse over the “Messages” tab, and then click on “Broadcast”.

AWeber broadcast

Then click on the “Create a New Broadcast Message” button.

Create a new broadcast message

Since you've already written the content, this is a pretty quick and easy process to get the newsletter out.

The first and most important component of your email newsletter is the subject.

This is your headline in the busy inboxes of your readers and you have very little time to convince them they should open it.

Use the option in AWeber to personalize the subject and include a short, descriptive, and interesting subject.

AWeber broadcast edit

Keep it to seven words or less, so subscribers can quickly scan and decide whether to open it.

Next up is the email itself. You have the option to send both HTML and text versions of the email.

While AWeber provides a variety of nice templates for HTML emails, I would suggest just going with text emails for now, and then start playing around with HTML newsletters down the road.

So jump on down to the “Plain Text Message” area and paste in the newsletter you already wrote.

AWeber plain text message

Click the “Wrap Long Lines” link at the top and edit your text, so that it stays within the “Recommended Width” in the white area.

There is an option to attach that file. Don't do it. People don't like getting attachments they don't expect, and they could delete your email right away with the thought that it has a virus attached.

Then you've got a bunch of options with your newsletter, such as whether to send immediately or later, segment, include or exclude other lists, track clicks, social media / sharing, and quickstats notifications.

Email newsletter options

There are many theories about when people are most likely to open emails. I'd suggest sending it immediately, and after you have a dozen or so newsletters mailed out, look over your stats to see when people are most often clicking your links in newsletters.

The best time to send an email newsletter is the time your own list reads it most.

Don't worry about segmenting and including or excluding other lists. That's something you might want to do in the future. I never do either.

Definitely track the clicks, so you can figure out what's working. The Social Media / Sharing option is also good to consider later.

Check the box to get the QuickStats Notifications – it's important to know what's going on with your newsletters, so you can test and improve performance.

Finally, click the “Preview” button. If things look alright, go ahead and click “Save Message”.

Email actionsNow your email newsletter is ready to test.

Click the “Test” button and send a copy of the email to yourself. Did it get past your spam filter? Does it look good?

If all is well, click “Queue” and then “Yes.”