CREATE A SQUIDOO LENS FOR MORE TARGETED TRAFFIC

If you have not heard of Squidoo by now, you must have been living in a cave for quite some time.... Welcome back! Squidoo is a very powerful website, especially if you want to try out marketing. Google really likes Squidoo.

So how do you create a Squidoo lens for your business? A lens is made up of modules. There are many different kinds of modules: the guestbook, the introduction, the write/text, the link list, the text list, You Tube, Flickr, Amazon, Ebay, Itunes, poll, dogs, cameras, Orbitz, WHATEVER. So what you basically do is add the kind of modules you would want to use and build a lens. It is simple and efficient. What more can you ask for?

Before you go building your lens, here are some tips for you.
1. Do your keyword research before you build a lens. Target a certain keyword and build your lens around it.
2. Tell people who you are. For each and every lens, you should have a unique bio showing, one that is related to the specific lens you are building. Unless you have TOO many lenses to keep track.
3. Include a guestbook, a poll and maybe a plexo. A plexo will let people vote for their favorite and contribute to the list. Interaction will make people come back to your lens.
4. The main headline of your lens should contain the main keyword you are targeting. It should also capture their attention and create interest.
5. Your introduction should be interesting enough for people to read on. Create links in it for people to "jump" straight to the content they are interested in. You can do this by right clicking the links under "what's here" and copy link location. Credit goes to ShellHarris for this tip.
6. Play with your tags. Check out similar lenses and see what tags they are using and add those to your list. There is a maximum of 40 tags though, so choose wisely. Do a keyword research on each of those tags, see how many times it has been searched for and how many competing results are there.
7. Again, content is king. Offer something valuable, even if it is just a review of a product. Don't just copy and paste. The most valuable thing you can offer, to me, is your opinion on a certain matter. That is unique to you and no one else.
8. Ask for ratings and comments. Put this in your introduction, the part where most visitors will read.
9. Participate in the squidoo forum, squidu. People there are helpful. See also the forum strategy below.
10. Join relevant groups and maybe create one yourself!
11. Look around the squidoo community, rate and comment on other people's lenses. Let them know you are there and they will reciprocate. Don't expect too many of the high flyers to look around though, they are too busy managing 500 lenses!
12. While it is true you will get indexed relatively quick and you CAN depend just on Google traffic to your lens, I would highly suggest you continue to promote your lens through other means.
13. Create more lens! The more lens you have, the more exposure you will enjoy and the more traffic you will receive.
14. Feature your lenses in all your lens! Many people miss this! Get people who visit lens A to go on and visit lens B, C, D etc.

Please check out my lens at http://www.squidoo.com/makingbigmoneyonline

Best of luck to you,
Mike Filsom

Traffic Exchanges For Increased Website Traffic

Despite the services you may have come across online that run this kind of operation look decidedly dodgy. It does actually work if you use the right service. I've been using Traffic Swarm for about 6 months now and I always see a steady stream of traffic from it to the URL's I submit. The system works by either setting your homepage to the Traffic Swarm network or by logging in to Traffic Swarm with the password you receive after signup. Each time you open your browser or sign in, you gain a credit and view 6 links; each with a short description of a particular sites content. If none of the links appeal, click the next button and you are presented with 6 more links. Should you click on a link, you receive anything from 1 to 5 credits. All credits earned go towards the number of times your site link is displayed on the network. Traffic Swarm is now in the top 500 most visited sites on the Web.

How does a Traffic Exchange work and why would I use one?
These are common questions asked by people who own web sites. Making use of a traffic exchange will have benefits for both individuals and companies, but very few people are knowledgeable on exactly how traffic exchanges work. Anyone who owns or operates web sites can join a traffic exchange network easily by signing up. When someone submits a web site to a traffic exchange network, he/she earns points by browsing other sites in the network. Other network members earn points by browsing the site you submit. The net result is a mutual benefit for everyone: all sites in the network benefit from increased traffic. Most traffic exchanges allow a web site to earn a certain amount of credit and maintain a certain credit ratio, which is what determines the number of web sites a person has to look at in order to get one hit on their own web site. Lots of traffic exchange sites give you an option of purchasing an upgraded account that gives you a more equal credit ratio i.e. you have to view fewer sites to get an extra hit on your site. A side advantage is that internet destinations grouped together via traffic exchange typically cater to common topics. Therefore, you might find new sites you want to regularly visit, or at the very least, you can see what is new with your competitors. The best traffic exchange programs can be joined for free and function by encouraging you to build credits by using referrals. They also encourage you to obtain a paid upgrade by offering extra credits and better features. These credits can be used to build an opt-in list by capturing an email address with the name of other persons from other sites in the network. You can also use an auto-responder form, or construct and advertise a catchy looking home page with eye candy, or a splash page to build your list. As you can see, the basic concept of how traffic exchanges work is quite simple.

Who uses traffic exchange programs?
The main users are small business owners or marketers who either want to use the system to get free advertising or to use the exchange program to get a wider audience for low budget advertising campaigns. It is also possible to simply purchase credit from the traffic exchange site rather than surfing the other web sites to earn it. Private persons and internet-based corporations making mutually beneficial visits to each other's websites is how traffic exchanges work. The best way to use a traffic exchange is to build your own opt-in list by including an auto-responder form on your landing page or for advertising using a concise splash page with eye-catching graphics.

I was able to find 146 of these sites. You can easily type "traffic exchanges" into your web brower but I'll list a few of the more popular exchanges for your convenience.

1. http://www.trafficswarm.com/
2. http://www.ilovehits.com/
3. http://www.tugboattraffic.com/
4. http://www.tiptoptraffic.com/
5. http://www.freetrafficbar.com/
6. http://www.shownfind.net/
7. http://www.startxchange.com/
8. http://www.trafficbully.com/
9. http://www.trafficproject.com/
10. http://www.gimmeclicks.com/
11. http://www.savvyclicks.com/
12. http://www.hitsafari.com/
13. http://www.easyhits4u.com/
14. http://www.hits2u.com/
15. http://www.trafficdigger.com/
16. http://www.freeviral.com/
17. http://www.clicksmatrix.com/
18. http://www.trafficg.com/
19. http://www.surf30.com/
20. http://www.xtremehit.com/

That should be enough to get started.

Best of luck to you,
Mike Filsom

A List of 12 Simple Ways To Get Free Traffic To Your Website/Blog/Lens

Embarking on an Internet marketing campaign doesn't have to be difficult, tricky, or complicated. Here are a few more FREE simple ideas that you can easily implement to get traffic to your site right now.

1) Social bookmark everything - you can bookmark each page of your site and each blog entry you post. While this might seem tedious, it's worth it. You'll see a strong increase in traffic if you social bookmark each page on your site and each of your blog entries.

2) Review: if you can review hot new products or books within your market, head on over to Amazon and start positioning yourself as an expert. In order to do this effectively you'll want to create an Amazon profile and make sure and sign each review with a reference to your URL (your web site). You can also go to Epinions and Revoo to review products as well.

3) Offer a freebie on Craig's List: you'll be amazed at how much traffic you get from a single Craig's List ad. The key here is to send people to a page on your site and make sure they have to sign up for something (like your email newsletter) before they can grab their freebie. That way you're not just getting traffic, you're also building your list.

4) Create a "recommended by" list on your Delicious page – you can do this by creating an account and then tagging articles, blogs and other content you think will be important to your readership. Offer this page as a resource site. You can add a link to this page in your email signature line or on your web site.

5) Speaking of your email signature line... do you have one? If you don't, create one. Believe it or not, people do follow these links. You'll be amazed how many folks read email signature lines. I have one and change it several times a year depending on what I'm doing or promoting.

6) Lend a helping hand: you can be an answer person at Yahoo Answers – you don't have to spend hours on there, but maybe a few minutes a week. Make sure and include a link back to your site following your answers.

7) Set up a social networking site using Facebook, LinkedIn, or Squidoo. It's free and easy to do, just don't forget the all-important link back to your site!

8) Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so if you capture a reader you don't lose them if they forget to bookmark your site or blog.

9) Join relevant groups at Yahoo groups. You'll find everything from groups on growing your small business, writing books, finding your passion, even underwater basket weaving. I dare you to find one that isn't right for what you're promoting. When you do find the right group, join and participate as you can!

10) Start a blog and then once you do, start commenting on other people's blogs, linking to them from your site or adding them to your blogroll.

11) Inbound links: don't squander your time (or a perfectly good link) on smaller low-traffic sites. Instead spend your time going after high traffic, high quality sites. Good sites should have a PR (page ranking) of 4-6 depending on the market. You can find out what a site's page ranking is by downloading the Google toolbar which comes with a PR feature built in.

12) Start an email newsletter: while it may not seem like a newsletter that you email can drive traffic to your site you'd be surprised at the effectiveness of this type of promotion. If your newsletter (like your articles) is interesting and relevant to your audience, you'll find that it has a huge pass-through factor, meaning that it is passed from one email subscriber to another.

While this isn't really a tip, it's still important. If you're going to go through all the trouble of getting traffic to your site, make sure your site is converting this traffic into something. Get folks to sign up for something, your newsletter, the RSS feed on your blog. Whatever it is, getting their email address will help you remarket to them when the time is right. Studies show that visitors landing on a site often don't buy the first time. That's ok! You want to get them into your marketing funnel so you can market to them again and again – not in a way that's obtrusive, offensive or downright annoying, but in a way that is helping them with their own mission. An example of this might be an email newsletter. A helpful, informative newsletter is a fantastic funnel. A blog is another great way to keep people in your marketing loop without bombarding them with "please buy my stuff" email messages. Also, make sure you know what your traffic numbers are before you launch into any Internet marketing campaign. By traffic numbers I mean how many people are visiting your site. You want to know this so you can gauge a before and after view of your marketing efforts.

Best of luck to you,
Mike Filsom