Building eCommerce

By Gary Gerasimon

There are a ton of ways to generate traffic online. And if you’ve been online for a period of time, you know that most of them don’t work.

One of the methods you see promoted is called guaranteed traffic. About 1% of the sites that offer this type of service are legitimate. If they don’t have them already listed at their website, ask the company for references and testimonials from satisfied clients before giving them your hard-earned money.

You’ve probably seen these sites before. You’re sitting there at the computer, totally frustrated and miserable because another day is passing and you feel like you’re watching paint dry every time you look at your website statistics.

Nothing’s happening. No visitors. Well maybe a visitor here and there. But it’s probably you checking your own site. Or your cousin Sally you just talked to on the phone clicked on your site because you gave her the address.

Great. You’ve got a whopping two visitors - now you’re ready to quit your job and retire, right?

Then you see one of those sites that goes something like this: “Guaranteed Traffic to your site. 10,000 visitors for only $52. 100,000 visitors for only
$143. Category targeted. Get the traffic you need today.”

C’mon, do you really believe that? Have you ever fallen for one of these scams? It’s a little embarrassing. I’ve been online since 1995 - I started aggressively promoting online back in 1997 - in other words, I started losing lots of money back in 1997.

It took me a few years before I became successful. I’d like to say that I’ve never bought into those guaranteed traffic programs. But I have.

Most of them are a total waste of money. Think about it. Do you really think you can get high quality visitors for next to nothing? 10,000 visitors for $52? What if they had 100 people order their traffic package?

Think about how many visitors they’d have to be able to generate just for those 100 customers. The numbers are mind boggling. If 100 customers order 10,000 visitors each, they’d need to send a total of 1 million visitors to those customers’ websites.

Ok, they would generate $5200 in revenue ($52 package x 100 customers). But think about it. It’s going to take a lot more than a $5200 ad budget for them to get that many real visitors. It’s just not going to happen.

Most of these companies don’t have the system in place to get you results - your money just goes right into their pocket and you get nothing.

Some deliver automatically generated hits (not real visitors) - others don’t deliver any traffic at all.

I have found one resource in the last decade that is a guaranteed traffic program that really delivers on its promises. I’ve used their service and it works.

They have lots of testimonials at their website from satisfied clients. I reveal this resource in one of the first few issues of my free “Truth About Traffic” report series that you can get at my website.

Another option is to advertise in ezines. Or learn search engine optimization. Pay per clicks are another good alternative, too.

Just remember, if you and Cousin Sally are the only ones visiting your website, you’re not going to be in business very long. Be sure to use marketing methods that work.

About The Author

Gary Gerasimon is an experienced online marketer. In his free report that he offers at his website, Truth About Traffic, you can discover very powerful ways to get tons of traffic to your website.

By Diana Ennen

Do you have the Virtual Edge with your business? That website that when people go there they say, Wow, I want to work with that company. If not, here are a few pointers.

Packing a Punch

Your website is the one thing that defines you and your business and has the potential to draw the entire virtual world to your products or services. How important is it? Well, I just recently had mine redone, and I immediately starting gaining more clients. Also, because I added a more professional edge to my site, I started getting clients who were a higher caliber and who paid more, now it don’t get any better than that.

Here are a few pointers I think you might find useful:

§ The First Glance - Hook Them!! Keep in mind that the first thing listed in the main body of your site should be the best you offer. The main thing you are bringing people to the site to see. It has to clearly state what is it you want to sell, offer, feature, etc. Go look at your site, have you done it?

§ Buttons That Tell & Sell - Those side and top buttons-you need to clearly set up so that people want to click on them and find out more. Also, you need to have these labeled correctly so they know what they are clicking on to see. That name is critical to making them take the time to check out that page.

§ Bullet Power- Clients often skim sites and rarely read through the entire site. They look for items that interest them. If you list paragraph after paragraph, it won’t get read. Think back, do you read those paragraphs. I don’t! Therefore use bullets or symbols instead. And try the slanted bullets or a different bullet style for more eye appeal.

§ Chose Your Words Wisely - Every word on your site should say something important. Absolutely you need to use keywords, but you also need to use convincing words to sell you and your business. Don’t get so caught up in keywords that you lose the focus of the site. Write the text, edit and delete, and repeat that last step over and over until you have it just right.

§ Convenience — Clickable Links — In the body of the website itself, whenever you are providing a reference to a site, make sure you have a clickable link, even if you have it on the side panel. People often won’t take the time to go look for the button, so make it easy for them.

§ Colors Are Cool — Match your colors to your business or your book. For example, for one of my clients who has a science fiction book with an awesome green cover, I designed the website to match. Now you immediately make the connection.

§ Front Page Magic – Offer Something FREE - On your front page, it helps to offer something for FREE. I offer a free booklet on obtaining clients in a pdf format. How about a free 10 ways to do whatever it is you do? That sort of thing. Let people long after they leave your site remember you and want to come back to you with their money and business.

§ Contests - Come One- Come All — Yes, we know they work. They get people to your site and that adds to your traffic. But, here’s a tip to make them really successful. Follow-up each response with a personal e-mail. Now, the key is not making it a hard sale sales letter they will never read. Instead, a “Hi, thanks for entering the contests, I’m sorry you did/didn’t win, but I’m …” And then give them something special, including a coupon off of your services. Make them feel special.

§ Newsletter — List your newsletter on numerous pages if not all. This is what is going to be reconnecting you to your clients and potential clients.

§ The Eyes Have It - I strongly suggest you have another friend or business associate view your site and offer opinions. It’s incredible what they can see that you don’t as you are too close to it.

§ Eyes — Take Two — Right now, stop and check out your site. Have you looked at it from a potential client’s viewpoint? What did you think? Did it clearly define you and what you offered? Did it spark your interest?

I hope these tips help you to get the virtual edge you need for your business.

About The Author

Diana Ennen is the author of Virtual Assistant - The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and publisher of fiction thriller Sledgehammer, http://www.pauloreyes.com. Articles are free to be reprinted as long as author’s bio remains intact.