Internet Marketing for Small Business: 48 Traffic Tips Series [Pt.2]
ByTip # 4: Create a Compelling Author’s Resource Box
Article Marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your website. The key is to provide valuable content that adds value to your readers. If you add value to someone by solving a problem, you’ll begin to stand-out in their mind as an asset. Your article is mostly about giving. The only place in the article for you to “take” is in your resource box.
The end of your article should flow right into your resource box seamlessly. While this resource box may talk about you, it’s really about your reader and what they want. Whatever reason you’re giving them for coming to your site has to be a benefit that means something to them.
As an example, I wrote an article some time ago entitled, “Search Engine Marketing – How to Use Google Adwords to Attract New Customers 24-7-365″. At the end of the article, my resource box invited the reader to another website where I’m offering to give them a cheatsheet that will assist them in the process of using Google Adwords. The resource box is really about providing value. That article got a 13.6% click-through rate to my website because I was offering something that the reader was interested in.
Within your resource box, you’ll want to include one hyperlink to back to your website. Depending on the article directory you’re working with, you may be able to include up to two links, but I recommend you keep it to one. You’ll get better results if you focus on one call-to-action in your resource box.
Tip # 5: Submit Many Articles
Here’s an area I have to focus on. Writing this post is a point of accountability for me. We all know that running a business means wearing multiple hats and spinning 13.5 plates at one time…right?! Well, in the midst of the spinning, here’s a plate that fell. My initial results with article writing were great. Keeping the pace up can be challenging, but it is rewarding.
What I’m doing is building it into my sales and marketing plan. For me, that means I’ll have an appointment to write articles based on my traffic generation goals. Article writing doesn’t have to be a time-intensive activity. But to be productive, it does need to be consistent. Typically, the more articles you submit, the more traffic you will drive to your websites.
The number of articles you submit will depend on the niche you’re in and how competitive it is. According to a recommendation at EasyArticleMarketing.com, if you can submit one article per month, that’s a good pace to have.
Tip # 6: Repurpose Your Content
Repurposing content is about using your content in as many ways as possible. Here’s a short list of ways you can repurpose content:
- video articles
- podcasting
- teleseminars
- webinars
- free reports
Two years ago, I took a class entitled Teachers’ Trainingin my local church and one of the topics that was covered touched on the various learning styles of people. Some people are visual learners. Others can listen to a lecture and pick up the key points with no problem. Still others don’t capture the essence of the material unless they’re filling in the blanks as they follow along. Their active participation in the process is what assists them in assimilating the information.
If you are a business owner, author, pastor, consultant, professional trainer, or any other professional who’s presenting content for others to live by, the end goal is that your audience consume what you’re sharing. Repurposing your content into different formats that are flexible for the recipient will aid you in accomplishing your goals.
Next post, we’ll start with Tip # 7: How Not to Give it All Away
By all means, if you have specific questions on generating traffic, please leave a comment. 