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Web Traffic and where you can get them?
A lot have been said about web traffic, every webmaster and blogger knows the important of web traffic to a website/blog. Without web traffic to your site, that site is as good as dead no matter how well designed it may look. There are different types of web traffic and also different sources, while some focus on one more than the other I will recommend otherwise in this article.
There are basically three different types of web traffic namely organic traffic (from search engines), direct traffic (when someone directly types your site address on the browser) and referral traffic (from links all over the internet). It is ideal to drive traffic to your site from all three different types/sources of web traffic because search engines see them differently and have different valuations for them as well.
Types of Web Traffic
Organic Traffic: Organic web traffic is the type of traffic that comes when your article is found on the search engines and followed to your site. This is the best form of web traffic as even Google and other search engines have confirmed. Organic web traffic is considered most important and often valued more than any other type of web traffic. It also has a higher CPC than the other types of web traffic named earlier in any PPC campaign.
How to get Organic Traffic: To get organic traffic you need to publish quality articles on your site, optimize them properly with good keyword usage. When you rank high on the search engine results then you’ll surely see a lot of organic traffic to your site. This type of web traffic requires a lot of hard work and takes time as well, but I assure you if you learn the intricacies of writing a post that will immediately appear on the first page of Google search result or any other search engine you will see how easy it is to drive traffic to your site for free.
Referral Traffic: Referral traffic is yet another type of web traffic as a result of the backlinks you have built all over the internet, when someone follows your link from another website to your website this type of traffic is termed referral traffic. This could be as a result of links you left via blog commenting, guest posting, social media sharing etc. Referral traffic constitutes the second/third source of traffic to my blog after organic traffic.
How to get Referral Traffic: Referral traffic as I explained is as a result of the links you left all over the internet as a result of blog commenting (especially on blogs with CommentLuv plugin), guest posts, social media shares etc. It could also be email signatures, forum signatures, link exchanges, content curation like from Scoop.it, from lists like List.ly etc.
So if you want to improve your referral web traffic then you have to take these things seriously, don’t concentrate only on your own site, help others promote their site by commenting, sharing and guest posting, that way you can attract same favor and the more links you have out there the better for you general site traffic. Remember not to spam as Google won’t hesitate to de-index your from their search engine. Please avoid all black hat SEO methods, concentrate on the types of link building strategies I have shared on this blog in the past.
Another type of traffic would’ve been the Social Networks traffic but most times its little and is easily parsed as referral traffic. But if you have a very active social media page, you can drive huge amount of traffic from there to your site. Do not ignore the potentials of the social media in promoting any brand or product in this case your website.
Direct Traffic: Direct traffic is yet another type of web traffic but not from search engines as organic web traffic discussed above. When someone directly types your site address on the browser address bar and hit the keyboard enter button and arrives at your site, such traffic is what is known as direct web traffic. This type of traffic is mostly associated with popular websites, when you have promoted your site very well and have built yourself a brand then people can remember the name of your site easily and visit your site even without seeing the link anywhere. This type of web traffic often constitutes the second/third largest source of traffic to my blog after organic traffic.
How to get Direct Traffic: To get more direct traffic to your website you have a lot of branding and promotion to do. You have to become popular for people to remember your name. Let me let you in to a secret that works always. Print your website name on a T-shirt and share it to your friends let them wear it always and people will see it and over time will remember the name. You can also create stickers; a little charity will also be good. Create banners; use your site name as your Facebook cover image etc.
General advice: As more and more of your contents are being published, try as much as possible to adequately promote your contents, build links the genuine way and over time you will begin to reap the result of your hard work. Publish only quality articles, well optimized for search engines and engage productively on the social networks, join as much as you can handle and make new friends, join groups and help others to be helped as well.
These methods I shared here in this article have greatly improved this blog and I assure you it will also improve yours. Now you know the types of web traffic and how you can get them, take advantage of my advice and improve your site traffic. Let me hear what you think of this article, use the comment section below to share your taught and also don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed so you won’t miss interesting posts link this one.
How To Get Busy People To Answer You
In business, there is a right way and a wrong way to do just about everything. This certainly extends to asking for favors or any other kind of help from someone who is busy and less likely to answer every single piece of email they get. Whether this is a client, a potential client, or simply one of your personal heroes whose brain you’d like to pick, there is a way to make a request of them that will get them to happily reply.
Likewise, there’s a way to make requests that will get you ignored forever. We’re going to explore how to do things the right way, so that neither you nor your busy recipient will be wasting any valuable time
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Don’t Ask Bad Questions
Many people say there’s no such thing as a bad question, but I say that’s a lie. If it’s something that is frivolous, impersonal, or that could be answered by a five-second search on Google, it’s a bad question to ask someone who has a limited amount of time.
(Image source: Oberazzi)
One thing I like to do, if I have a pressing, work-related question, is to find a popular book on the subject at the library, check it out, and read it. I take plenty of notes on all the possible answers given in the book, and usually I can find the answer to my question in short order. If not, I can either choose to read one or two more books on the subject until I’m satisfied, or I can send a quick note to someone I know will have the answer, making sure to explain that I’ve already attempted to find it on my own.
People, especially busy people, appreciate initiative (why wouldn’t they, being so busy all the time?), and the fact that you haven’t simply come to them with a dumb, generic question will usually delight them and make them more interested in helping you out.
Be Considerate Of Their Time
Let’s face it: we’re all busy. If you’re a working professional, you are inundated with a deluge of emails, voice mails, texts, social media messages, blog posts, and so on. Not to mention interactions with the real people in your life and all of the tasks, large and small, that have to get done. Often, people are busy simply attempting to multitask their lives, not to mention their work.
(Image source: zev)
Be aware of what’s going on in your intended recipient’s life before you pose your question. If possible, research them a little bit. Do they have a family? Are they currently observing any kind of holiday or taking a vacation? Are they in “work mode,” “family mode,” or “leave-me-alone mode?”
Finding out the current situation of your busy person will give you valuable information about how you should phrase your question, and when you can best expect a positive response
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Work On The Question
If you absolutely can’t avoid asking a question in the middle of a person’s busiest time of day, make sure you word it so that they can devote the least amount of brain power to their answeras possible. Simple, fill in the blank answers, or yes/no questions are the best.
Play with different formats, and if appropriate, consider a shorter delivery method, like a tweet or a Facebook post rather than an email.
Try To Guess Their Answer
By this, I don’t mean attempt to answer the question yourself. There’s no point in asking it in that case. I mean that you should try to guess the way in which they will answer you. Before you send that email, tweet, or Facebook message, think of the likely response you will get. How does the language sound? Is it in simple terms?
Try to answer a similarly worded question yourself first. If it’s too difficult for you to answer quickly, it’s too long or complicated and you need to change it.
Make It Super Easy
Again, make it easy for people to answer your questions. Make them short, easy, and, if you can, entertaining. Busy people are human too, and sometimes a splash of humor is just what they need to pick them up and help them get through their hectic day.
And remember that not every question in your email has to be strictly work related. Engaging people casually, not just professionally, is what builds real relationships that last.
If they have a spouse or children, ask about them. If you know they’re working on an exciting project or are working on their graduate degree, ask how it’s going. No matter how busy they are, everyone will be more likely to remember the person who took the time to ask them a simple, human question about their lives.
Give People A Directive
Calls to action aren’t just for websites and marketing materials. Everyone appreciates knowing what is required of them, and busy people appreciate it more than most. Don’t ask vague, open-ended question without giving directions on what, specifically, you want in terms of a response.
(Image source: Fabrizio Sciami)
Tell them to do something, anything – click here, watch this, reply with your top 3 ideas, et cetera.
It’s not condescending or manipulative to have a call to action in your emails. On the contrary, you alleviate people’s stress and save them the mental energy of figuring out how to reply. As a result, your request is much more likely to get a response, instead of a short trip to the trash bin.
In Conclusion
Remember, if you do everything right and still fail to get a response, you shouldn’t take it personally. Most likely the person was simply too wrapped up in their lives and responsibilities that they couldn’t get to your request. It’s likely nothing personal, and most people will appreciate it if you simply try again, rather than vanish.
If you just disappear, it sends the message that you weren’t really looking to make a meaningful exchange with the person in the first place. Don’t come off like an opportunist – be persistent and respectful, and you may find that busy people will start carving out time to approach you with requests, rather than the other way around.
Get More Clients: How To Harness The Power Of Testimonials
Have you ever stumbled upon a testimonial that left you thinking who on earth would write such a strong statement about a freelancer‘s services? Testimonials are one of the most effective ways to legitimize your service claims and convince clients to hire you. Freelancers should know how to use them to their advantage.
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| (Image source: Fotolia) |
I have seen a lot of online portfolios and believe that most of the freelancers fail to use testimonials to yield results. Some testimonials hold strong endorsements that prospective clients may relate to as a gimmick and others are too weak to help with a freelancer’s credibility.
Use it right though and it will be a great marketing tool to help improve your freelance businesseffectively.
1. Mind The Amount Of Testimonials
Let’s say John is eager to buy product A and a product B. He finds that on the Internet, a good number of people have bought item A, saying that it is a great product and they recommend others buy it. As for product B, he searched high and low and it seems that nobody has anything good to say about it. What do you think are the conclusions that John would draw from this exercise?
Based on the feedback he got, he’d probably won’t mind spending his money on product A, and he’d probably be more wary about buying product B. Even if he could afford both, it is not surprising to expect a more reserved approach to the latter due to the fact that no one has anything (good or bad) to say about the product.
This is a philosophy and concept that is also applied for marketing your services using testimonials.The more people you can get to say good things about you, the more clients you’ll get to buy your services. If nobody says anything about your services, clients will not believe in your service claims, and most probably won’t even think to hire you.
2. Focus On The Value Of The Testimonials
People are more likely to buy a product when a popular or famous person endorses it. It is because there are clients who are obsessed with the success of these celebrities. These customers wouldbuy whatever product they promote. To no surprise featuring James Franco in the promotion of the Galaxy Camera will contribute positively to the sales volume produced and publicity of the Samsung bundled camera.
You can apply the same to your services. Let’s say you crafted a logo design or worked for a reputable or popular brand, you may ask the owner of it for a feedback about your services.The next thing is to turn that feedback into a testimonial. The fastest way is to ask your client if it is alright to him that you attach the feedback as a testimonial in your portfolio.
In order to increase the likability of converting into clients you can add his photo, contact (Twitter or email) or a logo of the brand he represents next to the testimonial.
3. Write Testimonial Statements On Your Own
Now, this doesn’t mean faking your own testimonials, let’s get that cleared. Truth be told, it is very hard to get a testimonial from a busy client. Most successful figures in the field are busy and would not have the time to give you an endorsement even if they want to. Plus, giving you a testimonial will not benefit them as much as it would benefit you. So what do you do?
Draft a testimonial for them to work on. Some clients just don’t know what to say or write about you. They’d be glad to lend support but somehow or rather, their testimonials may not do justice to what you have to offer. That’s one of the reason they hired you in the first place! Write a testimonial highlighting what you have to offer, how easy you are to work with and other claims that they can attest or lend support to.
On their part, it is merely selecting statements they agree with, and if they would allow you to attach their good name to the write-up before you put it up on your portfolio site.
4. Place Testimonials In Strategic Places
If you really want to use testimonials to convince people to hire you, you ought to place them strategically where readers can find them. Testimonials need to be in viewable places on your website where prospects can see them easily. If you have testimonials compiled in buried pages in your navigation menu for instance, chances are that potential clients who’ve been looking for “who else says so” won’t find it.
Once they leave your site, you are never getting them back again. Home pages, the ‘About page’, sidebar widgets, and within the content of pages are perfect areas to place your testimonials. Just don’t overdo it.
Conclusion
There are many ways you can use to market your freelance services. Using testimonials is one of them. To make sure that your testimonials are getting you the results you want, you should know how to use them the right way. Are you using testimonials to rope in new clients? Let us know how it is faring for you so far.
Get Notified When Your Sent Email Is Opened With Signals
People who deal with tons of emails on a daily basis would understand how important it is for(encrypted) emails to reach the correct recipient and have them read it. For business email clients, there are ‘read receipts‘ where you will know if the receiver has opened the email you sent them.
Read receipts have not been implemented natively on Gmail, but here’s a Chrome extension that you can use just for that.
Signals is an extension that allows you to track who has read your sent email on Gmail. It also has a very clean interface. Let’s see how Signals can work for y
Get Notified On Who Has Read Your Mail
To begin, download and install the Signals Chrome extension. A Signals icon button will be shown at the end of the browser’s address bar — this is where all your notifications will be shown.
Now, head to app.getsignals.com/install/google to connect your Gmail account. Sign in and you’re ready to start getting notifications.
To begin tracking, go to Gmail and compose a new email. You’ll notice a new Signals button at the bottom of the compose box that allows you to track the email. Check that box and click on Send to track your email.
Once a user opens the email, a notification will appear on the Signals icon. You can then click on it to view details like when did the user open it, the location it was opened from and how many times it has been viewed. You can also click on a particular notification to view the entire email on Gmail.
That’s all there is to it, Signals is very easy to set up and is free for up to 200 notifications a month. That’s plenty since you don’t have to track every single email you send out. However, if you’re working with a team and need to track lots of mail, there’s a premium version with no limitations for $10/month.
We’ve featured a similar service before called RightInbox, but Signals is better as it keeps your Inbox clean and instead gives you notifications of your opened mail. At the time of this writing, Signals only works with Google Chrome, but a Firefox Beta is in the works.
