Making a website is not all that much of a challenge. Really, anyone can build a website and put it online; the challenge is to get people to visit – and if you want to get your visitors to make a purchase or make some other sort of action, you need to familiarize yourself with the methods which can be used to influence consumer behavior online. There are a number of things which you can use to drive targeted traffic to your site using Web 2.0 platforms. Since quite a few of these are things you can start doing almost immediately, let’s get started.
First off, let’s explain what Web 2.0 is, since many of you reading this are undoubtedly wondering what this thing you’ve heard so much about actually is. This is a term which refers not to a single entity but rather a set of ideas about the design and the functionality of websites. It’s an approach which emphasizes interactivity and dynamically updated content. Some of the web platforms which fall under this umbrella include blogs, social bookmarking sites, social networking and social media sites. These sites are all easy to use and all can help you to drive a lot of targeted web traffic.
The chances are that social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are things you’re familiar with already. These kinds of sites tend to come and go, but these two are the most popular at present and are the top choices of website owners trying to drive targeted web traffic to their sites. These sites allow you to create a profile page which tells others about you and your site and why they may be interested in visiting.
The key to generating interest using social media sites is keeping your page updated regularly. It doesn’t matter so much whether you update daily, weekly, or twice a week or whatever. The important thing is consistency. If people go to your MySpace page or your Facebook page and see that you haven’t touched it in eight months, they’re not going to take the site that it’s tied to very seriously. Web users today want up to the minute information, particularly when it comes to new merchandise, new technology, and new prices.
If you haven’t set up a page on these social media sites, you should do so right now. It only takes a few minutes and it’s very easy. You don’t have to worry about decorating your page or getting all the popular gadgets on it. In fact, gadget overload on a Facebook page connected to a serious retail website is not a good thing. Once you’ve established your pages on these sites, look for people you know, and when you find them, add them as friends. It’s easy to find former classmates and co-workers, and chances are you have a good dozen people already in your life that have Facebook pages that you can add as friends.
If you use the popular microblogging application Twitter (and if you don’t, you should), you can easily use it to update your social networking profiles as well. All you need to do is to go to your Twitter page and select settings, account, and scroll down to the option “you can also add Twitter to your site here”. This selection will give you the opportunity to add a Twitter feed to your Facebook, MySpace, Blogger and other pages. You’ll be given some code to copy and paste into these other pages – once you add this code, your Twitter content will be posted on these pages automatically.
Social bookmarking sites such as Digg.com and delicious let users share their bookmarks with others. It’s quick and easy to set up a Digg account and bookmark your own pages – just follow the instructions given on Digg. If other Digg users like your page, they can then add it to their own bookmarks, which in turn can bring in even more targeted web traffic.
A blog has become de rigeur for business oriented sites of all sorts. These are one of the most useful tools for any business; readers can subscribe to your blog content by means of an RSS feed, which notifies them of new content as it is posted. A blog can do a lot for your traffic, as long as you remember to update this page on a regular basis. This isn’t as difficult as you might think – blog posts tend to be short and casual in tone, so this is a good place to mention new products and services as well as news about your business. Just as with your social networking profile pages, you can add a Twitter feed to your blog as well, giving this page another source of regularly updated content.
The above are just a couple of the many methods of using the possibilities of Web 2.0 to increase targeted traffic to your website. While there are many more to try, these will help to get your site off to a strong start.
Best Wishes to you. B. L. Marlow
B. L. Marlow writes some cool stuff including an ebook about increasing targeted web traffic using Web 2.0 concepts. For a limited time, you may pick up a complimentary copy by visiting his internet marketing strategies site. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
