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02/19/2006: "How to Get Qualified Traffic to Your Web site."

It's great to have a wonderful product or service. But unless you get people to your Web site you're not going to sell those great products or services. Of course, I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

But what you may not know are some sure-fire ways to get people who are really interested to your site. Oh, you know about the search engines. You also know that getting in the top ten or even thirty listings is like getting a cat to bark. And even if you get there, staying there is not easy and you have no guarantees. The search engines are fickle and not especially your friends.

And yes, you can buy advertising and that's fine. But it can run into big money.

What I've discovered is that I don't need the search engines or paid advertising. Oh, they have their place and yes they're important to some businesses. But that's not where my business comes from.

I've learned how to easily and quickly get business. Here are some of my methods.

Get 'em to run to your Web site.

Post advice to MarketProfs Knowhow Exchange. I discovered this quite by accident as most good things are discovered. I was getting lots of hits from there and I had no idea what it was. The hits were to one particular article on my site. I decided to investigate this place.

What it is is a forum where business people give other business people advice --- sort of a brainstorming session. It's absolutely free to join. You put up your profile --- a bit of an ad if you word it right. You can also add your URL as a tagline on each message you enter. I get ten to twenty visits from the site daily and I also get clients from those visits.

The next method I use is to place adverts in Craigslist. I usually have at least three running in various cities all the time. And I get lots of business from these free adverts.

I've learned to free myself from the constant need to optimize for the search engines or worry about being banned or getting my hands slapped by big Google who everyone seems to fear. It's quite nice really to know you're not dependent on any one source of prospective customers or clients.

Of course, I get lots of visits from forums I post to also. But only a few of those are really prospective clients. I mean, how many cat lovers really need a radio commercial or Web site copy? But I also post to forums where there are real prospective clients and they very often produce real live clients.

So don't think that your options are limited. Indeed, you have lots of options. There are many ways to get people to your site --- people who are real prospects, who have a keen interest in your product or service. You just have to look around and see what's there. It could be right in front of you.