Traffic Methods Part 13

Giving Away

Give, and you shall receive. Now, where have we heard this before?
Whether this adage works in all aspects of life or not is a matter of personal opinion,
but on the Internet it always works. When you give something away, it helps in
bringing in better prospects to your online business.


But, what can you give away? It is highly important that your giveaway is something
or value. It should be something that a receiver would cherish, because this is what
adds to your credibility as a service provider.


You might be having a question in your mind right now – how does a giveaway help
in bringing traffic or business to your website?


This happens through lead capture methods. When you give something away, you
put a link where people can download the product from. This link takes them
through a lead capture page, also known as a squeeze page. Here they are asked to
opt in with their email id so that they can get more such freebies in future.


Assurances are made to the effect that their email id won’t be sold over to anyone
else and that spam won’t be sent to them. People usually give their links because they
know they will be getting something valuable for free. When you get these leads, you
can market them through other ways such as email marketing.


So, what are the things that you can give away? Even giveaways undergo surges and
ebbs in their popularity on the Internet. Currently, the best things to give away
include the following:-


→ eBooks
→ Newsletter Subscriptions
→ Free Offers on Products from Partner Sites
→ Informative Listings

Traffic Methods Part 12

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is not just an Internet-based concept; it applies to the real world
also. Fundamentally, viral marketing happens when someone who has used a
product speaks about it favorably to another person. If you watch a movie and
recommend it to your friend, you are virally marketing the movie. On the Internet, if
you post a favorable comment about a product or a service, you are virally marketing
it. In fact, on the Internet even if you criticize a product, you are virally marketing it.
There’s a reason behind that. Whatever your comment is, positive or negative, it does
one thing – it increases the recall value of the product. People begin to identify the
brand better. The product becomes more searchable over the Internet. Hence, viral
marketing always works.


All social networking sites are avenues for virally marketing products. Your blogs are
places where your product gets virally marketed. This also happens on forums and
video and photo sharing sites. Your articles are tools of viral marketing too. So, you
see that viral marketing is not an isolated method. It is, in fact, an umbrella term for
the various marketing practices you employ.


Viral marketing works because it tells potential buyers about the product so that they
begin thinking seriously about buying the product. It improves the recall value of a
product and makes it more visible. On the Internet, a product that is visible is a hit.

Traffic Methods Part 11

Podcasting

Despite the fact that podcasting has been around for some time now, not many
marketers are using it yet. Due to that reason, there is still the newness factor
associated with it, which works to your advantage actually. This is still a new age
technology which can bring a lot of targeted traffic to your door if you would let them
in. Here is a brief look into how podcasting works.


Basically, podcasting is like having a radio channel of your own on the Internet. You
do not have to bow down to any rules and regulations because none apply. You
simply have your audio content which you are beaming to a lot of people on the
Internet. These people are your audience. They have, in fact, asked to be marketed.
They want to know about your products. When you podcast to them, there is a very
high chance that these people will convert to being your visitors.


So why are these people hot traffic for you? The reason behind that is that podcasting
works only for people who have subscribed to your RSS feeds. When you put up an
audio segment, those audio files automatically get downloaded to the audio devices
of the people who have subscribed to the feeds.


You need special software to create a podcast. This software is simply known as
podcasting software or a podcasting mixer. Basically it is a tool that converts an
audio file into a file into a digital file that can be downloaded over the Internet. The
following is a list of two of the most popular podcasting software:-


Feed for All (http://www.feedforall.com/)
Podcast Studio (http://thepodcaststudio.com/)

Using podcasting sets you apart from the usual breed of Internet marketers. This is
certainly a method that you need to seriously consider to improve your prospects.