So your site is built and gets a few hundred visitors, but it still have yet to control any major keywords. You’ve tried everything you can think of. You tried writing about them, using SEO headlines, and even tried pimping the pages out to your friends and colleagues.
What’s next?
Bloggers and website owners hit walls just like runners and dieters. The trick is to keep pushing yourself harder.
Image by aarmono
This happened to me, but it didn’t just happen after the first few hundred visitors. The same snag came at 2,000 and again at 10,000.
After some research, I found out how to get past the hump. I began writing articles and submitting them to directories, I found a way to get listed in Yahoo and ODP, and I did further research on websites related to my own then implemented their successes.
Evaluate your success and failures
What articles or content is receiving the most traffic? What is different about it compared to other articles?
These are important questions you should consider. If a page is doing well because of links, find a way to get links to other pages, including your homepage. If it is doing well because of social media, try to reproduce the formula onto more pages.
Never underestimate long-tail keywords for short-tail success
Long-tail keywords are keywords that are three or more words long. An example is [internet marketing in Texas]. To seachers, long-tail keywords are king. How often do you search for a single word? I hardly, if ever, search for ‘internet marketing’ when doing research. I search for longer, more specific phrases, and I’m positive your visitors do too.
What does this have to do with increasing traffic?
Everything. Although the keywords [internet marketing] is the single-most searched for phrase in my niche, that doesn’t mean it is the only phrase which brings home the bacon.
Additionally, long-tail keywords help rankings for short-tail keywords. If I were trying to rank for [internet marketing in Texas], as a result I would also be optimizing for [internet marketing]. So why waste a perfectly good chance at ranking for two phrases at once?
In short
- Reproduce your successes.
- Evaluate your competition.
- Hit the long-tail keywords.
- More links.
- Don’t give up.
If something doesn’t work, try something different. The internet is a huge space with millions upon millions of surfers per day. Find your success and stick with it.
Written: Sep 17, 2008
Tags: blogging, seo, traffic, Web Development
Harish
September 17, 2008 @ 9:00 am | Reply
Hey great man.Good tips .I hope I increase my traffic in future.A very thanx for it.
Dennis Edell
September 21, 2008 @ 10:34 am | Reply
Excellent writing my friend, expect a trackback.