written by Maryanne Myers

I receive a lot of questions on how to build/bring more traffic and these have to be the most common answers that I reply with. But the most vital piece of advice is this: Don't just do a couple of these tactics. Do them ALL if you can. Do more than what's listed here. Even come up with your own ideas. In fact, your own ideas may pull the most traffic than anything else you're doing.

But one thing: Don't skip from program to program, giving up the first couple of weeks each time. What a waste of time and efforts! Just expect to put some work into it, and put some hours into what ever you're trying to sell.

Nothing good will ever come easy and you have to pay those dues. Point is- don't be discouraged and just keep applying all of these methods, your own methods and other tactics you find. You'll eventually grab success.

8 traffic grabbers; Subtle & Direct

1) Customer Service- get that loyalty & trust

Weather you're an affiliate of a business or you own a business, if someone emails you with a problem, question or advice you should always reply. If you don't, of course they'll remember this and will not recommend you to anyone else. They will not buy from your site either.

And they won't come back.

In fact, they will tell other potential buyers AND other business owners about you and your competition will get all these future customers- not you.

Also, keep the lingo low, show some of your personality, and reply as quickly and to as many as you can and you'll gain their trust and loyalty.

2) Personalization- Make yourself "real" to visitors

Put your name on your website, and your home/biz address if you can. Or at least put an email address on every page that has yourname@yourdomain or has your real ISP. So, you may get some spam emails that way... just delete it. It's worth some spam for the trust you'll gain from your visitors.
-Hotmail and Yahoo email addresses will not grab their trust.

3) Don't try and trick people- showing honesty really does work

Most people can smell it a mile away. If they don't see it from the start, of course they will eventually find out. This leaves them disappointed, even hostile! and they will not give you (good) word of mouth, buyers, signups or repeat visitors. This will cut your sales.  Think of some of the biggest earners on the net...such as Mark Joyner...are they tricking people? No? Then follow their lead!

4) Give Stuff Away - Make them feel you're "not just after their cash" This works for everyone. Entice people with a giveaway of some sort. Promote the giveaway itself, which will lead them to your site and that will expose them to your product. You could order things and give them away, or give away your service. More examples; a free ezine ad if you have one, ebooks, submissions, software, reports, any downloads, part of your product or service, etc.

Example: On WebStars2000, I give away a huge amount of marketing materials. Some are ones that I pay for and turn around let my visitors have for free. Does this work against me? No. It was the best decision I made and has brought in 7 times more sales. Why? Because it gives them the sense that I'm there to help too, not just after their money. Which is true. Giving this stuff away and updating it frequently will keep the visitors coming back.

-As you give your items away, consider gathering their email address so you can build a list for a newsletter. This will remind them of your site and to buy your products.

5) Do Ezine/newsletter Ads Do the free ones, the pay ones, the ad lotteries and swap with other ezines/newsletters. Try and find good quality newsletters, find out HOW they get their subscriber base. Not just how many subscribers they have. Good quality bases; total OptIn, ones that would most likely be read instead of immediately thown into the trash folder and has an audience that fits your product. You need to stick with this though. As with all methods, it takes repeated exposure to grab people.

6) Url Submissions Submitting does work. You just need to stick with this also, do it everyday if possible. The FFA (Free For All link pages) are the best ones. Focus your efforts on small and large, visible FFA. Meaning, while you are posting your ad- do you see the list of other ads in view somewhere? No? Well, neither will anyone else. Meaning, your ad won't be seen by many.

I personally focus on these 5 FFA at the moment, according to the most responsive; Smallbizffa.net, Mgaweb, Multilinks, FFAnet, and Freeads2000. But if possible, do as many as you can and watch the "referral url" on your stat meter to see which of the FFA's do the best for you and then throw the most effort into the ones the work the best.

7) Swapping links with other sites Be choosy about it. Don't overload your site with tons of links to all sorts of things and ALL of your direct competition. Find ones that bring in equal hits, ones that won't swipe your customers, and find sites that compliment yours.

Example: Being a mass submission site (free & pay) I only link up with the FFA, computer stores, pay to surfs, and optin bulk emailers, etc. etc. See what I mean? I'm there for one need and the traded links take care of those other various needs. No direct competitors. Besides, do you see McDonalds advertising Burger King? Or Amazon.com advertising Barnes & Noble.com...no? Well then... follow their lead.

8) The Best of All: Be Original Throw some of your personality into that site! If your dramatic, show it in your style (of graphics and colors). Funny? Well by all means show it in your paragraphs. It will give visitors a feeling of knowing you as a person instead of some unknown website or a blank face. Just maintain your professional level at the same time too. If you really want to stand out and make an impression in a visitors mind then REALLY stand apart from other websites.

Go that extra mile in your site or products, or if possible- do it with everything. Visitors will recommend you to others, and this, too, will slowly build your traffic. Be original in your headlines when you post & put out ezine ads. Test which ones work best. Be original in your autoresponse emails. Don't just put "Dear leader," if you have seen this...

Getting traffic isn't an easy thing and it's a slow process. It doesn't happen overnight. Just continue to promote, make your product/site the best that it can be, stand out from the rest and above all- keep educating yourself on marketing your site. Then it will eventually come.

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Article written by Maryanne Myers, Owner of WebStars2000.com This marketing and promotion site helps 5,000 visitors every week find free ebooks, downloads, ezine resources, free ads, huge listing of free website submission and does the largest pay, mass submission, of its type on the net today. http://www.webstars2000.com/start3.html