The most important thing in any web business is traffic - lots and lots of traffic. Of course you also need to have a valuable offer for your visitors - a reason for them to transact with you. After getting the traffic you just need to convert it into subscribers and customers . . . but that's the easy part. The most crucial aspect of this process is getting the visitors to your site.

Here are some tips for generating website visitors:

Here are a few of the most popular way to get traffic to your site - for free:

• Web 2.0 Methods
• Article Websites
• Video Marketing

And here's how to use each method…

Web 2.0 Methods

Web 2.0 simply means the new family of websites that have user-generated content. These are great sites to work with because they allow you to participate in this content creation. The other interesting thing about these sites is that all the search engines (including Google) treat them as "authority sites". The benefit of this to you is that your content is now considered as part of these sites. And any links in your content that point to your own sites count as a strong "vote" in favor of your sites - lending you credibility in the search engines. That's the real benefit of adding content to this sites - search engine ranking means ongoing free traffic. There are many more web 2.0 traffic tactics we don't have time to get into here, but this will get you started.

Article Marketing

Article marketing really builds on the Web 2.0 concept. Article sites are in essence web 2.0 websites. Just like web 2.0 sites, article websites allow you to upload your own content - as articles. Just as with the other web 2.0 sites, having your content included gives you immediate traffic and search engine ranking. And in addition to this, other users can take your article and place it on their own website. And along with your article, they have to include your author information and a link back to you - so you get more free traffic and SEO benefits. If you want to generate traffic from articles follow these steps:

• First, spend the time to determine your keywords
• Tailor the content of your article for the keywords
• Hyperlink these keywords to your website - both in the content of the article and in your author's info section.

Video Sites

Our discussion would not be complete without talking about video. Just like article directories, video sharing sites also rely on user-generated content. And it carries all the same benefits of article marketing. And if all that wasn't enough, you also stand a much stronger chance of getting a high search engine ranking for the keywords you want with video than you do with text-based content.

OK, so how do you do effective video marketing?

• Set up your YouTube account
• Make your profile uncluttered by turning off all the modules
• Put relevant "tags" in your profile
• Add a link to your website
• Upload at least 1 video
• Include your keywords in the title, description and tags

In closing…

If you take action on the items listed here you'll have free traffic in no time.

In order to make sure your membership business is profitable, you have to select the right market. Here's how.

Number 1 - Discover Niches with Fanatics

The first step in developing a profitable membership business is to find a market with fanatics in it. Fanatic is defined as someone with an irrational enthusiasm. These are the people you're looking for because they are so enthusiastic they're willing to spend money on their topic of fanaticism. Here's how to find fanatics:

• Look at magazine racks. This is an often overlooked, yet extremely simple way to find niches that people are interested in. Because it's becoming harder and harder to keep print periodicals profitable these days, if you see a magazine on the shelves, you know it's making money. And that means there are lots of people interested in it. If they can make money in a print version, you can probably make money with a membership website.
• Watch and listen for fanatics in your daily life. Pay attention to conversations, social events, TV, restaurants, public places to see what people are talking about. If people are talking about it, they are interested in it. And this means there may be a market for information about it.
• Again, looking in the physical world for clues you can tell there are lots of people interested in something if there are clubs and organizations around the topic. Likewise, if there are enough people to hold a convention, there are definitely enough people to fill your membership website.
• What about your interests and hobbies? There's a good chance that others are interested in these things, as well. Making money is fun and it's even more fun if you can do it in a niche you're excited about.
• Google Trends. This is a great way to figure out what people are interested in. Google Trends tells you the most popular current search terms. These are the things people are actively searching for in Google. They're searching because they want information. Hot topics that people are excited about make great niches for your membership website.

Step 2 - Determine the financial feasibility

After selecting a possible niche to build your membership site around, the next step is to find out if it's a profitable niche to be in. An easy way to determine this is to figure out if anyone else is making money in this niche.

Here's how to determine if you can make money in your chosen niche

• Find out if there are blogs or forums related to it. Just search Google for "YourNiche blog" & "YourNiche forum" and see what comes up. This tells you there are people who are actively interested in your niche.
• Search Amazon, Google shopping and eBay to see if people are creating and selling products in the niche. If other people are creating and selling products in this niche, it means there is money to be made.
• Monitor Google Adwords to determine if people are running the same ads for weeks in a row. If they are, this means they're making money on these ads - otherwise, they'd stop running them. Which means there is money to be made in your niche.

Last, but not least… How hard will it be to break into this niche?

After figuring out a good niche and determining that other people are making money in it, the last thing to do is decide if you will be able to enter the market. Here are some things to look at to figure this out:

• Look at the product types in this niche. You want to find a niche where information products are being sold as the norm. Membership websites based on information are the easiest to start and maintain.
• Competition. How many other people are trying to sell to this market? You want to start in a market that's not completely saturated with competitors.
• Unless the market is just so big that it doesn't matter how many competitors there are, you want to limit the competition. So evaluate the size vs. the competition.
• How quickly do people in this market make buying decisions and are the ready to buy? Some niches are made up of people who require lots information and have a very long lead time, and some markets are filled with people who will spend lots of money right now.

In Summary

So far, we've talked about exactly what it takes to pick a great niche: One with a hungry crowd of fanatics, who are ready to spend money on information about their topic. And you've determined your barrier to entry is small enough to give it a go. Now that you've prepared properly, you're success is 99% guaranteed. How to actually run your membership website is the only thing left to talk about…

Visitors to your site are critical - getting them there automatically is even better. Here's how…

But, first…

Keyword research is really the first step in getting traffic to your website. The reason this is so important is that you are going to be building content and traffic sources for specific keywords. Which means you need to put some thought into the keywords you're targeting.

A couple things to keep in mind when doing keyword research:

• Will you be able to rank for these keywords? You'll have to analyze the competition and see what's out there for this.
• Will the keywords you're targeting bring buyers? If you don't do your research you'll end up with a lot of traffic that doesn't buy from you. What you want is buyers!
• Another thing to think about is affiliates. Nothing brings more buyers like an army of affiliates. This means that some of your traffic focus should be on getting affiliates to your site.

This is critical to your business, but it takes a lot of time and effort. Experts are expensive and don't guarantee results. Which is why practically none of your competitors will do this! The smartest marketers use website traffic software to automate this and other aspects of their business. This way you get this critical step done fast and done well.

Once you know your keywords…

Only after doing your keyword research correctly can you start targeting these keywords to get you traffic.

Here are a couple of clever ways to do this…

• Surveys
• "Traffic Traps"
• Video

Surveys

The truth is that people really enjoy taking surveys and finding out what other people think. You can use this fact to provide "sticky" content for other website owners. They benefit by getting free content for their site and you get a link to your site under the survey. Think about that - you get website traffic for free just for making a survey! This is a sneaky little idea that most people never even think of. The only thing you have to do is think of a novel question for your survey.

"Help" Websites

Sites like Yahoo! Answers allow users to ask and answer each others' questions. Once again, the main reason for this site is not the reason you're interested. What you want to do is use these sites to generate traffic and leads for your business. Now, you can do this all by hand - visit a classified ads or answers site and one by one copy and paste contact info. But a much smarter method is to use website traffic software to do it for you. Then you just get a daily batch of fresh leads delivered to your inbox.

Video

No doubt you're aware of YouTube and other video websites. YouTube is one of the most highly traffic and search websites on the entire internet! If used properly, video sites can get you more website traffic than you know what to do with.

Even if you don't think you can make a good video. One super easy thing to do is take an article or website you've written. Then just do a screen capture of yourself going through it. I've even seen software that will automatically convert an article to a video!

Summary

It's not that hard to get traffic to your websites. Just be a creative and think outside the box a bit. Plus, there's lots of great software out there to help you.

Get started right away:

• Keyword research first is key
• Next, set up a survey or two with viral appeal
• Make sure to use the "answer" sites
• Capitalize on video!

While you can sell virtually anything you want Online, there are some types of product that are easier to market for a number of reasons.

INFORMATION – Information products are arguably the easiest to market and sell online. Electronic infoproducts do not require storage space and you can produce many copies of it in a short period of time. Regardless of of the types of format used, infoproducts are very easy to sell  because you can provide the prospects with sample of the product without giving away the entire content.

PRODUCTS WITH SAMPLES – Talking of samples, products which you can offer immediate samples for prospects to see are easier to market on the Internet. Web designs and layouts, photographs, artworks, and other similar products can be marketed effectively since its makers will only have to display their portfolios and past products. These will the prospects the some indication of what to expect from the sellers.

EASY DELIVERY – Products you can promise fast and easy delivery forare definitely better to market online. Again, infoproducts satisfy this criterion: they do not have expiry dates and may be therefore delivered easily. Flowers can wilt so there’s a duration date as to when they can be delivered or not. The same can be said for food and similar perishable products. Unless you have the means to store them safely and for a long period of time, guaranteeing fresh delivery for your customers, these products will require greater marketing efforts in your part.

SOFTWARE PRODUCTS – Expect majority of Internet users to have adequate knowledge and interest in software products. As such, it will be much easier to promote software products to them because they’re more likely to understand the descriptions you provide than prospective customers you meet elsewhere. With Internet users, it’s easier to determine the advantages and features of these software products.

And because word-of-mouth marketing is extremely powerful in the Internet, you need only satisfy one customer and they’ll surely refer other customers to your website!

RARE AND UNIQUE ITEMS – The Internet offers people global access. Emails is one of the best way to communicate easily and cheaply. As long as there is Internet connection provided, they are sure to reach the targeted prospects and at no extra cost. Consequently, the Internet allow people anywhere to market products that may be considered rare or unique in other parts of the world.

The local market for strawberry wine may, for instance, already be saturated but this is not the case if you’re targeting African communities on the Internet.

Ultimately, however, an experienced and knowledgeable Online marketer will find it easy to market just about any type of product as long as he carry out the following:

PROVIDE PROOF – Internet users are more likely to purchase your products and services if you provide plenty of evidence of your claims. These can take the form of photographs, testimonials, or any other materials that can provide credibility.

BE CONVINCING – Marketing content outline clearly the features and more importantly the benefits of the products or services you’re marketing. If there are other indirect benefits offered together with the decision to purchase them, these must be stated as well. And marketing articles or descriptions must always end with a call to action!

EXPOSURE – Last but not the least, your website must obtain as much traffic as possible. The more people who see your products and services, the more chances you have for promoting them and making sales!

Richard Quek is an Internet Marketer and Trainer. He is the founder of the TIMM eSeminar home study course.
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Internet marketing is not rocket science!  In fact the Internet marketing process can be boiled down to just four stages regardless of what you are promoting Online. I call this the Internet Marketing Success Cycle. To get more information about the 4 steps of the Internet Marketing Success Cycle you can get a copy of my FREE Report. Grab lt now while it is still available:

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Enjoy!

Richard Quek

Hey,

My name is Richard Quek and I am from the sunny country of Malaysia. I have been involved with marketing on the Internet for the past 8 years. I have authored more than 10 books on the subject of Internet marketing, Network marketing and Motivation. Internet marketing is one of my passion!

Welcome to the Internet Marketing Passion Blog! I created this blog to provide information and success strategies on Online marketing. Please feel free to visit this blog from time to time. I appreciate your comments and posts.

Thanks

Richard Quek