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This article came from Penny Sansevieri

Embarking on an Internet marketing campaign doesn’t have to be difficult, tricky, or complicated. Here are a few simple ways (twenty in fact) that you can easily implement to get tons of traffic to your site right now!

1) Write articles: believe it or not this is an incredible tool for driving traffic. Well-written, relevant articles can net quite a bit of activity to your web site. Don’t forget to add your URL in your byline. Articles should be 500 to 2,000 words in length. You can send articles to sites like: Article City, GoArticles, Submit Your Articles and Ezine Articles.

2) Social bookmark *everything* - and I do mean everything - you can bookmark each page of your site and each blog entry you post. While this might seem tedious, it’s worth it. You’ll see a strong increase in traffic if you social bookmark each page on your site and each of your blog entries.

3) List yourself in the best directories – you’ll have to pay for this but since most people don’t do this (since everyone’s looking for a freebie) you could really enhance your traffic by getting a listing: dir dot yahoo dot com, business dot org, botw dot org.

4) Get yourself listed at: DMOZ dot org – it’s not easy to get listed there, but worth the effort.

5) Review: if you can review hot new products or books within your market, head on over to Amazon and start positioning yourself as an expert. In order to do this effectively you’ll want to create an Amazon profile and make sure and sign each review with a reference to your URL (your web site). You can also go to Epinions and Revoo to review products as well.

6) Offer a freebie on Craig’s List: you’ll be amazed at how much traffic you get from a single Craig’s List ad. The key here is to send people to a page on your site and make sure they have to sign up for something (like your email newsletter) before they can grab their freebie. That way you’re not just getting traffic, you’re also building your list.

7) Create a “recommended by” list on your Delicious page – you can do this by logging on and creating an account and there and then tagging articles, blogs and other content you think is important to your readership. Then offer this page as a resource site. You can add a link to this page in your email signature line or on your web site.

And speaking of your email signature line… do you have one? If you don’t, create one. Believe it or not, people do follow these links. You’ll be amazed how many folks read email signature lines. I have one and change it several times a year, depending on what we’re doing or promoting or what books I have coming out.

9) Lend a helping hand: you can be an answer person at Yahoo Answers – you don’t have to spend hours on there, but maybe a few minutes a week. Make sure and include a link back to your site following your answers.

10) Set up a social networking site using Facebook, LinkedIn, or Squidoo. It’s free and easy to do, just don’t forget the all-important link back to your site!

11) Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so if you capture a reader you don’t lose them if they forget to bookmark your site or blog.

12) Join relevant groups at Yahoo groups. You’ll find everything from groups on growing your small business, writing books, finding your passion, even underwater basket weaving. I dare you to find one that isn’t right for what you’re promoting. When you do find the right group, join and participate as you can!

13) Podcasting is another great way to drive traffic. Start a podcast by going to Audio Acrobat. There are other programs you can use, but I love Audio Acrobat. You can record the podcast over the phone quickly and easily and then hit the “send” button on your computer once it’s recorded and the system will syndicate it to 27 podcast directories including iTunes. It’s a great way to let people know about you and your web site!

14) Start a blog and then once you do, start commenting on other people’s blogs, linking to them from your site or adding them to your blogroll.

15) Inbound links: don’t squander your time (or a perfectly good link) on smaller low-traffic sites. Instead spend your time going after high traffic, high quality sites. Good sites should have a PR (page ranking) of 4-6 depending on the market. You can find out what a site’s page ranking is by downloading the Google toolbar which comes with a PR feature built in.

16) Start an email newsletter: while it may not seem like a newsletter that you email can drive traffic to your site you’d be surprised at the effectiveness of this type of promotion. If your newsletter (like your articles) is interesting and relevant to your audience, you’ll find that it has a huge pass-through factor, meaning that it is passed from one email subscriber to another. Also, if you have an email newsletter you should never, ever go to a single event without your handy signup sheet. Yes, you can even use offline events to drive traffic to your web site.

17) And speaking of offline efforts: if you’re ever quoted in a magazine or other publication, make sure and mention your URL as it’s appropriate to the topic. Don’t be too pushy about this, but do not forget to tell folks you have a web site that may be a great resource for the topic of your interview.

18) If you have products to sell, why not get a store on eBay? This site gets a tremendous amount of traffic and on your sales page you’re allowed to list your URL. It’s another great way to get an inbound link and a way for people to find you.

19) Load a video on YouTube and 57 other video sites (the rest listed on my Red Hot Internet Publicity blog).

20) While this isn’t a tip per se, it’s still important. If you’re going to go through all the trouble of getting traffic to your site, make sure your site is converting this traffic into something. Get folks to sign up for something, your newsletter, the RSS feed on your blog. Whatever it is, getting their email address will help you remarket to them when the time is right. Studies show that visitors landing on a site often don’t buy the first time. That’s ok! You want to get them into your marketing funnel so you can market to them again and again – not in a way that’s obtrusive, offensive or downright annoying, but in a way that is helping them with their own mission.

An example of this might be an email newsletter. A helpful, informative newsletter is a fantastic funnel. A blog is another great way to keep people in your marketing loop without bombarding them with “please buy my stuff” email messages. Also, make sure you know what your traffic numbers are before you launch into any Internet marketing campaign. By traffic numbers I mean how many people are visiting your site. You want to know this so you can gauge a before and after view of your marketing efforts.

Over on Freelance Folder there is an amazing post that talks about improving your productivity, and really it centers around reducing your distractions. Something that can be quite difficult, but also very important.I find myself struggling with this periodically because my office is at home, and currently so is my wife, but there are some great points in the article.

Here is a sample:Work in a separate room if possibleLast year I moved to the sitting room to keep an eye on the baby while my wife worked on her computer; this was because the computer could not be moved around and I had a laptop. But soon it became a free for all situation; everybody in the house needed my attention or my counsel for everything.There were times when I could only achieve three to four hours of professional work during the whole day.

And of course the baby always wanted to be on top of my table and bang on my laptop keys. Eventually I had to take a stand and move to a separate — fortunately a spare — room.Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a separate room is enough in our small house, and I might have to look at an office share or something so that I can get the peace and quiet

I need to focus on producing a large amount of amazing content for everyone to read.Definitely a great post over on Freelance Folder, and a great site for bloggers, and really all types of freelancers.Bookmark:If you enjoyed this article, please Subscribe via RSS and don't forget to Monetize Your Site (aff link)

Over on Freelance Folder there is an amazing post that talks about improving your productivity, and really it centers around reducing your distractions. Something that can be quite difficult, but also very important.I find myself struggling with this periodically because my office is at home, and currently so is my wife, but there are some great points in the article.Here is a sample:Work in a separate room if possibleLast year I moved to the sitting room to keep an eye on the baby while my wife worked on her computer; this was because the computer could not be moved around and I had a laptop. But soon it became a free for all situation; everybody in the house needed my attention or my counsel for everything.There were times when I could only achieve three to four hours of professional work during the whole day. And of course the baby always wanted to be on top of my table and bang on my laptop keys. Eventually I had to take a stand and move to a separate — fortunately a spare — room.Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a separate room is enough in our small house, and I might have to look at an office share or something so that I can get the peace and quiet I need to focus on producing a large amount of amazing content for everyone to read.Definitely a great post over on Freelance Folder, and a great site for bloggers, and really all types of freelancers.Bookmark:If you enjoyed this article, please Subscribe via RSS and don't forget to Monetize Your Site (aff link)

Your about page can be more important than you think. When visiting a site, I sometimes check out the about page to see if the writer has bothered to put up anything. Sadly, sometimes the default WordPress about page is all I find. If the blogger isn’t willing to write anything on their about page, you can probably place money on the fact that they won’t remain interested in blogging for a long period of time, and you should probably move on to another resource.Here are some pointers to help you in creating or improving your about page.PictureI know it seems odd, but if the blog is about you, or one specific product, for example the Nintendo Wii, it doesn’t hurt to put up a picture of yourself or that product. When it is your picture you are putting up, the image can help you in creating branding, as Darren Rowse has done for a long time now. When people that read his site see his picture, they know what site it goes with. That is a very powerful thing, and one that shouldn’t just be cast aside.If the site is about a specific product, the about page should reflect that, and an appropriate image should be added. This adds character to the page, and helps draw attention to the text near it. The image also has the ability to quickly, easily, and without any need for language translation sum up what the site is about. If I see a Nintendo Wii on the about page, either the writer loves the system or the blog is probably about the game console.PurposeWhy does your site exist? What do you hope to do with your blog or website? This is the key reason to have an about page. While people may think that content can stand for itself, a good about page will also help you keep that content focused. I refer back to my about page all the time to make sure I have stayed on topic.PowerYour statements should be bold and interesting. Your about page is a key marketing material, and so it should be given the time and respect that it deserves. This is the page people will read in order to find out more about you. Maybe it could earn you a job. Maybe it could lose you a job. You never know who is reading your about page, so it is best to put your best foot forward.PersonalityIn your about page, you have a chance to correct any errors that people might have had about you. I know that a friend of mine, Chris Garrett always gets confused with Chris Garrett. They are not the same people, and so they need to make sure every about page they write has an abundance of their personality, as well as following the other rules to make their pages unique.PromotionYour about page is a great place to feature your best content, favorite posts, and other sites you are or have worked on. This is a great place to deep link the articles that might have otherwise been missed.If the site is about you, then you also get to promote yourself. What makes you someone readers will flock to? This is your chance to talk about yourself.SummaryWith the above tips and a little creativity, your about page can help promote your site, your brand, and yourself. Make sure you take your time, plan it out, give it your best, and a proper picture never hurts.

One of the biggest mistakes I see many bloggers making is jumping on one of the free blog hosting sites expecting to make thousands of dollars a year and becoming an Internet celebrity.LimitationsThere are limitations with using free tools. WordPress.com doesn’t allow advertising, nor does it allow you to add plugins. For some, this isn’t an issue, but it can become a real concern later on as your site grows and changes.Search EngineDo you want to be considered your own blog, or another of the millions of Blogger blogs? You like having Typepad as part of your domain and thus your branding? These are the things search engines will notice as they index your blog. If you are using your own hosting, and your own domain, you wouldn’t have to deal with what I consider to be search placement killers.OutagesToday a friend of mine, David Krug, messaged me and said “Typepad is down”. I went to check it out and sure enough I couldn’t access any of their hosted blogs. Even their actual company website was down for me. While not all web hosting companies have great uptime. at least you can easily leave if they are constantly down. By joining a free blog service, most of the time you are locking yourself into that service, through its good times and bad.ControlBlogs are a constantly evolving and changing beast of your own creation, and while some free services can be great early on, they lack the control that independent solutions provide. If Blogger decided to close your blog, would you have a backup of your posts? These are just some of the reasons that I implore you to avoid free services just to save a few dollars.You can get great web hosting for cheap, and if they have a script called Fantastico, you can install WordPress, the same software used here, in one click

Don’t you hate it when blogs take forever to load due to the dozen full length posts including images that the person has decided to put on their front page, and every page of their blog? You wonder if it is worth it to stick around to see what they have written.Or how about when you go to a blog that shows only the title, and the first few sentences, and asks you to click read more on every single post? Feels like you have to jump through hoops just to read their content.The choice to only show summaries or full posts on your blog can be quite difficult, but each has its advantages and disadvantages. I try to have the best of both worlds.The DecisionOne of the things that I have done here at Xfep is to make sure posts on the front page show the full post, and after they transition to other pages, I only show a summary. I did this for a few reasons, including search engine optimization, and better presentation of my previous work.People have questioned me about this practice, as I do it on all my blogs.Why don’t I make all the pages show full content? Well, with having full posts on every page, you begin to delay page loads, and making people wait is a bad idea. Also, most people don’t read past a few paragraphs unless they really enjoy the content.There are also search engine benefits to limiting your duplicate content as much as possible. If I wanted even more search engine optimization benefits, I wouldn’t show any full articles, except on the single article’s own page.Doing this has some negatives though, as using a system like mine means that readers are interrupted during their read of an article. They must perform an action to continue to the end of the post, and this turns some people off. Also, we come back to the waiting issue once again, as when people do find the article they want to read, they have to wait for that full page to load.I find though that the positive aspects of the system that I use outweighs the negatives.The StepsIf you want to do what I have done, and automate the whole process, I can show you how I do it. It might not be the best way, but it works for me. Please feel free to give me tips or tricks you might have, if you know a better way.I will assume you are using WordPress to publish your blog. I am sure other systems can do something similar, but this will show how to make pages two to infinity show partial posts, while the main page shows full articles.Once logged into your WordPress administration panel, go to Presentations and then Theme Editor.Over in the right hand side, you will see a list of files. We will want to edit the Main Index Template, also known as index.php.If you are unable to edit the file inside the WordPress administration panel. You will have to FTP into your hosting space and download the index.php file from your theme’s directory.In this file we are looking for the code that allows us to show the post content.The line should look something like:We want to change this so that we test to see where we are, and that will determine how the content is displayed.The below basically says that if we are on the home page, page one, the search page, single page, or content page, we should display the full content, otherwise, we should show an except.Once you update the file with the new code, replacing the old one line content code, your first page should show full articles, while every other page should show only excepts. A great way to boost the search engine optimization of your site, and display teasers to your posts in a quick loading fashion.