Back in July I reported on Google's new 'Web Alerts' (http://www.trafficology.com/jul04.html).

This month Trafficology Subscriber Chris Graham reports on a new way to use this service that is almost guaranteed to increase your page rank.

Web Alerts is a free service by Google that will automatically send you an email when someone new links to your site.

Chris suggests that Getting free email alerts when someone links to you is pretty cool, but it's even more useful if you get alerted when someone links to a competitors site.

You can use this information to your advantage by immediately approaching the site that linked to your competitor and asking if they'll link to you too.

The likely hood of successfully getting the link is many times higher than standard link building because the prospect is both fresh and already interested in linking to a site similar to yours.

All it takes is a quick email saying... 'Hey John, I noticed you just linked to XYZ.com. I'm from ABC.com and we sell widgets too, I added a link from my site to yours and would appreciate it if you added a link back to my site.'

Requesting links doesn't get any easier than that!

Why should you do this... We'll if you did not already know linking and link popularity are major factors in the search engine rankings. In fact, Google's PageRank or PR is basically a measure of the quality and the quantity of links to your site.

To learn more about linking strategies see the FREE Trafficology eCourse
'The 7 Most Powerful Web Traffic Creation & Conversion Techniques - PERIOD'.

Sign up for your Free eCourse at http://www.trafficology.com
or by sending a blank email to 7powerfultechniques@trafficology.net

One last thing on Google Web Alerts.

Don't forget you can use multiple queries and keep tabs on multiple competitors. This is easily done by adding an "OR". For example:
link:www.xyz.com OR link:www.def.com OR link:www.uvw.com

Note: In July we explained how to set up the Google Web Alerts,
see http://www.trafficology.com/jul04.html for the specifics.

This idea was submitted by:

Chris Graham
If you'd like to find about the work of
Friends of the Earth (and how you can help)
go to: http://www.foe.co.uk

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Mary Says:

I don't know how many people know this, but I pull in leads and get good responses to banner ads, email ads...etc... by going to some of the larger Paid to Read E-mail sites and buying small ad packages with them. Like if your wanting people to sign-up to your free News Letters they are some of the best places to go.

Mary
http://www.star2000online.com/
GET 100 PAID MEMBERS & CoQ10
Take the tour it's Free and Join me in a Few days.

Mary is right, you will get a good response to an ad for a free Newsletter at paid to read sites. My concern is, it may be difficult to convert these visitors into buyers.

Traditionally it is hard to convert people who are drawn to your site for freebies or give-a-ways... you will be able to generate a good volume of traffic, but it has been my experience that the value of this type of traffic is very low.

But, Mary reports better results using Pay-2-Read advertisements and says it even works great with those sites that have "paid to sign-up" sections.

She explains that for the reader to be paid they must show proof of signing up, which grabs their attention and gives you the opportunity to keep their interest with the quality of your newsletter, tips and links.

Making sure your Ad matches the content you deliver is very important. Just like with any marketing, your ad gives you the opportunity to pre-qualify visitors to your site.

Mary also states that Pay-to-Read is a great way to implement a "long-sell" approach… where you warm up the prospect to the importance of your product or service and be their advocate… while demonstrating how your product helps solve their problems.

Another benefit of using these types of ads is their cost. Depending on how many impressions or sign-ups being purchased, Mary typically pays between $6.50 and $24 for a campaign. In fact, recently she purchased a solo ads to the whole member base for only $5. You will have to do your own testing to see if that is a good deal for your site, but paid-to-read advertising costs a lot less that most other forms of paid advertising.

Lastly, feature of paid-to-read advertising that I did not expect is the quality of the visitors and their level of disposable income. According to Mary, a lot of people get into paid-to-read emails because of the quality of the products being advertised. Some readers do it to make a little extra money each month just for buying things online. Some readers get into them to make money as a business.

My recommendation would be to try it out… spend the $10-$20 and see how many sales you can get out of it. I would definitely attempt to capture their email address and get them into a quality follow-up autoresponder series.

Bottom line… there are better traffic options… but if you are serious about generating a large volume of quality web traffic, maybe you should make
pay-2-read sites a new part of your online marketing portfolio.

One of the best sources of highly targeted web traffic is pay per click search engines. Over the past several months I have made the case of why you should be using pay-per-click and how pay-per-click turns your web traffic from an expense into an investment... with a return much better than real estate or the stock market.

I normally recommend people start with Google and Overture, these are the major PPC Search engines that any serious web traffic investor should be using.

But the fact is there are over 2000 PPC Search Engines with many of these focusing on very specific niche markets.

In July we talked about how to get free traffic from the PPC Search Engines.

This month Joerg Wichmann reports that you can get free PPC traffic at the meta search engine Multimeta (http://www.multimeta.com/).

He goes on to explain that they will double the amount that you pay for their PPC listings. The minimum bid at multimeta.com is $0.01 per click, which means that you can get traffic for $0.005 per click.

Compare that to the $0.05 that you will pay at Google or Overture and you can get 10 times the traffic for the same price.

True, I prefer the tools and volume of traffic from Google & Overture better... but after you have started using them maybe you should take a moment to check out multimeta.com.

Got a Better PPC Traffic Deal?
Email it to me at: feedback@trafficology.com
or contact me at http://www.trafficology.com/contact.php

Learning how to use PPC correctly is one of the
most profitable ways to create quality web traffic.

Find out how to get started with PPC & how to use PPC
to compete with even your biggest competition for Only $1.

Check out the Trafficology Members Area For Only $1

We have often shared ideas about offline advertising and we have also discussed the benefit of Joint Ventures... but it is not often when both these concepts combine.

Here is a tip for getting more traffic and building public awareness of your domain for the users who are running a general purpose portal and need a lot of local traffic in order to survive (like classified website or city specific portals).

1) Go visit a restaurant or pub in your locality and ask them how many coffee / beer cups they require per month.

2) Tell them you will give cups to them for free but it has to have your domain or logo on it. If they don't agree add some free advertisement for them on your website to make the offer irresistible.

3) If you get the deal - Bingo ! Now you will get hundreds of people sipping coffee and getting to know about your domain. Soon you will start getting more traffic.

4) Call these owners frequently to ask if they need more cups. Don't hesitate to send the replacements.

Idea Submit By:

Mukul Gupta
http://www.eurbanz.com
Custom Web Design for Small Business
Fast, Effective and Affordable Web Design

Got More Offline Joint Venture Traffic Ideas?
Sent it to me & Enter to Win a $100 Gift Certificate
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Learning the secretes of setting up profitable JV's from Nitro's own Matt Gill. New this month in the Trafficology Member's Area.

Click Here to Access the Trafficology Member's Area For Only $1

One of the best techniques for building a highly targeted emails list is what
Alex Mandossian calls "The Ethical Bribe".

The basic idea is that people are afraid of spam and to encourage visitors to give you their email address you must first give them something of value.

This Principle of Reciprocity was made famous by Dale Carnegie and Robert Cialdini. They explain that in order to get what you want, you need to make the other person want to give you what they have.

To do this, you give the other person something of value first.
Then, they will feel obligated to give you something of value in return.

In practice this principle translates into the technique of offering a free report or a free eBook to a visitor in exchange for their email address.

And, since they want your free report you know they are interested in the topic of your site... which means they are very good prospects for your product or service.

You are able to convert the traffic into paying customers because have their email address and are able to follow up with them... send them offers based on their specific interests.

Trafficology reader Jeff of Mastainc.com has a new twist on the "Ethical Bribe"

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When a visitor subscribes to my newsletter by giving me their name and email, I will give them a free b e-book and a raffle ticket for a weekly drawing.

The prizes include pens, mouse pads, T-shirts and other merchandise with my company's logo on it.

Or I could raffle off e-books.

The idea is to get the visitor to subscribe to the newsletter and get him to keep coming back to my site.

Jeff of Mastainc.com
http://www.mastainc.com/
Mastainc.com is a new site about investing money.
There are many banner and text ads available.

--------------------------------------------------

Jeff's method of combining the raffle with the free eBook is an excellent idea.

With the prevalence of sites using the " Ethical Bribe" it is important to find new ways to adapt tried and true techniques. Not only does Jeff's offer stand out and place his site above that of his competitors, but he also has a great way to draw customer back to his site.

One of the keys to successful online business is the building a trust based relationship or a "bond". The more a potential customer visits your site the more familiar they become with your name and the more comfortable they become with your company... which will mean more repeat customers for you.

One things I would recommend is to tie the product being raffled back to the original topic of the site. You have done well by building highly targeted email list by using an eBook that will appeal to a specific group of people, keep the momentum going by providing a prize that will be considered truly useful to the contestants in a raffle.

Sure, a T-Shirt or a Mouse Pad is fine... but people will more likely to come back to your site if you use a custom built software program a more advanced eBook or a physical product that will complement the topic of your site. You can still place your URL on the prize, but now the prize will have a higher received value therefore people will be more eager to sign up for the raffle and come back to see if they won.

(NOTE: If you use a digital product you can give many more copies of the product than if you use a physical product. You can easily have someone from eLance make a custom program or you can write a special report on your topic... and now you can be sure everyone is a winner!)

Learn More of Alex Mandossian's Time-Tested Website
Conversion Tactics in the Trafficology Member's Area.

Click Here to Take the Trafficology 10-Day Trial for only $1

In past issues we have reported on several ways to use Vehicle Advertising. From adding a "Bumper Banner" to using a personal radio transmitter to broadcast your own website commercial, getting web traffic from highway traffic has always been a hot topic.

(See http://www.trafficology.com/mar04.html
for past Vehicle Advertising Ideas)

Candy from Digitalicandy.com Sends:

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Often overlooked and deemed as unimportant is advertising our website's on our vehicle. The thinking is that only locals will see it and that is not enough people.

Well, here is my experience: I live and work in a small town with less than 30,000 people. However, our entire county is over 76,000.

The highway that I travel to and from my office is a main artery, and many travelers from all over the country use that highway at all hours of the day.

I put vinyl stickers on my rear and side windows with my web address and nothing else. I did this 2 years ago, and it has brought me a tremendous amount of work, and mostly from other areas of the country that seen that simple address on my window.

It also has brought me local work which is fine too.

I encourage all my clients to do the same, and for one of my clients locally it has saved her business. And many businesses are following suit, when I talk to them they are always surprised at the relevant traffic and sales they receive from it.

Candy Rosenberg
http://www.digitalicandy.com
Professional Web, Graphic & Marketing Development
Working with online entrepreneurs since 1996.

--------------------------------------------------

From getting your URL painted on your truck to ordering custom bumper stickers, basic Vehicle Advertising should be a marketing staple along with adding your URL to your business card or your company letterhead.

But... once you have the basics covered use on of these tips to turn Vehicle Advertising into Vehicle Marketing.

-- Add Your Email Address:

Directing people to your website where they can get more information is one thing... but if you can get them to email you, then you can open a line of communication.

Better yet, use your vehicle to advertise a Free-Report people can get by sending you and email. Then, automate the follow up by have the email address go to an autoresponder that delivers your report over a series of email along with a personalized follow-up message.

-- Advertise on More Vehicles

You are not limited to the Ad Space on your own Truck or Car...and Vehicle Advertising is not just for creating traffic.

One local Real Estate Agent use Vehicle Advertising to increase their sale conversion... they offer a free Moving Truck for everyone who purchases a home using them. The put a big Ad right on the truck proclaiming that the people using the truck are happy customers and that you can find your Dream Home too on their website.

That is a great idea if you already have you own truck, but if you don't then build a partnership with someone who does.

How well this will work depends a lot on your business. For example if you are a real estate broker, you can make an agreement with a local rental truck company stating that you will always recommend that specific rental company if they put your URL on their Trucks. Or, if you sell plumbing supplies you can offer a special 2-for-1 discount to ever plumber who puts your bumper sticker on their Truck.

The point it to be creative and work together to get your URL on as many vehicles as possible...and get as many customers to your site as possible.

Got a creative Vehicle Adverting Tip?
Send it to me and enter to win a $100 Gift Certificate:
http://www.trafficology.com/idea.html

Mike Jarvis shared with us a new program called Million Dollar Traffic or MDT.

MDT uses a revolutionary idea called "Peer-to-Peer Traffic". This free method of creating traffic as several key advantages over traffic exchanges, safelists, and other free traffic programs.

(To learn more about MDT See http://mdt.trafficologyresources.com)

The one problem I had with MDT was time... We all understand by their very nature free traffic methods require more time than most paid traffic methods.

Joshua Shafran, "Mr. NPOD" & the author of Income For Life, explains that when creating web traffic you have a Time vs Cost exchange.

In the beginning, when you don't have a lot of cash so you will need to spend your time to build traffic for your website. As your business grows you can re-invest your profits and create traffic without spending as much time.

In the beginning you leverage your time and in the end you reclaim your time by leveraging your money and the assets that your business had created.

(To learn more about the Time vs Cost Exchange Read Joshua's
New Book, Income For Life - Click Here to Download a Free Copy.)

Back to MDT... while MDT is great if you want to leverage your time, they did not have a way for you to re-invest and leverage your money as your business grew...until now.

This week MDT introduced MDT Pro. MDT Pro is the perfect way to continue using the MDT System when you are ready to start reclaiming your time and letting your business generate the traffic for you.

Of course, you can still use the Original MDT System to create plenty of 100% free, highly targeted traffic... but now you also have the option of using MDT Pro to provided a quick web traffic boost without any effort at all.

To learn more about MDT & MDT PRO
See http://mdt.trafficologyresources.com

This month David shares the results of his FFA Experiment:

--------------------------------------------------

Here's a direct question to all of you. How many of you are still trying to market your product or service using FFA link sites? I don't need to explain what FFA's links sites are, It's pretty safe to say that if you don't know, you probably aren't using them.

FFA link sites are still very popular. There are literally thousands if not hundreds of thousands of FFA sites set up all over the web, and millions of posts per day on all of these sites. With this type of traffic you would think that it would be a good place to market your product or services right? WRONG.

Let's cover a couple reasons why. First and most important, the traffic is all one way. What I mean is that while these sites are always claiming to be high traffic sites, virtually ALL of their traffic is generated from automated submission programs like FFA Blaster that post thousands of messages at a time to thousands of FFA sites. Sure, the hit counters of these sites might say they are high traffic, but hits do not equal eyeballs. If the only traffic going to a site is from automated submission programs, who is actually reading the posts? The answer is easy. No one is reading the posts.

Recently I ran a test by posting an ad for a product that we sell that gets a legitimate 6000 visitors a month to it's web site. This site has a sales conversion ratio of about 7.5% which means approximately 7.5% of those 6000 visitors per month purchase the product. We know this product sells, it has a long track record, and we know the site gets traffic.

We posted this particular ad to approximately 1 million FFA sites over a period of a week or so.

Are you curious how many actual hits we received. Are you ready. We received 1 hit. That's ONE, not one hundred or one thousand but ONE.

I've talked to some people who say they do get traffic from FFA link sites, but the one big mistake they make is they do not track their ads. We actually received 37 hits from the FFA sites, but 36 of them were from link verification systems in place on the link sites.

Many people see these hits and think they are real visitors, they are not. It is just the FFA site verifying your link.

There is another major problem with posting to FFA's, and let's for the sake of argument say that you really did get some real traffic from these posts. Traffic from FFA sites will likely be very low yield. In other words these people are far less likely to buy anything and are usually freebie seekers. As the price point of your product or service increases, they are even less likely to buy. The product I mentioned that we tested above is a very low priced item. if I was selling something costing $100 or more, there just isn't going to be any sales made.

Ask yourself this. How often do you actually buy something from a link on an FFA site?

The bottom line, if you are using FFA's to market your product or service and are wondering why you aren't making any sales, now you know why.

If you are one of the few who actually makes sales from FFA's, and gets real traffic and can prove it, I'd love to hear from you.

For most of you, it's time to consider other options for your marketing and advertising needs.

-----------------------------------------------
The Peer-to-Peer Traffic Revolution has begun:
Discover how to get all the FREE, targeted online
traffic you can handle by clicking here:
http://mdt.trafficologyresources.com
...Start getting traffic in just 5 minutes from now!
-----------------------------------------------

I don't use FFA's and there is a good chance that I never will.

Do you agree with David?
Have you had better results with FFA?

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