An Internet Epiphany Part 2: How to Draw Free Website Traffic

Build your website business based on free website traffic.

To illustrate how to generate free website traffic let me tell you about two realtors I know (one of them happens to be my wife).

After I did some re-writing for a major real estate brokerage firm I took time to chat with the realtors in the break room. When they discovered what I do, one realtor immediately told me her woes about the thousands of dollars she spent for a website which was the prettiest, flashiest, and most award winning site on the internet. Or so it seemed to her.

Yet, as far as she could tell it was out there all by itself. She never got any business from it. As far as real estates sites go, this one was like all the rest...and that was the problem.

Yes it had a portal to search for homes, but mostly it was about her professional status, her awards, her family, etc. She knew nothing concerning the basics of drawing free website traffic.

Why was it being ignored? It's because web surfers look for information they can use to make their lives better. They don't look to be sold, and they don't look to learn about you.

On the other hand, recently I overheard my wife on the phone comment how a real estate related site was so useful. She said "they have so much information you can use to figure loans, interest rates, points, and more. Many sites try to keep it a secret." At the time my wife was recommending the site to her colleagues all because the site had been so useful.

Did you catch that? My wife was already actively promoting someone's website because she found it so...

...beautiful? No.

...had a award winning logo and design? No.

She actively promotes it to this day because it is so loaded with useful information demonstrating the effectiveness of content in drawing free website traffic.

Therefore, let me say it again, the key to drawing free traffic is to give web surfers information they seek in the form of meaningful content. The first realtor I mentioned above had some information but it was the standard canned automatic feeds of the weather, news, business, and so forth that 5 million other realtor sites get from the same source.

When you put content on your site, make it real. Remember, you're talking to people who are in many ways just like you. Forget all the formalities. Don't make your site sound like a technical manual or people will leave. No one can stand being bored to death.

Make the content relevant and keep it updated. By providing lots of useful informational material you draw the search engines to your site. In turn, the search engines direct the web surfer to your site. Voila, free website traffic without paying for visitors.

Let me side-step here to briefly discuss a point I know some of you more savvy types are dying to interject...there is a place for paid traffic. But for the very small business person with limited budget this is often not an option. Once your business can support it, there are legitimate ways to pay for traffic to your site.

Nonetheless, look around the web, you'll see the typical Web hosting companies still marketing how "quick-and-easy" they put up sites and list them with the Search Engines. Building content as the foundation for free traffic typically gets mentioned only as an afterthought.

As a result you'll even find a huge number of these web hosting companies with rankings that are pitiful. It shows they can't really know the secret to free website traffic themselves. In fact, in my area of Brevard County, Florida of all the web hosts I could find listed anywhere only one had a ranking for its own website that was in the top 1%. So what are your chances of getting good ranking results, or website traffic, if the pros you turn to can't do it?

Remember there are no crowds on line. No one even knows you exist unless you "stand up and wave" at them in a way they understand. That way is through content on your website. When web surfers search for an item, the search engines direct them to websites with the most relevant content. That can be yours.

It is by giving the website visitor good information that he or she comes to trust you as a reputable source of future information. Once that trust is built - this is called pre-selling - then and only then are you in a position to pursue money making activities.

Set yourself apart. Do what less than 1% of small businesses do...

Build a site that will be found by prospective new customers.... tens, hundreds, then thousands every day, steadily building as your site gains in relevance and reputation at the Search Engines - all driven by relevant content.

Small business success online doesn't start with a flash introduction, glittering graphics, or a "kick-butt" sales page. It starts with pages of free information you provide. Then like bees to honey, they will come. That is the foundation to a successful website business.

In other words... build your business with free website traffic by giving away free meaningful information. That's a site that works and will continue working long after the latest "traffic killer" fads have come and gone.