2 Unorthodox Traffic Strategies

Getting traffic is the name of the game when you have an online business and I am just like you in that I am always ...

Looking for new and easy ways to get more traffic.

So recently I joined a site - Unorthodox Traffic - where they offer some ideas for generating traffic. However while information inside the member's area was just ok, it was the information they shared in their first mailing that I want to share.

Here are some excerpts from that mailing:
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"In this article, we’re going to discuss two powerful traffic generating strategies that you have never heard of before, and chances are, your competitors won’t have a clue about them either. These are tactics that are “hot off the press,” so to speak. They have just been discovered, and they are bound to give you unbridled traffic the likes of which you may not have experienced before."

...

The Secrets Of MySpace
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"MySpace is one of the MOST visited websites today."..."MySpace is a community website that allows people to create their own profiles and connect the same to other people to build their own virtual network. It’s quite easy to build your network in this community. People claim that they are able to gain 1,500 contacts within two weeks."

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"Create a MySpace profile and build your network."

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"Include your main website’s link in your profile page."

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"MySpace also has a community billboard feature. If you’d post there, your message would appear in the profiles of all your contacts. Simply include your link in your message."

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Connecting With CraigsList

"The website www.craigslist.com is an online classified ads center dedicated to employment opportunities. However, it accepts all manners of advertisements.
For free, at that!"

...

"Craigslist is a PR7 website. Simply choose the category most appropriate for the subject of your website and place an advertisement that would invite readers to visit your web pages.

They don’t have to click on the link. They don’t have to visit your website.

Having your link in a PR7 website is enough to spike up your own website’s Page Rank! Again, this means a higher position in search engine results pages, and more organic traffic for your online business."

...
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Now to be honest I've heard of both of these sites before but haven't used them since:

• I didn't know about how the billboard feature worked at MySpace
• Didn't know how popular Craigslist was

I also know that some pretty well known online marketers are using MySpace since I have done some research. And what I discovered in my research is that these guys all point to each other.

Soooo ...

I've just signed up and will be adding more information soon. Please join me at MySpace let's see if we can improve our traffic as a group of friends working together.

To Your Success,
Susan

6 Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Sales

You work hard to find or create a good product.

You work hard to build a sales page.

You work hard to build a mailing list.

You work hard to write an email message and send it to your list.

Then the sales start coming in - Right?

Now let's be honest. Are you're emails working as well as you wanted and expected?

Well if they aren't check this list of 6 common mistakes made when writing promotional email.

1. The message is too formal.
   
   Promotional email shouldn't be written as a formal sales letter because no one wants to read a sales brochure unless they've specifically requested it. Rather, it should be written as if you were having a private conversation with 1 person. An although you shouldn't make obvious errors, you don't need to worry about all the formal rules of grammar and punctuation. Instead, you need to make it sound and read as if you were talking to the person reading it.
   
   
2. Overuse of personalization.
   
   Being able to use a person's name in your email makes the message sound more personal but only if it's done correctly and in moderation. Again, write as if you're having a conversation and use their name only if you would use it when talking to them. When you're talking you don't repeat the listener's name in every sentence or paragraph so don't do it when you write to them either.
   
   
3. Overuse of power words.
   
   Power words are those words that are suppose to invoke a reaction from the reader because they make them feel or see something. Discover, Amazing, Explode and Revealed are 4 examples of the long list of power words that are used in email promotions. And while these words are good, using too many of them in 1 message will turn your message into a hyped-up sales pitch. (And you're not writing a sales pitch, your writing a personal message - Right?)
   
   
4. Too many offers.
   
   A good promotional email is written to accomplish 1 task and only offers 1 choice. You must decide what you want your reader to do and then offer them the opportunity to do it. Most readers who see an email with several links for different things will put off checking them out until they have more time. And guess what, they never have time to get back to you message so they don't check any of them out.
   
   
5. Not giving a specific reason to act.
   
   When someone opens your email they aren't sitting at home wanting to buy something. If you don't give them a "real" reason to take you up on your offer immediately, they'll put it off until later and as we all know, later never comes.
   
   
6. Talking too much about yourself.
   
   Talking about yourself in your ezine or friendly non-promotional emails is fine. But when your making an offer to your list, you need to limit the information about yourself and talk about the product and how it will benefit the reader. Write what you what them to remember - How your offer can help them - Not how great your vacation was.

Writing and sending offers to your list can be 1 of the most profitable tasks for your online business however it is not as easy as it sounds. Getting your readers to open your email, read your message and do the desired action takes both planning and practice.

So the next time you write an offer to send to your list, stay focused and tell them how the product will help them, tell them what to do and give them a reason to do it. And after you've written the message, check to make sure you haven't made any of the 6 mistakes described above.

To Your Success,
Susan

PS If you want to learn more about writing good email promotions check out Michael Rasmusse's new free membership site. He's created some quality video tutorials that explain how good email promotions are written, what they include and he gives examples. It takes just over an hour to watch all the videos and see how effective email promotions are written by one of the best email copy writers around. http://www.susancarrollhome.com/recommends/emailexposed.php

Susan