By Edwin Huertas

Dear ETR Reader: “I am looking for one good company that will get my site viewed.”

“Hello, my ETR friends. I am just about to launch a new business marketing long distance calling cards. Our service will provide unlimited international long distance calling, can be purchased online, and works with cell phones (without using your cell minutes).

“There are many sites that advertise guaranteed website traffic, and others that advertise website submission services. I don’t have the time to use several different services. I am looking for one good, reputable company that will get my site viewed and my e-mails read. Any recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated.”

Chris Rosser
Hamilton, Ontario

***************************
Dear Chris,

There are many ways to get your website viewed, but you have to be careful.

Buying what is known as “Guaranteed Traffic” is not a good idea, and generally results in no sales for most businesses. Guaranteed Traffic is usually made up of people who are “paid to surf” or generated with misleading links, pop-unders (which most users hate), and traffic exchanges. This is the worst-quality traffic. It just doesn’t convert website visitors into buyers.

Website submission services - which manually submit your site to the major search engines - don’t really work either. It’s far better to get another website that’s already been indexed (included in the search engine results) to link to yours. Search engines tend to give higher priority to links that they find themselves, as opposed to those submitted to them directly. In other words, if a search engine finds your link on another site that is already in its database, it will include you in its results faster.

The best way to get exposure quickly is through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Another method you should look into is search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO can take a long time to kick in (6-8 months in most cases), but it can bring you lots of quality FREE traffic. Most Internet marketers agree that SEO is a crucial component of any Web marketing plan. For more on SEO, read Alexis’s article “What’s More Important Than Your Search Engine Ranking?”

- Edwin Huertas