How to Start Driving Traffic to a New Website

How to Start Driving Traffic to a New Website
Posted by Nicole Levin on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 08:51 AM
Reposted from: http://www.matchedmarketing.com/Blog/bid/23623/How-to-Start-Driving-Traffic-to-a-New-Website

Admit it, you're pretty proud of your new website and you CAN'T WAIT to show it off! You probably spent days (or even months) designing it just how you imagined it would someday look, and now that is looks absolutely fantastic, you are ready for the world to see it. So how exactly do you make sure your target audience knows it's out there? If you've been learning about search engine optimization (SEO) then you know that it takes time to have your site indexed (listed) by the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing), and even more time before your website has built enough authority to appear at the top of a keyword search. But you've already spent too much time designing the site and you don't have any more time left to waste before you need the sales to come in...you need to get ahead of the competition today! Luckily, there is something you can do for a quick result. You can buy your way to the top.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a great option for a new website for many reasons:

Even if you haven't earned your placement organically yet, you can still compete by purchasing ad space that will put you at the top of the search engine list.

Developing PPC campaigns will also help you to do some research on what keywords perform the best for you. This is because with each PPC campaign you run, you will have access to a report that will show you what keywords were typed into a search engine and resulted in someone clicking on your ad. Having that information will empower you to create new content and ads that are more targeted for your audience and takes the guess work out.

Visits you get to your site not only help build awareness of your company, but they also build the number of page views your site attracts which is a factor considered for organic rankings.

If you're going to give PPC a try, remember to keep these things in mind:

Make sure the ad you create relates closely to the keywords you are choosing for your listing (i.e. a keyword of “florida hotels” would closely relate to an ad about “vacations in Florida”). The closer they are related, the more google will like your ad. This will help your ad to rank higher for your chosen keywords even if you are paying less per-bid than the next ad.

Create several unique ads to see which works better to drive more traffic. Be sure to follow the keyword matching options of “exact match,” “broad match,” “phrase match,” or “negative match.”

Drive clicks from your ad to a landing page that contains a form. Visitors that complete the form will help you to realize which keywords are attracting the right leads for your business, and it gives you an opportunity to build a contact database.

Monitor your ads closely! When you set a budget for your ads, be sure to watch daily to see how they are performing. You may think a certain amount is enough for your ad placement only to find your entire budget exhausted in one day. Make sure to set a limited for what you are willing to spend per month.

While pay-per-click advertising is a great option for a new site, you should also aim to eliminate your PPC spending by increasing your rank for keywords organically. Spend even more time implementing on-page and off-page SEO tactics to help you save your money on PPC. But until then, enjoy the opportunity to beat the competition by putting your new site at the top of the list!