Visibility

In order for a website to be successful, you need to have many people visiting it, which is often referred to as website traffic. Of course, we are not just looking for website traffic. We are looking for targeted traffic to our website. Targeted traffic is defined as unique visitors to your website that are interested in the products and/or services being offered on your website, so that they have the potential of turning into a customer and/or client. The more targeted the traffic is, the higher conversion rate that you will have. Generally, the higher conversion rate that you have, the lower your cost per conversion (CPA) will be.
 
Now the question is how do we get targeted traffic to our website in a cost effective way, so that we can potentially have a positive ROI (return on investment)?
 
Some options to consider:
 
1. Search Engine Marketing - The # 1 search of targeted traffic on the internet is search engine marketing. This includes the major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and MSN, as well as the less used search engines, such as Ask, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, HotBot, and Lycos. Because the person is searching for a keyword related to the products and/or services that your website offers, that means that there is a strong possibility that they will be the targeted traffic that you are seeking. The two primary ways of accomplishing this is generating organic targeted traffic through search engine optimization, or through pay per click marketing in the sponsored link area of the search engines.

 a. Search Engine Optimization - search engine optimization is the process of getting your web site in the top results for your website’s main target keywords and phrases on the search engines. This is often the most cost effective way to drive targeted traffic to your website on a long term basis. For more info on available search engine optimization packages, visit http://www.iconwebsitedesign.com/
 b. Pay Per Click Marketing - You can get targeted traffic to your website immediately though platforms such as Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter. The ads can be contextual ads, banner ads, or video ads. Pay per click marketing campaigns are highly customizable campaigns, based on keywords, geography,  date and time, maximum cost per click, and maximum daily budget.

2. CPM Marketing - this includes banner advertising, email marketing, text message marketing, fax marketing, and are usually paid for on a CPM (cost per thousand) impressions basis. These methods can be successful if done multiple times to the same market, but are often less cost effective than search engine marketing.

3. Social Media Marketing - This is the newest form of internet marketing. It involved using free accounts on high traffic websites, including social networking sites, social bookmarking websites, blogs, and forums, such as MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Digg. It can be very labor intensive if done correctly, but with little to no out-of-pocket expense.  

4. Affiliate Marketing - this includes online affiliates through major networks including Commission Junction and Linkshare, or real affiliate relationships that extend beyond the internet.

5. Media Advertising - this includes TV and Radio advertising. Media advertising can either be for branding purposes or for direct marketing purposes. If it is driving targeted traffic to your website, it would be considered direct marketing.

6. Print Marketing - this can include direct mail campaigns, utilizing door hangers, passing our flyers, newspaper advertising, and/or magazine advertising. For your graphic design and printing needs, I recommend Preferred Print.

In summary, there are many marketing options to drive targeted traffic to your website; however, search engine marketing may be the most cost effective way.