FREE SEO TOOLS & TRAFFIC IDEAS FOR ARTISANS WITH WEBSITES (OR WHO WANT ONE)

[Serena Lee Pena]

HOW TO ATTRACT FREE TRAFFIC TO YOUR HANDMADE PRODUCTS SITE

Some of the best quality free traffic sources include search engines, Banner Exchanges, Link Exchanges, Niched top lists, Freebie Sites, Targeted Traffic Networks, Directories and link lists; here is an overview of each.

Search Engine Traffic.
Search engine traffic is considered one of the most valuable sources of free traffic because you have the first shot at converting the surfer into a buyer. What’s difficult about attracting search engine traffic is that it requires a high level of skill and experience, and that - even with that skill and experience - search engines are fickle creatures who can change their ranking methods overnight, causing drastic changes to your traffic figures and your livelihood.
For this reason it’s very inadvisable to rely solely on search engine traffic; smart webmasters learn to diversify and successful webmasters are those who can attract and convert traffic from a wide variety of sources.
Submitting your site to Search Engines MANUALLY is NOT RECOMMENDED! It's wiser and easier to submit through decent, user-friendly submission services and also using SEO software to do it for you.
Some good, FREE site submission services include:
www.submitexpress.com/ Will submit your website URL to 40 major search engines.
http://www.addpro.com/ Will submit your website URL to 18+ major search engines and offers FREE SEO resources.
http://www.quickregister.net/ Submits your website details to 300+ Major Search Engines and Directories while you sit back and relax? Including Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN, AllTheWeb, Overture, Netscape Search, Open Directory Project, Lycos, HotBot and AltaVista

Banner Exchanges.
Banner exchanges are pretty much the lesser quality form of free traffic, believe it or not!
Most experienced webmasters will reserve this option for surfers who have looked at everything they have to offer and still haven’t “bitten”… It’s recommended you do the same! Though there are a select few good banner exchange networks, the best ones will offer a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio, meaning for every 1 hit (or 2 hits with 2:1) they receive through your site, they will advertise your banner 1 time on their site, sending you potentially at least 1 visitor.
The best, most reliable Banner Exchange sites are http://www.thecountrygallery.net/ , http://www.artcraftmarketing.com/ , http://www.freecraftfair.com/ , http://www.lillysplace.net/bannerex/faqs.php and http://www.targetc... .
IT WOULD DO YOU SOME GOOD TO TRADE BANNERS WITH ME, TOO!
http://sapphireice.eCrater.com , http://sapphireice.etsy.com , http://freecraftmarketing.ning.com , http://sapphireicestudios.blogspot.com Trading with me is FREE!

Link Exchanges.
Link exchanges are actually the better quality form of free traffic.
One very important thing for every webmaster is link exchange with others. By this way you can easily increase your Google PR and overall site popularity, also your site will be better positioned on Search Engine Results Pages. This means that you will increase your site traffic. And you know that better traffic equals more money for you.
There are many ways to find sites to link to. My faves are Google, StumbleUpon, Blogger (Link to other Bloggers to increase your traffic!) and Digg.
There's also free SEO software that includes "Link Partner Finder" technology, like WEB CEO software does. http://www.webceo.com/download/
There are professional, free link exchange sites that drive traffic to your site as well.
http://linkreferral.com is an EXCELLENT source of FREE advertising and link exchange. Other site owners visit and rate your site, plus you can do the same. We’ve already had 1,000 hits to our site in just the month of September!
IT WOULD DO YOU SOME GOOD TO TRADE LINKS WITH ME, TOO!
http://sapphireice.eCrater.com , http://sapphireice.etsy.com , http://freecraftmarketing.ning.com , http://sapphireicestudios.blogspot.com Trading with me is FREE!

Niched Top Lists.
Niched top lists can be a good source for quality free traffic, because it is already filtered to some extent. You need to find the best top lists by trial and error, it can be time-consuming but well worthwhile, as your hits can soar.
http://www.artcraftmarketing.com/topsites/index.htm , http://crafterscatalogs.com/links.html , http://www.thecountrygallery.net/bp/ and http://jewelrysrtist.gotop100.com/ are some good ones that are free to list and also serve as a good networking source.

FREEBIE GIVEAWAY SITES.
Freebie Sites are normally much higher volume but the quality is poor for two reasons:
1. Surfers are just interested in free gifts and giveaways.
2. You have very little opportunity to sell or improve your targeting (click thru ratios are low).
I would only recommend this as a method of FREE EXPOSURE and if you have extra time and resources on your hands.
If you have any chance at obtaining quality traffic from such sites, the following sites are recommended:
http://www.thefreesite.com/Other_Freebie_Sites/ , http://www.volition.com/freesite.html , http://www.ofree.net/freebie_sites.html are the most popular Freebie sites with the most traffic.

FREE NETWORKING SITES.
Free Networks provide very high volumes of traffic but converting that traffic can be quite difficult because:
1. Surfers are most often focused on getting posting their own stuff, making friends or are just browsing photos of other handmade works.
2. Opportunities for advertising are limited as these sites are often congested with other advertisements and there may be a waiting list.
3. (IMHO) due in part to the overly aggressive advertising methods used by webmasters of old, surfers loathe to click on advertisements in galleries for fear of entering “pop-up hell”!
However, with a high level of experience, it is possible to achieve a reasonable conversion ratios, and - since traffic figures are sometimes huge - it becomes a “numbers game”…
Making enough money to cover your bandwidth bill is the name of this game. I recommend you try this method only after you have reached a reasonably high level of skill at converting traffic into sales. Try the lesser known networks like Indiepublic, a NICHE site, rather than Myspace, a GENERAL site.
Some high-quality craft networks (other than www.Indiepublic.com) with minimal to no pop-ups are:
http://www.craftbuddy.com/
http://www.craftnetwork.org/
http://www.craftster.org/

Directories and Link Lists.
Probably the best, fastest and certainly one of the most long term methods of attracting free traffic is by building standard handmade product sites that offer "free gifts" or "freebies” and getting those sites listed in established link lists and craft/handmade product directories.
Traffic from link lists and directories can be high quantity and is normally quite highly targeted, and customers LOVE free stuff.
Converting traffic from these sources is much easier as the four or five pages involved gives you plenty of opportunity to target and sell to the surfer.
I really like http://www.whatthecraft.com/dirbuysell.html because it provides a directory of not just sellers for customers, but link traders for crafters to come together and link to one another, so it's a two-in-one service and it's FREE.

Converting Traffic into Sales
In order to successfully “convert” handmade products traffic, it is vital to help the surfer to find out what he / she really wants.
Sometimes surfers will venture into a handmade crafts venue just out of curiosity, or because they admire that handmade items are "unique" and great for gifts of meaning. We, as Entrepreneurial Artisans need to take advantage of this, and compose a marketing campaign dedicated to convincing the surfer and potential buyer that this is true and that they need to purchase this item, as it is one of a kind, unique, limited edition, not available for very long, etc.
Every day people reach legal age to obtain a job, own a checking account and/or credit card, (the first time with a credit card & the legal right to use it - lol), or even are surfing the internet for the very first time! We need to consider this in our marketing campaigns as well!

When traffic first arrives from a search engine, it is targeted to some extent by virtue of the search terms used.
Many surfers however, will use very general search terms “freebies”, “handmade jewelry”, “cheap gifts”, etc.
The key to success is in learning ways to encourage the surfer to make choices and thereby signify where his / her interests really lay. This is called “filtering traffic”. In order to filter your traffic you have simply to offer enough choice.
It’s all about offering enough choice.

Looking at all the lists of free traffic sources, it’s simple to imagine that it will be much easier to convert a surfer via a free categorized directory, than with a picture post of a PRODUCT on a similar site as your own!
There are hundreds of different ways of converting traffic into sales, some are simple, whilst others are very advanced.
With knowledge, practice, experience, and good quality free traffic sources (like the ones listed above), you can achieve very high conversion levels.

CHECK OUT http://www.123webmaster.com/ for additional information! In their webmaster resources directory, you’ll find links to quality resources which include detailed instructions on how to build free sites and galleries, how to build for top lists, posts, link lists and directories, plus projects and ideas to diversify your site building, targeting and traffic conversion skills.


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RECOMMENDED READS:


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[pedros shop bulgaria]

Very good...thanks:)