How to Steal Traffic

When you’re trying to build traffic to your site, you’ll try anything to see those numbers climb. Stop spinning your wheels and get strategic. It’s a simple logical formula. In the world of the Web marketing universe, there are already communities formed around the ideas and interests that pertain to what you do and what you sell. Your job is to find those tribes and become a part of them so that you can lead their members to your site, where – assuming you’re doing your job of publishing unique original content on a regular basis – they’ll find good reason to set up camp.

Step 1: Start with what you know.

Identify the popular websites and blogs where the types of people whose needs and interests align with your offering are hanging out, reading and interacting. Become an active participant in these communities by commenting on blogs and joining discussion forums. If you focus on adding value to the conversation, people will be naturally curious to learn more about you, and they’ll seek out your site to see what else you have to say. Just make sure to include a link in your signature so they’ll know where to find you.

Step 2: Broaden your horizons.

If you’re not making much headway in terms of getting attention and traffic in these circles, it’s time to break out of your comfort zone. Click through to other commenters’ websites and explore their blogrolls and commenter links. Eventually you’ll find yourself three or four degrees removed from your usual niche, and you’ll discover a whole new constellation of communities where you can focus your networking efforts.

Step 3: Aim for the top.

Once you’ve earned your stripes as a trusted and valued member of others’ tribes, start reaching out to those who lead them. But don’t just email them out of the blue asking them to help promote your site. Instead, show your continued interest in being a valuable member of the community. Send them a compelling original article that’s custom-tailored to their audience and the tone and personality of their site. Make sure it's flawlessly crafted, has an attention-grabbing headline and offers a distinct perspective with no wishy-washy language. By providing them with a ready-made blog post, you’ll boost your chances of scoring the exposure you desire and the opportunity to get in front of a new audience of people to whom you can demonstrate your expertise and entice to follow you back to your own home base.

Step 4: Deliver on your promises.

If you're doing all this hard-core grassroots marketing to drive traffic to your site, it’s important to ensure that first-time visitors aren't disappointed when they get there. Make sure you deliver on the high expectations you’ve created through your insightful blog comments, forum contributions and guest posts. When new visitors arrive at your site, they should discover a library of compelling cornerstone content that speaks to their interests and concerns. Find the unanswered questions that exist around your specialty offer your expert opinion. Provide real solutions to the problems that keep people up at night. Be bold and make sure you aren’t just saying the same thing as everyone else out there. Useful and unique is the name of the game. Otherwise you'll be doing all this work to reel in new readers only to let them slip away again.

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Management 2.0: How to Use Social Media to Boost Productivity

Social media: it’s not just for marketing anymore

Usually, when companies talk social media, the discussion revolves around how these networks can be used to strengthen connections and facilitate communication between their brand and their customers. However, what most companies almost never consider is how social media platforms can also be used internally to strengthen connections and facilitate communication between management and employees. In fact, more often than not, the use of social media in the workplace is a hot-button topic for managers who fear the specter of distraction and idleness. So is it really possible that social media – with its reputation as the ultimate time-waster – can actually promote productivity? Let’s take a look:

Facebook

As a manager, when you think of employees using Facebook at work, you probably imagine cubicles filled with people frittering away valuable company time posting status updates, commenting on friends’ photos and playing games like Farmville. But have you considered how you could use your employees’ affinity for Facebook to your advantage to foster better internal communication? By using the “Secret Group” setting, you can create a group that is visible only to its members. This option – along with the new Group Chat feature that allows multiple people to participate in a topic thread – make Facebook a great tool for far-flung teams to use for collaboration and brainstorming.

Twitter

In the world of social media, Twitter has perhaps the worst reputation as a forum for the inane. However, it’s also an invaluable weapon in the competitive arena. Never before has it been easier to keep tabs on your competitors, your customers and the trends that are shaping your industry and business today. Following the right companies, people and media outlets creates an infinite stream of information to cull for ideas and inspiration. Encourage your employees to keep their radar up and to share interesting finds with one another, and you may just find that the seeds of your Next Big Thing spring from Twitter. In addition, consider setting up a private Twitter account for your company, selecting the “protect my tweets” option to limit the visibility of your tweets only to those you allow to follow the account (i.e., your employees). Suddenly Twitter becomes a very useful tool for broadcasting company-wide updates and announcements – particularly if you’re managing a virtual workforce whose members are scattered across a number of different physical locations.

Google+

While brand pages for Google+ have yet to be unleashed, the ability to use the platform as an internal communication tool is already here. Specifically, the Hangout feature offers a free and easy-to-use group video chat platform. From remote presentations to meetings between colleagues who are traveling to impromptu discussions – there are a myriad of potential uses for Hangouts. And since Google+ is built into the Google suite of products, it won’t be a hard sell to your employees, since chances are good that they’re already using a number of other tools like Gmail, Docs and Reader.

New tools for a new workforce

As clichéd as the saying may be, when it comes to social media and productivity, it’s time to start thinking outside the box. These are tools to be embraced, not feared. Social media networks are where people live online today. Your employees use social media; they like and are familiar with its platforms and their conventions. So if you’re looking for new tools to promote productivity, improve communication and foster innovation among the members of your team, why not start with the ones that are already an integral part of their lives? Still not sold? Just remember this: at one point email was considered a waste of company time and money…and we all know how that turned out.

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