Tips for increasing web traffic, increase visitors, improve search engine rankings, generate visits, promotion, business. The best traffic tools on the net. We've collected only the most effective tools

As you've probably heard, quality links are vital to the search engine ranking of your website. But the question is, how to best collect links? Link farms can do more harm than good, and Google has posted strong warnings about use of SEO companies. What to do? The ever tedious job of emailing webmasters to request link exchanges can be made a bit easier with link checking software. We are currently testing some of these, and will post the links to our favorites here when testing is done. (Please check back!)

If you are your own webdesigner, just add the links, email us with your URL, site description, and the location of the above links, and your site will be added to all the websites in the list. Or, if you have a webdesigner, send them to the page at http://www.startunz.com/exchangelinkswithus.html and ask them to add the links for you.

Interactivity will help you gain better search engine rankings, too. This keeps your site fresh and changing, and visitors have come to expect a higher level of interactivity than in the early days of the web. Add a feedback form, forum (or bulliten board) and a blog. (If you need help beginning working with a wordpress blog, we offer some blogging for beginners tips here on the site. If you are hosted with us, we can install and tweak your wordpress blog for you. Just and we'll be happy to help!

Start a mailing list! Here's a place to set up your list, get a sign-up link, and create well designed emails using templates or not - and you can try it for free! Each email has an easy unsubscribe link which puts your readers in control. Try it out here.
As you probably know, purchasing e-mail lists is non productive and typically amounts to supporting spammers, but building your own list is invaluable. I have a link on every page of my website for sign-ups and send a coupon for a discount in every email. You can also use your list for auto-replies, ongoing lessons or articles, event or sale announcements...well, the possibilities are endless.
In addition, if you host with StarTunz, we can set up a different list software with your own control panel. I use both for different features: this hosted option is great for simple announcements but doesn't offer the complex tracking of the one mentioned above. Ideally, you will probably (like me) find a use for both types.

Keep your site fresh. Gone are the days when you could design your site and just let it sit there - and still expect to be listed favorably in the search engines. As mentioned above, starting a blog is a great easy way to keep updating your site, as each entry can be indexed by Google. In addition to that, change some text on your site (I would recommend you do this quarterly.) Even just changing the wording of some of your pages, updating a schedule, or changing description of a product or two will help. How long has it been since you updated your site? (If you need help updating your website and would like to use our services,

Having a responsive and helpful webdesigner is quite important. There are countless webdesigners advertising on the web, and you'll need to weed through them for someone whose design work shows both artistic and coding skills - and whom you personally like and trust. You should feel comfortable discussing your goals and asking questions, and your webdesigner should be someone who relates to you an your business. In addition, your webdesigner should be able to craft your metatag keywords, optimize your photos and images for quicker load time, and suggest designs that will keep your website easy to navigate. For webdesign assistance and to request estimates,

A word about buying traffic

There are lots of companies on the web that sell traffic, either via pop-up or pop-under techniques, email blasting, or free-for-all linking. In our experience, the quality of this type of traffic is inferior, meaning that the percentage of visitors who actually visit and stay on your site can be quite low. Plus many of these techniques are annoying and can quickly give your site a tacky reputation.

Pay-per-click search engine advertising is a much more effective way to get traffic, but it can be quite expensive if not done carefully. Please read our article on using pay-per-click advertising for more information. Methodical, targeted use of pay-per-click options can really increase traffic to your site.

You've Built Your Site...Now You Need Traffic!