I am looking for tricks some successfull webmasters use to get lots of
traffic. We have tried to get listed in the top 20 of major search
engines using web position gold with no success. I am looking for
programs that offer things like cost per action (CPA) at low or no
setup fee's. Any and all suggestions welcome! Thanks in advance!

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Request for Question Clarification by j_philipp-ga on 01 Jun 2002 11:50 PDT

Are you mainly looking for CPAs, or would you also be interested in
search engine optimization in general?

Hi dslus,

Thank you for this interesting question: I have researched both search
engine submission which is listed first, and then some resources for
your interest in CPA's.

As you know, search engine optimization can do a lot for your traffic,
just like a good retail location. (Location, Location, Location!)

Getting actually listed with search engines can take up to 3 months.
The people who do it professionally are consultants who keep moving
from
client to client. There are services that will submit your site to
hundreds of search engines for a fee. But they often don't really
work, and so, you're better off doing the job yourself.

The best strategy is to design your site to be crawled and ranked well
from the start.

An interesting article written by Lee
10 Ways to Promote Your Site

( http://www.europeanwebmasters.com/webmaster-articles/traffic-generation.html
)


In addition:
On Page 3 of this site from Web Monkey

Sending Search Engine Traffic to Your Site by Paul Boutin - 07/27/1999

(
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/31/index1a_page3.html?tw=e-business
)

"There are three obvious ways to get your Web page to come up at the
top of the search results for a specific search phrase. The funny
thing is that the search engine managers I talked to said most people
never try these. They are: keep it short, use title and meta tags, and
make a separate page for each search phrase.
 
And, here is some useful information with some great links for your
CPA inquiry:
 
The following is one of the affiliate programs which you would pay
$300-$1000 US dollars.  Depending on what you want to pay, this may or
may not be lost cost to you.

"Aff_Manager is a web server software application that allows you to
manage your own Affiliate program - - You get this solution for a Low,
One-Time Cost. No setup fees, leases, commissions, or renewals. You
own the software and run it on any server you choose."

Aff_Manager was built for merchants who want to OWN, MANAGE, and have
the ability to CUSTOMIZE their affiliate program and software."

(
http://www.affiliate-management-software.com/affiliate-program-articles-resources-secrets.cfm
)


From the same page here are some more links that will give you 
general information.

"For additional information about Affiliate Marketing, please refer to
the following sites:

The Mystique of Affiliate Programs By Jackie Gallogly and Lynne Rolls
( http://www.clickz.com/article.php/937091 ) 


Affiliate Marketing, New Customers, New Profits By Dan Gray
( http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/11/gray/ )


An Affiliate Marketing Primer: Chapter II, by Tig Tillinghast 
( http://www.clickz.com/media/buy_101/article.php/842811 )

 
Affiliate Program Growth Potential, by Shawn Collins 
( http://www.clickz.com/aff_mkt/aff_mkt/article.php/836011 )

 
Associate Programs 45-second newsletter 
( http://wz.com/business/AffiliatePrograms.html )
 

Associate Programs Newsletter 
( http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter.shtml )"

I sincerely hope this information will help you and I want to wish you
Good Luck!
tlspiegel-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by dslus-ga on 02 Jun 2002 10:23 PDT

Ok there are all great and I appriciate it. However it is nothing new.
All of these articles are avaible for free and I've read most of them.
Anybody have something unique?

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Clarification of Answer by tlspiegel-ga on 02 Jun 2002 12:22 PDT

Hello again,
I understand you want some clarification on my answer.  There is
nothing "new" as you say... if there were I would be doing it on my
website to create more traffic! :)

One thing I haven't mentioned is to keep your website current and
updated.  Check for broken links, make sure navigation is as easy as
walking into your kitchen and back to your computer.  Updates and
checking should take place at the very least weekly.

Just follow the guidelines on the Description and META tags for your
website so the search engines can find you.  Be patient because it
takes a few months for people to know you're out there and doing
business.  It's similar to a B&M (brick and mortar store) - word of
mouth, referrals from satisfied customers, sales, promotions, and
patience.

You're in competition with millions of other websites, and everyone is
wanting the same thing: a unique and new way to to create traffic -
ie., business immediately.  Even in the real life business world that
is not internet activated - competition is fierce.

As I said, if you follow the basic guidelines which are known to
work... it will happen.

Several years ago, when the internet was still a baby, I created my
first website.  In less than a year it was listed #1 in it's
classification - on all the major search engines, and stayed there for
over 6 months.  I was receiving more email than any one person could
handle.  Now-a-days more people are doing business on the net than
back in 1995-6.  Many things have changed, but the formula is still
the same for success.

If you need any more clarification please feel free to post again. 
And, much Good Luck to you...
tlspiegel-ga

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Clarification of Answer by tlspiegel-ga on 02 Jun 2002 12:41 PDT

Hi,
I browsed around your website by searching in Google for:
www.dslus.com - and found you.  However, the following message was
displayed:
"Untitled
This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't
support them. Click here to continue. 
www.dslus.com/ - 1k - Cached - Similar pages"

Just a note of interest for you - both my browsers support frames. 
Have no clue why that message was displayed - and it's a first for me.

I also went to AltaVista and typed in your url.  So far, they haven't
added you.  My thinking is if a reasonable amount of time has passed
and you find your not listed with the major/minor search engines, it's
time to re-submit.

I'm assuming you haven't changed your url since creating your site. 
If you have, then you need to update the engines with that new
information.

May I ask how long has your site been visible on the internet?  Thanks
again,
tlspiegel-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by dslus-ga on 27 Jun 2002 22:50 PDT

Ok webrings are crap. Please post some real traffic building, not just
some 10 year olds web ring.

---

Clarification of Answer by tlspiegel-ga on 28 Jun 2002 13:26 PDT

Hello again,
I'm sorry to report there isn't anything more I can add to my answer. 
I've consulted with my colleagues and used my own personal knowledge
(of which I had the number one ranked website on ALL search engines
for over 6 mos... back in the "old days" when there was less
competition - however it was still quite an awesome feat even then.

quoted from my answer: 
"Several years ago, when the internet was still a baby, I created my
first website.  In less than a year it was listed #1 in it's
classification - on all the major search engines, and stayed there for
over 6 months.  I was receiving more email than any one person could
handle.  Now-a-days more people are doing business on the net than
back in 1995-6.  Many things have changed, but the formula is still
the same for success."

Most all successful internet companies on the web today use the basic
methods I've described in my answer.  These work, but one must be
patient while waiting for the success to actually happen. It can take
months and months until terrific results are recognized for all your
efforts.

I reiterate:  "The formula is still the same for success."  And can be
done for free.  There is no magic bullet!

I do wish you the best of luck and hope you will continue to use
Google Answers for your questions.

tlspiegel-ga

Hello,
A few more things that successful webmasters will do:

1- Join a Webring which is a group of related Websites that have links
going from one site to another. The Webring I have used successfully
is WebRing and statistics are kept for your perusal on generated
traffic.
 ( http://dir.webring.com/rw )

2- Add your URL to your signature on all outgoing email.

3- You can answer questions or post information on a related newsgroup
and post your URL within your signature.

4- Exchange links with other sites that have similar content.

Thanks again!
tlspiegel-ga

Try this search for "10,000 visitors" on Google:
://www.google.com/search?q=10%2C000+visitors

I don't know that I'd actually recommend using a service like this.  I
seriously doubt the traffic is of any high quality, but 10,000 visits
is 10,000 visits.

xemion-ga

You do not need "tricks" to promote your web site or to buy "10.000
instant visitors". All you need is a search engine optimization
campaign, some good keywords to optimize your site and strong link
popularity. As of the beginning of February 2001, the keyword
"schools" has 34,618 sites in the MSN search engine database. But the
keyword PHRASE "private schools" has 310 sites listed. Would you
rather compete against 34,618 sites or 310 sites? Of course the answer
is obvious, you want to compete against a smaller group. Furthermore,
"schools" had 451 searches done while "private schools" had 120. The
ratio, for "schools," is 76 to 1, yet for "private schools," it is 0.4
to 1! That's 76 sites for each search done for "schools" versus .4
sites for each search done for "private schools" at MSN, which by the
way averages about 10% of all search traffic.

Check out http://1st-meta-tags.businessresearchsources.com. You can
find there affordable web optimization solutions.

I found several of your sites, the main one is the only one that
adheres to some of the common needs of search engines, the rest are
one pagers (that I found). Those would work better for you if they had
text on them, rather than all pictures. An engine can't index pictures
as a keyword search and if your keywords don't match some content on
the page then its not indexed at all.

The "common misspelling" technique you are using is fine, if I'm
looking for a more popular site, and have "happy fingers" but like I
said above, not doing you much good the way it is, and those are
probably doing you more harm than good right now.

Not every site is searched every time. Sites like your misspelled
sites, are put in "wait and see" databases, and they aren't checked
again for several months.

There are "rules" in the search engine which look for "Spam" type
sites, and those could get your sites "banned" completely.

Personally I would get your sites up with various content and
information. You have a good news page, but it doesn't look like a
good news page. Post the same news information on one of your other
sites, like dslus.com, instead of what you have there, and add a more
business type facade to it, then use one of your other sites for a
more "college student" page and post MP3 information there.

Ask yourself why someone wants DSL. Faster downloads, yes, but why?
MP3's animation, flash, etc. Set up your other sites to support and
give news out for those things, and then advertise on them. Right now
you are completely reliant on the fact that I already want DSL, and
have already decided against Cable or some other method and am now
looking for a DSL website. I'm not going to find you in this case.
Catch me when I'm frustrated with my service or my modem speed. That's
when I'll find you.

Stay clear of things like web position gold, many of these programs
don't do much good. Its better to post to the search engine yourself.
Read the specs. Then submit. The real trick, is don't use tricks.


Thanks for posting and good luck. 

webadept-ga