Business 31 - 40: Create Automated Traffic Tools for Web Sites

The name of the game in Internet marketing is traffic. Everybody wants it and everybody wants to know how to get it to their site. If you can create a good theme for your site and can get targeted to your web site, it will start making money. It really can be seen as being that simple.

The key is the traffic...

You may have tried the old and dried out method of posting in newsgroups, free classifieds, or free-for-all links pages around the internet. Although this can be profitable, it is a continual chore that has to be done over and over again with only very small results coming back from it.

Some people have turned to "Spamming" the Internet with their advertising messages. Spamming is simply defined as sending unsolicited bulk email to thousands of people without it being requested or posting advertising messages in newsgroups and forums without consideration of the readers (providing content is the key to posting).

Although "Spamming" can make you some profits, it will also make you thousands of enemies AND it will get your accounts canceled off of the Internet. Some people have made money from "Spamming," but you CANNOT build a long term business online through it.

You may ask, "Why do people use it then?" It is simply because they haven't been able to find any other way to consistently drive thousands of visitors to their sites day after day and month after month. They feel that is their only choice to making money online.

If the key is traffic, and free classifieds and Spamming aren't the solution...what is it then?

The key to continual and consistent daily traffic at your site can be summed up in 4 words:

"Free Automated Traffic Generators."

People aren't looking for sales letters online. They aren't looking to know more about your company. They are looking for Free information and tools to benefit themselves. Your visitors are only thinking one thing, "What's In It For Me?"

What is in it for me to visit your web site?

What do I get out of it...for Free?

Why should I come back?

If your web site isn't answering those questions, then you will never reach the traffic goals you dream of. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to come back to your site, to refer others, or to buy your products and services.

The web sites that everyone visits (the ones that receive 1,000s of hits daily) are giving their visitors what they want...free information and tools to benefit and help them in their interests. Are you? Why should anyone want to come to your site? What do they get there?

The first and foremost thing that your visitors are looking for is Free Information...but that isn't all they want. That isn't enough with the competition on the Internet. Now, you also have to provide tools to help them in their lives.

Every web site needs "Automatic Traffic Generators" to stay competitive in today's Internet environment.

Common Gateway Interface is a programming language used on the Internet more commonly known as CGI.

When you look at a regular web site, it is done in html format...(which you can create in the html language or by using an editing program such as FrontPage). Html can be used to create beautiful sites with color, graphics inserted using images, and more. It has one weakness though for marketing purposes. It is static. It stays in one constant state. It doesn't change. What you see is what you get.

What CGI does is make the html alive. It can be used to create forms which collect information from visitors. It can be used to set up message boards so you and your visitors can interact. It can be used so people can place classified ads on your site.

There are other programming languages which can be used to do some of these same features online, but CGI is the most common one and the one which can be used on the majority of web hosts out there. As a matter of fact, whenever I look at web hosts one of the first things I look for is for them to have a CGI-BIN for me to use (this is where you store your CGI scripts).

The ten ideas or businesses I am going to show to you below all involve and use CGI in one way or another. Only one of them actually deals with creating CGI programs (a difficult process in most cases)...the rest deal with learning and installing them. The best place to look for more information on CGI programming and files is at http://www.cgi-resources.com/. All of the programs listed below can be found through their site as they link to just about every major CGI resource available.

If you were looking for a technical business which is in HIGH demand constantly online...CGI programming is definitely it. People who develop unique CGI programs that build traffic for others are guaranteed to be able to make hundreds of sales of programs they develop (as long as they market them effectively).

The need for traffic to web sites will never end. Tools which help to create that traffic will always be in need as well. This isn't a simple job though. Even small CGI programs such as forms or guest books require quite a bit of effort to learn, and designing the complex CGI programs desired by the majority of web site owners can be a daunting task. If you are up for this mission though, I would start off with http://www.cgi-resources.com/ and devour every shred of information listed there.

From here on out we are going to be discussing installing CGI programs for other web site owners. Installing CGI programs can be an easy or difficult task, based mostly on the instructions written by the creator of the programs. Most web site owners will never want to mess with the hassle though of installing their own programs as they do rely on you developing a working knowledge of your web server and be able to edit the programs to work on your server.

Every web site really should have forms or guest books to help them capture information about their visitors, and you can be the one to make that happen. For a small fee you could set-up or install simple forms or guest books to people's sites or host their CGI programs on your site. Take a look at what http://www.freedback.com has done by providing forms to be used on webmaster's sites...they have over 50,000 sites using their forms.

A good little tool to get people to keep coming back to your site is to open a classified ad section for them to use for free (this is also a good way to collect more information about your visitors as well). It is probably one of the first Automated Traffic Generators webmasters were using, but it still can do the trick today for that extra boost in traffic.

These sites have been sold for as much as $700 apiece...and you could easily charge $200 - $400 for installing them on people's sites. The best of these programs will collect information on your visitors so you will be able to follow up on them later.

How would you like to be able to send out 100s of advertising messages daily for your site for FREE and never once Spam anyone? Now, you can with your own Free-For-All Links Pages. Set up a simple Free-For-All Links site which automatically sends out email to everyone who posts there and then submit the site to the major automated submitting programs and companies such as http://www.linkomatic.com and you will have 100s of messages going out daily for you automatically.

As an installer, you could put together a complete package where you install the CGI, help them design a quick email message to go out, and submit their site to the different submission programs out there. Such a package would sell in the $250 - $500 range and be well worth the price.

Discussion Boards are quickly becoming the BEST way to get traffic to keep coming back to your site and to build relationships with your prospects. I know of some message boards who receive 500,000 or more hits monthly without spending a penny in advertising. People just keep coming back time after time to receive the valuable information that is being shared there for free.

Combine a message board and an ezine along with a well thought out strategy for your web site and you have the "Recipe" for Internet success all cooked up. Discussion boards are actually one of the easiest programs to install and bring a price of $200 - $400 for installs. 

Find the web sites which have the most consistent traffic, and you will find the the web sites which have hundreds of other sites linked to them constantly driving traffic their way. There are currently several CGI programs available which can help you to run a linking campaign online. They will track all of the sites which link to you and provide them with links in return on your site. This is done automatically for you with the program continually checking to see if all of your link partners are still linking to your site.

One of these programs can be combined along with an email letter to send to other web sites you find with similar themes to ask for links into an effective business plan. Teach and show other online businesses how they can trade for traffic using these Linking tools.

Ezines are a great way to stay in contact with your prospects week after week. They will help you to build a relationship with your prospects AND to make sales to them constantly. The newest feature though in this area are the ezines which can also send out personalized messages to your subscribers. Instead of just starting out like a general message to all of your subscribers, they can start out Dear Tom, or Dear Susan.

Some of these are produced by CGI programs which you can learn to install on your site and others. Look them up in the CGI Resource page given to you above and pick out the one which is right for you.

These are becoming very common online, but that doesn't mean that they aren't working anymore. They definitely are. One person can come to your site and send a postcard to their friends. Then, their friends visit to pick up their postcard and send a postcard to someone else. Every time a postcard goes out, a new person ends up at your site.

There are currently postcard programs available which can be designed with your own graphics, your own music files, and more. They can be personalized for any site, theme, or holiday. Although they are being used everywhere it seems now, they are still bringing in traffic.

Any program that has to do with search engines is guaranteed to bring in interest. A couple of the popular ones available in this area are programs which can submit to the search engines for you and ones which can check the position of anyone's sites on the search engines.

We have a couple of examples of these programs which you can see on our site at http://www.bizpromo.com. These tools or anything else you find which somehow involves the search engines (including programs which set up your own search engine) will continue to be popular traffic builders for any site.

Everyday new programs are being invented which can help you to automatically generate traffic to your sites. Dealer programs, automated autoresponder follow-ups, simple games, and more are all programs I have taken a look at lately which will end up being big traffic tools. There really aren't any limits in this area, and CGI systems will continue to grow and produce even greater results online.

Find a unique program to install or invent your own. It will be a good secondary income for any webmaster (especially web designers or promoters) to add to their multiple income streams online.

Go to the Next Section: Business 41-50: Build Your Own Information Empire

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