I attended the event because first and foremost, I’m a Big Howie fan – the man really knows his stuff and always overdelivers- and second, I wanted to undertstand traffic from 3 different “proven” perspectives. And as if learning about traffic from 3 different but effective points of view wasn’t enough, they unselfishly invited a husband/wife team, Lee and Robin Collins, to speak about yet another way of getting traffic.

Howie and Ross focused on social media and dominating Google organically while Simon focused on his speciality, Adwords. And yes while i would rather not pay to advertise on google, the information revealed by Simon will allow me to use google adwords more effectively. For starters, I now know how to rank higher for less PPC (pay per click) cost and adjust my websites/landing pages so that they coincide better with what google is looking for.

What I probably found the most intesteing, was the guest speakers Lee and Robin Collins. Up until they spoke, I had never heard of them or their way of getting traffic – Hybrid Marketing. By the way, not knowing them or their methods is no reflection on them just my newness to the online world of incredible marketers who market from their hearts!

Hybrid marketing is the synthesis of offline and online marketing that can virtually become automated. As Lee and Robin pointed out, automation to them can be equated to outsourcing. Any way you look at it, it’s work that you don’t have to physically do! They defined it as a S-Y-S-T-E-M; Saves You Significant Time Energy & Money!!

In addition to all the information that i walked away with, attending LIVE events has it’s own energy you don’t get from a recording or video. In addtion, the opportunity to network is priceless. I definitley let my newbie status show when I approached Donna Fox and Ken McArthur and introduved myself. Just had to say hello and introduce myself so i could say I met them. Live events lets you see some of the better known online personalities and how they not only talk the talk but walk the walk. I find it real comforting to know the names and faces online are “real approachable” people.

I was hoping to get some pictures from someone I met at the event but have yet to recieve them. If I do indeed get them, I will definitely upload them for all to see. My next live event I promise to take pictures. I just feel a little uncomfortable, as it’s like bothering a movie star for their autograph/picture. Don’t want to become one of “them.”

In closing, if you can get yourself to a LIVE event – GO! If it’s a Howie Schwartz event – get there as fast as you can. If you have never heard Howie speak make it a point to hear what he has to say next chance you get. Then again, Ross Goldberg and Simon Leung also dropped a load of information and would be great to learn from if you ever hear they are around. Then there’s Robin and Lee Collins my newest learning tool and online marketers that I plan on stalking and learning from.

Action Is Required!

 ~ Make it interesting and informative. Make sure your posts offer information on your business, what   your business offers, and informative posts regarding the art of your business in general. Keep it interesting and be sure to include something of value. If the reader feels they got something out of your post, you can be sure they will return for more.

 ~ Be consistent and post frequently but not at the price of quality. Posting daily may get your blog noticed quicker, but even if you don’t post as often, if you consistently include quality content your blog will still grow accordingly.

 ~ Offer them an incentive. Offer your readers a free newsletter or report in exchange for their name and email address. This is a great way to build a list and at the same time increase your blog reader numbers.

 ~ RSS, think RSS! Many blog readers do not actually visit the blog every day. They subscribe to the RSS feeds of the blog. This blogging tactic can be used across the board by all bloggers. The easier your posts are to locate, the more people that will read them.

Blogging is an effective and popular method of marketing that has a high Return On Investment (ROI).  Many marketers choose to use blogs to drive more customers and more business to their site.  These blogs often offer expert opinions and knowledge that visitors are looking for on the Internet.  You can get started blogging by setting up a free blog at sites such as, wordpress.com and blogger.com. 

For all those real observant readers who might be questioning why I haven’t followed my own advice on offering an incentive to my readers, it’s in the works.  This is all a learning process for me and I can only learn and do so much in a day.  But it’s in the works and I hope to have it up soon.  If you keep coming back to read my content you’ll soon see what I have to offer. 

When you use a traffic script such as the free www.statcounter.com, you can actually see where your traffic is coming from.  If a large number of visitors come from a certain blog, there is a good chance that they have mentioned you in their latest posts or linked to you from their sidebar or links page.  if that’s the case, then I suggest you pay them a visit, leave constructive comments on their posts and build up a conversation.

As you continue to do this, you will start to accumulate friends in your niche.  This is helpful later on if you ever decide to do any kind of collaborations.  Besides, you can never too many contacts and you never know when they may come in handy.

If you’re using a blog that supports trackback links, you may want to add them to your posts.  By doing this, you can post an article about what other people have posted.  Your particular post will then appear as a link on the post you have written about.  Just think, if you were to leave brillant insightful comments on a well read blog, you may just very well increase traffic to your own blog. 

If your blog does not support trackback links, you can always just leave a comment and subtly leave a link back to your blog.  Whether you decide to use trackback links or comments, please be mindful of what you post.  Be sure your posts/comments are intelligent, insightful. informative, and/or sensible.  The last thing you want, is to be viewed as a spammer.

• Create a site with valuable content, products or services.
• Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
• Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.
• Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like in your Title, META tags, Headers, etc.

•  Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.
• Submit every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.
• Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
• Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.
• Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.
• Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, resources and other valuable information.
• Don’t look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location.
• Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.
• When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer’s experience fast and easy.
• When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, in the long run it may be less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.

To dig a little deeper on How To Increase Your Website Traffic, check out the suggestions of others on the web.    

I published another article this week and made some posts in forums.  The article I published is titled Every Website Requires Search Engine Optimization and can be found in numerous places.  It still makes me proud to see my articles published but this particular submission was not only accepted in the knowledge base, but made the “Top Pick” list for the online newspaper. 

As a beginner writer, when I write an article I learn so much about the topic and continue to increase my knowledge of the online marketing business.  I also played around with some interesting tools I came across that have to do with forum posts, finding blogs with dofollow links, and a page strength analyzer.  I found them all some what helpful and was especially impressed with the tool that showed me stats on my page strength.  It was here that I discovered that the few articles I published have given me some exposure on the web and in a very distant way recognized on Google. 

Notice how I wrote the headline for this post?  Something I picked up on in my readings.  Include keywords in your headlines as a way of SEO.  Better chance to be picked up by readers and spiders.