How To Increase The Traffic To Your Website

I get asked this all the time, whether via Alexa's forums, or after work by my friends: How do I get more traffic to my Web site? I wish there was just some simple button that I could tell people to push and that it would solve all their traffic issues. But it doesn't exist; if it did, everybody would already be using it.

But there are whole heaps of great advice, which if followed, will lead to more visitors to your site. What follows is a simple to follow list of best practices to help get you on your way.

1. On-Site Factors. Start with your site. You need to make it the best it can be. So that it will be attractive to visitors AND search engines.

• Keywords. What is your site about? Find a few key words and phrases that you think describe your site and that people may actually enter into a search box on Google. If you pick very popular keywords and phrases, you might be disappointed. Millions of people will search for those keywords and phrases, but you will be way down the search results because lots of sites are optimized for those phrases. If you pick less popular keywords and phrases, you may have a shot of actually showing up in the search results because fewer sites have optimized for those keywords and phrases.

• Optimize Your Site. Use your keywords and phrases on your site. Put them in the title of your page, in the H1 tags, metatags and throughout your site. Use them in the text of links that point to your page. Shoot for having keyword density of about 6%.
  

• Have Good Content. You should strive to have something new on your site once per day. Don't let your site get stale... Google's algorithms will notice and so will visitors to your site. If you don't have a lot of time to create unique content every day, consider putting up a daily poll, creating a forum on your site, or leaving a comments field/Guest Book for visitors to fill out. If you use Twitter or Facebook, you can have your updates automatically appear on your site.
  

• Unique Value Proposition. Give something away on your site to your visitors to remember you by. Otherwise people may forget your site and won't come back. You can find interesting content on widgetbox.com, or you can give them a custom Alexa Toolbar. Just give them something.

• Create A Sitemap. Every time you update content on your site you should update your sitemap and submit the site map to Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, etc.. There are lots of free sitemap tools out there. Find one and get started. It is a great way to let Google know when your site is updated.

• Return Visitors. How are you going to get people to return to your site after they have left? You may want to consider an e-mail newsletter. But don't spam... please. If people like your content let them sign up to get your newsletter. You should also allow people to subscribe to your updates via facebook or twitter. Most blogs offer easy plugins for this feature.

• Link Bait. People love lists. Make lists of things that are relevant to your site and put them on your site, like top ten fishing sites. Then let the sites in your list know you have made your list. They may take that list and put it on their site... Or give out awards like "fishing site of the week." which brings us to...

2. Off-Site Factors. Once you have a great site you need to start thinking about other factors, mostly links. If nobody links to your site you are going to have a tough time getting seen in Google's results. More links = better placement in Google. So how do you get links?

• Link Number One. The first link is easy. Alexa already has a link to your site, and Alexa's page rank is high, so the link from Alexa counts more than most. You just need to let Google know that Alexa has a link to your site. How do you do that? Install the Google Toolbar then visit Alexa. But be sure to put your Alexa Toolbar back!
  

• Get Listed In Directories. Directories that are relevant to your site are generally more important than others, so if your site is about basket weaving, find a basket weaving directory and ask them to list your site. Get listed in as many as possible. And then find other general directories like DMOZ and get listed there. Are there Wikipedia articles that should list your site as a place for more information on a topic? Get listed.

• Participate In Social Media. Find forums that are relevant to your content and participate... a lot. Update your signature footer on the forum to include a link to your site. Use Twitter, Facebook, Digg, but, in all cases, do not just post or write about your own site. Nobody cares. Write and post about things that you care about, sometimes your site, and people who like your posts may make their way over to your site.

• Have Something Newsworthy. If you have something newsworthy, don't just blog about it. First post it as a press release on your site, then update your sitemap, then post it to the newswires, then submit it to ezine articles, Article Base and/or Go Articles, then blog about it, twitter about it, etc. If you do it right you will have at least a couple of new links to your site, and if you do it really right you could have dozens of new links.

• Advertise. There are lots of great advertising solutions out there. Google AdWords is a great place to start and, if done well, can offer you a good deal on targeted traffic. Display advertising can be effective and affordable as well. The social networks are now offering do-it-yourself advertising at reasonable prices, and even Alexa allows you to advertise at inexpensive CPMs.
  

And, as always, install the Alexa Toolbar. It won't increase the traffic to your site, but it won't hurt and you will be helping Alexa to track your site and helping the entire Internet Community by contributing to Alexa's Traffic Data.

Getting more traffic to your site is a journey. Take the first steps today, and with a little hard work and some luck, you will be counting your visitors in the millions before too long.

In Time for Summer, Top Travel Sites

Every Summer people flock to the online travel sites to make their travel plans. This year, despite the flagging economy, is no different. Here is a round-up of the top travel sites. When you book your tickets, give one of these sites a try.



Top Online Travel Sites
There are a lot of great travel sites out there and if I neglected to include yours, let me know in the comments. The list below is comprised of flight aggregators, where you can find flights from multiple airlines. Single airline sites like JetBlue or SouthWest are not included, nor are sites that are focused on hotels or reviews.

1. Expedia - www.expedia.com
The big grand-daddy of online travel aggregators is Expedia. With an Alexa Rank of 351 and climbing, Expedia is cruising through the downturn with ease. With services for flights, hotels and car rentals this one-stop shop should be on your list of sites to visit when booking tickets for your Summer travel.
Alexa Rank: 351

2. Trip Advisor - www.tripadvisor.com
Nipping at the heels of Expedia we have Trip Advisor with an Alexa Rank of 376. Historically Trip Advisor has been a site focused on travel reviews. But with the addition of flight and hotel booking, and more, Trip Advisor has grown into a serious Expedia competitor.
Alexa Rank: 376

3. Travelocity - www.travelocity.com
You may know travelocity from its garden gnome mascot, seen on many television commercials. Currently at number 3 on the list of top online travel sites with a rank of 682, Travelocity is not faring as well in the downturn with traffic to the site showing a slight downturn.
Alexa Rank: 682

4. Orbitz - www.orbitz.com
Another site that has done quite a bit on online advertising is Orbitz, whose commercials might be confused with Orbit gum, both of which use 50's stylizations and a blue color scheme. Orbitz at Alexa Rank of 693 is still one of the most popular online travel sites, but has seen some decline over the past two years. Like Expedia and Travelocity, Orbitz is a full-featured online travel aggregator.
Alexa Rank: 693

5. Priceline - www.priceline.com
Yet another site with funny television commercials is Priceline, whose commercials feature William Shatner egging people on to make low bids. Priceline is quite unlike the other travel aggregators and allows people to make offers/bids on travel packages which may or may not be accepted by the provider. As you can see from the graph, Priceline has been experiencing some significant growth over the past year, which is an impressive feat in this economy.
Alexa Rank: 782

6. Kayak - www.kayak.com
Kayak, while lesser known than many of the sites higher up in this list, has a loyal user base that continues to come back for the Kayak's innovative features such as price histories and advanced searching tools. While Kayak hasn't experienced much growth over the last 12 months, its two year growth has been impressive. This site is a must for folks who are comfortable with their advanced interface.
Alexa Rank: 915

7. Travelzoo - www.travelzoo.com
You may have noted that the other sites in this list show a fair amount of seasonal variation. Travelzoo, strangely, does not. Travelzoo has been around for ages and their site looks very much like it did in 1998. Despite their old-school design, it remains a popular destination.
Alexa Rank: 1,312

8. HotWire - www.hotwire.com
At number eight on our list we have HotWire with an Alexa rank of 1,519. Hotwire, which started with an odd business model, where you would book flights with vague flight times on unnamed airlines, is now very similar to the Expedia and Orbitz sites. While not as popular as the biggest players, Hotwire has been experiencing some growth over the last two years.
Alexa Rank: 1,519

9. CheapTickets - www.cheaptickets.com
The economic downturn has not been kind to cheaptickets, whose traffic is off by almost 50% over the last two years. But don't let that stop you from visiting the site, which has all the features that you would expect from a travel aggregator.
Alexa Rank: 2,014

10. CheapoAir - www.cheapoair.com
CheapOAir is a relative newcomer whose traffic has grown significantly over the last two years and is now running neck and neck with Cheap Tickets. No special features here to recommend cheapoair, but it does have all the features that you would expect, plus it has the word "cheap" in the name, which is bound to garner a few extra clicks.
Alexa Rank: 2,580

For more online travel sites give Alexa's Site Finder a try (Travel), or take a look at the Top Travel Sites in the Directory.

Facebook Juggernaut Overtakes YouTube

Observant tweeter nametrader noticed that Facebook has been continuing its rise up the rankings and has recently unseated YouTube to become the 3rd most popular site on the Web according to Alexa's Daily Rankings yesterday. Take a look at the graph below showing the daily reach for Facebook (in blue) and YouTube.

Next up for Facebook? Google and Yahoo:
I don't expect Facebook to pass Yahoo (in Red) any time soon, but if the current trend holds Facebook could pass Yahoo by March of next year and may actually catch Google six months after that.

Don't forget the Grads... Top Used Car Sites

It is that time of year again, with Summer fast approaching, and students preparing for graduation. I know a little something about Alexa's readers, and you are a bit wealthier than most, so I'm assuming that you will all be buying cars for your graduates? Listed below are the top sites to help you begin your search for the perfect used car for your favorite graduate.

But first, a word from our sponsor, amazon.com:


Top Used Car Sites

As with so many of these lists, sometimes we are comparing apples and oranges. For example, some of the sites below sell both used and new cars. Some of these license their data from other sources, and some sites are not included at all because they are not "sites" but simply sections of much larger sites, like autos.msn.com, for example (who just happen to source their data from the #1 site on our list, AutoTrader.)

1. AutoTrader - autotrader.com
Not only is AutoTrader the biggest online used car site, it is also used to power a number of the sites in this list.
Alexa Rank: 886

2. Edmunds.com - edmunds.com
Edmunds started off in 1995 as a vehicle research website and now has a healthy business helping to sell used cars, powered by AutoTrader.
Alexa Rank: 1,130

3. Cars.com - cars.com
The number three site in our list is Cars.com, started in 1998, and owned by a conglomerate of Newspaper/Media companies.
Alexa Rank: 1,592

4. CarMax - carmax.com
Carmax is an interesting hybrid of 100 real-world car lots spread across the United States and a large online website. The advantage is that all the cars undergo the same inspection process and are warrantied and have a 5 day money back refund policy.
Alexa Rank: 4,110

5. Carfax - carfax.com
Carfax is the service that people use to make sure that they aren't buying a car that was previously "totalled". They compile data from 20 different sources so that you can see your car's official history. They also have a thorough listing of used cars for sale.
Alexa Rank: 6,615

6. CarsDirect - carsdirect.com
Number 6 on our list is Los Angeles-based CarsDirect, first launched in 2001 as a service to connect you with dealers in your area. They have been selling used cars since 2002.
Alexa Rank: 6,904

7. Vehix.com - vehix.com
Vehix.com was launched in 1996 as a automotive research portal and now has an inventory of nearly 1 million vehicles listed. Vehix.com is also one of the only sites in our roundup to experience uninterrupted growth during the economic downturn, no doubt due to their continued television advertising.
Alexa Rank: 9,567

8. Carsoup - carsoup.com
These lists always contain at least one surprise for me, and CarSoup is it. I still don't know much about them (how about an "about us" link guys) but one look at their brightly colored site and you'll see that they definitely stand out from the crowd.
Alexa Rank: 30,383

9. AutoBytel - autobytel.com
AutoBytel claims to have been the first auto-buying site, launching in 1995, and are now a publicly traded company: Nasdaq- ABTL. The AutoBytel site is beginning to look a little old-school and they have allowed eight other online car sites pass them in the rankings.
Alexa Rank: 34,125

That's it for our list today. Don't forget your Grad!

Father's Day - Top Online Golf Stores

With Father's Day just around the corner (only 23 shopping days left!) I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of the Top Online Golf Stores (hint, hint, hint...). If you start shopping now you'll be able to get Dad that new driver (TaylorMade Burner) he's been talking about and you won't have to pay for expedited shipping.

But first, a word from our sponsor, amazon.com:


Top Online Golf Stores

1. Golf Smith - golfsmith.com
Golf Smith, founded in 1967, has been around for quite some time, even before the age of the Internet. They have managed to parlay their offline success into an online success to become the number one online golf store.
Alexa Rank: 15,145

2. The Golf Warehouse - tgw.com
The Golf Warehouse is the only store in this roundup that I have used and I can say that they had what I wanted and the price was right. Can't beat that.
Alexa Rank: 18,720

3. Rock Bottom Golf - rockbottomgolf.com
Rock Bottom Golf started off as an E-Bay store and has since grown into the third largest online golf store. The site features an animated mascot, Scratch, a caveman with a bone through his nose that points you to the rock bottom deals.
Alexa Rank: 53,696

4. Golf Galaxy - golfgalaxy.com
Coming in right behind Rock Bottom Golf is Golf Galaxy. I was unfamiliar with Golf Galaxy prior to compiling this list, but it appears they have been online since 1997 and have been doing quite well both online and offline with 90 stores in 31 states.
Alexa Rank: 56,716

5. Golf Balls.com - golfballs.com
If you find it amazing that a site selling golf balls is the 5th most popular online golf store, you aren't alone. Originally started as an online-only store in 1995, selling used golf balls, golfballs.com has expanded to selling a wide variety of golf accessories with a specialty in custom imprinted golf balls.
Alexa Rank: 74,415

6. Edwin Watts Golf - edwinwattsgolf.com
Originally founded offline in 1968, Edwin Watts golf comes in at #6 in our roundup of the top online golf stores. With 71 stores in 10 states, EWG is a large retailer that has grown into a significant online presence.
Alexa Rank: 77,283

7. Global Golf - globalgolf.com
Global Golf is another E-bay success story. Originally opened in 2001, Global Golf has now outgrown it's origins on E-Bay and is large online retailer of used golf equipment (plus some new stuff as well.) Looking for an "almost new" driver. Global Golf has you covered.
Alexa Rank: 87,977

That's it for our list today. Don't forget your Dad! Oh, and in case you were wondering which top online golf store has the best price for that TaylorMade Burner driver, it is Rock Bottom Golf, here. ;-)

Bit.ly and Tinyurl.com - Followup

I just wanted to quickly follow up on my previous post about bit.ly and tinyurl.com on May 7. At the time of that post Tinyurl was the undisputed king of the hill of all the URL shorteners (sites that take your long URLs and make them short for convenient posting to blogs, facebook, twitter, etc..) I predicted that Twitter's switch from Tinyurl as the default URL shortener to Bit.ly was going to upset Tinyurl's leadership position. So how did I do?

Take a look at the Daily Pageviews graph below.

In just one short month Bit.ly has gone from having 1/3 of the pageviews of Tinyurl to having 30% more.

When it comes to pageviews, Bit.ly is now king of the hill.

When it comes to visitors, Tinyurl still wins, but not for long. Alexa's Daily Reach graph indicates a steady decline in Tinyurl visitors and a meteoric rise for Bit.ly. In just two more weeks Bit.ly will take over to become the undisputed king of the URL shortening hill.

I am not acquainted with the details of the deal between Twitter and Bit.ly, or the reasons behind the switch from Tinyurl, but I am certain of this. This seemingly minor change represents a big deal to both Tinyurl and Bit.ly.

New Help and Forums on Alexa

Today Alexa has released new community features in our help section. The goal is to provide an environment where community members can freely exchange thoughts, ideas, knowledge, and opinions. To get started, go to http://www.alexa.com/help. From there you can browse the forums, post new topics and reply to topics that have been posted by others. We will be checking in on the forums on a regular basis to pitch in answers and to hear what you have to say.

It is our hope that you find the new help and forums to be both easy to use and helpful to you as you make use of Alexa's products and services. We place tremendous value on this environment as a medium of information exchange and connection point for you, your peers, and the Alexa team.

Check it out now and let us know what you think.