Group Strategies And More Free Traffic

So, what's the proper way to generate interest in a group without getting banned? How do you attract people back to your website in droves?

<ol>

<li>Join multiple groups targeting your market niche,</li>

<li>Set up a profile in each one with your website url and RSS feeds,</li>

<li>Introduce yourself to the group if it's required,</li>

<li>Read each group for 15 minutes each day for about a week,</li>

<li>Begin to post comments with a signature line that promotes you or your business products,</li>

<li>Be helpful, but don't spam,</li>

<li>Limit your posts so that you don't catch the moderators attention,</li>

<li>Answer questions that might come about from your posts - join in the discussion,</li>

<li>Make yourself the expert,</li>

<li>Create your own group and do steps 1 to 9, promoting your goods on posts too.</li>

</ol>

The strategy to get attention on groups is to contribute thoughtful and insightful comments to the discussion. For that, you have to be involved and participate. You can't just open a post and spam it with some arbitrary message because people will realize you aren't listening at all, you are merely spamming. As soon as someone sees that, they will notify a moderator and you will most likely be banned from the group.

So, the key to successful presence is to listen closely. You want to engage people one-on-one and have them begin to see who you are. 

This means you want to be as authentic as possible so that your image as an expert comes through as genuine and not contrived. 

Don't be in a rush to get people to your site. It's okay to just join in the conversation and get to know people slowly. Once you do that, you will begin to identify the movers and shakers on the group and you can begin to target your comments more to them. Once you have their attention, the group has your attention. 

Above all, be courteous. Groups can get intimate fairly quickly and sometimes it's hard to decipher the motivation behind posts. They may seem to be angry with you, when they just don't know how to turn the cap locks key off when they post. Stay respectful and never post anything you don't want your significant other, your boss, or your colleagues to see. This simple rule can save your reputation and keep you from being labeled a trouble-maker or troll (the Internet name for someone who likes to bait other people in groups to make them mad).

Once you have the hang of how to deal with numerous people online, it's time to start your own group where you will be the moderator. It may look simple, but remember that your audience comes from everywhere with their own ideas of what's proper and what's not. So, establish the ground rules early and stick to them. 

Be careful to keep out spammers and trouble-makers, unless they are increasing the number of eyeballs that are seeing your products. 

But, even, the strategy of controversy has a point of diminishing returns. 

While people love to have scapegoats and people to burn at the stake, you don't want your products associated too much with that type of energy. When the rubber-necking finally stops you will find you have to start from square one to rebuild your business because everyone will be too disgusted to play with you anymore.

Fortunately, that's not likely to happen, but it is a word of warning. Just stay courteous. Initiate discussions that are interesting. Join in the conversation. Always look for the entry point where you can establish some business connection and exploit it. Use your signature line to advertise things. Use your profile to advertise your website and RSS feeds. Pretty soon traffic will build from these groups and those people may be in other groups where they start discussing you and your products for you. That type of interaction on the web is worth a fortune.

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Jose Amoros

Is A 100 Percent Guarantee Enough

Everyone remembers the cheesy 100% satisfaction guarantee that old television infomercials would haul out to get people to believe in their products. Well, consumers are much more savvy now and most people understand this to be more of a trial guarantee that after a certain period expires. 

In other words, the 100% satisfaction guarantee was usually limited to a few weeks or less, and after that you were stuck with the product. So, in all fairness it was more like a free trial than a 100% satisfaction guarantee. After all, if you're not satisfied and the period for returns has ended, aren't you then still a dissatisfied customer? 

So, in this chapter we're going to tell you how to put in place something that goes beyond the 100% satisfaction guarantee, even though it may seem impossible. Well, it isn't. It is your conviction that the products you offer are of such worth that you can offer a guarantee that goes beyond everyone's expectations and still make money on the product. And, when you have that sort of conviction about the products you sell, the customer begins to believe it too.

The Strategy

The strategy, on the surface, seems a bit crazy for a business person to implement. What you will suggest to your customers is that if a certain condition is met that you will refund their money or make amends beyond what is expected of you. That means that if you sell a product and it breaks, you promise to refund the money or replace it, even if it's one year or two years down the line.

But, it doesn't just have to be about things breaking, it can also be a usage condition. Say, you buy a subscription to use a particular service and then find you don't use it enough to pay for the membership costs. In this strategy, the way to go beyond the 100% satisfaction guarantee is to offer to refund all the money for the subscription if you don't use the products and services offered by the membership at all within the year. Of course, you would have to have a way of figuring that out.

In a discount club, you have membership costs that give you access to discounts on other products. The idea is that the amount of money you save will easily exceed the membership cost to sign up and you eventually make back your membership fee. 

But, what if you didn't do that? Would most companies offer you the membership fee back if you found that the use of the club wasn't worth it? Well, if your membership club did this it would set itself above the rest by offering to ensure that whether a member uses the membership they bought or not, they will end up satisfied with the purchase  because you will make sure to go beyond the typical business guarantee. Now, add a little perk at the end like a free gift or even a coupon for monies off popular items for having just tried the membership, even if it didn't end up saving you money, and people will flock to sign up.

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Jose Amoros

Groups-Communities Spread Your Influence

With so many new social networking sites, you may be tempted to overlook the older groups and forums that first started this trend online. Don't! 

These are a goldmine of targeted traffic that usually attracts people who are webmasters, entrepreneurs, and other people who are technically involved in spreading information on the World Wide Web. So, while joining social networks increases your exposure to the ordinary folk, you can usually find some heavy duty movers and shakers on groups. 

And, that's where you should be too to gather some of that influence for yourself.

Not only that, but groups are exquisitely narrowed to specific topics and concerns. Where else can you go to a group that is involved solely in the pursuit of all things that deal with Keanu Reeves, or some other film star? Where else will you find an area solely devoted to composting or raising worms? The number of groups on the web is astounding as so is the degree to which they specialize. 

Since they are so specialized, they make the perfect petri dish to grow exactly the type of connection that brings people who are interested in your products back to your website.

Finally, it's far easier to be noticed in a small group of a few hundred people than it is to be noticed on a social networking site with millions of people. Obviously, the more you participate in a group and contribute to the conversation intelligently, the higher your reputation in that group. 

Eventually, if you maintain a presence in a group long enough, people start to remember who you are from your older posts and they will start to see you as more of an expert in the topic that the group is discussing. This not only increases your influence in the group, but eventually it increases your influence with the people who are going to be your customers. They will land on your website from links placed in your signature when you posted and they will be more apt to buy from you because they trust you.

Groups Galore

So, where are these groups and how do you find them? Groups can be set up by anyone, a major portal online, or even non-profits or other social entrepreneur sites. There are even groups on Facebook that you can join that will allow you to network outside your profile and connected friends. Some groups are started by website owners who offer a membership that includes access to special groups. 

These aren't free like the others, but if they are highly popular can lead to getting good traffic if you contribute within them content that people admire. If you want to find groups by plugging into a search engine, just add the following into the search box "keyword+groups" to find more groups.

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Jose Amoros

Free Classified Ads Bring Free Traffic

Newspapers are what we typically associate with the standard classified ad. However, Internet classified ads can be far more effective at sales and generating traffic to your website. 

Classified ads on the web give people instant gratification when they choose to buy or click a link, unlike a newspaper. They can reach people all over the world, and not in a small subscription area. They provide a way to advertise online giving you the option to use affiliates. If you find a way to attach a classified ad to an Internet portal that already has a large audience, your classified ad online has far more power than just a newspaper classified ad, and it can also get you backlinks and point people to your website from larger portals, increasing traffic.

How To Write Effective Classified Ads

In order for your ad to work online, it has to follow some basic rules of online marketing. You won't have a whole lot of time to capture someone's attention and you will also have stiff competition for available eyeballs. So, make sure to always follow some basic guidelines to give your classifed ad the maximum chance of being noticed.

Headlines That Pop!

Headlines are important for various reasons. Search engines weight titles very heavily, so if you don't put in an accurate and popular headline, it may end up showing near the bottom of the list. The other reason headlines are important is that they are the first thing a person reads when scrolling down the results of a search engine result page. If you don't have a headline that pops right out and grabs the reader in their chair, it will not be as noticed as if you did. 

You do want to describe what you are promoting in the title, but it should in said in such a way that it begs the viewer to click into the link to read more. So, instead of "office supplies for sale" you would write: "Top Business People Organize Their Lives With Our Office Products!" In this way, you not only say you have office supplies for sale, but the main benefit implied is that their business will grow if they buy from you. So, add a benefit, describe the product, and make them want to read the rest of your classified ad.

Be Brief

The classified ad is not a sales page. Most experts believe that the longer the sales page, the better the probability of overcoming any objections a buyer might have. However, the classified ad is not a sales page. It can be the introduction to a more indepth sales page, it can be used to generate a contacts list, but it also can be a very brief way to advertise some product or service which is sold instantly at the click of a button. It's up to you how you will be using the ad, but it should remain long enough to get your point across and brief enough not to lose someone's attention.

What works very well in classified ads are bulleted lists of benefits. 

This way a person can quickly review why they want to buy your product or click to go to the link your website in a very short amount of time. You should vary the font and provide sufficient white space so that the classified at is visually appealing and easy to read. The ad should be less than 100 words long for it to be quickly effective. Don't forget to use your keywords even here!

Add Pictures

If the site allows you to add pictures, do so. The ads are much more noticeable with an icon next to the title than without and they make a bigger impact with pictures inside too. If you are selling a physical product people will want to see you wares before they decide to buy. So, it's also important to have pictures of the items you are selling so as to generate enthusiasm and excitement for the purchase.

Post Online

Once you have a good idea of what you're going to say and how you're going to say it to attract attention, you want to identify different areas online that allow classified ads. They should be sites with large audiences that promote classified ads or that make them easily searchable. Some places online that offer free classified ads are Craigslists.com and Facebook.com. In other areas, like eBay, they do offer classified ads but they charge for them. We will discuss some featured sites for classified ads in the next segment.

Posting your classified ad is not a one-time affair. You will want to have a regular schedule to keep posting the ad, at least weekly, so as to keep it visible. Otherwise, it will rapidly be buried by other people posting classified ads and your ad will be old, stale, and practically invisible.

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Jose Amoros

Featured Social Networks For Free traffic

There are numerable social networks out there. Some have profiles and some don't. Facebook and MySpace are very similar except that Facebook has a wider appeal to professionals. LinkedIn is strictly for connecting via business profiles. Twitter is a social networking site that is unlike the others so deserves a special mention. 

Facebook

This social network began as a way for college students to connect with other college students in their university network. It took its name from the black book that many college students used to keep track of each other. Now, this has outgrown its original roots and allows anyone in, whether you are in a University or not. However, you only have access to the collegiate networks if you are a student attending that particular college or university.

Facebook.com follows the pattern of profile, friends, and community groups. It's main advantage is that it also has a marketplace where you can sell your products and places to buy advertisement to widen your audience. It is free to set up the profile and to use the marketplace for classified ads. There is a way to list links to your websites and RSS feeds on your profile page. Also, using regular updates from your blog or newsfeed can pull people off Facebook to you blog and eventually to the products on your site. Be sure to check out the applications that are installed separately. There are many there that can help you connect more or create better business opportunities. 

LinkedIn

This social networking site has a far more business-like and professional flavor. It is noted for helping people network to find new jobs or business opportunities. You will find industry experts and business partners here. There is far less of a capacity to market, but it still is a tremendous place to network with other influential players in your industry. It is well-known and used quite widely.

Twitter

One of the ways to build a network is to constantly stay in touch with people. As your network increase from less than 50 to over hundreds, this task may seem harder and harder to do if you are a member of multiple social networks. That's where Twitter comes in. You can update people on multiple networking sites all about your moment-to-moment activities, if that's what you want. 

There have been people who used this site when they were getting fired or laid off, giving blow by blow details of the termination process, and through the power of social networking had a job again only a few hours later. Why? The people on the social networking sites found their story so compelling it created a vortex of energy to try to help this individual. Twitter has a way of hooking people in to a constant stream of news, much like a soap-opera.

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Jose Amoros