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Question: What do following sites have in common? StartBlaze; Trafficology; and TextMeFree.com .

Answer: In one way or another, they all provide successful ways you can generate traffic to your website.

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If you are a keen follower of all things 'website promotion', you have probably heard of StartBlaze and you may well have heard of Trafficology, but you will not have heard of TextMeFree.com (but may well understand concept behind it).

So let's look at each website promotion idea on its own, explaining how it works and who really benefits...

=> Site 1: StartBlaze

* So, what is StartBlaze?

1. A free viral traffic building system that takes seconds to start.

2. Get free advertising doing something you would normally do throughout your day anyway. Open your browser and get traffic. Your friends open their browser and you get traffic, too.

Here's a Quick Run Down of How StartBlaze Works: [It's free and takes only a few seconds.]

1. Sign up and set your StartBlaze.com code as your home page.

2. Earn hits by opening your browser.

3. Earn more hits when your friends sign up and open their browsers.

4. Get hits when they bring their friends in, and so on, four levels down.

5. The more hits you have, more times your site will show up on another StartBlaze member's browser.

6. Get more traffic to your site -- it's 100% free and we do all work!

(The above description is taken directly from StartBlaze site. Let me just add, that for each 6 sites you visit, you earn one hit or visit to your nominated site.)

* Verdict on StartBlaze

For very little effort on your part, StartBlaze DOES DELIVER traffic to your nominated site. And if you are successful in referring other StartBlaze users, you really might see a LOT OF VISITORS to your site.

Remember, though, that most of visitors will be more interested in promoting *their* site than exploring your site. Make sure your nominated site is suitable to such visitors, otherwise you will only get a few seconds of their time. (This is because a simple click on a browser's refresh button and StartBlaze delivers another StartBlaze site, and another partial hit to StartBlaze user!)

StartBlaze - 8/10

* Who REALLY benefits from StartBlaze?

StartBlaze is an easy way to get visitors to your website, but site that really benefits from StartBlaze is...

Answer: Aesop.com (and associated websites).

Each website delivered by StartBlaze is framed by a top frame that contains a StartBlaze login panel AND an Aesop.com search box. (Aesop.com are owners of Start Blaze.)

Also, and without boring and confusing you with maths, for every 6 sites you visit, Aesop.com (and associated websites) gets AT LEAST 1 hit and may well receive 5 hits (if you have not been referred by another StartBlaze user).

Mark Joyner, CEO of Aesop.com, is a very clever man. He has created (and marketed!) a modest, almost unique traffic- generation system that many are keen to and promote (including myself - I'm even writing this article about StartBlaze!). And, as all of us work hard to generate more visitors to our sites using StartBlaze, we inevitably generate more visitors to Aesop.com (and associated web sites) too. Brilliant.

* The real website promotion idea?

Create and promote your *own* StartBlaze system!

=> Site 2: Trafficology newsletter

* So what is Trafficology newsletter?

(Again, in their own words...)

Every month, we pay $1,350 in "cash bribes" to our readers for their BEST traffic ideas.

And every month, people submit ideas by hundreds!

Frankly, a lot of them are lousy.

But invariably... a handful of them are GREAT web promotion ideas that I would have never thought of... and that I promise you've never heard of!

Here's best part:

We put all BEST stuff we get in our newsletter and send it out FREE to our subscribers! Yes... FREE.

(Trafficology run an affiliate program! They pay out $1350 to referrers of winning contributors, also!)

* Verdict on Trafficology newsletter

But how do you go about promoting this new content? Well, you need a plan!

===== Side Bar ===== It's easy to receive Ken's 5-day Affiliate Masters e-mail course! Just send a blank e-mail to mailto:tamsshopping101@sitesell.com and get day 1 of this great course in your inbox TODAY! ===== Side Bar =====

WEBSITE PROMOTION PLAN

Yes, you need a website promotion plan! And you need a schedule for that plan. And once that schedule's finished, you need another, long-term plan - site promotion is never over! Some of activities that you should plan to do are listed below; you can probably think of others, more relevant to your site: do!

===== Side Bar ===== For a long-term plan, and some long-term activities, read my article called Promote Your Site Every Day!. You can find it : http://www.shoptour.co.uk/webmaster-promote/promote-your-site.shtml ===== Side Bar =====

1: TELL YOUR E-MAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Tell your e-mail subscribers! This is an easy first step to take, to promote a site redesign (or new pages on your site). Subscribers have been expecting an announcement, anyway, because you've been referring to redesign in earlier newsletters (haven't you?).

This is your best opportunity to really go into detail about all great ways your site has improved, and all new benefits your subscribers will find. You could even (cheekily!) run a competition to encourage subscribers to visit your site, and find those inevitable bugs, before rest of web does!!

===== Side Bar ===== If you don't run a newsletter, this is one (of many) great reasons why you should! Listbot, Topica, e-circle are just a few services that provide free, ad-supported, newsletters: - http://www.listbot.com - http://www.topica.com - http://www.ecircle-uk.com ===== Side Bar =====

2: TELL YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, ANYONE

Tell friends, family and others who are (legitimately) in your address book. Make your e-mail personal, and friendly. And better still, just talk about how your site now benefits or involves them. That is, just discuss: * your new link to their site * your promotion of their affiliate program * their new article, now on your site

Even busy friends and family, need to be 'encouraged'! Always focus on benefits, but *get them* to visit!

3: TELL THE NEWSGROUPS

Tell newsgroups about your new site, but only do this if you are a regular contributor. Simply announce your site - check that site announcements are allowed, first! - with a few good reasons why members should visit! Better still, contribute to newsgroup, and simply leave your URL as part of your 'signature'.

A great place to find suitable newsgroups is - http://www.deja.com/usenet/ (now http://groups.google.com)

4: WHAT ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES?

DON'T just blast your new pages to all search engines / directories! This may seem like spam to them, and your new pages (or even your whole site) may get banned. This is because some search engines need to be told about new pages, others don't. And directories generally just like to know about main page on your site (unless you've just added a lot of content on a completely different theme).

Search engine policies change regularly, so find out from others by visiting a search engine forum, or asking someone you consider to be an expert. An excellent place to find search engine advice is http://www.searchengineforums.com [HELP! and New Member Forum].

(So what did *I* do? I just submitted one new page to major search engines. This page has links to all of other new pages, too, so search engine spiders should eventually index all of my new content. I visited searchengineforums first, obviously!)

5: DON'T FORGET PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINES!

Add more keywords to your various pay-per-click accounts. This is a great way to make new content available, quickly. (You just have to wait for keyword-approval by pay-per-click administrators).

Choose profitable keywords (high demand, low supply), identified when you began creating new content. But, as you pay for each click, it's important that you only get clicks from your potential customers; so choose your keywords, title & description carefully.