Good ways to increase hits

[meikel]

Hi,

I'm just thinking on how to increase my site popularity. As usual, the standard things have come up
1) Banner Exchange
2) Update the Software

for 1)
I found this 100% useless. I'm member of many different banner-exchange programs and I found none to be useful. For example LinkExchange:
Since I joined them, a linkexchange banner was shown 80688 times on my pages. In exchange to that, my own banner was shown 40231 times on other sites.
But what is not so nice is that only 275 people have clicked on the banner.
So for messing up all my pages with LinkExchange banners, I received 275 hits.

for 2) (Software Update)
That would move me up in the lists on the shareware sites. But I'm out of ideas at the moment and just producing a 4.0000001 to submit something new is not a good idea.

So I'm looking for other ways:
What I found best so far is highly targetted link-exchange. I searched the web for other shareware programs that are complimentary to my software. I found two programs so far that fit nicely together with my software.
I have asked the other programs author to put a link to my program (prominently placed) and I'll do the same backwards.
You can see this on my site in action
http://www.meikel.com/freemem/fmempro.htm
This is much much more effective than any other exchange program I've used so far.
The link with Magellass software was established just a few weeks ago and already 1634 people came over from there. I sent over some nearly similar amount.
So this is very effective for both sides.

So I share my personal experience here and hope to get in return some ideas from you. Maybe you're doing something I've never thought about before.

Greetings from Bonn, Germany
Meikel Weber
http://www.meikel.com

[Deb]

You've nailed it right where it counts.

A targetted audience is the best audience.. we touched on all of this in the 'Link Exchange" thread.

Trading banners with sites that share conent much like your own is the best way to go. But here is something else to consider...

Did you know that text links receive more clicks then image links do? When someone is on a site they know and trust they are more apt to click on a text link that says something like "and while on the subject check out so and so's site..." then they are to click on a banner above or below or to the left or right of the page.

Often times visitors are desenitized to banner ads... they are there for the information and content.. as such they go for the text links for more info on the topic they currently viewing.

Glad you brought it up Meikel.. I don't think it can ever be stressed enough as to how important it is to go for a targetted audience rather then a 'free for all'.

Something else you may want to consider is optimizing your page for search engines.. to achieve a better listing based on what's on your site...

Deb

[meikel]

Hi Deb,

I'm not using banner-links for this targetted exchange. This has two reasons
1) Banners don't receive that many click-throughs as they should
2) My graphics skill is very low http://www.aota.net/ubb//smile.gif

So I decided to go with a nice HTML box telling about FreeMem.

Greetings from Meikel Weber

[alexandra]

To Meikel -

One of the things I've done is take an active part in the deja news newsgroup for my site's field. It's interesting to me anyway, so it's certainly no strain, but I participate and answer questions and have become part of that community. I always put my url under my name and often make up a sig line to fit the occasion.

The first month I was on the net, probably 90 percent of my visitors came from this newsgroup. Then a group of them who went to a chat group on AOL once a week started talking about it, and it took off.

I also used the reciprocal links method, and that started to bring lots of people. (It's one of the things I like so much about checking stats. You get instant feedback on what you've done.)

You could also try listing your site in programs that email web updates to their list, like Net Announce and -- oh, I think it's What's Nu. I found several people through there.

My site is a bit odd because it's mostly content, it's very specialized, and, although we sell subscriptions to two magazines, it's not primarily a commercial site, so we've been spotted (from lists like the above) by people who collect sites with content and included on their pages -- more visitors.

The through-line to this method is simply to be constantly searching for other pages that relate to yours and making yourself known. Eventually, it will work.

Good luck.

alexandra
www.balletalert.com

[auteur]

I have to share this with someone...

This weekend I was visiting my far-to-be http://www.aota.net/ubb/smile.gif mother-in-law and she was telling me her boss had purchased a banner ad for the hospital/clinic where she works. Want to guess how much he's paying for a small 468 x 60 pixel banner?...Hold on to your seats and mouses...


$3,000.00 a M-O-N-T-H!!!!!!!!!! Two days after hearing that and I'm still amazed. Could you image???

Banners do not pull in hardly any traffic...
Why?

1. Most new surfers don't realize that they are not "just a graphic on the page."
2. Most moderately new surfers get sick and tired of playing the click-and-get-lost game. [start on one page and end up a million miles away from the original page they searched for]. So they stop clicking on the banners.
3. Those of us that have been on the net 3+ years kind of ignore them after awhile.

Targeted banner exchanges will give you a better bet for optimal advertising return. But I still wouldn't recommend them as the only marketing tool to use.

I agree with Alexandra on the newsgroups. Before I had my domain name, most all of my visitors came from the newsgroups. They're good for positioning yourself as an "Expert" in your field.