Whether you are an online business owner or own an offline local business, you can use the power of the Internet to your advantage to drive leads to your business and increase your profits. You can have the best local, national, or international product in the world. But if people don’t know about what you are offering, they are not going to come to you for your business. Every business owner wants more Internet traffic, but not everyone goes about getting online traffic the right way. There are thousands of ways to get traffic for your business. You just have to decide which traffic source matters to you the most, and whether it’s worth your effort to pursue non-traditional traffic generation sources.

If you are a business owner and looking for more traffic for your business, here are 25 ways you can go about increasing the size of your audience:

1. SEO: search engine optimization is the cheapest way to get traffic. You got to have a search engine optimized website however (SEO resource).
2. Pay per click: getting traffic from Google Adwords or Yahoo! search marketing is one of the best (but expensive) way to get traffic (resource).
3. Twitter: is quickly becoming a great source of traffic for businesses.
4. Facebook: another great social network to get traffic to your website.
5. Social News Sites: sites such as Digg and Reddit can be effective traffic drivers as well (submission service).
6. Directories: should be a part of your SEO efforts (submission service).
7. Blogs: displaying your content on other blogs can help too (resource).
8. Facebook Ads: you can advertise on Facebook to get more traffic as well (Fads)
9. Article Marketing: pushing your products with articles can help too (EzineArticles).
10. LinkedIn: a great way to reach to your target audience and gain their business.
11. YouTube: doesn’t need any introduction. Great for going viral.
12. StumbleUpon: advertising on StumbleUpon or just getting your site voted by the community can drive big traffic to your site.
13. ClickRiver: advertising on Amazon can be another decent way of driving traffic (CR).
14. Giveaways: giving away things is one of the best ways to go viral online (just give away an iPhone 3G S or another hot gadget).
15. Free service: you can also put up your service up for grabs to go viral.
16. Information: giving away information for free can help as well (e.g. reports).
17. Newsletter: building a killer newsletter gives you access to targeted leads (Aweber).
18. Podcast: what a better way to get some following going with a killer podcast.
19. Video-cast: creating a video show on the web can help your business generate leads.
20. Blog: still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your business. Easily set up your site with Wordpress.
21. iPhone: building an iPhone application for your business helps too.
22. Offline Marketing: you can always give away business cards, brochures, pens, and … (offline marketing).
23. Blog Comments: commenting on other blogs can build your traffic gradually.
24. Forums: your signatures on niche forums can build your traffic gradually as well.
25. Affiliate Program: creating your own affiliate program is another cool way to build traffic (idev).

Stay tuned for the 2nd part of this series for more specific ways to drive traffic to your business.

I still remember the first time I signed up for PPC Classroom. It was an Internet marketing course that was designed to help newbie pay per click marketers increase their return on investments with their Adwords campaigns. What interested me the most about the program was not the content inside but the comprehensive launch plan set forth by the entrepreneurs behind this system. I admit that affiliate marketing was not only part of the equation but it was a big part of it. Launch Tree is a new course based on that very experience that shows you exactly how to use affiliate marketing to make lots of money fast.

Affiliate marketing may sound simple but it’s actually an art. Sure. You are giving folks a decent commission check to promote your product. But that doesn’t mean they would. Even if you are very successful with affiliate marketing, you may still be leaving money on the table. 90% off sales are made by 10% of affiliates. Reaching out to these affiliates won’t be easy. Top affiliate marketers are notorious for picking only high quality products to promote. So you want to position your product in a way that gives top affiliates the impression that your product is worth promoting. Not everyone’s going to get it right, but those who do get to make a lot of money. Here are a few ways to launch your product in the affiliate marketing channel like a pro:

• Deals with Top Affiliates: top affiliates are special. Unfortunately for you, they know it too. It’s essential for you to reach out to these guys and offer them more money to promote your products. These guys often have large lists and a large following. Don’t underestimate their power.
• Tools: don’t forget that the more your affiliate marketers deliver, the more money you make as well. Don’t be hesitant in giving them all the cool tools they need to become more productive. That includes providing your affiliates with ads, sample copies, e-mails, and …
• Training: not all affiliate marketers are super affiliates. You can still make money by going to those regular affiliates. These folks are ready to learn new tricks so don’t hesitate to teach them how.
• Content: creating new content to promote your product could be a hassle for a lot of affiliates. Put videos on YouTube and create sample blog posts to give your affiliates an idea how to promote your product.
• Prizes: giving away cool gadgets to your affiliates to appreciate their performance can be a great way to skyrocket your sales. I have seen merchants that give motorcycles to their best affiliate. But they also offer smaller prizes to keep their smaller affiliates encouraged.
• Cross-selling: affiliate marketers care a lot about the money that they’ll be paid. It’s always encouraging for affiliates to know they can earn more dollars if you manage to sell complimentary products in your back-end. It’s all about treating your affiliates as partners. They’ll appreciate it.
• Leads: pay per action is a decent pay model, but the folks behind Launch Tree have had a lot of success with a hybrid model. They not only give prizes for qualified leads but also pay commission per each action.
• Relationship: many large corporations treat their affiliates as secondary employees. You’ve got to treat your affiliates as your business partners. If you look out for them, they look out for you too.

As you can see, there is a lot of factors that you need to consider to launch a successful affiliate program. It’s not all about the money. Affiliates work hard, and they appreciate every little help that you give them. The folks behind PPC Classroom certainly got it! If you are interested to know more about how to launch your own successful business, you should check the videos on Launch Tree. It’s a case study on a project that generated millions of dollars in revenue. And you can bet affiliates played a big part in it!

Choosing a domain name for your business is perhaps one of the most important decisions that you ever make for your business. A catchy domain name not only helps you with your branding efforts, but it could also help bring a lot of traffic to your site. That is why you shouldn’t take your eyes off the ball when it comes to choosing a domain name for your business. Domains  may be cheap but that doesn’t mean you should take them lightly.

Here are a few tips that you should keep in mind in order to register the perfect domain for your startup or small business:

1. choose a clean domain name (no curse words)
2. choose a meaningful domain name.
3. go for a catchy domain (e.g. Digg, Treehugger, …)
4. stick with a short domain. Long domains are harder to remember and inconvenient to type out.
5. avoid using hyphens and numbers in your domain if possible.
6. avoid using other companies’ trademarks in your domain (that includes YouTube too!).
7. register all versions of your domain name.
8. register sibling domains for your future business plans.
9. do not register a .net domain without getting its .com version first.
10. work with domain registrars with a good track record.
11. do not choose a silly domain name, unless you are in the right niche.
12. keep an eye out for your brand in other people’s domains.
13. register your domain privately, if you are concerned about your privacy. Make sure you use a registrar that allows you to do this easily
14. ask your domain registrar to lock your domain.

There you have it. Choosing a domain name doesn’t have to be difficult, but you need to pay attention to what your business goals are and who you can afford to work with. Here are a few websites that allow you to get ideas for your domain names:

• http://www.dotomator.com/web20.html
• http://www.webscriptlab.com/domainnamegenerator.php
• http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=48

I have personally worked with the following companies as they have the best prices and give you the best bang for your buck.

• 1&1 Domain registration
• Netfirms Domains
• GoDaddy Domain hosting
  
• Dotster Domains registration service

If you are looking for an affordable solution for your business domain needs, you can go wrong with the above companies.

So you take time to write a business plan for your online business. You do presentations and get some funding and build a respectable business. You can do everything right and still not get enough traffic to your website. That could be extremely disheartening for an entrepreneur. You can have the best website in the world, but if you don’t let people know about it, you are not going to get any following going. No traffic, no sales, no money!

When you think about it, there are many ways to promote your online business. You can always use search engine optimization tactics to get ranked higher on top search engines such as Google. You can always buy advertising with Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing. And you can use social media services such as Twitter to let folks know about your business. But what folks don’t consider is the offline tactics that you can use to drive tons of traffic to your website.

It may sound unintuitive, but you can drive a ton of traffic to a website by using offline methods. It’s true that people spend hours online searching and finding things online. But what do you think they do when they are not online? They are probably outside working, taking a trip, going to an event, or just walking in the streets. Your goal as a business should be to get in front of these folks no matter what they are doing. Folks may not be ready to buy when they see your sign on the street, but they will remember your brand.

Here are a few ways you can go about promoting your business offline:

• Post cards: you have probably gotten post cards from the companies that you have bought from before or those which you have never heard of before. The conversion rate may not be high with this method, but it’s a great brand method.
• Business cards: business cards are no brainers. If you own a business, you’ve got to have your business cards. But you shouldn’t just keep them on your desk. I would recommend giving your business cards to anyone who may be interested in your service (and don’t forget to put your website on your business cards).
• Pens: who doesn’t like free pens? You can give away free branded terms and get the word around about your business as a result.
• Mugs: mugs, too, are very popular giveaway items. By putting your web-site’s information on your mug, you are going to get the word out about your business with the help of those who use them.
• Car door magnets: do you drive a lot around your city or your country? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could keep promoting your business while you are driving? That’s exactly what you can do with car door magnets.
• Notepads: have you wondered why some very successful companies giveaway notepads? It’s because they know the more you use it, the better chance they have of spreading the word around about their business. And these companies are very successful. Every small business can benefit from giving away things such as notebooks.
• Flyers: flyers are no brainers. If you are a local business, you can get a lot of benefit from distributing flyers about your business (with your website information).
• Lawn Signs: lawn signs can help you get traffic from the least expected sources. You can always ask your friends and family members to help you out there as well.
• Rack cards: rack cards are another way of promoting your business offline. Depending on the nature of your business, you can attract new customers by using rack cards.
• T-shirts: one of the best ways to get the word out about your brand. The more you giveaway, the more people will know about your brand.
• Hats: just like T-shirts, hats are also hot giveaway items.
• Key-chains: key-chains are also great for offline promotional campaigns. And they are very cheap.
• Window Decals: another great way to get your business name and website in front of people.

These methods may not generate a ton of online traffic for you, but they do help you to spread the word around about your services and build a more visible brand. There are a ton of other ways you can promote your business offline. As long as you get your brand in front of people, you are giving yourself a chance of acquiring new customers. Be bold and think outside-the-box. Just make sure you don’t do anything to embarrass yourself and your business.