But I’d say one question is asked more than any other – “how do I get (more) traffic to my website?”

Since I seem to seldom lack for ideas, I thought I’d start writing them down. Next thing I knew I had a list of nearly 100 ways to drive traffic to your website. Since all of these are things I’ve done at one time or another I knew they worked.

But I didn’t stop there. I started brainstorming even more ways to drive traffic. Then I had a few close colleagues take a look at my list and they added a few. Now the list is over 180 viable methods for driving traffic to your website.

So what do I do with this, I thought?

First thing I did was start crafting a blog post so I could share it with everyone. And the post was almost finished until I realized just giving away my hard work diluted its value. Think about how many lists about anything you just read and toss. Yet I want people to get real help with their businesses and websites. So it helps neither of us to just add this to the stacks of useless lists forgotten in the soup of the internet.

So I’ve decided to turn my traffic driving 53-page booklet into a teleclass – 97 147 220 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website.

What’s great about this format is that I can provide a booklet explaining all 240 (yeah, that’s right, there’s even more) my website traffic generating ideas AND make myself available to answer questions about how to use them. So that’s what we’re going to do.

Next Tuesday, November 25th (second showing – Tuesday, December 16) at 3pm I’ll lead a 60 minute teleclass for you that covers (some of) the materials in my 53-page booklet, 97 147 220 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website. Half the call I’ll speak on some of my most successful tips in the booklet and briefly on topics like qualifying traffic and tracking traffic sources. Then, the second half of the call is yours to ask me any questions you like about any of the methods I list in the booklet.

Let me be clear here, the 97 147 220 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website booklet is not just a list. I’ve included some tips in the beginning and have tips and commentary on every single traffic generation technique I cover. And you get to keep the booklet. And I’m also making available the mindmaps I used to create the course.

Also, I’ll be recording the call and forwarding the a link to the recording so you can download it. So can’t make the live teleclass order anyhow and you’ll receive the booklet, the mindmaps and the full 60-minute audio.

So let’s go over the details one more time:

• My 53 page booklet 220 Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Website & Increase Your Business, with tips and commentary for each method.
• A Series of Mindmaps summarizing each of the traffic driving methods – use as a resource when deciding which methods to use. I used these mindmaps in developing the course materials.
• A 60-minute LIVE teleclass with me, talking about how to find the right traffic for your business.
• Time for you to get your specific questions answered. There will be ample time to take your specific questions. And since conversation often leads to the most interesting teaching, the more questions, the merrier.
• I’ll record the teleclass and send you a link to download it in full.
• Click here to ORDER NOW!

There was so much in the booklet that when I got it before the class, I was overwhelmed. But your calm voice and simple explanations took me from overwhelm to excitement. Can’t wait to launch my website.
- Gillian McDowell: Vancouver, BC

Here’s the details:

• Teleclass will be Wednesday, July 1 at 1pm eastern / 10am pacific U.S. time I’m making this available for a limited time
  
• There are ONLY 60 50 COPIES of this course available
• The cost is $97 SPECIAL SUMMER PRICE $69!
  
• Click here to ORDER NOW!

Now there’s two things left to do:

1. First, order your copy now.
2. Second, tell 5 people who need to get more traffic to their websites. Send them an email, make a phone call, text message them, Tweet about it on Twitter, Write a blog post – however you can reach the people you want to help.

(note: image from masochismtango on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

THIS OFFER HAS ENDED!

You may have heard that we’re expecting our fourth child sometime in the next couple of weeks. My wife, the kids and I are extremely excited and are looking forward to meeting this new little Miracle (sorry, couldn’t resist).

At the same time, I’ve been looking for an interesting and fun thing to do with another birth in my life – one of a website nature. And I think I’ve done it:

Until noon, eastern, on Sunday, August 30th, I’m going to sell my business-ready, template-based websites for the absolutely insane low price of $350. No typo, I mean three hundred and fifty dollars. Sounds pretty good, huh?

And there’s no strings attached, no gimmicks or bait-and-switch. Just business-ready, WordPress-driven websites (and/or blogs). Include a little training and whole heap of bonuses from people like Chris Garrett, Michael Martine, Easton Ellsworth, Pamela Weir, Stephen Smith and a number of others. They’re each offering products throughout the event.

The Grand Prize

Aside from getting a fully-functioning website for $350, you have the opportunity to win a massive Business Quick-Start Package. Every person that buys a $350, business-ready, WordPress-based website between now and noon on Sunday, you’ll be entered into a drawing. One winner will get:

• A membership to Chris Garrett’s Blogger Authority course ($397 value)
• Easton Ellsworth will prepare a Master SEO Keyword List for your business website and give you some pointers in how to use it to generate SEO results. ($497 value)
• Pamela Weir will help you with your copy writing and editing and write and submit press releases to announce your new website. ($400 value)
• Michael Martine’s WordPress SEO Secrets book which walks you step-by-step on how to get the absolute most SEO benefit from WordPress. And, it’s not theory. It’s very much a how-to book. ($47 value)
• Two, one-hour Business Advisory Phone Sessions with me where we’ll discuss the best possible strategies for promoting your business through your new website. ($500 value)

This is an amazing opportunity to get the website you need at a price that you can definitely afford. Oh, and did I mention the best part: If you’re not exactly ready for a new website you can buy now and use it later. We’ll get you all set up – hosting, WordPress, you design, and plugins – and put a ‘coming soon’ page on top of your website until you’re ready to use it.

To find out more, you need to visit The Website Habitat – my new site. There you can see the designs, find out what’s included and make your purchase. But hurry, time is running out.

note: image from Darwin Bell on Flickr, some rights reserved)

DazzlinDonna over at SEO Scoop has done us all a great service. She’s posted hundreds of SEO interviews with some of the top SEO bloggers, consultants and experts on the web.

What’s really cool is she continues to update the list. As of Feb 10th, she has 265 interviews listed with the likes of:

• Aaron Pratt from SEO Buzz Box
• Aaron Wall of SEO Book
• Andy Hagans of Tropical SEO
• Bill Slawski of SEO by the Sea
• Chris Sherman of Searchwise
• Cristian Mezei of SeoPedia
• Dan Kramer of I Hate Google
• Danny Sullivan of Calafia and Search Engine Land
• DazzlinDonna of SEO Scoop
• Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide
• Jill Whalen of Inspired SEO
• Jim Boykin of We Build Pages and Internet Marketing Ninjas
• Kalena Jordan of Ask Kalena
• Kim Krause Berg of Usability Effect
• Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing
• Lisa Barone of Bruce Clay
• Matt Cutts of Google
• Matt McGee of Small Business SEM
• Michael Gray of Graywolf’s SEO Blog
• Michael Grehan of Search Engine Marketing Book
• Neil Patel of Pronet Advertising
• Patrick Gavin of Internet Marketing Tidbits
• Rae Hoffman of Sugarrae SEO Blog
• Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz
• Rebecca Kelley from SEOmoz
• Todd Malicoat of Stuntdubl

And that’s just naming a few.

Donna’s got a great list here. I’ve read/watched/listened to a number of them already. Take a look at the list and see what tickles your fancy.

Now, if we could only get her to sort the list by topic as well.

What’s difficult is getting really clear about who you are, what you do and who you do it for. The problem is, there are tons of approaches for doing this which sometimes leads to confusion. Do I need to write a business plan? What about vision? Etc. The questions are many, but the answer are endless.

Of course, once you’ve answered the questions about your business, you have to ask a whole other series of questions around marketing. What system? What mediums? How best to reach our target audience? Etc. This can lead to even greater confusion, frustration and waste of time and money than the business development quesitons.

This whole process can be really big. That’s why I’m always looking for ways to simplify it. Because, really, developing and growing a business isn’t as hard as we make it. Basically, we need to create a compelling service – one that solves a problem that people need solved. Then, we put our service in front of the people who have the problem. That’s really it.

So it’s really very simple – especially with the internet.

That’s why I was excited when I found Matt Cutts‘ 3-step process to building up a really good site (read: business). Take a watch:

Matt Cutt’s 3-Step Process

1. Create a compelling service – spend the time to create something people can love.
2. Start a blog – get links and engage in conversation.
3. Smart marketing – SEO and have something interesting to say.

Pretty simple, right?

So if I was taking Matt’s 3 steps and putting them in my language, I’d say:

1. Create a service, you love, that solves a problem that needs solving. What are you good at? What do you love? What is the need? Bring these three questions together and you’re on your way.
2. Start a blog – and learn how to use it. First write, and write often. Join in the conversation on other blogs immediately. Learn about linking and link often. And really learn how to use one of the social networking sites. You can get to the others later.
3. Get the word out and be authentic – Matt says if you use WordPress, much of your SEO is handled for you already. I’d say 80%. The other 20% is in the details. So worry less about SEO in the beginning and more about the quality of your content. And have something interesting to say – but say it in your way. Be a real person because it’s people that people want to do business with.

So if it’s this easy, why don’t more of us do it? What gets in the way? And why do we make it so difficult?

What do you think?

(note: image, Joe Walking Up The Steps from hip.kids on Flickr)

Let’s not waste each others’ time! I want to help your blog or website quickly and efficiently AND you’ll get some link love on my blog.

That mention will drive traffic and help with your rankings in Technorati and the Search Engines. In order to do that, I’ve got to sneak up on your blog, and tip it!

How to get your Blog Tipped:

1. Mention my blog in your post, here’s the HTML:
   <a href=”http://www.douglaskarr.com” title=”The Marketing Technology Blog”>Get your Blogging Tips from Douglas Karr at The Marketing Technology Blog</a>
2. Drop me a line in the comments of this post with a link to your post.

My promise: I’ll spend a couple minutes reviewing your layout, usability, SEO, and your latest posts to find something that will help tweak your website or blog. I’ll make an effort to make the tip unique to every blog or website rather than trying to wuss out and collectively ‘tip’ multiple blogs.

Sounds like a pretty cool deal, huh?

Just a couple of days ago I asked the question are you the whole or just part of the whole? That lead to a very interesting conversation around whether we look at ourselves as whole beings or beings made up of parts. I’ll let you read and add to the conversation, if you like.

So when I was considering Darren Rowse’s lastest Writing Project, I wanted to write something that tied into that conversation. Yeah, sure, I could write the standard, top 5 blogging tips list. But that’s boring, really.

Instead, what I’ve done is gathered 5 of favorite quotations and relate them to blogging. Each of these five inspire me in different ways. And while there are thousands of quotes I’ve read (and collected), these are the most interesting ones I could think of.

1. The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling. -Lucretius
   Conversational blogging is not a sprint to happy high lands of massive traffic, huge link backs and Alexa rankings. It’s a marathon of touching one person at a time with something that’s meaningful to their lives.
2. It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. -Albert Einstein
   At the very least, a conversational blogger gives as much (s)he receives. And if (s)he can give more, it’s all the better.
3. Grant that we may not so much seek to be understood as to understand. -St. Francis of Assisi
   The conversational blogger doesn’t see his/her self as the expert that everyone should be learning from. Rather, they see themselves as students more than teachers – always being open to learning from what others have to share.
4. Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it. -Homer
   The conversational blogger is careful with his/her words because (s)he does not wish harm to anyone. They may have strong opinions, but they never make it personal or hurtful to others.
5. Talent develops itself in solitude; character in the stream of life. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
   Conversational bloggers are in a constant cycle of learning, growing, changing and integrating. Their work is when the keyboard is silent. And, the fruits of their work are shown in how they interact with others.

Okay, I can’t stop. So how about two three more…

1. To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. -Lao Tzu
   As conversational bloggers, we can learn to fill our selves every day with more knowledge about how to blog, how to drive traffic, how to get more links. What get, then is that – knowledge. But wisdom, and great conversation, comes from stripping it all down to just the conversation. Share, give, link and the rest takes care of itself.
2. To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself. -Soren Kierkegaard
   The conversational blogger stretches his/her self with their blog. Since they don’t have to be the expert, there’s room for them to slip into risks without unknown outcomes. This can become exciting and engaging conversation, without which we’re not authentic.
3. What do I think about when I strike out? I think about hitting home runs. -Babe Ruth
   One of my favorite all-time quotes. With your blog, swing for the fences. Just know that sometimes you’ll miss. So don’t let striking out get you down. Think about the sweet feeling when you connect and the ball goes sailing over the wall.

So, there it is…five eight inspirational quotes that tie directly into better conversational blogging.

Be sure to check out some of the posts that are showing up daily at Problogger. You can view the entire lists for Days 1, 2, 3, & 4 as Darren posts them. I’ve found some great topics from Day 2:

• 5 Back-to-Basics Strategies For Renewing Your Energy by Ririan
• Top 5 Top Blog Posts in SEO by Michael Jensen
• Top 5 Steps to Redirect Traffic from Your Old Site to a New One by Friedbeef
• Top 5 Tools Every Blogger Should Use by Scott
• If Only I Could Read Just 5 Blogs! by Jonathan-C. Phillips
• Top 5 Ways To Stop Being a Perfectionist by Krista
• Top 5 Easy Ways to Create Information Products by Gobala Krishnan
• Top 5 Things Moms Should Keep in the Family Minivan by Neena
• Blogging Networks: Top 5 Pros and Cons by Singhania
• My Top Five Motivational Quotes by Dave Das (hey, like me)
• Top 5 Free Ways to “Start” Generating Traffic to Your Blog by Ankesh Kothari
• Top 5 Tips for Beating Blogger’s Block by Joanna Young
• The top 5 reasons RSS is so great by Allan
• The Top 5 Strangest Things I’ve Learned While Blogging by Robert Hruzek
• 5 best places to go while visiting Acadia National Park by Norman Sargent (filed for later)
• Do You Know These 5 Easy Ways of Making Online Friends? by kayliz
• Building A Blog Community by Shelly Kneupper Tucker
• Top 5 Ways To Identify a Bad Listener by Derick
• 5 things I wish all bloggers did by Zieak

And please visit some of my friends who I know have participated:

• Self Improvement Strategy: Top 5 Reasons to put a STOP to Top 5 Lists! by Aaron Potts
• My Top 5 Successful Bloggers Who Made a Difference by Liz Strauss
• Top 5 Reasons GPS Tracking Makes sense by Dave Starr
• 5 Mistakes Made by Beginning Programmers by Brandon Wood
• Top 5 WordPress Plugins That Help Increase Comments by JohnTP
• The Top 5 Free Search Engine Optimization Tools by Wendy Piersall

What are your favorite inspirational quotes – whether they relate to blogging or not?

As Wendy says:

…what better way to throw a birthday bash than to create an opportunity for all of you to make more money, get more traffic, and have more fun with your online business?!

I couldn’t agree more.

She’s got lots of prizes she’ll be giving away all throughout the month of April. Look at what week 1 winners received.

In Wendy’s own words, “Every single prize will help you grow your blog or business.”

PRIZES INCLUDE:

- 5 copies of Joe Vitale’s book on Mastermind Group success Meet & Grow Rich

- A FREE copy of the #1 Ranked SEOBook donated by Aaron Wall

- A FREE Premium subscription EarnersForum donated by Lee Dodd

- A FREE ticket to SOBCon in May donated by Liz Strauss (I’m speaking there)

- A $500 Coupon off of an Elite Retreat ticket (Orlando in May, anyone?)

- The *Grand Prize* is a FREE phone consultation with Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Shoemaker and myself to talk specifically about how to grow your blog or business

- Special ‘SURPRISE’ prizes along the way – I have more up my sleeve!

Updated goodies from super-cool people ::

• A FREE copy of Awaken the Giant Within generously donated by the wonderful Kris Jones from PepperJam Marketing and Search. Thanks Kris! (this book seriously influences my success on a daily basis!!)
• A FREE year of SoloSEO do-it-yourself keyword optimization and management services. Thanks Michael! ($348 value and kicking myself in the butt because I’m not eligible to win this one, ack!!)
• A FREE copy of Eric Giguere’s eBook, Uncommon AdSense: Tips, Techniques and Strategies for Maximizing Your AdSense Earnings,

Did you see the grand prize? a FREE phone consultation with Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Shoemaker and Wendy to talk specifically about how to grow your blog or business. That chance alone is worth the effort to join in.

So what are you waiting for? Enter the contest right now.

What’s really impressed me about the blogosphere, though, is how openly and freely bloggers share what they know. For the most part, there seems to be no holding back – no protecting information. Which is amazing. Anything, and maybe everything, you would ever want to learn about blogging, business, branding, marketing, seo, etc is openly available on the blogosphere. And bloggers seem to love to share it.

But what about nonbloggers. How open are we to them? How easy do we make it for them to join ‘our world?’ Do we offer ample opportunity for nonbloggers or beginning bloggers to join in? Is the blogosphere just a huge clique?

That’s what Wendy Piersall from eMoms at Home has been wondering. She’s been noticing how much of her traffic comes from bloggers while how little comes from nonbloggers. She began thinking that perhaps we bloggers aren’t making it easy for nonbloggers, and even new bloggers, to join the conversation.

Blogs are conversations, yes. But have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation at a party, with a bunch of people you hardly know? Specifically a group that already knows each other well?

We all know how hard it is to walk into the middle of a conversation. We awkwardly stand there, trying to figure out whats being talked about; listening intently for a chance to add in. Sometimes we get in. But more often then not, we’re ignored and even shunned. And we walk away thinking ‘they were a bit snobbish and cliquey.’

I love Darren Rowse’s site ProBlogger. Darren so freely shares what’s made him and others successful. And I get the sense he’s a pretty nice guy. But I’ve had experiences like this commenting on his blog. A few times I’ve posed questions or what I feel are valid ideas in the comments that just get ignored. I don’t necessarily fault Darren for this, but I do question why no commenters were willing to engage me. Maybe I’m just too new in the conversation. But the experience has made me stop commenting at ProBlogger.

So, as bloggers, do we have a responsibility to, as Wendy writes, “break out of the blogging clique?” What can we do to be more open to newbies and nonbloggers? Please join in.

Here’s a few ideas from eMoms to get the conversation started:

Darren Rowse suggests “I think a mistake that some bloggers make is promoting themselves as a ‘blog’ – in doing so they could be losing readers as some people will either be confused by the term and/or distracted by it.”

Aaron M Potts thinks that, “If bloggers are going to band together to inform the masses, putting together one united banner would seem the most effective way to spearhead the effort.”

Rory adds, “It could be that many non-bloggers are more familiar with the use of a forum. They might have questions, but they go to their favourite forum, and post a question there. When they happen upon a blog, they might just read the information without understanding that they can comment – perhaps not even wanting to. They might be more inclined to try sending an e-mail to the blog owner. …Commenting on a weblog might be considered to be too daunting.”

Ariane Benefit suggest, “Addressing newbies in any field will get you lots of readers! As will addressing any specific problem that people commonly have. One of my most popular posts ever is still “25 ways I save money” It gets tons of traffic and has lots of links to it from other sites.”

John Wesley, “…if you can break through the barrier and get non-blogging, non-internet savvy people to start participating, you have a huge opportunity for growth. I think this potential out weighs the short term benefits of writing for bloggers.”

Please, be sure to read and carry on the conversation at eMoms.

In a future post, I’ll write about our conversation and link back to your blogs. Thanks for join in.

As of today, MyBlogLog community has only 12 members. Yet, I’m so pleased that they’ve joined my community that I’d like to acknowledge them right here:

• Micah Schaeffer from Blogging on Blogging (MyBlogLog link)
• Mike Sansone from Converstations (MyBlogLog link)
• Catherine (cat) Morley from Designers who Blog (MyBlogLog link)
• Gary Conn from Google SEO, Successful Blogging, Online Marketing (MyBlogLog link)
• Chris Brown from Branding & Marketing (MyBlogLog link)
• Internet Strategy Blog (MyBlogLog link)
• Daily Domainer News (MyBlogLog link)
• Debojit Chowdbury from Free Life Coaching (MyBlogLog link)
• PayPerPost (MyBlogLog link)
• Tim Kevan from The Barrister Blog (MyBlogLog link)
• Laura from My Journey to One Million Dollars (MyBlogLog link)
• The SEO Fox Blog (MyBlogLog link)

So check out these blogs and their communities on MyBlogLog. And while you there, stop by my community and tell me about yourself.