Can I increase traffic to my site with Web 2.0?

The answer to 'can I increase traffic to my site with Web 2.0?' is an obvious and resounding 'yes'. But knowing that Web 2.0 can increase traffic to your website is not the same as actually making that happen.

Web 2.0 or 'Social Media' should not be a forum for blatant pitching of business opportunities, although perhaps not surprisingly that's what often happens. Web 2.0 is about 'community' and offering value unconditionally and therefore attracting like-minded people to you and to your business.

'But I can increase traffic to my site with Web 2.0 by sending my site link to thousands of people can't I?
Er..... no. That's the worst thing you can do, because you're spamming people. How excited are you when ads for Viagra land in your inbox? 'Up front pitching' your business opportunity to your Facebook and MySpace friends creates the same negative response and is everything that Web 2.0 shouldn't be.

However if you're asking 'can I increase traffic to my site with Web 2.0 by sending entertaining or uplifting content to people?' then the answer is the total opposite. If you share quality content with like-minded people then you are using the skills of 'attraction marketing' which is everything that's good about Web 2.0.

One method that can leverage your 'friend-adding' is to use 'adding software' though do be a bit careful. First of all, if you use this for spamming 'bizopps' all you're doing is annoying lots of people at once instead of one at a time. Web 2.0 sites are also alerted by patterns of 'bulk friend-adding'.

But if you're offering uplifting content and you've a profile that is interesting, entertaining and not stuffed full of graphics and 'extreme' audio tracks, then people's interest can be piqued. Definitely avoid going for tiny fonts and colours that offer virtually no contrast to the background. It may sound a trivial thing but you'd be amazed at how many MySpace profiles are almost impossible to read!

If you're asking 'can I increase traffic to my website by writing articles on Web 2.0 sites', that's a big 'thumbs-up' too. Sites like Squidoo, Hubpages and Scribd to name but three are sites that Google looks very favourably on. Look how many articles from these sites turn up on the first page of the search results. You may not have noticed that before, but you will now if you look!

Web 2.0 is not an overnight 'cure-all' for getting traffic to your website. If you want immediate results then you can always buy pay-per-click advertising, provided you know what you're doing. Like with a lot of things you can save time by spending money or save money by spending time. Web 20 marketing falls more into the second category.

So if you're still enquiring how can I increase traffic to my website and you've not yet harnessed the power of Web 2.0, then I would encourage you to do so. Provided you are giving value to the community and not going straight for their wallets, then all kinds of benefits can land in your lap.

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Alun Maxwell is an experienced networker and online marketer, and helps many networkers harness the power of the internet to build their businesses. A specialist in one-to-one communication, he is hired by many top European companies as a Business Roleplayer, to help executives understand the impact of their words and behaviours on others. http://www.Web20Gold.com http://www.MLM-Via-Web20.com