Elridge's Peanut Gallery: Using Targeted Organic Traffic from Social Networking Sites to Build Your List

Everybody’s into social networking these days. Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, profiles on LinkedIn and a number of other tools are what people are using to communicate with friends, family and others who share a common interest. Did you know that tapping into these sources can be an incredible source of traffic for your business website or blog? All you need are to sharpen a few tools in your arsenal to drag some of that needed traffic your way and glean some customers for your home business. Here are a few tips you can use to get targeted organic traffic from social networking sites:

• Use articles and news tweets to spread interest on your site. Create a free information sheet to hand out or giveaway and make a post to Facebook or Twitter to tell about it. Interested people will come over to see what the “buzz” is about and get the free info. Before you give it out, have them sign up to your list and then redirect them to the goods.
• Use viral friend advertising to advertise. Retweeting a great tweet and then adding your spin on it is one good idea. Post a great article from an article site and post on your Facebook wall to get others to check out the full article (on your site of course). On sites like LinkedIn and Stumble Upon, building up huge friend networks and then feeding them info like this often causes them to pass it along for you and good stories can go viral in no time.
• Feed your Facebook page. Constantly look for ways to build up your page’s fan base and post news to it at least 3 times a week. A Facebook page is a great page for offers to attract folks who are not yet on your email list.
• Use Youtube. Making your own videos is great, but you can piggyback on great videos you find there to post to Facebook or pass along to friends on other sites.

Once you get people on your list, make regular broadcasts and send your customers good content that will keep them coming back for more. Surveys, solicited email comments, offers and more are good ways to keep your lists cultivated and productive. Targeted organic traffic from social networking sites does not have to be complicated. Make your plan and keep at it every day. Regular efforts at this type of advertising will produce great results but you have to stay at it.