Where Are All The People?

We've built a great web site, although it does need some tweaking now that we have the initial site running, but we just aren't seeing the level of traffic or participation we had hoped for at this point in time. We are currently looking at new ways to draw attention to the site and to increase visitor's length of stay. Tried Google AdWords, but with little success even after refining our key words. The books all tell us to focus on articles, news releases and viral marketing techniques so we are in the process of implementing our plans in those areas.

Most disappointing has been the lack of solid revenue growth. And, of course, we do have bills and salaries to pay so revenues are very important. We have been running affiliate program links on each page but they require three things to happen: 1) need visitors 2) visitors have to be compelled to click through 3) visitors have to buy something from the spot they click to. I think it may be time to try Google AdSense. That eliminates the third criteria noted above. We have used AdSense with some success on other sites we own so it may be worth implementing here.

I have not given up entirely on affiliate programs, but I do think they would be more successful with significantly higher levels of page views. We downloaded a free piece of php software that allows us to deliver ads in almost any manner we choose including by keywords from articles and other content on the site. That would work similar to AdSense delivery, so it is still on the table as a consideration.

I am convinced that no matter which revenue stream we choose to pursue, it will work. We just need to make a strong effort to drive traffic in order to produce the results we need to see.