Ideas for you webmasters , everything you wanted to know.

Since traffic has been increasing and commenting becoming more popular i thought it would be time to host a contest. I have seen some blogs do such contest offering prizes such as electronics , entrecard credits and t-shirts.

I want to host a contest for guruwebideas , something simple that everyone can do. Im interested in know what people would like to do for the contest. Such as top commentor,  top dropper on entrecard? Or if you have something else in mind i would like to know.

          

What is the most important thing to webmasters? Traffic! I thought i would let out some secrets on how to increase traffic to your site. Since they are many many ways to increase your traffic im going to talk about this once a week.

Why increase your traffic?

If your trying to make money from your site you want more traffic to click on those advertisements , or do more of what ever it is you make money from. If your just a blogger for the fun of it , it may not be as important to you. Its always a good idea to increase your traffic just to get more popular. Whats the point of have a site if no one visits it?

How do i increase my traffic?

This week im going to talk about a program called entrecard. Entrecard is a program for bloggers to get traffic to their sites by exchanging drops. You earn credits if your drop someones blog with the entrecard widget on their site. All dropping is clicking the button “Drop” on their entrecard widget. Its like saying i like this blog , or you just gave me a credit.

How does it work?

First your need to sign up at entrecard , make an account and place the widget code on your site. The widget is a small box that include the drop button and a 125×125 ad space you can sell for credits. You can get different widgets if it doesnt fit your needs. Here is what the widget looks like.

After Your site has been approved (make sure to follow their terms) , you can start increasing your traffic. Your goal is to do 300 drops a day. I know it take time , but the more drops the more traffic your likely get.

How do i drop?

When you have logged in to your entrecard account , at the top nagivation you will see Campaign , click on that. It will take you to the categories area. It lists all the blogs by categories. Click on a category and you will see the blogs , go to the blogs. One the blogs site you need to look for the entrecard widget (like the one on the left). Then click on the word drop. Once you have clicked it , it will say Go! Go! or sometimes other responses. Just to let you know that your drop was accepted. Now do this over to as many sites as you can.

How do i get traffic?

After you have dropped a bunch of sites , what happens is that site will see your drop in their inbox area. If they are a reputable blog they will drop back. Not all sites look at their inbox , so this is something you need to play around with. Your goal is to find a bunch of sites that will drop back if you have dropped on their site.

There a many things you can do to improve your effectiveness at entrecard. I recommend you download their toolbar to drop on sites faster. This is very useful tool. It usually take about 45 mins to an hour to do 300 drops. Depending on your internet connection and clicking finger (with toolbar). Also when you drop on someones blog you earn a credit. With those credits you can buy ads on other blogs , or you can use them at the marketplace to buy anything users are selling (ads ,ebooks,information).

If you need help or have a sugguestion post!

          

I thought i would talk about the importance of banners. You may not always need banners for websites , but if you are going to advertise your site your probably going to want them.

Banners are an image that advertises your site or product or what ever you desire. Your banner show appeal to your target audience.  For instance , i made a banner for my entrecard widget. I need one that would be displayed when others would view it on a website and when dropping on my blog. It wasn’t too important what it looked like , but i wanted to represent my site a place to get ideas. I guess i could have added something symbolizing web,webmaster exc..  I agree , im not the best artist. This is when i wasn’t using the best photoshop program. Either way it was just for entrecard use , didnt have to look pro just had to look better than their automatic images.

Why use banners?

As i said before if your going to be doing any advertising for your site your going to need them , unless your doing text advertising. They can useful to place around at forums , or just show off anywhere. They stand out more than text. They can be more informative than text, you can symboylize anything you want. Just like how an image is worth a 1000 words.

Where do start?

You have two choices , you can hire someone to make banners for your , or you can make them yourself. If your artistic and know how to use photoshop i would recommend this route. Even if you dont know how to use photoshop and your not the best artist you can still make them. It will take sometime , so i do warn you.

If your trying for very professional banners , i would recommend you hire a professional. There are many graphic designers out there who make banners/advertising for web sites. You can easily find them by searching around or you can use sites like www.getafreelancer.com , or www.odesk.com . These freelancing sites are full of everykind of web service you need , but i do warn you though some can be expensive. Getafreelancer is the cheaper of the two , well from my experience. If you do hire someone , make sure to pick someone who has good feedback. The last thing you want is someone who doesnt know what they are doing or takes forever to finish the project.

Making my own banners

Tools your going to need to make banners are

-Image sources (google,stockimages)

-Photoshop

I recommend you get a quality photoshop program called Adobe Photoshop CS 4. You can get a 30 day trial from their site. It should get you a good start. Only downside is that this program is very expensive to buy , i think its about 700$. If your unable to use this program there are free programs out there , but you get what you pay for. If you dont have any experience with photoshop you can find many tutorials around.Come up with a design for your banners , draw some images or find some online. Just make sure not to steal images that are copyrighted. Thats a whole another discussion. If you want to play it safe i recommend you use a site called stockimages. Only downside is its not free. Banner design isnt something that is going to happen over night , its going to take trial and error.

If you get suck or want some advice ask me!