Increasing hits

This article discusses way in which you can increase the amount of visitors you recieve to your website. These commenst ae quite general, and can be applied to most sites, not only Pokemon ones. I (Pinkie) work as a free-lanced web designer, and for my customers, hits mean money. This is why I strive very hard for those sites, and my own, in order to increase hits, so I've had a good few years of experience.

First of all, it is worth considering how you site is different to other sites on the same topic, or why its purpose is different. Nowadays the network of poor performing sites with generic content that nobody reads is far too enourmous. No wonder it is harder to gain more hits when there are most likey tonnes of pages of content for every single person who owns a computer with an internet connection. As much as I would encourage people to build websites, I would also discourage it at the same time becuase there are too many sites echoing what has already been said over at more popular sites. I have one word for you: uniqueness. You site has to have something different to the millions of others if it stands even a remote chance of getting a considerable amount of hits.

The next thing you site has to be is professional. I no longer bother looking at five page freewebs or bravesnet sites, because I expect them to have little content and the pre-made layout which, not only makes you site look less professional, but less unique too (drawing to the previous point I made). In order to create good layouts, either pay for a web designer, get a friend who is good at it to do it, or do it your self if you want it done right! To do this, you need to learn HTML and CSS, which is beyond the scope of this article, so I suggets you look up some books in a local library or on the web. This must be learnt, and mastered to a good degree, before you launch your site.

One obvious way of increasing your hits is to advertise. Unfortunately, I have read how many paid adverts on the web just don't cut the job. Some of you may disagree here, however, the simple reason I go by is that they are ignored or simply clicked by accident. Adverts have become much of a cliche on the web, and most users generally pay no attention to them. My mum has the fear that spyware will be installed on her computer if she clicks an advert, not sure if other people view it the same way. Pay-per-click advertising (such as those offered by google), where you have to pay for every click made to your site, may seem reasonable. However, how many times is this abused, even by me, where the user clicks on the advert for the sake of driving up revenue for their favourite site or friend. Therefore, you may be paying for clicks, but not more hits. Nonetheless, if you were to put in a lot of cash, perhasp just some of those clicks would turn into returning visitors. Besides, you may not want to put in a lot of money at first.

So how do you advertise to get more hist for free? Well, the best way of advertising is the word of mouth. If other people refer and link to you, then they are effectively advertising for you. Of course, this is not easy as it seems, since you have to have some hits for people to refer you, as well as a good site. Therefore, you may want to start of with telling your internet friends, posting links in your forum signature or on various forums themselves.

Being dedicated is another key aspect of being a good webmaster and getting popular. You need to update your site regularly, as well as adding interactive features, such as forums or chatrooms, in order to start building a community; adding something that will attract the viewer's attention.

In terms of layout, this is the first thing people see when looking at your site. A good layout is proven to increase revenue for company websites. That's why a clean layout with non-clashing colours attracts the eye of the viewer. Also, fast loading times are important; the faster your page loads the better. How easy it is for a viewer to click the "back" button and turn to another site. After all, that botton is one of the most used ones for most users. Having a clean HTML code, along with optimised GIF or JPEG images (very little PNGs and under no circumstances bitmaps, BMPs), helps a lot. Limiting the amount of javascripts, and other scripts can increase loading times. Pop-up adverts can be very intrusive. As for me personally, if the pop-up blocker fails and I am bombarded with them, Ii immediately leave the site.

Being a nice webmaster who abides by the law (or atleast, so it seems to the viewer so), helps a great deal. Plagerism, for example, is a crime, and it can have a detrimental effect on how many hits your recieve if users find out; it can ruin your and your site'sreputation forever. Helping out and being polite is beneficial to your hits. If someone kindly ask for your help, and you can, then why not? People will think you're nice, and might recommend you to a friend, which means more hits.

SEO optimisation, or search engine optimisation, can increase your Google pagerank. This means that if someone types in a keyword related to your site, you will be displayed on the first few pages, rather than the hundreth thousandth page. Again, this is a very broad and complex topic, but it is worth looking up on the web if you want to increase your hits.

Finally, do not give up hope! Keep trying and moving on.

I hope you found this article beneficial.