Here’s a common problem that is raised by new-to-the-business-world entrepreneurs: “I’ve created a website and I started marketing it with online marketing techniques… so why am I not getting any traffic?”

When the issue is investigated further it is discovered what the real problem is: “online marketing techniques” includes an article and a press release.

Just one of each.

In a three month period.

Sorry, folks; this won’t get you the traffic you need. Marketing online is like marketing offline. No one buys one billboard. No one buys one single commercial. No one sends out a single flyer in the mail. You need to be doing several marketing activities and communicating with people through different media and techniques before your message comes through.

It works the same online, too: You need to create a perfect storm of attention and discussion in order to drive traffic to your site. Just posting an article and a press release won’t cut it. You need to be creating several articles and several press releases and this effort needs to be ongoing.

Here’s how we recommend you do that:

Sit down and think about what topics will be interesting to your readers. Spend some time brainstorming and create 90 (yes, 90) topics. Well done! You now have enough article topics to produce one article a day for the next 90 days. Now, think about news in your business. Are there interesting topics that are newsworthy to your readers? Spend some time brainstorming and come up with 12 (yes, 12) newsworthy topics. Well done! You now have enough press releases to produce one a week for the next 90 days.

But that’s not all: You need to come up with some content for other places, too: Forums, Facebook pages, Twitter, you name it. These are all places that will help to contribute to your online presence. Make sure you have enough material to deliver in each place for the next 90 days.

When you’re done, you’ll have a marketing plan to implement through the next quarter of your business! It seems like a lot of work but there are benefits to it: By consolidating the brainstorming into 1 long session 4 times a year (instead of trying to come up with content each day or each week or each month), you’ll be more likely able to follow-through on creating the content than if you sit down regularly to come up with something. It’s hard work… but nothing good ever comes easily!

photo credit: Jamiecat *