Please Stumble or Digg this posting!

I’ve promised people many times that I’ll keep offering up web traffic systems and techniques. What you see below is an extremely simple system that The Rhodes Brothers have used again and again to drive traffic and build our list.

First, like many other people, we create a squeeze page. That simply means that we offer up a high quality report to people in exchange for their name and email address. Basically, people opt in to your list to get a free goodie. This alone can drive web traffic!

Second, we post news about the free goodie on a news web site. Often this is simple. We just write about the freebie on one of our niche blogs. On our internet marketing sites, this is obviously very simple and readers “get it” immediately. But, it does work in any niche.

Let’s pause here a second.

Many people will tell you that the two actions above are list building. Well, that’s kind of true. But listen, that list is very weak. Freebie seekers are, um, freebie seekers. They want everything for free. A freebie list is a freeloader list, although there is still value.

Sponsor: Where Can You Find Marketing Tools Like These?

The Rhodes Brothers cannot let you down. There is more to this story. We’re going to explain the next step of the Web 2.0 Traffic System. Your freebie list is pure gold when it comes to Web 2.0 and I’m going to make it 100% clear in just a minute.

With me still?

Now, third (Step Three!), you’re going to leverage that “low quality” freebie list. What you’re going to do is simply ask them to visit a page and Stumble it. You’re going to ask them to post about it on Twitter. You’re going to ask them to bookmark it on Del.icio.us and related sites. You might even ask them to Digg that page.

What is this magical page? I’m glad you asked because this is very important.

This second page is another high value page that the freebie seekers will be happy to promote. Remember, the “promotion” they are doing is deadly simple. It’s easy to Stumble, Digg, and bookmark, don’t you agree?

This second page, which the freebie list is promoting is high value, but it also contains a central message and common theme. It’ll also include links (just a few!) to your sales page for a product that is related to your original freebie page and your second page that the freebie seekers are pumping for you.

Got it?

Let’s recap. I’ll keep it very simple…

1. Create high value product and simple page where freebie seekers opt in.

2. Build a freebie seeker list.

3. Create another great page (”Page 2″), with great information but also links to your product.

4. Hit up freebie seeker list, ask them to promote Page 2, which is a smart, witty info page.

Listen, people don’t mind helping you if you give them something free. They might not give you money, but they CAN drive traffic to your pages. They can pump traffic, link to you, talk about you, and much more.

I’m telling you that this method absolutely, completely works. We’ve driven a lot of free traffic this way through our freebie lists. That freebie traffic will translate in real dollars once the traffic starts to pick up. Plus, you’ll start showing up in Google more often too with those pages.

~ John

p.s. OK, OK. You need an example of a “freebie” site? Here’s one example. No more, got it?

Related stuff…

• How to Generate Web Site Traffic: The Meta List

Small favor….

• Please Stumble this posting!

By the time you’ve seen this, I will have updated Twitter 1,000 times. If I posted once per day, it would have taken me about 3 years to make that many updates. That is not the case. I’ve been signed up with Twitter for about 3 months. So, I update Twitter about 10 times per day on average. Crazy, eh?

So, what is Twitter?

Here’s some basic information:

• Official About Twitter Page
• Official Twitter Blog
• Twitter FAQ (including official answer to What is Twitter?)

In my own words, Twitter is a web site that allows you to quickly and easily tell the world what you are doing and what you think is interesting. It’s a simple tool for microblogging. You can make updates from the web or from your mobile device. Very simple stuff.

OK, if you’ve got a handle on Twitter, and you feel you know the answer to the basic question of ‘What is Twitter?” — It’s time to graduate. About a month ago I put together something very special, just for you!

10 Simple Twitter Secrets

You can’t go wrong with that article. It goes well beyond answering the “What is Twitter?” question and into tools and techniques for advanced Twitter use.

That’s all for now. I hope that you’ve learned something new. If you’d like to get started and need someone to follow, you know where you can find me:

http://twitter.com/webword

See you on Twitter!

If you’re trying to find John S. Rhodes on Twitter, start here:

http://twitter.com/webword

If you’re trying to get started, simply join Twitter then start asking me questions. Honestly, that’s going to be easy for you than anything else. You’ll want to follow me because I write about, and follow, the smartest UX, usability and internet marketing folks on Twitter. I also generate some good stuff.

Here are some commands and tips that will help you:

1. @username (for example, @webword) will create link to a user’s profile. It’s a great way to find someone too. If you create a twittering using the @username method, you can then click on that link and easily visit their Twitter page. Works like magic.

2. If you use a smart mobile phone, then direct your browser to: http://m.twitter.com which is the Twitter site optimized for mobile devices. (It’s an open secret, I swear.) If you’re on the go, this is a great way to post and track your Twitter page. For on-the-go internet marketers, it’s very convenient.

3. If you’re a Mac fan, consider grabbing Twitterrific. Here’s what it is:

“Twitterrific is a fun little application that lets you both read and publish posts or “tweets” to the Twittercommunity website. The application’s user interface is clean, concise and designed to take up a minimum of real estate on your Mac’s desktop.”

4. If you’re a Windows guy or gal, consider Twitteroo. Here’s the scoop: Twitteroo allows you to send and receive updates from Twitter on your Windows desktop. It has some limitations, but it works great. Don’t miss this Twitter secret tool.

5. Do not miss this “inside look” at Twitter. It’s a 37 minute video by Robert Scoble. He’s actually inside the Twitter offices talking to the folks behind the scenes. You won’t get anything better than this. You will really *learn* a lot about Twitter. I promise. If you’re an internet marketer, you know that this Twitter secret is like having a handful of gold.

6. Make sure that you update your Twitter profile. Here’s the link to your profile:

http://twitter.com/account/settings

Probably the most important field is the More Info URL. If people are looking at your profile, it’s a direct link to any URL you want. For internet marketers, this is obviously really smart to update.

7. You can send Twitter your tweets from an instant messenger. Here’s the mobile devices page, which you should take a look at. If you use GTalk, you can’t go wrong. So, to be clear, you can update Twitter via the Twitter web site, your phone, or instant messenger client. Cool, eh?

8. If you’re looking for new people to follow there are two easy things you can do. First, you can view the Twitter public timeline. I do this about once per day for just a few minutes. The second, more effective method, is to view the “Following” link on the pages of people that you really like. Then you can just subscribe to who they follow. It’s reverse logic, but it works.

For example, let’s say that you like what I write at http://twitter.com/webword All you need to do is click the Following link on my profile and you’ll see who I’m following. Then, you can just follow them.

Aside: The link will look like this “twitter.com/friends” — Notice that it says friends. That’s a carry over from previous coding they did.

9. Crazy Delicious Secret: If you want more followers, start following more people. Many people will follow anyone that follows them. Sometimes there are even bots that automatically reciprocate the following relationship.

This doesn’t mean you should go nuts and follow any old person, but if you want to get people following you, then you really ought to start following. It’s a give and take relationship.

10. If you’re nutty about showing up first on Follower lists, you should consider setting your screenname to something that starts with the letter A or maybe even a number. Twitter lists followers in alphabetical order. This is kind of a silly recommendation, but if you’re serious about showing up at the top, it is a consideration for you.

Aside: Twitter needs to add better sort and filter tools for Followers.

Bonus Twitter Secret #1 — Learn all about Twitter Replies. The smartest folks use these like crazy to network and respond. It’s really quite impressive if you do it right.

Bonus Twitter Secret #2 — Show multiple Twitters on your blog. It’s a great way to connect your Twitter updates to your blog. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s smart, especially for internet marketers.

Bonus Twitter Secret #3 — Find your Twitter RSS feed. If you’d like to see my Twitter RSS feed, simply add this RSS feed to your favorite RSS reader:

http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/7787032.rss

You will see all of my Twitter updates with no mess, no fuss. I encourage you to subscribe to that feed, especially if you care about usability, UX and marketing.

Bonus Twitter Secret #4 — Use Twitterholicto find out the Top 100 Twitterholics. It’s based on number of Followers.

Won’t you follow me? http://twitter.com/webword

UPDATED!

Based on more research that I’ve done as well as IMsimple.com reader feedback, I’m updating this entry with more Twitter Secrets. Enjoy!

Twitter Secret #15 — If you’re a Wordpress user, don’t miss the Twitter Wordpress Plugin(that’s a README). Directly download the Wordpress plugin.

Twitter Secret #16 — Use Twitter while inside Second Life. “Twitterbox is an object which enables one to post to and receive updates from Twitter, when inside Second Life.”

Twitter Secret #17 — Post to Twitter directly from Firefox. “…allows you to quickly post statuses to your Twitter account from the Firefox search bar. It is not an extension — it is a Firefox Search Engine. This means you can activate and install it in about five seconds, and start using it straight away without having to restart Firefox.”

Twitter Secret #18 — Serious Linux geek using Twitter? Try out gtwitter. “gTwitter is a Linux client for reading and posting to twitter.com web service.”

Keep those tips coming in and I’ll keep updating…