   How the heck do I start getting traffic?
  Ok, so I've put together a site that I believe provides a service people would like to use, I've got it hosted with its own domain, and have an ad on each page. Now what? I don't want to pay some SEO company just to get ripped off, and I've practically spammed everywhere to try and tell people about it. I've gone on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and even (probably going to regret this) 4chan. For anyone who's created a website and gotten it off the ground, how do you get your initial traffic? It seems like it's a pain to try and get even my friends to go on. I know my site isn't the prettiest right now, but that shouldn't stop people from looking at the content itself, should it?   
  Google Adwords/Adsense. Push lots of money into this and you will have a lot of traffic!;  But doesn't that just result in an endless cycle where I pump in any revenue I generate?   ;  Why would anyone go to the site? What value does it have?   ;  If the website doesn't catch up, yes. A commercial website is a business just like any other. The saturation of the www with commercial websites makes generating valuable traffic and click-through rates very hard work.   ;  If you just want traffic fast you're going to have to pay for it.  Building a fan base from content takes time.After going to your site, you're going to need to offer some sort of incentive.  You're essentially a website that acts as a headline feed.  I have 3 of these on my google homepage (your feed even shows it's powered by google).  Why should I navigate to your page specifically instead of just using my own RSS feeds?   ;  I'd say my site is mainly for those who've never heard of an RSS feed, who don't have a Feed program installed or use Google Reader. Other then that, I'm want to add feeds for more niche websites. For instance, the motorcycle section. I made that for my girlfriend's dad, so that he could check up on the latest biker news without searching for decent sites. ;Quote:Original post by BenThereDoneThatI'd say my site is mainly for those who've never heard of an RSS feed, who don't have a Feed program installed or use Google Reader. Well I expect that person is already reading your site so your readership is already maxed out.Seriously, there are a host of news sites and RSS available. Yours is (as you point out) uglier than those and offers less. The BBC site offers multiple headlines in each category, without having to wait for them to cycle round. It also offers pictures and video - as do most sites. ;Quote:Original post by BenThereDoneThatI'd say my site is mainly for those who've never heard of an RSS feed, who don't have a Feed program installed or use Google Reader. Other then that, I'm want to add feeds for more niche websites. For instance, the motorcycle section. I made that for my girlfriend's dad, so that he could check up on the latest biker news without searching for decent sites.If you're essentially just an RSS news site, you're going to be competing with a lot of people who do it better. Most major news sites already do this for most important news and generate their own content at the same time.If you want any significant traffic you should start generating exclusive content or start providing a service that's better than other sites.Also, while your interface contains a good amount of info, it doesn't really have a lot of eye appeal. While other sites might use older technology in reality, the users you're looking for will be fooled by a flashy looking interface.   ;Quote:Seriously, there are a host of news sites and RSS available. Yours is (as you point out) uglier than those and offers less. The BBC site offers multiple headlines in each category, without having to wait for them to cycle round. It also offers pictures and video - as do most sites.Yeah, I'm definitely working out ways to try and improve the offerings. One option I'm considering is organizing YouTube subscriptions much in the same way I organize the feeds. I know this is a somewhat lame solution but at least I know I'll be able to get it to work.This site is mainly a learning exercise for me, and I thank you all for your honesty. Keep the critiques coming!   