A long time ago, it was pretty easy to get noticed on the Internet. All you had to do was put a few lines of code on your web site’s home page meta tags, and let the search engines do the rest for you. Now it’s a whole different story, and there are more new ways being generated every day… as old ones are phased out almost as quickly. Is it even worth it? Of course, letting toptenwholesale.com and its network of sites manufacturer.com, wholesaleu.com, offpricenetwork.com help buyers to connect directly with the wholesaler or manufacturer of choice is an easy option, but there’s a few things you can do for yourself too. I’m going to give you a few ideas that don’t require a degree in Computer Science to implement, that will perhaps help you gain visibility in a sea that is awash in technological mysteries.

Let’s take spiders, for instance. Spiders are not always a welcome sight, but in the world of Internet marketing they are indispensable. These “spiders” are the little pieces of code that is often referred to as a bot, or a software agent. Sounds like I’ve been watching the MATRIX too many times, eh? The job of the web spider is to crawl around and find information. This can be a simple one-line affair, or more usually a complex set of variables and instructions that are designed to work within the parameters of an environment that is constantly being modified, upgraded, and sometimes corrupted. It also takes a bit of know-how to craft one of these little bots, and to send it off on its way, without wasting your valuable time… or returning with nothing useful.

You don’t need to write code. You don’t even need to know much more than the usual routine of checking email, browsing sites, or using an online form. Some of the best things you can do to drive traffic to your site is to simplify your strategy, focus on the goals, and follow through consistently. If you’ve spent any time doing sales (which I suspect many of you have) then you know all about the 30-second commercial, the value of organizational skills, and the power of relationships. Here then, is a TopTen list of things you should consider when looking at the real basic methods for driving traffic to your site:

• Branding is not just coming up with a cute logo and a clever name, but it means you should design a look and feel for your site as well. Choose a color and style that you like, and stick with it. Tie it all together through your online presence, printed materials, and promotional goodies. Bring the virtual and physical together on your terms, and people will come to associate these subtle themes with your business.

• Make sure the customer can trust you. Build policies into your business that don’t confuse consumers or leave them with a bad taste in their mouths… and remember to look at everything you do from their perspective first.

• Be creative with the added values on your site. Offer things that the customer will appreciate, like industry related links, recommended reading, or just galleries of fun pictures from the latest trade show or wholesaler event. These things don’t cost you much, and they will add to the time your customer spends on your site… as well as adding to the usefulness of it, too.

• Include the ability to recommend your site to others. This can be as simple as putting a button on your page that lets the user submit an email or subscribe to a newsletter.

• Pay attention to the changes. Google is pretty good about keeping a cap on things, and that means you should keep your site up to spec, in order to avoid getting penalized for putting one line too many in your header text, or making a meta tag that upsets some part of the analytics. Keyword placement can be an issue too, so find out what you need to know, and keep looking it up to stay ahead of the curve.

• Advertise your site when it launches, and keep in touch with anyone who comments on it. Word of mouth is still a great way to generate leads and sales, so make sure you’re staying in front of people by reminding them about your site and services.

• Create a piece of material – like an article or news piece – that is targeted specifically to your customer… and then put it on your site! Give it to them, because they won’t be asking for it. Also, it would help if you made an effort to pass it around, by offering it to readers with reprint permission. This is a great way to find your work in some unexpected places.

• Use your web address for everything! Put it on your business cards, printed literature, T-shirts… everything and everywhere is best. Don’t be shy about it, since directing eyes to your site is numero uno in this game.

• Join other sites that have chat rooms and discussion boards, in order to become more familiar to those in the business. It might take some time and effort, but you’ll end up becoming well-known in some circles, even if they’ve never met you! Of course a signature line with your company’s site address is a good idea… and try not to be too assertive with the self-promotion. Moderators on discussion forums love to zap anyone who comes around just to cheer about their own business without leaving anything useful for the other members to discuss.

• This one sounds silly, but… visit your own site regularly, and check the links to make sure they’re okay. You’d be surprised how mahy dead links and error pages come up as your site grows and changes, and this is not the message you want to send out to those customers who have no time for figuring out why they got a 404 error when they just wanted to see your online catalog.

As you can see, there is a lot you can do without getting too technical, or without having to jump onto viral campaigns to boost your site’s visibility. For more specific and targeted strategies, be sure to contact the people at toptenwholesale.com for information on how you can use the power of heavy-hitting SEO to bring your site to the forefront. There’s a lot you can do, but the only thing you want your customers to do is Find it. Source it. Profit! From you, that is.