As the Internet continues to scale new heights of popularity and potential for the online entrepreneur, the playing field is gradually beginning to become crowded. Competition for the growing but finite number of site visitors and customers remains keen. Most of the traditional ways to drive qualified and targeted traffic to your website is gradually reaching the point of total saturation. Examples in this category include article marketing, forum marketing, e-mail marketing, posting on discussion groups, blog marketing, press release distribution and so on. What are Internet entrepreneurs like you to do now that you have already streamlined your customer service model with live chat or are considering doing so? Here is a strategy worth exploring and fine-tuning.

Building Buddy Sites on the Internet

Your current website on which you either have installed live chat service from Live2Support or are perhaps actively considering the transition is purpose driven. Your site has a clearly defined niche, markets a product or service, commands a loyal customer base and caters to the needs of your customer community. You may even have created this website to promote your existing offline business. These types of websites pose a few problems when it comes to driving qualified traffic. They are rigid and inflexible in most part and site owners are reluctant to tweak them for fear of causing an imbalance. Websites always need to be tweaked when called to attract website traffic. This is precisely the kind of make over many of you will not permit for reasons that might be quite legitimate. If that is the case, why not build a buddy site instead of having to explain to your SEO that "working on" your primary site may not be a good idea after all?

What is a Buddy Site?

A buddy site is an adjunct to your main website or your flagship website which exists solely as a feeder website to drive traffic and generate warm leads for your flagship website. As of the writing of this feature, this concept and its name are being used for the first time. Remember, you first heard of buddy sites on Live Wire Plus!

A buddy site has only one objective and single-focused mission-to support your business and the website that generates business for you. It should be built as a content rich website as per Google's content network specifications. The important components of a buddy site should include the following:

Rich and Engaging Content
Articles, research reports, subject FAQs, case studies, white papers and a forum or blog dedicated exclusively to your niche should become the main stay of your buddy site. The primary purpose of this website should be to educate and inform your potential customers about your niche. For instance, if your niche happens to be global adventure tourism, you should feature articles on all the exotic places in the world that your existing customers frequent complete with photographs, video footage, testimonials and personalized memoirs if possible. Never allow the content on your buddy site to read as marketing collateral otherwise your readership will drop and your bounce rate will sky rocket.

Feedback Form for Lead Generation
Your buddy site should include a well designed feedback form on every web page so that it is easy for your prospects to communicate with you. Be sure to install a reliable mechanism to process these warm leads through phone, e-mail, fax and IM. Be prepared to answer questions that may involve conducting online research.

Link Extensively to your Main Website
Place attractively designed and eye catching banners and text links on every web page of your buddy site that link to your flagship website. Position your company strategically as the one and only sponsor on your website. Once your potential customers' link over to your website, they will find even more information about your niche with specific reference to your company. An increase in website traffic should lead to large volume conversions.

Analytics on your Buddy Site
Whether it is Google Analytics, HitBox or any other analytics service you use, it really makes no difference as long as you receive accurate visitor data in real time. Monitor your visitor stats carefully and tweak your buddy site when and where necessary.

Finally and most importantly, Search Engine Optimize!
None of what we have suggested in this article will drive traffic to your website if your buddy site isn't search engine optimized to the hilt. Remember always that SEO is an ongoing exercise and like Rome, a search engine optimized website cannot be built in a day. Use the services of a knowledgeable and qualified SEO to work on your buddy site at least three times a week and deploy a tested strategy with a proven track record. Your SEO should explore both on page and off page SEO options and do all it takes to position your buddy site on page one of Google's search engine results pages!

Although the formula for traffic success we have suggested here is experimental at best, it is based on design concepts and elements that are logical in nature. How successful it will be, only time will tell.