Once again, I am honored to be a guest speaker in a Twitter Chat series.

This one is being hosted by Smallvolution from Network Solutions, next Thursday on Twitter, from 1 pm to 2:30 pm Eastern/New York time.

I tell you.

If someone had told me I’d be working closely with the company I first registered my domains with, it would have been inconceivable.

Can you imagine starting a public access TV show then one day guest star on NBC? That’s what it feels like. And as always, I want to share my blessings.

Here’s what’s in it for you.

1. The event is completely free. .

No charge, really.

2. All you have to do is click here to register for Keep Them Coming! How to Increase Traffic to your Website.

(Both web traffic and SEO will be discussed.)

Update: Two prizes are being announced shortly. They’ll only be available to those who register for the event – so even if you’re not sure you can attend, REGISTER NOW.

3. Every person who registers, even if they can’t attend at the last minute, is getting a special freebie to help with their Web Traffic.

And no, it’s not 366 Traffic Methods.

4. Free tips on search engine optimization

Answering questions like “Why is SEO critical to increasing web traffic?”

5. Free tips on web traffic

Key information, such as: “Top 10 tips on how to increase web traffic”

6. You get to send me questions through the moderator.

I won’t be answering any questions about naked pictures, or accepting marriage proposals. Stay on Topic, People!

If you’ve never been to a Twitter Chat before, after you register, see our last post regarding the Women Grow Business Inbound Marketing Twitter Chat from April. You don’t need to have a free Twitter account to attend, but it helps if you want to be able to ask questions and join in the fun.

And stay tuned, I’ll be reminding you again soon, with more tips and pointers about Twitterchats.

What makes a good piggyback ride?

1. When the other person is much bigger than you. Otherwise what’s the point?
2. A willing and able piggybacker.
3. Mutual benefit – for example, you’re both having fun.

The same is true in business. If you look carefully, you’ll often see some of the companies you work with offer to share the might of their promotional powerhouse with you.

I love Google Checkout. Over the years, my clients have grown to enjoy them as well.

It seems like a lot safer way to be paid for large sums of money than a check – up to several months later if the recipient of my services is dissatisfied, they can reach me through the system. I don’t have to risk checks that may bounce, and there’s an easy way for customers to leave me recommendations.

In the last year or so, they’ve begun to include me in their holiday promotions.  I haven’t had enough notice from them to actually make sales from them, but the two-way promotion still benefits us both.

I get listed as a company having a promotion through Google Checkout – the association between my company and Google is a nice perk. They’re already promoting holiday discounts and I get included in that.

Meanwhile, they get promoted to my audience and some of the trust I’ve built with them transfers to Google. My clients see a safe way to try my services, knowing I’d never want to sully my reputation with Google. I, in turn, am protected against fraudulent orders.

Win-win-win.

Check with some of the bigger companies you work with, or even smaller companies with wider audiences. There are all kinds of joint promotion opportunities out there.

This post is part of our 68 Traffic Tips day. To find the complete list when we’re done, see the original post. Be sure to subscribe to get a weekly round-up of our daily traffic tips.

1. The first thing you want to do when attempting to drive traffic to a site is assess whether or not methods other than advertising will work on the site. For example, you can’t do article marketing successfully with an affiliate link.
2. The next thing you want to do if a site is viable, is determine which of the available methods will go with your site, prioritizing from the most compatible to the least.
3. Every business that has a web site, and many that don’t, can benefit from organic search or social media, usually both. The complicated part is how. When in doubt, rely on a plan with those two things at its center.
4. Make sure that at some point before proceeding, you have a goal for the project. You can’t evaluate whether you’ve been successful if you don’t know whether traffic has gone up, if sales are rising, if more people are subscribing etc. Choose a traffic goal that’s directly related to your business objectives.
5. Determine the desired path through your site to a sale – what is the money funnel, and is it sound? Do people come to the site, subscribe, buy? Should they see your ad and then call? If so, are they doing it? If not, why not?
6. Never rely on one traffic method – what happens if it fails or is suddenly obsolete?
7. Don’t try to do ALL the traffic methods you come across either, not unless you have a staff to execute on your behalf. Instead of attempting to do every traffic method you’ve heard of, add one at a time of up to five methods. Drop the ones that don’t work and replace them with new techniques.
8. In selecting the five core techniques you want to use, it helps if they play off each other. In other words, if part of your mission is to build links, then article marketing or forum posting might help you get there faster. Approaching them with a mind to maximize those particular strengths will be more effective than doing so as an after thought.
9. Test each traffic technique by isolating as much as you can. Try blocking a page from being indexed by search engines, and testing the method on only that page.
10. At the same time, don’t get so attached to testing and test results that you can’t proceed without 100% proof positive that the specific technique works the way you wanted it to – sometimes that gets in the way. For example, a tracking link in a resource box of an article will get much less traffic than a regular link.
11. Get help if you need it. No one expects you to be brilliant at your business And at marketing it. Even if you are, you only have two hands. Get a virtual assistant. Hire a marketing team or a search expert.
12. When you hire someone, or choose someone’s advice to follow, do your homework. Google their name, their site and their company, and pay attention to both compliments and complaints. Check if they’re respected by their peers – are they guest speakers or authors outside their own web site? Who are they affiliated with?

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I need your help in thanking someone. All it’s going to cost you is a link, and maybe an email. If you want, you can even make money from it.

You might have checked your email yesterday and seen a message from me about Evergreen Traffic, and read about my story. Some people I know had never heard about that part of my background, and if you’re one of those folks, it probably explains a lot. If for no other reason than to satisfy your curiousity about me, go by and skim the page on Marlon Sander’s site.

And yes, that’s what I want you to link to, talk about, etc, but let me tell you why first.

What I really want to talk about first is how this whole thing happened – how I ended up suddenly having one of the people I admired first and most online decide that I needed to revive my product line, and how he dragged me, kicking and screaming, into creating another product that explains the core of the traffic system I use on my own sites.

You might know Marlon Sanders from The Amazing Formula, a product that’s been on the market as long as I’ve been in online marketing. It’s one of those things that, if you lost it, you’d buy it again.

For me, having him suddenly come into my life as a customer is kind of like being on American Idol and having Stevie Wonder ask you to sing at his birthday party. Yeah, I have a rep of my own that I’ve earned through my talent — but he’s the Real Deal, you know? If I was to stay in this business that’s the kind of success I’d be shooting for.

Think of the person you look up to like that in your profession, coming up to you and saying, “hey, we’ve got to get your product line back up and cranking- you’re talented!”

Can you imagine?

I was really… resigned to retirement status.

I still have some lose ends to tie up and was hoping to get some of my friends together to help me with a fundraiser to get that going and maybe some residual income. But it’s been hard to coordinate, and with me not knowing until I wake up in the morning whether or not I can conduct life semi-normally, it’s been tough to commit to interview times.

Cindy, Violet, and Morgan are a HUGE help, but it’s gonna take five people to take over what I was dong at my peak. That’s not to brag, it’s just the long and the short of the issue. So I’d just about given up hope of ever doing the part of my life that I love the most, which is sharing the details of the information about traffic, search and marketing that you find on this site.

I would think to myself: At least I have my consulting clients – for the most part, if I can talk and coordinate research with other folks, I’ll always have that. But there’s something about being able to reach masses of people with good information.

Anyway, not even a week ago, I get a Facebook message and a friend request from Marlon. I thought, this has to be THE Marlon Sanders, because most of the folks who would spoof him aren’t old-school enough to remember him.

And it was.

And he was writing to tell me that he thought I was talented, and why was all my stuff down?

So I told him.

And long story short (or at least less long), he convinced me that I needed to keep on sharing what I know, starting with a new product. And that’s how Evergreen Traffic came about, through the kindness of Marlon Sander’s heart.

I hemmed and hawed and made excuses but he cut through my BS and got me working. I know some people who would have modified what I told them and sold it as their own. But the successful people are Never like that.

Isn’t that funny?

Marlon has resurrected my dream. I’m still going to have to retire for health reasons, but because of him I’m going out with a bang instead of quietly fading away. But until that day, I can create my best work and not have to worry about certain nutty details. I won’t bore you with them, but suffice it to say that without flexibility on those points, it made it hard for me to be able to make products as I’d like.

He has also helped me to remember what I needed to keep in mind the most.

You.

In all these issues I’ve been having, I can’t say I forgot about you… I always think about you. What I forgot was how much you guys … love me, to put it in Marlon’s words.

In return for Marlon’s generosity to me, i want him to make a mint off this. Yes, i get a cut, so you’ll be supporting me too.

Here’s what I’d like you to do, if you would.

1- Go to Marlon’s special site for affiliates, where currently instructions for promoting Evergreen Traffic appear on the front page. If you want to make money, create an affiliate link. If not, you can use the same information to link directly there.

2- Make a blog post about it. If you link here or send a trackback, of course I’ll link back.

3- If there’s anyone within the sound of your blog/voice/del.icio.us that you think would be helped by learning about the Evergreen Traffic System, send them a note, whether it’s your list, a friend, or someone you know who just started their internet business.

4- If you think that more than 50 of the people you know could pick it up, contact Marlon directly. He can make you a special partner or create a special page for you.

That’s it. Just four steps and you’ll be helping me show my appreciation for Marlon and all he’s been willing to do to help me.

If you do, make sure you send me the link in Facebook or make a comment here because I want to send you something special for helping out. In any case I appreciate you perusing my rambly thought for the day.

Okay, I just appreciate you, period.