Ten Steps to Start a Fire

So you have a brand new PerpetualMotion Website! What's next? How can you start getting visitors and keep them coming?  Here are ten steps to start building a steady stream of visitors to your site:

1. Post user-valuable content at least 3-4 times a week, more often if possible.  Your new content management system is built to handle whatever you throw at it.  You can't post too much content to your site.  In fact, the more content you post, the more likely you'll start getting visitors from the search engines.  Not just any old thing will do, however.  If you can post articles, photos, videos, audio, links, polls, and static pages that contain content which is actually valuable to your target audience (your core idea network), you'll get them coming and coming back.
2. Delegate authority when needed.  Remember, you can create security groups that only have access to administer certain areas of your site.  It's safe to let a trusted employee take over posting articles, links, events, etc. if you don't have the time.
3. Get at least two new sites to link to your site every week, and more if possible! I can help you identify your core idea network, a group of sites and people who share your interest and may even be interested in linking back to your new site!  Remember, user-valuable content is key.  If you can provide content that is valuable to your core idea network and they link back to you, you'll start building up potentials from all of the networking your core idea network members are doing!
4. Talk it up!  Mention your new site to everyone.  If you have a traditional storefront, make sure that you and all of your employees mention your website before and after every transaction.  Make sure all of your best clients, customers, vendors, and everyone else who does business with you knows first and foremost that you have a website with content valuable to them. 
5. ALWAYS advertise your site, when advertising anything. Make sure your website (and reasons to go there) are featured prominently in all of your advertising.  Advertising doesn't have to be expensive.  Hand out business cards with your website prominently printed on them.  Take out classified ads advertising for site visitors with expertise that will draw your core idea network.  Put your site in all of your e-mail signatures.  Get your site printed prominently on your products, price tags, bags, and anything else the customer will take home with them.
6. Set up a friendly referral environment. Encourage your best customers to refer your site to their friends, and reward them in some valuable fashion when they do so.  Make sure they know that you value their referral above everything else.
7. Identify your best five or ten customers and get them talking about (and on) your new site. Encourage your customers to post comments, stories, links, events, and more to your site. Always have a digital camera handy and get a picture of every successful service, quality product, and satisfied customer (with their permission)... then post them to a special photo album displaying satisfied customers.  Get feedback from unsatisfied customers to improve your services, and get a testimonial (and permission to post it online) from every satisfied customer.  Even better than all glowing reviews are honest reviews when a customer had a problem and you went out of your way to fix it.
8. If your best customers have areas of expertise that identify with your core idea network, give them their own tips & tricks section! This is a fantastic way to build valuable content on your site, reward your repeat customers, and give them ownership of part of your success. Your best customers will start thinking of you as less of a business and more of a club.
9. Further encourage community with the creation of an insider's club. Explain to your best customers that you value their repeat business above everything else, and that in order to reward them for their business you want to give them first access to advance notice of sales, contests, articles, and other valuable content.  Give a small number of your best members instant access to this "insider's club" and advertise it to the rest of your customers as an object to work towards.
10. DON'T FALL INTO THE TRAP OF TRYING TO HIDE ADS OR SALES PITCHES IN YOUR USER-VALUABLE CONTENT. I can't emphasize this enough. Obviously, if you're selling products or services you'll want to post that information on your site, but avoid trying to hide sales pitches in content valuable to your target audience.  Link to your goods and/or services on your site, but don't try to hide those links in a pitch.  Remember, the object of creating a site filled with valuable content is building trust to prove that you're worthy of the sale. You want your visitors to know that you're willing to provide them with valuable content, valuable information, without any obligation or having to wade through a poorly-disguised sales pitch. You can't fake it.  Pitches only work on a small percentage of the population, and most of the time they build mistrust instead of building trust.  Most of your visitors are smart enough to smell a pitch a mile away.