I’m stumped…this rarely happens. Somehow, I manage to figure out a way to make things work on my own with existing tools and technology…but this time, I have hit a dead end. Here’s the 411:

The Situation: I need a way to instantly (within 15 seconds) deliver short, one-sentence messages to large (1000+) numbers of specific people (paying members) as needed throughout the day (random times).

Idea #1: Skype
Skype is great, and you can start group chats with out to 100 people. But to get to 1000 people I would need to have 10 group chats open and post to each one immediately when a new message is to be delivered. Not only that but new members must download Skype and learn how to use it first. Plus each member can see every other member of the group chat.

Idea #2: Email
Email is the logical solution because most people watch their inbox like a hawk. But delivery times of large group emails through services like aWeber, iContact, etc can be delayed as much as 3-5 minutes. Add in SPAM filters and it can get sticky. Delivery times are usually quick, but when they are not…it could hurt.

Idea #3: Twitter
Twitter seemed like a perfect solution. Short messages delivered instantly to large numbers of people and the ability to protect our updates. The issue: Twitter tools like Twirl, Seesmic Desktop, etc are delayed. The message may be instantly posted to Twitter but these tools only check every every 30 seconds to 2 minutes for new tweets.

Idea #4: Password Protected Page
I could setup a password protected page, on that page it has a real-time alert system. I can get the alerts to be close to real-time through combinations like Twitter+Monittor (embed Twitter updates), but if this is running in the background there needs to be a sound or alert when a new one is posted which I can’t find a good solution for.

So, there it is…I know there has got to be something out there to meet this need but I just can’t seem to find it or put the pieces together to make this work. Can you? For the person that can help I’d be happy to write a blog post about and feature them on the TeenBiz Podcast and whatever else I can to return the favor.

Thanks for the help…hopefully we can get something figured out!

So, you’ve got your website up but now you need some traffic. What to do, what to do. You could buy some PPC ads through Google Adwords, email all your friends, and post a few links…but how do you get some real, solid, consistent traffic flowing to your beautiful new piece of web real estate? Here are my top 5 free traffic sources for small business websites.

1) Twitter
I really think Twitter is one of the most powerful, simple tools for generating traffic right now. True it is not as automated as search engine traffic can become, but the fact that it is free, fairly fast, and gives you almost an on-demand ability to generate traffic makes it my #1.

2) Search Engines
I didn’t say top 5 ‘instant’ traffic sources…I said free. Although it may take some time to rank well in the search results, it is well worth the effort if done correctly. Daily traffic volume for even an average keyword can be worth $100s in PPC ads.

3) Article Marketing
Article marketing isn’t as talked about as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean this form of traffic generation is lacking efficacy. Articles are ranking high in the search engines and are being distributed on blogs and other sites like crazy. If you write interesting, unique articles with attention grabbing headlines, they will get noticed. Just don’t forget to put a link to your site in the bio!

4) Email Marketing
Now, you might be thinking, “Email marketing is FREE traffic, you have to GET the traffic before you can build a list.” Well, after you work so hard to get that traffic in the first place, wouldn’t it be great if you could bring them back over and over again by collecting their email addresses and sending them offers, updates, and freebies?

5) Shout Out Exchange
There are lots of terms for this, I like to call it shout out exchange. I simply mean when you approach a complimentary business (one that sells goods / services that compliment, not compete with, your goods / services) and say, “Hey, I’ll give a shout out to my list / blog / twitter followers about you if you do the same for me.” It’s simple to do, most people say yes, and you get instant, fresh traffic. Delicious.

Now some of you might say, “What about affiliate marketing?” I have heard this referred to as “free” traffic, but there is nothing free about it unless you hope to cheap your affiliates out of their deserved rewards. It is nothing a CPA (cost per action) system. You may get a lot of traffic from it, but you don’t want traffic unless it provides sales, and when you make a sale you have to pay the affiliate.

There you go, top 5…may not be as cool as the NBA Playoff’s nightly top 5, but it may be a good substitute for those of us that are under 6’8″ and can’t jump over minivans.