If you agree that traffic is the true currency of the web, then you'd want to read this article very carefully?
Every web site owner and Internet marketer with a commercial goal understands the true value of the visitor, studying the synergy between traffic and sales.
The problem is, it is all too easy to get caught up in specific traffic generation methods and lose sight of the 'bigger picture'.
What's this bigger picture you ask?
Your focus should be on creating a total traffic strategy, instead of just concentrating on smaller individual techniques.
This is important as a well-defined strategy allows you to choose the BEST traffic sources for your business goals. It's the smarter and more powerful approach for leveraging on your incoming traffic for skyrocketing profits.
Now setting up a strategy might sound daunting to some, but it really comes down to understanding the difference between SHORT-term traffic and LONG-term traffic.
Most marketers do not even realize there IS a difference between the two, and how this difference can impact your business in more ways than you will imagine.
First let us look at the definitions of these two traffic sources:
1. Short-Term Traffic
Short-term traffic creates a temporary boost in visitors, but there is more to this. You might immediately think of a pay-per-click campaign as an example of short term traffic; but, did you know that certain search engine optimization efforts could also result in a short-lived traffic boost?
The key word here is the word temporary and the question to ask is: temporary relative to what?
A PPC campaign might be temporary relative to your budget. Perhaps you can afford only X number of clicks in your current situation. It may be temporary in that it is not your primary method of traffic generation, but you run campaigns in order to collect leads for your newsletter or test your landing pages.
Likewise, if you have a large budget and have found through testing that PPC visitors convert well for you, then this method becomes a part of your long term strategy.
Here is another example:
Let's say you jumped on the bandwagon and created "smart pages" or "doorway pages" before Google wised up and started banning those sites.
If Google failed to blacklist those types of sites, you could have had a source of long-term traffic on your hands.
I bring this up just to make it clear that not all search engine optimization tactics produce long-term traffic. Experts pound us all daily with the notion that SEO is the holy grail of consistent, long-term traffic. It bears noting that this isn't entirely true.
Changes in algorithms can affect your ranking even when you use legitimate optimization tactics. Put another way, SEO is a preferred method, but you MUST stay on top of things, else your efforts will be short lived and so will your traffic.
2. Long-Term Traffic
Long-term traffic consists of repeat visitors and a consistent influx of new visitors.
Understand that repeat visitors come through relationship building and branding. The focus is on communication, compelling content and some form of direct link between the visitor and your site (e.g. by a newsletter subscription, bookmark or viral product containing your link).
For the search engines, new visitors will only reach your site through broad and consistent exposure. This means you should maintain at least first-page positioning on a handful of relevant keywords. Another necessary criteria is a dominance of a reciprocal linking strategy with other relevant sites. You should also learn how to convert new visitors into REPEAT visitors all the time.
As mentioned one way to a constant flow of long term traffic comes from being able to maintain high search engine rankings for relevant keywords, which is not easy. A powerful weapon I would recommend you to immediately use is at http://www.ewenchia.com/stomp.htm
After understanding the difference between these two traffic sources, the question is how do you use this knowledge to maximize your results and ultimately, profits?
The answer lies in identifying your business goals.
Why? Simply because your goals dictates the type of traffic you want to go after.
Here are some real-life examples. Is your goal to:
In summary, short term traffic is mostly directed toward some form of testing or quick list building. It also presents an opportunity to collect important feedback on your site in real time.
Long-term traffic on the other hand builds your customer base, subscriber base and audience over time. It allows you to spot trends through examining month's worth of patterns logged in your server's web stats. Your repeat visitors provide a valuable test bed for researching your market and learning how to communicate with them effectively.
The successful marketer uses a blend of both short and long-term traffic and, more importantly, knows the difference between the two so as to create an effective total strategy for website success.
For a deeper understanding of the entire traffic generation game, check out http://www.ewenchia.com/ts.htm and you'll be on the way to an avalanche of quality traffic in no time.
Like this article? Show your appreciation here: http://ewenchia.com/drink.htm.
Copyright 2004 Ewen Chia
About The Author
Ewen Chia is a successful Internet marketing expert who has mastered the science of instant profit generation. You can learn his proven money-making secrets and explosive marketing strategies by going to: http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com.
How to Build Web Traffic DailyI - Introduction II -... Read More
The longer your website visitors stay, the more they will... Read More
Ok so the first way to get traffic is not... Read More
How many ways can you get free web site traffic?... Read More
In this Article we look at the second competitive advantage... Read More
Online marketing is an area where you can find a... Read More
Let's talk traffic and how to get it. Your website... Read More
Have you spent a lot of money on advertising with... Read More
Online statistics shows that about 10% from online visitors make... Read More
(Continued from Using Traffic Exchange Programs Part 1)Hello again!In this... Read More
Reciprocal linking is considered by many people the most effective... Read More
For the past few years, I've been stashed away in... Read More
One thing you can never have too much of online... Read More
If you're feeling a bit of confusion and frustration about... Read More
If you are looking to increase the number of visitors... Read More
Everyone wants to know the big secret to driving traffic... Read More
Linking - what a mess if you don't know what's... Read More
Just to recap - Part 1 of this article outlined... Read More
For many years now, getting traffic from search engines when... Read More
Did you know that web linkage is responsible for a... Read More
It used to be that simply having a website meant... Read More
So, you've added Adsense to your site and you are... Read More
Webmasters look for ways to get a higher ranking with... Read More
Qualified traffic is the lifeblood of any web site today,... Read More
How can you have effective results in major search engines?... Read More
Proper Use Of Meta tags For A High Google RankingGoogle... Read More
PageRank (PR) is Google's way of measuring the quality and... Read More
"How Can I Double My Sales?" - that must be... Read More
For many months after I put up my new website,... Read More
In the world of Internet Marketing, and Web site promotion,... Read More
Do not pay anyone or any service to submit your... Read More
Link popularity has been written about ad nauseum, but most... Read More
Link development can be an absolute nightmare. It takes up... Read More
If you could get high quality traffic that would grow... Read More
A lot of website owners work tirelessly at increasing their... Read More
Whether you are an affiliate marketer, a website designer or... Read More
The debate rages on forums all over the internet-should one... Read More
Wouldn't it be great if your website was listed on... Read More
When you work with web site traffic, you must have... Read More
To improve our website ranking and internet presence we need... Read More
1. Make all or part of your site into a... Read More
Why submit to a Directory?Every webmaster is looking for ways... Read More
Web site traffic is essential to having a thriving online... Read More
All we webmasters know the importance and procedure to exchange... Read More
All of us want to increase traffic to our web... Read More
Asking another webmaster for a reciprocal link is standard practice... Read More
If you have a website the chances are you receive... Read More
One of the most important steps you can take in... Read More
Five tips to effectively schedule your content.In order to get... Read More
The results of the social bookmarking experiment I have been... Read More
Getting links to a new website, without Google page rank,... Read More
Now that more emphasis (to get better ranking in SERPs)... Read More
Webmasters have so much information available to them on the... Read More
Overview:Many leading search engines and b2b web sites offering online... Read More
What good is a website without traffic? A website without... Read More
This old saying which addresses the variability of the weather... Read More
But a mere increase in the volume of website traffic... Read More
Traffic is the food that every website needs in order... Read More
Since everyone is so obsessed with ways to increase our... Read More
Do you want to pump up sales at your website?If... Read More
Writing LinksIn the first part of this article we learned... Read More
>When many of my clients first come to me for... Read More
This is the first in a series of three articles... Read More
So, you've added Adsense to your site and you are... Read More
IntroductionBanner exchanges allow you - as a website owner -... Read More
Are you attempting to become a Google junior by adding... Read More
Traffic Building |