QUOTE(NCEIRE @ May 4 2012, 03:32 AM)
Been reading over the past week about sites seeing their Traffic getting crushed since the new Google Update...and it got me thinking....how wise is it to overly-depend on search engine traffic?
I do some general SEO stuff but I'm no expert at it and don't see it as being too important to by business. Like everything else I feel Diversification is important here i.e. to have a steady flow of traffic coming from several area's so your business won't suffer too much if there is a sudden interruption in one of your supplies...
It's also worth mentioning to not spread yourself too thin and try and utilize every traffic technique under the sun. You know what they say if you take on too much, you'll become "a Jack of all Trades but a Master of None.."
Personally I like to investigate the usefulness of nearly every Traffic technique that I hear about but there are a few that I use daily to keep my sites well supplied They are:
Forum Posting : Some of the best quality traffic I get is from posting in forums which are relevant to my niche. E.g. you wrote an ebook about Dog Training then you should hang out and get involved in 4 or 5 forums related to this area. Simple have a link in your sig back to your site and you're in business!
You know the traffic coming from this source is already interested in your topic and will make building a list a lot easier. Give them a free gift on sign-up to your site and hit them with your $7 upsell for the full "Dog Training" ebook - bells n all!
Remember 100 highly targeted visits per day can be worth more to you than 1,000 random hits from people not interested in your niche.
Blog Commenting : Again this is a little labor intensive (but could easily be outsourced) The beauty of this, like Forum Posting, is that you are hanging out where your Target Audience hangs out i.e. Blogs related to Dog Training
Visit some of these high traffic blogs in your niche and leave valuable, content-filled comments replying to the posts. Anyone who visits these pages and see's your well written response may be interested enough to click through and visit YOUR site!
This is also a great way to make yourself known to the experts in your niche and may open up some valuable contacts that you can JV with in the future.
Document Sharing : I like these Document Sharing sites too because it allows you to re-purpose your work. If you have a blog (which I'm sure a lot of you do) then all you have to do is export your posts as mini-pdf articles and upload them the Document Directories.
In each pdf you can link back to your site and instantly you can share your content on some very high traffic sites. Unlike some Article Directories most of these sites have No Review Process so it's super easy to upload your content to half-a-dozen directories in a few minutes
Viral Ebooks : This is a great way of spreading your message. How about compiling some your blog posts into a mini-ebook and submitting them to Free Ebook sites??
Include your sites links within them and also any affiliate links you like (so there's the possibility of making some cash if your ebook gets passed around the web) If you want to go the extra mile you could always get a nice cover made over at fiverr but this isn't necessary (but does make it look cool!)
So there are 4 simple ways of getting more Free Traffic to your sites, sure they take a little work but they are FREE! And especially with the Document Sharing & Viral Ebooks you only need to do the work once and then use it again for these purposes i.e. more value for your initial effort!
What other Free Traffic sources do you find effective?? Would be interested in hearing of any success you might be having with them..
This is great stuff, Its true quality over quantity!
Thousands of untargeted traffic is worse than a thousand targeted visitors