Driving traffic to your site is one of the first
requirements to a successful online business. Without
traffic, your site may as well not exist. There are
numerous ways you can drive traffic, so let's take a look
at some of them and evaluate them. Keep in mind, this
isn't a comprehensive list, but it is some of the more
successful ways. . I invite you to share any other ideas
that have worked for you.
PPC
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Affiliate Programs
Article Syndication
Press Releases
Blogging Banner ads
Joint ventures
Offline campaigns (that drive traffic to your site)
Advertising (on other sites, ad networks and industry
publications)
Let's look at the pros and cons of a few of the methods, to
help you determine what methods are viable for your
business. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3, as we work our way
through the list above and determine the pros and cons.
PPC
Pros:
You can drive traffic quickly -- that's a good thing!
Your traffic is targeted if you select the right keywords
-- also a good thing!
You can use PPC to test things (headlines, landing page
copy) -- great way to use PPC, in addition to just driving
traffic for sales. Be willing to sacrifice some profits
and use PPC to test ideas before you fully role them out.
You control the settings and can turn it on and off any
time -- control is good.
Cons:
There is a lot of research and set up required (unless your
outsource it) -- not necessarily a bad thing, unless you
don't have the time to learn and implement or the budget to
outsource. Your best bet is outsourcing, if your budget
allows it. You should be running your business not
becoming a PPC expert.
The cost per click can be very expensive on some words --
in some industries and on some words it is prohibitively
high. In other cases it's just annoyingly high. You have
to determine where your keywords would fall and if you can
afford it. How much is a lead worth to you? How much is a
sale worth to you? You should figure this all out before
your start.
You have to worry about click fraud -- bummer! There is
software out there to help.
Once you've reached your daily spend (the amount you are
willing to pay each day) your ads are turned off and your
exposure disappears -- that's just how it works. It means
there is often a good part of the day where your ad isn't
showing, unless you have a large budget.
SEO
Pros:
· Organic search listings have a higher click
through rate than PPC listings. -- Getting the most clicks
out of any listing is a good thing. Major pro!
· Traffic from the organic results converts at a
higher rate than PPC traffic. -- Another major pro!
Conversion is what it is all about, so getting traffic that
is more likely to convert is your ultimate goal.
· Your traffic is targeted if you select the right
keywords. -- That's a good thing.
· It is more cost effective than PPC (usually,
depending on the cost of your keywords) -- Just run the
numbers and determine if that is true for you. In many,
many cases, $300 of SEO will bring in more traffic than
$300 of PPC.
· Your listing appears 24/7 and doesn't turn off
after you've reached a certain limit (like in PPC). --
Constant exposure is definitely what you are striving for.
· Search engines are the prime source for finding
information and websites, with more than 8 out of 10 people
using them to find products, services and information. --
Makes it a no-brainer. If you aren't ranked in the top of
the engines, you are losing out on traffic.
· You can get content, videos, images and news
indexed. -- Cool!
Cons:
· There are unethical companies out there and many
people have been burnt before. -- True, and very
unfortunate. The good news is there are also good
companies out there. Find a company that will share
references, has a good history and is willing to talk with
you and share their action plan.
· It can take a while to get results, depending on
the keywords and the history of the site. -- True. SEO
doesn't happen overnight. However, I'm sure you'd rather
get rich slowly than not get rich at all. It's the same
here, get rankings slowly or don't do anything and get no
rankings.
· It requires a lot of time and attention to detail
(unless you outsource it). -- As with PPC, this is only bad
if you don't have the time or the desire to spend the time.
Outsourcing is a solution.
· Knowing what the "right" keywords are is a little
tricky for the average person. -- It's true. If you aren't
outsourcing and are going to handle it yourself, spend some
time learning about keyword research. It will be time well
spent.
Affiliate Programs
Pros:
· You tap into other people's ideas, creativity and
circle of influence. -- Always a plus, you may even get
some ideas from you affiliates.
· You have people out there working for you, and you
can leverage their efforts. -- Leverage is the key factor
most successful, wealthy business people understand and
embrace.
Cons:
· You can't put your business in someone else's
hands, so you can't rely solely on affiliates to grow your
business. -- It's true there are concerns about how
affiliates will represent you, but that is not a reason to
avoid setting up an affiliate program. It should be part
of your marketing plan ' but don't rely solely on it.
· You can't offer a duplicate version of your site
to affiliates anymore, or the engines won't like it, so you
need different content to provide the affiliate or let them
come up with their own content. -- This is a change from
how things used to be, but if you didn't run an affiliate
program before, you may not have even known that, so it's
definitely not a reason to not proceed now.
· You have to be careful people don't misrepresent
you or cause any harm to your business and reputation. --
Very true. Have a strong and direct affiliate agreement,
so your affiliates understand the rules.
Stay tuned for part 2, where we look at Article
Syndication, Press Releases and Blogging.
----------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner
of http://www.EcomBuffet.com
Since 1998, her expertise in
online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has
helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business
goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search
Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and
marketing publications. Jennifer can be reached at
Jennifer@ecombuffet.com
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