Experienced Marketers Question - Value of Generating Traffic from Google

[Hakan - The Mindset Man]

Calling all experienced marketers ...
In your traffic generation efforts, how important to you on generating traffic from google?

What I would love to know, do you find more success in getting targeted traffic from being one google or through other traffic generating effort like forum posting, articles, joint ventures etc.

[ChristineCobb]

Optimizing your pages to rank higher in Google for your keywords should be one of many methods to generate traffic. My best advice is to not put all your eggs in one basket

[angienewton]

SEO is my biggest success plus guest posting. Forum posting most times is not a relevant link so I don't put much faith in that being a good traffic generator.

A great post to read on Lynn's blog is the one she wrote on how to increase blog traffic fast.

[Matthew Scarlett]

There are many factors in getting traffic from google keywords or phrases is the simplest way to go. However I'm not really obsessed about getting traffic from google, never have been. What I want is to get people who are willing to buy. I have a unique problem, in that my traffic has grown 20 fold, and yet my affiliate income hasn't changed in 3 years.

I'd rather have 200 visitors who would earn me commission, rather than over 200,000 (last month) who don't!

However all is not lost, because of the amount of traffic, I'm now attracting investors, and people who want to help transform my site. That's what I need. What I've learned over the past few years is that I know a lot about audio products, but zip about marketing, web-design and how to maximize my sites potential. My (soon to be) new partner does. So as for traffic, I'm not really concerned about traffic, it's about how to turn what traffic you have into money.

I generate traffic writing keyword rich articles and joining forums linked to my market, and building up a good reputation. After I'm recognised as a trusted member on that forum, I then slip the odd link to my site.

I also find blog articles and submit comments. Most blogs will allow you to add your sites URL. But starting out can be a hard slog.

[chickblogger]

Really it depends on your end goal. If you're after an active community on your site or blog, I would recommend to you social media such as Twitter or Facebook. If you're after traffic numbers, I would recommend getting involved and active with social bookmarking such as Digg or Stumble Upon.

If you're after sales from affiliate products, then I would suggest search engine optimization as those who use Google when performing a search to buy - usually end up buying goods. It all comes down to what Lynn is always mentioning about intent - commercial versus informational.

Each traffic method brings about different types of people. So once you decide who it is you're after, then go where they are.

[Matthew Scarlett]

If you're after sales from affiliate products, then I would suggest search engine optimization as those who use Google when performing a search to buy - usually end up buying goods.

I don't think it's that cut and dry. I think it's more about whether your site 'is' a 'sales' site or an 'information' site rather than where you get your traffic from.

My friend earns 100,000 euros from her site, and she looked at my site for 10 seconds and told me, the reason why I'm not making money from affiliates, is because I have an info site. She has an online store with no info on it whatsoever.

[chickblogger]

Hey, Matthew:

What I meant was that usually social media and other types of traffic don't buy, like the searcher's do. Yes I'm generalizing a tad, but it's been proven before by many marketers. Really my point was that there are different types of traffic and different methods to attract traffic.

You bring up a good point though which is that in most cases, a purely informational site might not generate good revenue versus one designed/created to sell products.

[Matthew Scarlett]

IMHO it's not what marketers have proven, but what's actually happening with ones own site. As I've stated before, my traffic has increased 20 fold, with no increase in my income. I've spoken to marketer after marketer after marketer, each making the usual suggestions .. that haven't worked. If my traffic has increased by 20 times and my income had increase 5-10 times I would believe what the 'marketers', but it hasn't been that cut and dry.

I've done no social networking whatsoever ..... actually that's not true, I signed up for a facebook business account last week ... and that's it. So most of my traffic comes from google ... to no avail it would seem.

If what you have to offer is not what people are looking for, then people won't buy it. Again, how much traffic one has and where they comes from is irrelevant! If that were not true, I would be earning more than just a few hundred dollars a month. That's just my own experience.

[David Jackson]

Calling all experienced marketers ...
In your traffic generation efforts, how important to you on generating traffic from google?

What I would love to know, do you find more success in getting targeted traffic from being one google or through other traffic generating effort like forum posting, articles, joint ventures etc.

Any SEO expert will tell you, organic traffic (meaning traffic from search engines) is the highest quality of traffic there is. That being said, you also don't want to be totally dependent on Google - especially with their constant algorithm changes. Therefore, you should always strive to get traffic from as many different, quality, relevant sources as you possibly can.

However, at the end of the day, it's really not about how much traffic you get. It's about how much of that traffic you are able to convert into profits.

David Jackson

[jgant]

I agree that the best source of traffic depends on the type of site you have. I focus on 3 projects and each are different.

One is building a community. It's in a very focused niche and I do pretty much no SEO. This site attracts backlinks naturally and many mentions on other websites (eHow, offline magazine, etc.). I simply publish quality content and offer an enewsletter. I focus on selling one product to this market and it works pretty well given the minimal time and $ investment.

Ironically, this site ranks at the top for the main keywords. The downside the market is quite small.

Another site I have is a product review site (affiliate monetization) and it's very dependent on search engine traffic. I target 4 closely related niches (I created hubs within the site). I don't do any PPC or social media. However, I do article marketing which works okay. I target hundreds of keywords, write 1,000 word reviews and go for the free organic traffic. This works also. I'd say it's a hybrid of a sales/info website.

As an aside, I'm very interested in the above comments about the person who makes 100,000 euros with strictly a sales-format site. I'd love to hear more about this. Particularly, is the site a catalogue-style site with affiliate links, or is it dropshipping, or pure e-commerce?

My third project is in the broadest market and I employ numerous traffic methods including organic SEO, guest blog posting, article marketing, and am starting with some social media. It targets both shoppers and strives to build an audience. I've been less successful building an audience than making sales with shoppers.

Like so much else online, it's imperative to test different techniques and to know what your intention is with your site. Presently, I'm planning a test PPC campaign for one project to build a subscribership. I don't normally use PPC, but am hoping a particular technique will deliver decent opt ins from PPC traffic.