About half-way through each year I like to take a close look at my stats to get a handle on my best traffic sources. My websites receive thousands of visitors a day and WHERE the traffic comes from is always changing.
As usual, this year has brought a few surprises. Of course, I still rely on low-cost and no-cost traffic sources, but the top performers are not the same as last year. I’d like to share those sources with you today.
I think you’ll find this list interesting. And who knows, you may even find a new way to get targeted traffic to your websites.
1. Affiliates
Coming in number one again this year is my network of affiliate sites. Though my affiliate program is not a massive force like many affiliate programs, my affiliates are active and productive, sending thousands of visitors a day. Perhaps that’s because I keep my affiliate network small, by offering the opportunity only to my customers. This keeps competition to minimum and rewards active affiliates handsomely. Even with just a few thousand affiliates, my affiliate network is still my number one traffic source.
So if you have not started an affiliate program for your best products and services, I highly recommend you do so. Although there are some costs involved with starting your own affiliate program, they are well worth it. Justify the expense by telling yourself that you are hiring thousands of sales people and paying them only commission. A web based affiliate program is just that.
2. TrafficSwarm (Pro)
My number two traffic source (and it was a close second) is now a traffic network called TrafficSwarm. This one wasn’t even on my top ten list a year ago. But this year it has been delivering an average of 500 highly targeted visitors a day to my sites. I started with a basic TrafficSwarm account and it performed pretty well. But the Pro account I have now has been surprisingly effective. The way the pro account works is this… you pay thirty bucks a month and get 1,000 traffic credits. Then you earn 2-6 more credits each time you or one of your personally referred users clicks on any of the links on their Start Page. Each credit translates into a visitor to the site of your choice. Plus, the pro option lets you earn cash for referring new members. So on top of earning a few hundred bucks a month, my account automatically replenishes itself with credits. It is now a self-propelled, traffic generating machine. I highly recommend it to any webmaster. http://www.bizweb2000.com/swarm
3. Repeat Visitors
A perennial top performer, is repeat visitors. You know, people coming to my site who have already been there before. This is something you used to hear marketing experts talk about a lot. Now, it seems that the value of repeat visitors has been overlooked. Yet, repeat visitors are usually the people who end up making purchases at your site. And there are lots of ways to get these valuable repeat visitors. I get most of mine through my follow-up autoresponders, my free ebook and my BizWeb eGazette opt-in newsletter. I suggest you try similar strategies if you are not already doing so.
4. Google
In fourth place this year, and still delivering heavy traffic is Google. The web’s top search engine really delivers a high quantity of high-quality traffic to my sites. In fact, I’ve managed to help a growing number of my members grow their google traffic as well. There are no tricks to it either. It really is as simple as taking the recommendations directly from Google’s site at http://www.google.com/webmasters/ and then making sure your site is properly optimized with the right keywords for your niche.
5. Affiliate-showcase.com
This one is new to my top 10 list this year, primarily because it did not exist a year ago. A fellow named Ken McArthur and I dreamed it up and implemented it in 2002. In a nutshell, it is a web based resource that automates the tedious process of affiliate marketing. And it can generate some serious traffic to any site you want. Since it is viral, it is something you can set up and then let run on auto-pilot. And that’s pretty much what I’ve done. Yet it continues to grow a steady stream of traffic to my sites. At the very least grab the no-cost version and give it a try.
6. Reciprocal Links
Do not let the number six ranking here fool you. Trading links with other webmasters has far more value than just the direct traffic they deliver. In fact, every targeted link you secure from a related website will help you improve your ranking in the major search engines. So if you do not have a link strategy in place already, NOW is the time to start.
7. Yahoo
OK, maybe I get still a lot of traffic from Yahoo because they are still using the Google database in their search results. But I do not regret paying their hefty submission fee a few years ago. They are still one of the web’s highest traffic sites and a good listing there is still worth the money. I expect that as they change things over the coming year, the value of that listing will increase even further.
8. MSN
Yep, MSN.com is finally making a dent in the search engine market, and they are also making a concerted effort to expand in that area. In fact, I’ve already seen traffic to my sites from search.msn.com grow steadily, especially over the past few months. So if you have not added your URL to their engine, you may want to consider doing it soon. You can get your site into the MSN search engine as well as HotBot, Overture, Excite and About by using Inktomi’s submit service. (Currently $39 for the first URL.) http://www.marketleap.com/inktomi/searchsubmit.htm
9. Paid Advertising
Yes, I do actually spend money on advertising occasionally. In fact, I receive a few hundred visitors a month from PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. The sites I use are Overture.com and Findwhat.com. They do deliver solid traffic but my conversion rate seems to be lower with PPC advertising than with my other strategies. Therefore I do not rely too heavily on it. Another source of paid advertising I use is Topica’s opt-in email newsletter network. Though results from them have hit somewhat of a plateau, they do still deliver cost-effective traffic. I also use a variety of other opt-in email newsletters. To find newsletters that reach your target market, check out: www.ezinehub.com
10. Articles
I have to admit, I’ve been lazy with this promotion strategy this year. I only write a newsletter every month (a few years ago I wrote one every week) so I have not submitted articles to other ezines as often this year. But this strategy still works well when I find time to do it, and I highly recommend it to other grass-roots web marketers. In fact, even though I have submitted only a few articles all year, I still get quite a bit of traffic from my archived articles across the web. That just goes to prove how effective this strategy is for long-term traffic, as well as establishing expertise on your topic of choice. If I ever decide to spend more time at the computer than on the golf course I’ll make this one of the things I pick up the pace on. 😉
* Article used with permission from Jim Daniels. Jim’s free guide to website marketing and his website promotion help site show you how to get low-cost website traffic and make money online.