Jim Edwards has written the following article, explaining what website traffic "really" is and gives you some very straightforward thoughts on how to evaluate any source of traffic you're considering purchasing.
The Best Website Traffic Sources
- by Jim Edwards
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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Not a day goes by that any serious website owner doesn't
wonder how to get more traffic to their site.
This intense desire to generate more clicks makes virtually
any online entrepreneur easy prey to many of the traffic
schemes and scams that pervade the Internet like conmen on a
carnival midway.
Promises of fast traffic and big bucks often separate even
the most savvy business person from their money because they
want to believe the promises made by these traffic
hucksters.
However, rather than thinking "complicated equals better" in
the traffic game, the best website traffic sources rate
extremely easy to separate from the useless garbage traffic.
Fact: "Good Traffic" equals "Targeted Traffic!"
That means the visitors come as a result of desire to find
out more on a specific, niche topic, not as a result of
"exit" traffic or membership in a "safe" list where members
simply pitch each other in an incestuous spam fest.
Good traffic comes from people clicking links on topics
targeted to their interests and getting directed to a
website containing information they want and expect as a
result of clicking the link.
Bottom line, when you get right down to it, the best, most
dependable sources of targeted traffic come from links that
people click.
So, next time you're considering spending money on a traffic
source, understand that unless it involves a targeted link
that a targeted visitor can click to get to your website,
think twice before opening up your wallet.
To my knowledge, only three ways exist to get a link to your
site: buy it, "voodoo" it, or grow it.
** Buy Links**
Buying links actually rates the fastest way to get traffic
to your website.
You simply sign up for Google AdWords at Google.com or you
open an account with Overture.com.
You then run ads with a link on those sites and any time
someone clicks the link, you pay for the click through a
relatively straightforward bidding process based on the
popularity of the keyword.
You can also buy links in ezines, newsletters, and on other
people's website either on a per-click basis, for a period
of time (a week or month), or in exchange for paying them a
commission if a sale gets made as a result of a click on
the link.
** Linking "VoodDoo" **
Linking "voodoo" refers to attempting to manipulate the
search engines into displaying links to your website.
You can find a large number of automated software programs
online at any given time that will claim to help you get
more search engine traffic.
Depending on the intensity of competition in a specific
market, and the fact that search engines change their rules
frequently, pursuing search engine links can quickly turn
into the online equivalent of Alice chasing the rabbit down
a hole to "Wonderland."
** Grow Links **
I personally prefer this method to get links to my websites:
growing them.
The best type of link to get involves one person telling
another person, either explicitly or implicitly, they should
click the link and visit the site at the other end.
One way to do this is simply to exchange links with another
site which targets the same audience as your site.
You can manage this process manually or use one of the many
software packages that will mange the process for you.
A search on Google.com for "reciprocal link manager
software" yields a good start.
The easiest way to grow links is through using articles
other people post on their websites which link back to your
website.
The reason articles work so well for "growing" links
involves the numerous ways in which articles get distributed
online, each of which can create dozens, hundreds, even
thousands of different links back to your website by
publishing a single article.
As time goes by, and as the article spreads around, the
number of links literally "grows" over time (but unlike
a houseplant, you don't have to water an article!).
In fact, the following represent only the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to all the places you can grow and expand the
links to your site by publishing articles online.
~ Blogs - Your articles can not only appear on your own
blog, but get posted by others on their blogs with
surprising ease.
The links in these articles can point directly back to your
website.
~ Article Directories - Article directories such as
IdeaMarketers.com abound online.
They not only provide an easy way to display your articles
to allow others to pick them up for posting on their
websites, but also in and of themselves attract readers
searching for content.
~ OPS (Other People's Sites) - Popular websites like
WebProNews.com attract repeat visitors by offering targeted
content to their readers.
Since they can't produce all the content themselves, they
publish articles created by others. Links from these sites
can bring a steady stream of targeted visitors by giving you
targeted exposure.
~ Ezines - By getting your articles published in other
people's ezines, you can get a link on the most valuable
real estate online, a targeted prospect's email "inbox."
Many ezine publishers run articles written by others to their
targeted readers, and your link in the resource box can
bring you a veritable avalanche of targeted site visitors
when hundreds, even thousands of people receive your article
at the same time.
Whether you choose to buy them, "voodoo" them, or grow them,
getting targeted links to your site posted on the Internet
represents the absolute best way to get steady traffic to
your site.
Though not as fast as buying them or as exciting as trying
to manipulate the search engines, growing links with
articles gives you a long-term, dependable presence online.
--
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs...
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