Google Adwords and similar resources
The continuation of Traffic Creation Tips For Your Website begins with another method of generating traffic, albeit a paid method. Google AdWords.
Another method of traffic generation is to buy it. Yahoo, Google, Bing, Overture and similar paid traffic sourses, sell advertising space. In the case of Google adwords you can pay to have you site on the first page but this can be an expensive proposition, $1 or more per click, to mere pennies. Why do people choose this method. First, it brings targetted traffic to your site. The advantage of targetted traffic is, the folks who come to your site are looking for your exact topic and thus are more likely to stay on your site, which results in higher conversion rates.
The problem is although Google says it rewards content rich sites with lower click costs the truth is the better ad wins, not necessarily the better or most relevant site. To explain this further, Google will lower the cost of your clicks and even raise you in the list if more people are clicking through. The truth though is, you’re being rewarded for having a great ad that people want to click on.
The advantage of this method is you are guaranteed traffic. The disadvantage is the costs and the time it takes to tweek your ads so they work at maximum efficiency. However I do know of businesses that survive on Google Adwords alone for advertising and make a very good turnover on their business products, so it works well for them. But again the greater demand for the keyword, the greater the number of competitors there are.
Bang for your buck! Surfing programs!
There is one way to reduce or eliminate the cost disadvantage. Simply choose to limit your target audience to a particular country, region or even city. Obviously the target audience is further limited by language. Not much point in advertising your English content site in Bulgaria because first, it’s not an English-speaking country and second, they may not have access to the Web. If you’re paying money for advertising on the Web make sure you are reaching the right audience for your ad(s).
Another way to generate hits to your site is to join numerous surfing and traffic exchange programs that will create site activity. These exchanges will generate “hits” to your site so the traffic is not targeted as in paid traffic sources. In fact you can buy thousands of hits and get them in a very short space of time but although normally cheap e.g. $9 for 1000 hits, it has a myriad of disadvantages.
First, you are only advertising to other exchange and surf members, many of them are competitors, already in the same programs as you, not really interest in your ad. I’ve found that you can build a down-line and contact list from surfing and exchange programs, however keep the ad or website display very basic. With a 15-30 second counter on most programs, people just aren’t going to read a Hollywood movie script even if its glowingly good, they are going to scan and then click the required button to move on to the next site. It that 15 seconds you’ve got to grab there interest.
The best type of ads to use in TEs and surfing programs are free offers, appealing to their needs or wants. Often in this case a single page with an e-mail enrollment form is the best bet for getting results. One distinct advantage of most of these programs though is, if you build a downline with them the amount of free traffic you get increases.
You can surf for traffic at your leisure if you can’t afford to pay for it, you might even find a program that perks your interest. Also in this category you can nclude banners, banner exchanges, text links, videos, etc., which work on the same principle of one hand washes the other. If you are interested in surfing programs the link below to free traffic hits is one suggestion.
Longer term methods.
I refer to these techniques as longer term methods because they require a greater work output on your part, but they can result in great traffic results. One such longer term method is article writing. Articles submitted to articles directories like Goarticles, Article Fever, Isnare, etc., act as a magnet for search engines. Content rich and quality controlled, if you get an article listed in one of these forums/libraries you have the ability to have a constant stream of traffic through attached links.
Another long term method is to contact and link to other similar sites. You can do this by requesting other webmasters to do this or create you own sites and link them to one another. Another long term method is to create an op-in e-mail list and encourage people from your list to visit your ‘great’ site with your ‘unbelievable’ offer.
Of course, creating a blog with interesting and fresh content doesn’t hurt either. In conclusion, I don’t recommend any method over the other. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. It depends only on what you are advertising and what fits best for your campaign. On the whole I don’t think you can go wrong if you do all the above methods as an encompassing Web marketing strategy. If you do, over time your internet presence will increase as will your total traffic.
