Generating Web Traffic: The Lifeblood of Every Online Business – Part 1

Location is one of the most important factors when setting up a retail store. This arises because the location determines the amount and demographic type of people flow in the area. Which in turn gives you a rough estimate of the number of walk-in customers that you might be able to get on a daily basis.

Without saying, prime location rentals cost a huge bomb and not everyone is able to afford the hefty rentals. It is the same online. Having tons of web traffic is akin to operating a retail outlet in a well located mall. Hence one of the most sought after skills online is the ability to generate traffic at a whim. However traffic is not created equal and the traffic that you should be going after should satisfy these few criteria:

• Targeted

There is no point generating untargeted traffic to your websites, unless you are providing a mass product/service along the lines of Friendster or Youtube. Targeted traffic brings to your website prospects that you can then nurture and persuade into being customers. Whilst this seems very obvious, you will be amazed how many marketers sell products that teach you how to generate tremendous amounts of traffic that is simply untargeted. The numbers look good on paper, but that’s all its good for, looking good and not bringing in the money.

• Consistent

To build a sustainable long term online business, you would need a consistent flow of traffic. Sudden bursts of traffic due to special one time off marketing efforts are nice but are exactly what they are: short-lived. It’ alright to chase such efforts if the return on investment (ROI) is positive, but it stops there. Think of all the product launches that internet marketing gurus have, they generate a storm of traffic and buyers within a period of time. But after that the traffic tickles down and sales figures are simply dismal after that if they do not build other consistent web traffic sources.

• Buyer’s mentality

Sometimes targeted traffic is simply not enough. You want to generate traffic from proven buyers who have a higher probability of purchasing your products. Joint ventures with other parties to a responsive list of subscribers tend to have a bigger group of people with buyer’s mentality. Whilst this form of traffic is pure gold, it is the hardest to get.

• Repeat Traffic

Are your prospects coming back to your website? Or are they simply on a touch and go basis, never to come back again. It’s no surprise that portals, authority websites that generate good content or provide ongoing services are the most successful. They provide consistent touch points with prospects which eventually lead up to a sale sometime in the future. Let’s take Mark Joyner’s Simpleology.com for example, he provides free software and products that lead you back to his website. You need them if you want to practice the methodology that he proposes. That is stickiness built into his business model, after all the effort to lure, entice, and persuade a visitor to the website, there is no reason why you should not try means and ways to have them coming back.

Remember to keep these 4 criteria in mind whenever you employ a new web traffic generation tactic for your websites. I will be going through the various web traffic tactics in further detail in Part 2 of “Generating Web Traffic: The Lifeblood of Every Online Business” and how well they rate according to these 4 criteria.

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