Everyone who comes to the web runs up against this reality eventually.
Everyone, without exception, gets scammed by someone or something offering a solution to this problem. I was scammed out of a lot of money twice in two weeks and nearly three times. I shared the common feeling that (a) there had to be a ‘secret' and (b) I had ‘better things to do' than generating traffic so I would ‘outsource' it.
I'm here to tell you, wiser and poorer; I was wrong, very, very wrong.
There are no ‘secrets' – though different tools have different effects. I knew that!! Regular advertising and traffic generation in the physical world tells anyone that. Billboards are not TV spots. Bulk direct mail is not magazine advertising. Each tool and technique has its own methods and different segments of the population are attracted by different techniques or by the happenstance of simply ‘seeing' the ad when a problem is on their mind.
Why I should have allowed myself to think the web world was different I have no idea. But, like countless thousands of others I did and got punished for it!
So, is there any hope? Any ‘secret'? No! Or rather perhaps – Yes. But it has nothing to do with any particular technique. I call it (only half in jest) the Zen of Traffic! And it is:
The Persistent Application of a Range of Tools
So, no pixie dust. No one riding to the rescue. No real way of buying your way out of the problem. But relax. Anyone can generate traffic. Anyone! All you have to do is:
• Learn the tools and their different applications
• Apply them *persistently*, which means *daily, forever* (you've read those sales pitches that talk about a couple of hours a day; this is what they are talking about!)
• Measure the results with great accuracy (for example, through split testing) and adjust the mix of tools based on experience.
That's it!
Why the Zen of Traffic! Because, of course, persistence is a personality trait; a behavior pattern that you either have or can be taught. And, like the practice of Zen teachings, the more you *do* and *meditate* on the results the greater mastery you will possess until eventually generating traffic becomes an ingrained skill. And like Zen philosophy, the only way of acquiring it is to DO it! Again, Period. The End!
So what are the tools the Traffic Masters use? There are seven basic categories.
• Search engine placement: It has been said that "If you're not on Google, you don't exist!" The hunt for that elusive Top 10 placement can be obsessive. The reward is an avalanche of traffic, but the competition is fierce. For most folks search engine traffic is slow to develop, readily lost and can be expensive in time and effort.
• Pay-per-Click: Direct, measurable, effective, pay-per-click is a fast way of getting traffic. But, it can be expensive and demands measurement of effectiveness
• Writing for Traffic: The web is an information vault. Focusing on content and providing people with structured and useful knowledge is a terrific way to generate long-term traffic. Additionally, articles carry your web address and so provide the back links the search engines love!
• Classic Advertising Tools: The web has the same array as the offline world – banners (equivalent of billboards), advertising through email, pop-under advertising, traffic exchanges, and classifieds in ezines, and such off-line activity as putting up posters and putting your web site on your business card. Each tool will yield something; typically a small dribble that added together across many tools can be a satisfactory stream.
• Affiliate Programs: If you have a digital product and you put it on Clickbank you can ‘hire' a sales force of over 100,000 entrepreneurs instantly.
• Joint Ventures: If you are an established player this is a powerful route. If you are a newbie, it's out of your league.
And, the last one
• Buying Leads: Lead companies gather leads with greater or lesser efficiency and sell them. The leads are cold, warm or even possibly hot. But, who knows? And you can be sure of one thing: the ‘hotter' they are the more expensive they are! I, initially, had no luck with leads. I bought them for a few cents each and at my peak of stupidity I paid $20 plus per lead. They were equally useless! Until I discovered co-registration through a newsletter – that works.
Building traffic is tough - which is good news or all your competition would do it. The cost is persistent effort (time) and no one approach will do it for you. Learn to use a range of tools, apply them, measure and meditate on the results and you may not be a *Zen Master*, but you can become a *Traffic Master* – then you can feed yourself for life – guaranteed.
Copyright (c) 2006 Michael Kay
About The Author
Michael Kay is Research Director of HBB Research, a business school based research program researching web home-based business. This article is an extract from one appearing in the HBB Review, the FREE monthly ezine of HBB Research. To see the whole article and become a subscriber, go to http://www.HBBResearch.com/The_Zen_of_Traffic.html
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