Being driven to the near point of insanity, most of us bloggers and internet marketers are slaves to search engine optimization in efforts to get traffic. We understand that it is the website traffic that creates the foundation for the success of our online businesses. We also have a solid grasp on the subject of how SEO greatly impacts the amount of organic traffic that we desire to our blogs and websites.What most people fail to realize is that there are plenty of other ways to get tons of targeted traffic to our online businesses. Paid traffic is certainly a much easier way to do it, yet how often do the conversion rates deem these pay-per-click campaigns to be profitable? Does CPM (cost per thousand impressions) make good business sense in even the most equivocal of interpretations?
Organic traffic is what we want. Unlike the top dogs in e-commerce, we don't have lavish advertising budgets. We need a reliable source of organic traffic, and reliability will come from diversity. SEO will always remain an important factor in obtaining organic traffic, but when the significant majority of our efforts are solely focused on SEO, it is highly likely that we will be crippled with the next search engine algorithm update.
How do we diversify our sources of traffic? The important ideology here is that we don't need to chase the traffic. Instead, we need to have a reason for the traffic to come to us; we ignite the spark that erupts into viral buying traffic. It is certainly easier said than done, but there are basic methods that can be implemented by any online businesses that have been proven successful time and time again.
People are much less likely to come to your blog or website when they have the preconceived notion that they will have to buy something when they get there. You have to create a sense of real value by providing offers at no cost to entice visitors to at least check out your blog or website. What can be free and cost money at the same time? Information. If you've had to pay for information yourself, swallow your pride and offer it at no cost on your blog or website. This doesn't mean committing intellectual property rights infringement. It means that the sound principles that you have learned should be regurgitated in your own words on your blog.
When people realize they can really learn something from you without having to empty their pockets first, they will come back again and again. Not only will they come back, but they will spread the word, and now you have planted the seed for viral traffic. However, to ensure it will flourish into a solid base of buying traffic, you will have to continually interact with your visitors (through comments, mailing list, etc) and provide regular updates. When people come to your blog for that next bit of information enlightenment, you now have the power to sell to their subconsciousness. Obviously, being overly promotional is not going to work. You can provide honest reviews and experiences about your own products or affiliate products, but mix in these subconscious sales messages subtly with the content for which your visitors have come.
That may raise one vital question in many of us who have not yet had the fortune of getting any traffic whatsoever. How do you even start getting visitors in the first place? The absolute best way to do this without the stresses and frustrations of SEO is to become interactive in your niche outside of your own blog or website. Instead of leaving blog comments, forum posts, writing articles, creating videos, etc strictly for getting SEO backlinks, you want to focus on implementing these tactics for obtaining human traffic.
You never want to spam other blogs or forums just to get backlinks. You will get interested parties to come to your blog by leaving thoughtful replies on relevant blogs and helping people in forums. When creating a YouTube video for getting human traffic, make sure you give them a real reason to come to your blog. This does not mean raving about some hype where they can get a discount through your blog. Just like on your blog or website where you aim to help people solve real issues without charging them first, you will want to do the same thing outside of your blog. When people see that you are the real deal and actually have some value to provide to the community that revolves around your niche, they will come to your website regardless of whether you directly asked them to.
Even if you don't have all the answers, it doesn't matter. You can be the most ignorant newbie, but if you show people that you are trying, you will get a positive response. You can write your first blog post about how you know absolutely nothing about your niche, but you're interested in learning about it, and when you've learned something, you will share it with everyone. For example, someone that wishes to learn how to play golf, yet doesn't currently know the first thing about it, can say that in their first blog post. They can also say that they will go out and find an instructor to receive some lessons, and next week they will blog about what they have learned in their next post. Each week or so they would come back and add things that they have learned or even blog about the problems they might still be having. The key is to remain honest and tell your story the way it is. People love stories (regardless of what they might admit), and it is stories that sell. You want to tell your story on your blog as well as outside of you blog. However, people aren't going to come to your blog to read about what you just had for lunch. That's what social media is for when interacting with your friends. Your story needs to share how you have overcome obstacles to which other people can relate.
When you tell parts of your story outside of your blog (on forums, relevant blogs, article directories, YouTube, Facebook, etc), you are now building high quality backlinks that are guaranteed to bring targeted human traffic to your blog or website. You have also built the very backlinks that the top search engines look for, and gradually, you will be building up your search engine traffic automatically without even worrying about it!
Don't forget to provide a call to action. This does not mean asking people to buy something in the beginning. It means ask them to leave a comment, and have them ask questions about what they want to hear next from you. This will get people to come back, and it will get them to bring their friends to your blog. Word-of-mouth advertising is extremely powerful. Once you have ignited the stream of viral traffic in this way, continue to build momentum and don't let it fizzle out. Now that you've got consistent targeted traffic that will continue to grow, you have a solid foundation for the success of your online business. Don't focus on the technicalities of the individual problems of setting up a successful blog; focus on the message and sharing your story. People love stories, but they will only read yours online if you can truly help them solve some sort of problem. When they read your story about how you're solving a problem from the very start, you're guaranteed to have customers for life!
