Supporting Contributor Post
After working for weeks or months to build your affiliate website, it’s always disappointing to witness how few people visit. While you may have done a few things to drive traffic or even hired someone to help you get more traffic, it may not be enough to move the needle. If you failed to get enough traffic, it’s usually because your marketing efforts were somewhat random.
So, if you find yourself in this situation, it’s time to take action—not just any action, but focused, constructive action, the kind of action that will deliver measurable results. You owe it to yourself to learn how to create a comprehensive marketing strategy and discover the best online traffic sources. The last thing you want to do is talk about your website in the past tense as a good idea that didn’t quite work. Don’t give up on your goal to set yourself financially free because of some early setbacks.
A Comprehensive Marketing Plan
There are three approaches you can take to get traffic: first, use paid traffic sources, second, use organic traffic sources, and third use traditional marketing.
Let’s take a closer look at each one:
1. Paid Traffic Sources:
Paid traffic will get you immediate results, sometimes within hours. Many marketers use this as a standalone traffic source.
Advantages: You will be placing your advertising in highly-trafficked places. So, in effect, what you’re doing is directing some of their traffic to your website. In addition, you will be able to fine-tune your ad to target your ideal customers.
Disadvantages: This traffic will stop once your ad expires. Naturally, to keep the traffic flowing, you need to renew the ad. As long as you pay, you’ll get traffic. It’s rather like turning a faucet on or off, or like buying visitors from the “traffic store.” However, it can only work if you have a positive ROI—the revenue you earn is higher than the cost of advertising and any other business overheads.
Examples: Pay Per Clicks Ads, Social Media Ads, Ezine Ads, and Paid Banner Ads are all excellent ways to use paid traffic.
2. Organic Traffic Sources:
Organic traffic is free, but there is a learning curve to the work needed to generate it, and what you save in money, you have to pay in time.
Advantages: The benefits of this type of traffic are that it will continue to drive traffic to your website long after you have quit taking any form of action.
Disadvantages: It often takes time for your marketing strategy to gain enough momentum to start to create noticeable results.
Examples: Writing blog articles and guest articles, using video sharing websites like YouTube, and hanging out on social media websites are all great ways to improve search engine optimization and drive more traffic to your website.
3. Traditional traffic sources:
Traditional marketing is not dead. In many ways, it is more robust than ever as popular media have found new ways to leverage technology to increase the size of their readership or viewership. Moreover, it integrates well with online marketing, and you may even be able to place your ad through a website rather than having to make a call to the advertising department.
Advantages: This type of marketing is easy to do. After you have designed your ad or hired someone to help you with it, all you have to do is place it. Another advantage is that you will get the attention of a large number of people, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions, depending, of course, on the type of traditional media that you use and its circulation numbers. This method is particularly effective if your business has a physical location as well as a website presence.
Disadvantages: This is not as cost-effective as online marketing and it is less efficient in the sense that its difficult to get accurate metrics on what is working and what is not working. This lack of statistics makes it difficult to optimize your ad.
Examples: Using print advertising in magazines and newspapers, radio and television advertising, and public signs like billboards are all ways to attract attention to your business.
While any of these three sources of traffic may be sufficient to get you the traffic you need, each has limitations. Ideally, then, you should use all three, as each serves a different purpose. If you’re limited on funds or employees, then you should start with online marketing first before trying traditional marketing. Incidentally, when it comes to deciding which form of online marketing to use, paid or free, you have to decide whether you have more money than time or more time than money.
