Traffic Generation Principles

Today I want to talk about traffic generation. Ane the the principles of driving traffic to your websiite.

Like everyone else who want to be a success online, I need traffic to my website. 

I’ve completed Phase 1 of the Partnership to Success program.
My blog is up and running, and I think it looks pretty good.
I’ve come a long way in a short time, and I think that if I continue to deliver quality posts, people will find my blog useful.

I’m feeling very positive.
However, I want to see some tangible results.
I want traffic – visitors – to my blog.
Until I have a steady stream of traffic, I don’t know whether my blog will tempt those visitors to connect with me.

I’m already applying some traffic generation techniques (Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media marketing) to help attract traffic to my blog.
However, I’m finding it quite difficult.
I need to get my game head on and understand exactly what to do and why.

Where do I start?

My starting assumption is pretty simple, and I think, pretty common.
Internet marketing is a numbers game, and the more ‘relevant’ traffic I get, the more people will connect with me.

The more people connect with me, the more will be interested in what I have to say.

Of course, there are quality considerations, and I absolutely aim to provide quality information at all times, but I feel at the moment that traffic is my big problem.

So today I’m going to talk about some of the underlying principles of traffic generation.

I don’t claim to be an expert on this.
However, I do know someone who is.

I’ve gleaned information both from my mentor, John Thornhill, and also more widely by reasearching on the internet!

In my next blog post, I’ll discuss some of the techniques that can be used to drive traffic to your website.
However, for now, I’m more concerned with the underlying principles.

Traffic generation requires a methodical approach.

Traffic generation is something that can be learned and applied.

Anyone can do it.

It’s 90% analytical process and common sense.

The great news is that the same approach works whatever the niche you’r ein and whatever website you’re attempting to drive traffic to.

Is traffic generation really traffic redirection.

In most cases, the answer is yes.
Generally, the traffic already exists, and by trying to get some of it to my site, I’m really trying to redirect some of that existing traffic.
I just want it to follow the path to my site, rather than to any other.

My blog is all about achieving success, and I know that is a subject that people are interested in.

That’s because there are a lot of people, like me, writing about it, and others making money from it. 
A lot of traffic does, therefore, already exist, and in general, I’m not looking to generate traffic from scratch.

Logically, in order to generate some of the existing traffic to my site, I need a link to my site in places where the traffic already goes. A sign on the road id you like.
Of course, I also need that link to stand out enough so that people will click on it.

So that’s it then!

If only it were that easy – or is it!

High quality visitors

One simple way to achieve visitors is to use one of the many sites out there that will guarantee a number of clicks (at a price of course).
However, I don’t want to do that, because I don’t think there is any value for me in ‘any old visitor’.
I specifically only want to attract people who are (or  might be in the future) interested in what I have to say.
My focus must therefore be on techniques that will attract the sort of interested people that I seek.

Setting a SMART goal

A good, and simple way to start is to set yourself a goal of driving 100 unique visitors to your site each week. 

As with all goals, you should set a time limit (say within 30 days or 60 days depending on how much time you have to devote to this).
Make sure you have the measurements in place so you actually know how many unique visitors you are getting!

Focus on 2 or 3 traffic generation techniques.
Try to master each of them in turn rather han trying a little of everything without putting much time and effort into anything

Creating a PLAN to deliver the goal

If you’ve read many of my other posts, you’ll know that I believe that nothing much happens without a plan.

I’ll pick some traffic generation techniques and apply them methodically. I’ll  make sure I have the measures in place to let me know what is working and what isn’t.
Once I have some techniques that are working and delivering traffic, I’ll add others, one by one.
But I know I must keep on working at the ones that are delivering!

Once I reach 100 visitors per week, i will tick that off as achieved, and set a new goal of 100 visitors per day!

Why do most people fail?

This is a really easy one to answer. 

Most people expect to do one thing once nad be flooded with traffic. 

That’s just not how it works. You need a genuine committment and real effort to bringtraffic to your site.

Driving traffic is an ongoing activity. You can’t just ‘set and forget’.

You can never have too much traffic, so there is always more you can do.