The ONLY answer to "the best way to get traffic?"

[Andyhenry]

Hi Warriors,

So many threads get started by people asking "what's the best way to get traffic" that I thought we should just get it cleared up.

While I understand where the question comes from - I'm sure you can see that there really is no 'one' 'best' way.

It's like if I asked you the best way to get to Germany.

The answer would be different based on where you are now.

The answer would be different based on your budget.

The answer would be different based on your personal preferences (and phobias)

The answer for one person might be by train, for another by car, for another, by ship and then train and then car, by plane etc.....

The situation with traffic generation is the same.

It's easy to find out what your options are, they're discussed here and in hundreds of other places every day.

So what you really need to consider is - what is the most effective method for YOU in your situation.

If you're new to websites and traffic generation then you're probably just thinking that you don't know enough to decide and you want someone else to tell you - and you're in luck, there are lots of people who will be happy to sell you the answer wrapped up in their own flavour of what they believe is the 'best' way.

But until you get your head around it - you're likely to end up being part of other people plan to sell you stuff rather than master of your own plan.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I believe your best answer is to take some time to learn about what your options are and test a few things, then based on your results - do more of what's working.

If you go around asking people what to do - you'll just get 100 different answers, some stupid, some interesting but not helpful and a few ideas that might be useful - if you could tell which ones they were.

Testing for yourself is the only way you will ever get comfortable with this.

Also - what works changes over time.

The things I would have suggested a few years ago are not necessarily the same as what I find works now.

So - although it's good to save yourself some time and ask around, don't do it with the expectation that you're not going to have to create your own plan. You're just kidding yourself and you'll end up frustrated at poor results.

Read what you like about the different methods but don't expect the answer to come from anyone else or you'll get sold down the river on every angle that people can sell you on.

Andy

[nikolaaa]

The best way to get traffic is to
have good content !

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by nikolaaa

The best way to get traffic is to
have good content !

No - you can get great traffic with no content at all....

See my point now?

[rapidscc]

the best way to get traffic is to go where the traffic is.

Go to facebook, twitter, forums, craigslist.

There is one best way to get traffic..and again, it's to
go where the traffic is.

Whether you have content or pay for it, if you go to
places where there's no traffic, you won't get anything
out of it.

All the best,

[Kurt]

The best way is "most of the above".

[Tasso Pepi]

This looks like it will be a great thread, i have just seen a couple of the replies and i think it will be a thread to subscribe to ...

[luapzter]

The best way to get traffic is to have a good keyword.
You can have the best content and post unique version of them everywhere but if nobody searches for them, you are going to get no traffic.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by luapzter

The best way to get traffic is to have a good keyword.
You can have the best content and post unique version of them everywhere but if nobody searches for them, you are going to get no traffic.

But searches are not the only way to get traffic!

(see my point yet?)

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by luapzter

The best way to get traffic is to have a good keyword.
You can have the best content and post unique version of them everywhere but if nobody searches for them, you are going to get no traffic.

What if you JV with a person with a huge mailing list?

Or get on Oprah (or other TV shows)?

There's many marketing opportunities that don't depend on keywords/search engines at all.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by rapidscc

the best way to get traffic is to go where the traffic is.

Go to facebook, twitter, forums, craigslist.

There is one best way to get traffic..and again, it's to
go where the traffic is.

Whether you have content or pay for it, if you go to
places where there's no traffic, you won't get anything
out of it.

All the best,

But that answer is different for everyone and telling someone "go where the traffic is" is about as useful as saying "use the force my friend... just use the force..."

Also, knowing where there is already traffic is not quite the same as getting that traffic.

You could know that the Ford motor company website has traffic but that doesn't mean you're gonna get any of it.

Nice try though - thinking outside the box with a another generic answer that's not specific enough to argue much with

[affilcrazy]

That's a great analogy Andy and so true.

There are without doubt thousands, if not millions, of ways to generate traffic, however what works for one person may not work for another!

Someone may write 50 articles a day to generate traffic and work on the priniciple that if i throw enough **** some is bound to stick. Whereas a competitor in the same niche does not have any writing skills, but is just as successful because they knows the ins-and-outs of PPC and yet another competitor uses social networking for all their traffic!

So rather than trying to ALWAYS find the "best way", test a few for yourself, find what works for you and stick with it!

OK this may not be about traffic generation, but i can think of a great example for not "following the crowd" and finding my own solution. I just can't get my head around wordpress and have given up trying. Whereas the majority of Warriors, i would hazard a guess, do use wordpress. For me Typepad was an easier platform to learn and i can still rank my sites just as well. So this was a case of finding something that worked for me!

Cheers
Partha

[frqhuss]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Hi Warriors,

So many threads get started by people asking "what's the best way to get traffic" that I thought we should just get it cleared up.

While I understand where the question comes from - I'm sure you can see that there really is no 'one' 'best' way.

It's like if I asked you the best way to get to Germany.

The answer would be different based on where you are now.

The answer would be different based on your budget.

The answer would be different based on your personal preferences (and phobias)

The answer for one person might be by train, for another by car, for another, by ship and then train and then car, by plane etc.....

The situation with traffic generation is the same.

It's easy to find out what your options are, they're discussed here and in hundreds of other places every day.

So what you really need to consider is - what is the most effective method for YOU in your situation.

If you're new to websites and traffic generation then you're probably just thinking that you don't know enough to decide and you want someone else to tell you - and you're in luck, there are lots of people who will be happy to sell you the answer wrapped up in their own flavour of what they believe is the 'best' way.

But until you get your head around it - you're likely to end up being part of other people plan to sell you stuff rather than master of your own plan.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I believe your best answer is to take some time to learn about what your options are and test a few things, then based on your results - do more of what's working.

If you go around asking people what to do - you'll just get 100 different answers, some stupid, some interesting but not helpful and a few ideas that might be useful - if you could tell which ones they were.

Testing for yourself is the only way you will ever get comfortable with this.

Also - what works changes over time.

The things I would have suggested a few years ago are not necessarily the same as what I find works now.

So - although it's good to save yourself some time and ask around, don't do it with the expectation that you're not going to have to create your own plan. You're just kidding yourself and you'll end up frustrated at poor results.

Read what you like about the different methods but don't expect the answer to come from anyone else or you'll get sold down the river on every angle that people can sell you on.

Andy

Very thanks for a thread beleive me i was the same as you mentioned in post but when i started learning things on my own every thing became very easy to me to understand and apply....

Thanks "FrqHuss"

Quick Easy Safe & Healthy Weight Loss Tips
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[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

No - you can get great traffic with no content at all....

Not that it will do you any good.

<a href=""></a>

If you put anything else in there... even much as a space or a place for the link to point... it would be content.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Not that it will do you any good.

<a href=""></a>

If you put anything else in there... even much as a space or a place for the link to point... it would be content.

That's right.

Did you like the way I phrased it perfectly for anyone who loves to play word games to jump in and pick me up on it

I sort of did that with the original post. I wanted to make sure someone would reply, so I made it a very 'I'm putting a stake in the ground' type post so that people who like to challenge me for the sake of it have something to do today too

[Mubarak Waseem]

LOL

Andy gives you a solid answer "there is no one best way", and then you all come up with the best way all over again. Great. Glad to see we're learning.

I would suggest:

See what works for YOU - It's all well and good reading methods about stuff, but some method JUST WON'T WORK FOR SOME PEOPLE. That's life. Plus, you'll get bored by some methods.

Test. Test. and Test. Then test some more.

Then you'll know the best traffic method.

[jimmyab]

Interesting reading guys - yes I agree you gotta find what works for you and that can be very frustrating trying to find your groove ... wouldn't it be great to get a 'one size fits all' ... then just go for it and watch the traffic swarm to your offer!

[Avdo]

Originally Posted by Mubarak Waseem

Test. Test. and Test. Then test some more.

Then you'll know the best traffic method.

agree.. every niche has it's own best way, and less better ways of generating traffic..what works for one niche, maybe it will not work for other niches

[challanger]

Andyhenry I specially agree with you this

So what you really need to consider is - what is the most effective method for YOU in your situation.

Because we all have different objectives and different purposes for doing all this.

For example the market segment is my university students and it more then 30000. So for getting traffic on my site I have to pass all my stuff info to them.

So my working criteria is must be different from those who have general products.

[Jacob Anthony]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Hi Warriors,

So many threads get started by people asking "what's the best way to get traffic" that I thought we should just get it cleared up.

While I understand where the question comes from - I'm sure you can see that there really is no 'one' 'best' way.

It's like if I asked you the best way to get to Germany.

The answer would be different based on where you are now.

The answer would be different based on your budget.

The answer would be different based on your personal preferences (and phobias)

The answer for one person might be by train, for another by car, for another, by ship and then train and then car, by plane etc.....

The situation with traffic generation is the same.

It's easy to find out what your options are, they're discussed here and in hundreds of other places every day.

So what you really need to consider is - what is the most effective method for YOU in your situation.

If you're new to websites and traffic generation then you're probably just thinking that you don't know enough to decide and you want someone else to tell you - and you're in luck, there are lots of people who will be happy to sell you the answer wrapped up in their own flavour of what they believe is the 'best' way.

But until you get your head around it - you're likely to end up being part of other people plan to sell you stuff rather than master of your own plan.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I believe your best answer is to take some time to learn about what your options are and test a few things, then based on your results - do more of what's working.

If you go around asking people what to do - you'll just get 100 different answers, some stupid, some interesting but not helpful and a few ideas that might be useful - if you could tell which ones they were.

Testing for yourself is the only way you will ever get comfortable with this.

Also - what works changes over time.

The things I would have suggested a few years ago are not necessarily the same as what I find works now.

So - although it's good to save yourself some time and ask around, don't do it with the expectation that you're not going to have to create your own plan. You're just kidding yourself and you'll end up frustrated at poor results.

Read what you like about the different methods but don't expect the answer to come from anyone else or you'll get sold down the river on every angle that people can sell you on.

Andy

I totally agree Andy! The most definitive answer I can give is that you need to tell your customer that your website exists, in a manner which is most appropriate to YOUR target customer base.

The only way you can work out which is most appriopriate to YOUR potential customer base is to do a combination of all the different traffic generation methods and split testing them to work out which one gives YOU the most traffic.
Also you could start off by researching your most popular competition i.e. those who are getting more traffic than you, to see how they are getting their traffic.
Sometimes it's about working smart not working hard.

[simbat]

Go to google analytics and explore the visitor Sources,What is the referral site for the large number of links you get. stick to that kind of sites

[philgarcy]

the best way to get traffic is throught the use of traffic strategy that you know

[WD Mino]

Absolutely fantastic Andy,
there is no one set way versatility and testing that is best find what works to get people not only to your site but to stay there. not all traffic is created equally

Good post
-WD

[petelta]

[QUOTE=Andyhenry;1753790
Testing for yourself is the only way you will ever get comfortable with this.
[/QUOTE]

Finding the answer yourself is the point of this post guys. I love how people are giving their best ways of generating traffic. You can get massive amounts of traffic from every way mentioned, but it's about finding which way works for you.

Some people will never get how to get traffic from RSS, but can get plenty from Twitter...and vice versa.

Test test test...I know testing won't always deliver the results right away, but it will allow you to continue to drive traffic for years.

Travis

[GossipCrunch]

Perfect explanation. There is nothing called best. Anything which works for you becomes your best and it might not be best for others. So, it really depends on your situation where you are and your level of knowledge. The best is to learn and apply. It might work or it might not but the best thing is instead of depending on others, you are learning your own and moving in the right direction.

[nettech]

Great post Andy and I totally agree.

Some of the guys that replied straight after you kind of proved yrou point.

I think its like when you develop a system for someone. You need to do a requirements analysis. Its a simialr kind of thing. You need to look at your product, service or offereing and understand the best places which will drive you traffic and ultimately convert.

Its very easy to just list all the ways to generate traffic but in some cases some will be useless.

Zaheer :-)

[ChrisBa]

the long and short of it - pick a technique, master the technique - then get traffic

[DASHBOY]

Hey Andy,

Having good content, Being active member in social network(e.g: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and etc), Being active member in niche related forums, Gathering blog comments from niche related blogs, Writing more quality articles and publishing those, Targeting TOP 10 on Google SERP for your site's keywords and etc are the best ways to get more traffic. Am I right?

[Jay F]

The more of this thread I read, the more confused I became. I guess the takeaway is find your own solution.

[nettech]

Yes and No.

For example if you have lets say an 'XFactor' based site that looks at building rankings, you would ideally focus on article marketing, forums and blog somments as a minimum.

However, unless you were looking for referral traffic, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter in my opinion don't really add value to your rankings.

It alld epends on the type of site you have and its purpose. FB, Twitter etc may work for an affilaite or company site etc. Just look at your offering and customise accordingly.

Just my £0.50
Zaheer :-)

Originally Posted by DASHBOY

Hey Andy,

Having good content, Being active member in social network(e.g: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and etc), Being active member in niche related forums, Gathering blog comments from niche related blogs, Writing more quality articles and publishing those, Targeting TOP 10 on Google SERP for your site's keywords and etc are the best ways to get more traffic. Am I right?

[azland55]

I would say getting traffic is like a tree.

You have the trunk.

From that trunk you have boughs.

From the boughs you have branches.

From the branches you have shoots.

From those shoots you can have blossom.

From that blossom you can have fruit.

The outcome can be changed by you, by someone else or by nature itself.

Nothing is certain in this world.

[butters]

Originally Posted by warrich

the best way to get traffic is to go where the traffic is. Soial bookmarking and facebook fan page

So that is the best traffic?

[petelta]

Originally Posted by butters

So that is the best traffic?

not this LA traffic I'm sitting in right now...I can tell you that

[butters]

Originally Posted by petelta

not this LA traffic I'm sitting in right now...I can tell you that

Atleast its warm there :P It is snowing outside my window right now .

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by DASHBOY

Hey Andy,

Having good content, Being active member in social network(e.g: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and etc), Being active member in niche related forums, Gathering blog comments from niche related blogs, Writing more quality articles and publishing those, Targeting TOP 10 on Google SERP for your site's keywords and etc are the best ways to get more traffic. Am I right?

Zaheer said it.

Your answer is WRONG for many people.

Let's say you're a karate expert and you had someone create you a karate blog where you share your tips when you have time, but you're not a techy and you have no idea about social sites or twitter etc. and you prefer to spend your time teaching others offline. Telling you to be an active member is lots of social sites is the last thing you want to hear.

But making videos and sharing them might be something you love - then Youtube (and other video sharing sites) might be the best way for you to get traffic.

This is my whole point - there is NO ONE WAY that is best for everyone.

I'll keep saying it....

Andy

[Zeus66]

Oh Andy Andy Andy. Dear sweet naive and gullible Andy. May I call you Andy?

LOL You know these threads are only gonna make your head hurt, so why keep poking sticks in the eyes of "they who shall not see?"

Besides, we all know that article marketing is the best way to get traffic.

John

[Dennis Gaskill]

All I can say is, Andy, your patience is amazing and your manners are an example for all.

[Mubarak Waseem]

Thanks again Andy - Your wisdom and insight grace the forum

[petelta]

Originally Posted by butters

Atleast its warm there :P It is snowing outside my window right now .

Haha thats actually the reason I'm in LA right now. I saw on the weather channel saturday it was going to snow in Nashville. I decided I'm done with cold weather, time to go warmer for a few days. lol

[dave147]

Originally Posted by Zeus66

Oh Andy Andy Andy. Dear sweet naive and gullible Andy. May I call you Andy?

LOL You know these threads are only gonna make your head hurt, so why keep poking sticks in the eyes of "they who shall not see?"

Besides, we all know that article marketing is the best way to get traffic.

John

Yeah but you need to change your titles

[innocent07]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Hi Warriors,

So many threads get started by people asking "what's the best way to get traffic" that I thought we should just get it cleared up.

While I understand where the question comes from - I'm sure you can see that there really is no 'one' 'best' way.

It's like if I asked you the best way to get to Germany.

The answer would be different based on where you are now.

The answer would be different based on your budget.

The answer would be different based on your personal preferences (and phobias)

The answer for one person might be by train, for another by car, for another, by ship and then train and then car, by plane etc.....

The situation with traffic generation is the same.

It's easy to find out what your options are, they're discussed here and in hundreds of other places every day.

So what you really need to consider is - what is the most effective method for YOU in your situation.

If you're new to websites and traffic generation then you're probably just thinking that you don't know enough to decide and you want someone else to tell you - and you're in luck, there are lots of people who will be happy to sell you the answer wrapped up in their own flavour of what they believe is the 'best' way.

But until you get your head around it - you're likely to end up being part of other people plan to sell you stuff rather than master of your own plan.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I believe your best answer is to take some time to learn about what your options are and test a few things, then based on your results - do more of what's working.

If you go around asking people what to do - you'll just get 100 different answers, some stupid, some interesting but not helpful and a few ideas that might be useful - if you could tell which ones they were.

Testing for yourself is the only way you will ever get comfortable with this.

Also - what works changes over time.

The things I would have suggested a few years ago are not necessarily the same as what I find works now.

So - although it's good to save yourself some time and ask around, don't do it with the expectation that you're not going to have to create your own plan. You're just kidding yourself and you'll end up frustrated at poor results.

Read what you like about the different methods but don't expect the answer to come from anyone else or you'll get sold down the river on every angle that people can sell you on.

Andy

Its hard to define the 'best'

What might be the best for you might not be the best for somebody else.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by innocent07

Its hard to define the 'best'

What might be the best for you might not be the best for somebody else.

THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT..

There is no 'best' for everyone.

[Jake Trainor]

Originally Posted by nikolaaa

The best way to get traffic is to
have good content !

After reading the OP then reading this right after I laughed pretty hard. Some people didn't read or some how missed the point.

The best way to get traffic is the way that you found worked best for you. The only way you can find out what works for you is to work on finding it.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by Whiskey712

After reading the OP then reading this right after I laughed pretty hard. Some people didn't read or some how missed the point.

.

I know - you can't take anything for granted here

[Terri LC]

I'm LingOL too! I do love the analogy to Germany.....I'd have used Saskatchewan and really confused folks.

And after the 1000th Traffic-getting Report that I've read, I realize just what you said....what works best for me, and I'm discovering new avenues every day, it does change, and in some cases, I create the way.

Thanks for the post!

Terri

[butters]

Although I agree with Andy and that some wont work like others, I think there are universal traffic sources which will work in all niches tbh.

[vetzkov]

The best way is to have great backlinks and from there good SERP - that is the best traffic!

[Robert Puddy]

Andy is correct...

As a thought process though consider this...

Nobody can create or generate traffic not even the mighty google, traffic is an inherent part of the internet... it just exists

So all we can ever do is find ways to redirect that which is

Robert

PS: Or take up cold calling people on the phone and get them to switch on the computer and type in your URL

[Bill Farnham]

I was under the assumption buying JR's Traffic Secrets 2.0 and putting on the shelf right next to all those other wonderful courses would bust my bandwidth wide open.

It didn't work out quite the way I planned it...

KJ

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by Robert Puddy

Andy is correct...

As a thought process though consider this...

Nobody can create or generate traffic not even the mighty google, traffic is an inherent part of the internet... it just exists

So all we can ever do is find ways to redirect that which is

Robert

PS: Or take up cold calling people on the phone and get them to switch on the computer and type in your URL

Good call.

Fortunately I didn't say generate but you're right.

All we're really looking to do is what traditional marketers would call interruption marketing - just catch the attention of people enough for them to take in some sort of message so that they'll take an action.

It's not like we even need to Internet for that, but it makes the place to send them a lot more varied and able to fit their mindset.