An Intelligent Discussion On Traffic Generation

** DISCLAIMER ** The following is based on my own personal experience
from 6 years of marketing online. It is not intended as the gospel. As with
anything else, test and see what works best for you.

There have been quite a few heated debates about what works and what
doesn't work as far as getting traffic to your website. What's worth your
time and money and what's not.

What I have put together is a pros and cons of several of the more popular
forms of traffic generation today. I have tried to be as objective as possible
on each one. I think you will see that I have been fair, if not totally
accurate of my assessment of each.

I am leaving outsourcing out of the equation because outsourcing can be
used for any method. Therefore, the pluses and minuses related to
outsourcing will also apply to each method, thus equalizing the effect.

Article Marketing

Pros

No out of pocket expense.
Several avenues to deliver the content such as directories, blogs, etc.
Articles remain working over time, depending on niche.

Cons

Must be able to write well in order to be successful with it.
Does not bring traffic as quickly as other methods.
Articles can be less effective over time depending on SE changes.
Can have your articles removed by the directories if you violate their rules

Scale 1 - 10: 8

Pay Per Click

Pros

Quickest and most targeted form of promotion
Only pay for advertising if prospects click on your ad
In my opinion, better books on the subject than other advertising methods

Cons

Learning curve is steep if you're going to master this
Can eat up your funds quickly if you don't know what you're doing
Can have your campaign slapped if you violate their rules.

Payment for service usually has to be made before you get paid for sales
so cash flow is a problem

Scale 1 - 10: 8

Forum Marketing

Pros

No out of pocket expense
Builds relationships in addition to getting traffic
No real "skill" required. Just add value to the forum

Cons

Takes a long time to build a reputation
Can't blatantly promote your business unless there is a section for it
Can be banned from forum for violating rules

Scale 1 - 10: 8

Web Page SEO

Pros

Can be done with no out of pocket expense

Unlikely you'll have your site taken away from you unless your host shuts
you down for spamming

Have complete control of every part of the process

Cons

Can be very time consuming and take a long time to see significant results
Can have all your work undone by a change in SE algorithms.
Takes an enormous amount of knowledge.

Scale 1 - 10: 7

Joint Ventures

Pros

Can bring massive amounts of traffic quickly at no cost
Can literally launch your reputation

Cons

Extremely difficult to get one with a top name marketer
Risk of the JV going sour and not getting what you were promised
Not all JVs turn into gold mines.

Scale 1 - 10: 9

Social Bookmarking

Pros

No out of pocket expense
Can significantly increase backlinks to your site

Cons

Very time consuming
Some sites will ban you quickly
Not all traffic converts well

Scale 1 - 10: 6

(Kevin Riley suggested I add this to this OP)

Affiliates

Pros

No out of pocket expense
A few good affiliates can bring tons of traffic and sales
I had one that brought me 100 sales a month alone

Cons

Takes some actual promotion on your part to get them.
Not all affiliates will be money makers
Not all affiliate programs are easy to manage

Scale 1 - 10: 9

(Note) Pound per pound, nothing beats this as an army
of affiliates can literally mean you can just sit back and
let them do all the work. But it's not an easy thing to get
going. There are so many factors that go into attracting
affiliates (such as showing good sales page conversion)
that I don't want to get into here. But if you can pull this
off, yes, having affiliates is the dream team of IM.
There you go. My personal evaluation of what are probably the 6 most
popular forms of traffic generation.

As you can see, I give nothing a 10 and I give nothing a 1. For that matter,
I give nothing a very low score. Each method can be effective if used
properly. Also, each method has its pitfalls.

You have to determine which ones the pros outweigh the cons and choose
what you want to concentrate on.

I do all of the above. Some of it, more than others. But I rule nothing
out until it proves to not be a productive use of my time.

I encourage others to add their own pros and cons and/or their own
methods of traffic generation. And of course, you can refute anything I've
said here. As I said, I tried to be as objective as I could and the above is
based on my 6 years of marketing experience.

Anyway, I hope this thread is of some use to somebody.