Which Traffic Source Has the Best Conversion Rate?

[tagiscom]

Hi, just found this, it certainly shows you how good social media really is, in regards to making a buck!

Which Traffic Source Has the Best Conversion Rate?

Shane

[Rod Cortez]

Interesting article, especially this part:

Here you can see that email and direct hits to the site still resulted in the best conversions, social media picked up 2.11% of the overall, but look at display advertising. Yikes, only .53% conversion rate? Maybe you should be spending money on your Facebook page and not on display ads.

At the end of all of this, SeeWhy does put in the usual disclaimer. Your mileage may vary and different types of ecommerce sites will have different results. While I’m sure that’s true, I imagine the shift wouldn’t be huge.

What I get from all of this is that email is still king when you’re trying to get people to buy from you. So why isn’t email marketing in the news more often? Maybe because it simply isn’t as new and trendy as social media marketing. Perhaps one day, we’ll see the flip, social media will be the old school method we take for granted while holographic email messages will show up as 2% of the pie.

While the author does state "your mileage may vary" she comes up with some erroneous conclusions. She also never delves into the 1,001 other variables that affect conversions, the source of the traffic only being ONE part of the equation. While conversions for display ads are much lower, she also neglects to mention they are generally a lot cheaper and sometimes are actually MORE profitable.

Interesting read, but to me if fails to deliver the goods. Not an epic fail, but the article was missing a lot to it.

RoD

[JenMorgan]

for our propose the best traffic source is joint venture.

[Dan Allard]

You can't claim one traffic source has the best conversions because everyone's target market is different. An iPhone app company might have the best conversions with Facebook Ads while an info product seller might have the best conversions with solo ads.

You also can't say social media has the best conversion rates for niche x, because you could have two companies selling the same product for the same price and even have the same amount of followers. But their conversions will be different depending on how they use social media and interact with their followers.

Instead of looking for 'the best traffic source' you should look for the best traffic source for your business specifically.

[SocialMediaOwls]

I agree Dan...as an IM'er you try EVERYTHING and whatever sticks to your particular set up, that's what you run with

[JohnGaltMarket]

Email marketing has always been the most powerful.

[AnnaMolly]

The best traffic sources are always specifically searched keyword phrases in my experience. However, it can vary greatly depending on the market you are in.

[Val Wilson]

Tightly targeted traffic is always going to have the best conversion rate, but as already pointed out everyone's target market is different, so everyone's best traffic source will be different.

Traffic driven through article syndication, and traffic from Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers both convert well because both are tightly targeted.

[Randall Magwood]

Article marketing for sure.

[ShaneBoyd]

The best traffic source known to man is the big ball of traffic that you own. That way you can pitch that ball to whatever offer you want at any time of day and almost predict your revenue before you even do it.

The traffic source in which I speak of is your own list of course.

I don't know the BEST traffic source to build your list. But I do know 50 ways to add one subscriber a day. And you have to do all 50 at the same time.

Happy marketing.

[Bill Hugall]

How are you guys doing it? That is the one place I can't seem to figure out(maybe more). Aren't your leads all from other sources. No matter what I try I can't get their ppc ads to work.

[mrozlat]

i personally believe SEO is one of the best converting traffic methods

[Marketingvision]

best converting traffic always varies.

[alphadude]

Adwords will provide human trafiic which is not the case with some sources (i.e. they send bots indstead). But Adwords is more on the expensive side.

[paul nicholls]

using social media is all well and good but theres only 1 thing we should really take away from this case study

and thats that email marketing still rules

the reason why its so effective is because you have a relationship with your (potential customers) or you are mearly sending (customers that have already purchased from you) to your product page

its not anymore complicated than that

paul

[samsharen]

Originally Posted by JohnGaltMarket

Email marketing has always been the most powerful.

Bro,

But Email Marketing is like fishing in our own pond.

[Exel]

This information is not new, though the strength of email has been proven time and
again, there is much greater amount of factors in play than simply traffic sources.

[equanto]

Originally Posted by JenMorgan

for our propose the best traffic source is joint venture.

Yes, you're right
use someone else email list especially , can save u alot

[celente]

with my traffic sources I normally test 3 things and then pick the best converting ones.

For me it is usually

PPC (a no brainer, highly targeted)

Press releases (get the story / news out there)

Blog commenting (cannot get much more targeted than this)

[OnlineMoneyKid]

I agree with Dan. You need to drive traffic from as many sources as possible. You can't rely on just one source of traffic that converts well you need to drive as much traffic from many sources to best capitalize on the traffic you can.

Cheers
Lloyd
Make The Money Online Dot Com

[minion]

I agree - don't focus on one traffic source only, use as many as you can. Even if they don't convert, they could certainly post your URL somewhere for their friends to see - or you could end up on a major news site.

[Salashwal]

Originally Posted by OnlineMoneyKid

I agree with Dan. You need to drive traffic from as many sources as possible. You can't rely on just one source of traffic that converts well you need to drive as much traffic from many sources to best capitalize on the traffic you can.

Cheers
Lloyd
Make The Money Online Dot Com

This (morechars)

[seobuzz]

It does not matter how you are getting the traffic. But it has been proven several times that targeted traffic always work best for conversion. And if you think straight, you will understand why.

Also Youtube has a tendency to give you higher conversion as well. The video description is a great place for promotion, as most of the users checks the link!!

[Mike Hill]

Originally Posted by samsharen

Bro,

But Email Marketing is like fishing in our own pond.

That makes absolutely no sense at all... You conduct email marketing in the market you are targeting. If it's MMO then you build a list of people who are interested in MMO.

If you are targeting the weight loss niche then you build a list of those who want to lose weight.

So, when you say "email marketing is like fishing in our own pond" makes it sound like no matter what market you are in you are thinking you build a list in MMO?

NO WAY...

To be honest I have no clue what point you're trying to make other than what I said above. But I will say this... building a list in your own market is THE smartest thing you can do.

Sure, go after all those other traffic sources, absolutely, but at the end of the day you are driving all that traffic to your lead capture system. If you're not then you are working too hard trying to generate new sales every time you want to market something.

Also, not everyone will buy first time around. This doesn't mean they will never buy, it just means it's not the right time for them right now. BUT they will grab some solid free information.

Between the free information and your continued correspondence with the subscriber you will get sales. It's just a matter of time until you overcome their objections. You can do this faster by initiating a two-way conversation in your emails.

Things like adding a PS. at the bottom of your email asking for their input or recording a video to ask them what they need help with specifically. The real magic comes when you give them the answer freely. Foster the relationship with quality and timely answers to their questions and they will buy from you.

I could go on but I think you get the point that email marketing is powerful if done correctly and responsibly.

PS. Another solid way to foster that relationship is to be THE VOICE of your market. If you see something happening in your market that you don't like or your subscribers don't like, say so... give your opinion, that's why people are on your list... to hear YOUR opinion, thoughts and processes.

[Peter K]

I agree with you Dan, however I believe the aim here was to identify in the most general terms, most effective sources for conversion rates
Peter
Author of InternetMarketingChoice.com

[semmyw]

Originally Posted by Dan Allard

You can't claim one traffic source has the best conversions because everyone's target market is different. An iPhone app company might have the best conversions with Facebook Ads while an info product seller might have the best conversions with solo ads.

You also can't say social media has the best conversion rates for niche x, because you could have two companies selling the same product for the same price and even have the same amount of followers. But their conversions will be different depending on how they use social media and interact with their followers.

Instead of looking for 'the best traffic source' you should look for the best traffic source for your business specifically.

Hi Dan really nice explanation. Yes I agree with you. Every business have the best source of traffic.

[jthom804]

I think adwords and seo are still the best converting, but adwords is so costly and seo is so slow lol.

[imfusa]

Should be the one from PPC.
Any other traffic sources i don;t trust them.

[PaulMcGregor]

I never target just one traffic source. Targeted buy keywords work well, but so do collaboration with people/websites with huge authority within a niche. Develop a few strategies and you'll have conversions coming from a variety of sources.

[JWImarketing]

I gotta say a list is good, but it is being more difficult than I thought it would be. Something viral can't be beat tho.

[artion]

article submission,pinterest, Yahoo Answers,
My no.1 traffic source till now is Yahoo groups
Testing is Key !!!

[nicelife]

Hi,

This completely depends on products, some types of products are well suited for social marketing while some products don't have the same effect at all when marketing them via social marketing channels.

This is a very complex topic and not very black or white. Testing and measuring the results is realy the only way to get the optimal results.