is getting ranked in google first page necessary?

All of my websites are in some of the most highly competitive niches I can find, only because that's where the big money is at. And none of them have ever ranked in the SERPs above several thousands of others. But almost all of my traffic results from siphoning off of the sites that do rank on pages 1-3 for my targeted keywords or otherwise relevant to my targeted markets. This is done through articles and/or advertising.

To be honest most of my traffic comes from the search engines.

My best advice to you if you do decide to get ranked highly in the search engines is to always provide UNIQUE content. Especially after the Google Panda update ...if you have any content that is identical or similar to someone else's you will get down ranked pretty fat. Trust me on that one. It is all about having a ton of unique and useful content.

You seem to be forgetting something important.

Traffic = People.

Who cares about Google rankings - most of the traffic in most niches does not come from Google.

If you really want to help those people you need to find out who they are, where they are and what they want/need.

For example if you're selling golf clubs and find all the search positions are filled with established golf sites that you can't compete with, you just start looking at who you're after - where they hang out - what makes you different (why should they care about you when they can buy golf stuff from 1000 other places?).

In this case maybe you have personalised golf gear, or you brand golf merchandise. Maybe you have a unique golf software package or tutorial videos. Maybe you've interviewed a ton of golf pros and have lessons that have a new and interesting way of teaching golf. Maybe you sell golf stuff with humourous quotes on.

You could advertise in Golf magazines.

You could contact golf clubs (there are thousands of them all over the world) and work out a way to get advertising, or sponser golf events etc.

Maybe you do some press releases related to current golf events and the types of shots and equipment being used by the winners.

The list is endless - all nothing to do with Google.

Just use your brain. Most of your competitors are lazy and don't know what they're doing.

Andy

There's a lot more to marketing than search engines...
So many people get the notion of being "on page one" as being the magic trick.
In reality, most successful site's traffic does not come from the search engines.
Traffic from the searches is usually around 8% to 20%, and not a 100% as so many mistakenly believe. Unless you are Wikipedia or a similar site, which is still only at about 50% for their traffic.
Amazon.com's traffic is only 18% via searches. CNN is 7%, Godaddy is 7%, AddictingGames.com is around 20%.

Myob, Andy, and Alexa, all know their stuff, very well. I would suggest listening to them.

In my opinion, page one of Google is necessary! But things like forum posting, social media, etc can be other great ways for direct traffic.

It's often good to concentrate on both organic (google) traffic and direct traffic.

Each traffic source has its own quality of traffic depending on where they come from and what their intent is.

Forum traffic is a big one for me, but search engine traffic is the most important source in my opinion.

The only way it's necessary is if your ONLY goal is to get SEARCH ENGINE traffic and that alone. If that is you're only desire then yeah - it's absolutely necessary (if you want any search engine traffic, that is)

However, there is more than one way to prepare an amazing chicken dinner. When it comes to traffic, the same rules apply. Traffic is everywhere - the question is, will you do the work to get it? Your only limited to what you ultimately decide to do, as the potential for generating traffic nearly has no boundaries.

Google is a tempermental beast...Just ask any of the frustrated seo consultants at this moment in time. Algo shifts galore. Best advice= focus on building your business in a way that doesn't rely on one platform. Is it necessary?- well, if you are an seo consultant doing offline marketing, then your clients will probably want to see some proof and then, it will be important. But aside from building an seo consulting business, no it's not necessary, but can definitely be helpful if it's apart of several traffic-getting strategies.

Cheers

you can,t get lots of traffic without getting first position on Google because people only search from first page not 6o pge.
I do
Bookmarking
forum posting
directories submission
for increasing traffic and get better position in Google.

If your main source of traffic is probably going to remain search engines then one thing that helps is to stop trying to "rank keywords" all the time with boring fluff articles and instead write interesting, engaging articles in a conversational, first-person style in your niche that answer real questions people have. Heck, write them as a FAQ, write 10 Ways to XYZ, How to Avoid ABC, the Pitfalls of ... Etc. You will be amazed at how much long-tail search traffic you start getting for keywords you never thought of.

The nice thing about ranking in the SERPs is the amount of sustained traffic it will bring. Sure getting an article published in a big golfing blog, for example, will bring a flood of traffic. But that traffic will taper off quickly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a number one ranking for keywords will bring in a consistent volume every month for you.

If you are on top then the visitors com on your site