Traffic Sources - If search engines die?

Forums, offline stuff, guest posting, etc. Not to be rude, but this is kind of a pointless question. Without search engines people couldn't find anything, so about 75% of all marketing methods wouldn't work. Plus, it's not like Google and Yahoo are about to go Chapter 9, so... why do you ask?

Article Marketing
Social Media
Youtube and Facebook

Also, word of mouth (viral) would also be big.


You do realize there was a time that search engines didn't exist? Not even domains existed.

But, the Internet really wasn't that popular, of course :p

This question is worded differently, I would try re-writting this question. You would want to look at blog post, article marketing, social networking ect. These all give you traffic and backlinks and backlinks help you in seo as it is. My suggestion is to do these types of traffic generating techniques and let the seo part of it work while you get exposure from the other techniques I listed above.

Just wondering which one of my neighbors I'm going to eat FIRST, when all the grocery stores close forever.

I agree, if done right, Facebook and Twitter can work wonders! Viral Marketing can be done by word-of-mouse!

Cheers,
TLC

I think the biggest source would be Social Networking sites -- we all know how popular these are and slowly they might be in focus by every other marketer

Tom,
Media Buys are another way to get mountains of traffic without the search engines.

There are quite a few good places with a ton of traffic to be bought each day...Try places like Advertising.com, ZEDO, TrafficVance, AdBrite, etc...

There is quite a bit of inventory to be had out there.

All the best,
Jack Duncan

More on media buys?? Never done one before?

Tom,
There is probably quite a bit of good information online for free if you have some time to Google around...

If you want to cut to the chase and learn fast, a fellow Warrior, Jonathan Mizel has a really good course on this called Traffic Evolution...just Google it and I'm sure his site will popup.

I remember him saying in a seminar about media buys, "Every day there is an ad rep who wakes up nervous about how he is going to sell a BILLION ad impressions today."

Search Engines (Google) comprise of about 60% of my traffic, and at the moment i'd be lost without it.

I don't really like relying on them for so much of my business, so I'm launching a guest post campaign to try and drive some other sources a bit higher. Also article marketing is one of my focuses this year as I know some who get amazing traffic and this is the only source they ever focused on.

ps. Twitter is my 3rd largest source so I'd focus on them as well.

Not gonna happen. Who goes to Facebook to research when they have a serious question?

Forums, Social Media and any other type of web-based medium are storehouses of information.

Wikipedia would be the closest to a self contained search engine, but even it has limits. Social media is just that, social media. Article directories have fresh and continuously updated reviews and opinions on products, news, events and just about everything else.

No source has all of the aces and search engines have none of them, but search engines know where to find them and if anybody is stupid enough to dissallow search engine, i.e. Facebook, they are shooting themselves in the foot.

I keep seeing news sources talk about how Facebook has overtaken Google. Sure, maybe in size and revenue, but it will not replace the FUNCTION of Google as a search engine unless it becomes one itself and starts spidering and indexing the web and delivering that information in search queries.

Search engines are the road map/gps of the information super-highway. We'll always need directions, so we'll always have to cater to them in one way or another.

forums, blogs, oneway links, guest bloggers.

forums, guest posting, article marketing, video marketing,etc.....

Well I will yell "Thanks God there is Facebook!" I can see a great opportunity with Facebook and it can be a source of targeted traffic as well like Google.


Andrea

Guest blogging, for sure. Twitter. Postcards (best kept secret). Ads on targeted websites.

I think it also depends on what you're selling. I run a jewelry supply biz, (strictly online), and I hardly rely on search engines. I have a storefront on Etsy and that's where a lot of my traffic comes from. I also have my own website storefront and I funnel traffic from online advertisements and Etsy. It's a good feeling when you're not at the mercy of Google's whims.

It really depends on what you are trying to promote. some things don't get most of their traffic from search engines ( for example, in order to promote a new pub that was opened it is much better to use social media than Google). Other things are almost only looked for in search engines.
blogs and articles relay on people finding them using search engines so I guess the answer to your question is that if you are looking for alternatives to search engines it would mainly be social networks and e-mail marketing.

They'd only die in 2012 :p

For me it will be facebook and twitter marketing,forum marketing and guest posting if the search engine dies.

Direct mail and print ads.