If you had to pick only THREE sources of free traffic...

by Dayne Dylan Banned
53 replies
If you had to choose only three sources of TARGETED FREE traffic (and that is all you were limited to)...what would they be and how exactly would you implement them?

I thought this might be an interesting discussion among the "free traffic" experts here.
#free #pick #sources #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author Kenneth L
    1. Affiliates
    2. SEO
    3. iTunes

    That would be my 3 with #1 affiliates WAY out ahead!

    Kenneth
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      1) My own lists
      2) JV's / affiliates
      3) Direct traffic from YouTube

      If you had asked me this a few years ago, "SEO" would have been on that list. But I've begun to focus less and less of my efforts on SEO in recent years, and more on traffic methods that are far more predictable and reliable.

      As per "how to implement" the above 3 sources... that could turn into a VERY long post, so I'll just leave it at this for now.
      Signature

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      • Profile picture of the author Kenneth L
        Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

        1) My own lists
        2) JV's / affiliates
        3) Direct traffic from YouTube

        If you had asked me this a few years ago, "SEO" would have been on that list. But I've begun to focus less and less of my efforts on SEO in recent years, and more on traffic methods that are far more predictable and reliable.

        As per "how to implement" the above 3 sources... that could turn into a VERY long post, so I'll just leave it at this for now.
        Great stuff Brandon!

        I forgot to add traffic from my list, as that should have been number one.

        JVs and Affiliates are very powerful too.

        YouTube is great and making an iTunes Podcast with the audio is powerful too.

        Cheers,
        Kenneth
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    • Profile picture of the author gromo
      Originally Posted by Kenneth L View Post

      1. Affiliates
      2. SEO
      3. iTunes

      That would be my 3 with #1 affiliates WAY out ahead!

      Kenneth
      And the best way to get affiliates is?
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  • Profile picture of the author thinkoutthebox
    Originally Posted by Dayne Dylan View Post

    If you had to choose only three sources of TARGETED FREE traffic (and that is all you were limited to)...what would they be and how exactly would you implement them?

    I thought this might be an interesting discussion among the "free traffic" experts here.
    1.FORUMS

    I would join every
    single forum related
    to my market and
    share any help I
    could.

    I would provide a
    link in my signature
    and track the link.

    2. BLOG

    I would just promote
    great articles that are
    helpful for my market.

    3. YOUTUBE

    I would provide relevant
    videos to youtube. They
    would be related to my
    market and would focus
    on how to's.
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  • Profile picture of the author Martin Lee Jr
    1. Guest Blogging

    I would look for the sites with the most traffic, and try to get them to let me write a blog post for them

    2. Videos

    I would make a video teaching how to be successful in a certain niche, and putt them on Youtube, and maybe Vimeo, and Daily Motion

    3. Facebook

    I would make a fanpage around a certain niche, and comment with some helpful tips similar fanpages and be seen as an authority in that particular niche, so some of that traffic from the similar fanpages will start visiting my fanpage, then I can direct them to offers I'm promoting.
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    How Can I help...
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    • Profile picture of the author Dayne Dylan
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Martin Lee Jr View Post


      3. Facebook

      I would make a fanpage around a certain niche, and comment with some helpful tips similar fanpages and be seen as an authority in that particular niche, so some of that traffic from the similar fanpages will start visiting my fanpage, then I can direct them to offers I'm promoting.
      Can you do this though...commenting from one fan page on other fan pages?
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    if I had to I would say

    Strategic partnerships
    Interviewing experts
    Youtube
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  • Profile picture of the author charlesmurphy
    YouTube

    Forums

    and guest blogging from my experience
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  • Profile picture of the author prem khaira
    Banned
    Affiliates
    Youtube
    Forums
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  • Profile picture of the author Cesar Sampaio
    Article Marketing
    YouTube
    Forums
    Signature
    A Step-By-Step Guide! Do Just This One Thing And Finally Make Money As An Amazon Affiliate
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  • Profile picture of the author MarketingMinded
    1. My email list
    2. JV/Affiliates
    3. YouTube
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    1) Forum marketing

    2) Video marketing

    3) Blogging

    All are free and you can see instant hits from them immediately.
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  • Profile picture of the author blastincome
    youtube
    forums
    word of mouth
    Signature

    No affiliate template sites allowed in sigs.

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  • Profile picture of the author Gerald Arno
    Banned
    Free is always relative because obvious "free methods" cost you money all the time.

    1) Creating free reports for forums.
    2) JVs.
    3) Video Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author Anomalous
    I will provide the 3 that I have successfully used, however these are not the 3 I believe to be the best:

    SEO
    Article Marketing
    Social Bookmarking

    They are in order of how much traffic I've received from them. I still haven't delved into video marketing or list building, but I am convinced that these will do much better for me than the methods I've used so far.
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    Build a MASSIVE list with this premade, highly optimized funnel plus $16 front-end commissions

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    • Profile picture of the author Slazengeer
      I used to run a blog sometimes ago and I focused mainly on

      1. Facebook (If one article goes viral, just imagine the traffic numbers)
      2. Forums (This is a steady source)
      3. Blogrolls ( You will always be on homepage)

      What happened actually was that I don't know much about SEO at that time, so when my content went popular, many people posted on their blogs and websites with my URL as reference. Google indexed them and my website was on 3 place for the actual keyword. After sometime, the traffic started to flow to my website from Google and now I get more than 500 unique visitors everyday.
      Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    this is quite simple

    solo ads
    blog
    forums

    with these 3 traffic sources you will have no problems

    i really want to add videos in there because they are super powerful and generate some huge traffic so videos would have to be my 4th

    paul
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  • -SEO
    -YouTube
    -Affiliates

    So powerful. You can run a multi-million dollar business with those three no doubt.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Michal
    I would still pay for traffic. Free traffic takes too much "work".
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisha5684
    Twitter
    Blog Commenting
    Guest Blog Contributions
    Signature

    -Start Getting Noticed On Twitter: http://twonderwoman.com
    -Visit my blog: http://blogandretire.com/blog - Tips for blogging, social media marketing, and online business.

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  • Profile picture of the author jamesgan
    1. Blogging
    2. Guest Posting/Comments
    3. Forum Posting

    Signature
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    The only way to build an avalanche of cashflow to your bank is to "Copy & Paste" a proven system.
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  • Profile picture of the author owenlee
    1) Forum Marketing
    2) Blog comments
    3) Solo Ads

    Works fine for me so far... Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author starcraft2
    Banned
    SEO, blogging and forums would be my focus
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  • Profile picture of the author USA
    And the prize goes to...

    Thinkoutthebox

    1.FORUMS

    I would join every

    single forum related
    to my market and
    share any help I
    could.

    I would provide a

    link in my signature
    and track the link.

    2. BLOG


    I would just promote

    great articles that are
    helpful for my market.

    3. YOUTUBE


    I would provide relevant

    videos to youtube. They
    would be related to my
    market and would focus
    on how to's.
    and

    Randall Magwood !!

    1) Forum marketing

    2) Video marketing

    3) Blogging

    All are free and you can see instant hits from them immediately.
    Forums, Blogs, and Videos.

    All free, all provided near instantaneous traffic when done right.

    In the past, I have used these 3 methods, all done manually, to produce sales of affiliate products on the very same day I built the review sites.

    I've even accomplished this with my own products and services too.

    Yes, it's hard word. But it DOES work. And it's a great way to make some quick cash real fast!
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  • Profile picture of the author jiehaotan
    1. Affiliates
    2. Guest Posting
    3. Video Marketing

    Affiliates

    Affiliates are undoubtedly the best way to get traffic online but it is very costly. Usually affiliates are split into Pay-Per-Click advertisements and ClickBank commissions. Either way, you're still having a cut in profits but your affiliates can generate backlinks to your site very quickly and their readers will most likely check your site out as well!

    Guest Posting

    You're literally leeching viewers from other bloggers' sites, their readers might not even want to read from the original owner of the blog any more if your content is that good! Guest posting is tedious work but it provides one QUALITY backlink that constantly generates traffic to your blog even when you're sleeping!

    Video Marketing

    People love watching videos. It's a fact! Nobody loves reading a boring chunk of text without any visuals whatsoever, and YouTube is the way to go. YouTube is the fastest growing from of marketing and it is great. If your video more likes and few dislikes, more visitors will come to your site! It's quite common that most people just look at the like and dislike bar to judge whether they should click away or stay to watch.
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  • #1 affiliate traffic
    #2 re-brandable viral reports
    #3 blog
    Signature

    PM Me Now!

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    • Profile picture of the author glowworm
      Banned
      1. Blogs

      2. YouTube

      3. Facebook
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      • Profile picture of the author AlexanderBeloev
        Facebook Marketing- traffic source number one in my opinion. But like always you have to deliver value first. Some of the tactics I use are as follow:

        1) Posting - Engage your audience and keep their attention longer. These are the key factors to focus on when posting a new status update. The real purpose of status updates is to get people to like, comment or share your post. Keep posting one or two times a day.

        2) Tagging other Fan Pages. Some of the benefits of tagging include exposure on other pages, cross promotion, and credibility.
        But there are things you have to avoid:

        - Never tag spam or an irrelevant page. Tag pages in your market.
        - Do not tag multiple pages in the same post. This can lead to your being banned from pages and is considered spam.
        - Do not mention sales or promotions. This can also lead to your being banned.

        3) Liking people's comments - a great tactic that I use to drive traffic back to my fan page. Find posts with at least 50 comments bellow it and like all of them. Make sure you like as a page.

        Of course there are a lot more tactics you can use to get new fans, to deliver value and increase your credibility.

        Forum Posting - I am just beginning to realize how powerful it can be, if done the right way. Forum posting is an old school tactic, used by many, but with the right strategy, you can drive tons of traffic to your website using just your signature. I am not the man to talk about forum marketing, just because I don't' have the needed experience, but I can say, it just rocks.

        Pdf Submission - not many are talking about pdf submission, but it is really powerful for SEO and in some cases for driving direct traffic to your website. For example: if your pdf is listed as featured on Slideshare.com, you can expect thousands of clicks in just matter of days.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Syndication/Word of Mouth

    Eliminates the need for a second and third source .
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  • Profile picture of the author AgentHomes
    1. SEO
    2. Blogging
    3. Youtube
    Signature
    HyPRcast Get Paid to Play with Social Media!
    Looking to buy or sell your home you need London Ontario MLS real estate agents or check out my London Ontario Homes for Sale Blog
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  • Profile picture of the author denysapu
    Post regularly in relevant forums
    SEO
    Blogging
    Signature

    Don't worry be happy!

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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    1. Free publicity (Think of Chicken Soup for the Soul book series as a prime example, Mark Victor Hansen and his partner went and did hundreds of radio interviews over a period of 18 months and sold millions of copies of their books).
    2. Market places (think Amazon, Nook, iTunes, Clickbank, CPA networks, etc.)
    3. Software (free or paid, you can create useful software, distribute for free or for a very low price and watch it go viral and bring you tons of traffic).

    You'll notice I don't have blogging, guest posting, forum posting, etc. in my top 3 because they are generally not high-leverage activites. For example, if I list a solid e-book or piece of software in Clickbank that solves a need / want and I have my affiliate page set up correctly, then that will generate traffic for years to come.

    RoD
    Signature
    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
    - Jim Rohn
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  • Profile picture of the author Onora Oz
    1 - Publish and syndicate quality content
    Tools: Own website and newsletter, other people's sites and newsletters, press releases, online media hubs and journalism sites (for example, Yahoo's special interest pages and HARO), article directories, not all but some doc sharing sites etc.

    2 - Be social
    The one I'm kinda struggling with... But still, it's a powerful marketing method even for an introvert like me
    Tools: FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, any networking groups etc.
    Tip: Make friends with big brands and influential people in your area.

    3 - I kinda dislike admitting it but... SEO still works like magic for me. Probably because of the fact that (see. No:1) I publish quality content like crazy.

    PS. I don't actively promote in the IM or MMO niche (not in English, at least). My market niches are as competitive as IM/MMO tho.
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  • Profile picture of the author GAldane
    1- media buys. find where your audience goes most frequently using alexa and quantcast and then buy ads on those sites.

    2- forum marketing

    3- blogging
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  • Profile picture of the author MattWell
    I know these have already been said, but these are the three I'd stick to:

    1. Guest Posting
    2. Forums
    3. Affiliates

    However, I'd do these in conjunction to building a list and giving away free stuff on my blog, but these aren't really traffic generation techniques.

    I don't know much about SEO, so that is why it isn't in my list, but it is something you should pay attention to, even if you pay someone to help you with it.
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    For more of my knowledge, go to my blog at MatthewWellington.co.uk

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  • Profile picture of the author paulie123
    1. JV's
    2. Affiliates
    3. Solo Ads
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  • Profile picture of the author carlo_sim
    My top 3 would be

    1. facebook
    2. youtube
    3. forum posting
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  • Profile picture of the author kylenelson24
    1) SEO - Mainly for long term traffic if you are good at SEO
    2) Blog Commenting - If you get one those first comments on a high traffic blog you could be in some good luck!
    3) Forums- Forums are a great way to drive traffic as an authority in your niche!
    Signature

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    Kyle Nelson
    [/CENTER]

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  • Profile picture of the author uniquecontent
    I will pick these three:

    Article Marketing, Videos and Forums
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    • Profile picture of the author HenrysWilson
      Hi

      SEO
      Related Keyword blog commenting
      Forum posting.

      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Trevor
    SEO
    Article Marketing
    Video Marketing

    Article marketing works great but it's a relationship-building business, just as product creation is. You should build strong relationships with the blog owners/publishers within your niche and create a list of people that way that you can contact when you have new content for them to publish.
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  • Profile picture of the author apartridge7
    thanks guys... i was actually looking for the answer to this myself
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  • I wouldn't actually recommend forum 'marketing' lol. Don't get me wrong, it does work, but there are other ones that bring in a lot more traffic for the same or less work (I did a recent blog post about it on my blog explaining why).

    My top three traffic sources are probably (in no particular order):

    - Article Marketing
    Takes some practice but eventually once you have your flow happening, it becomes one of the easiest things in the world to just barf 1000 words about your niche. Then mass-syndicate it through different channels.

    - Video Marketing
    Like Article Marketing but even easier. Sometimes takes less time, but I often like to do an article combined with a video. A video alone is powerful but an article with a video is slightly enhanced. People get a better feel of my personality and connect with me.

    - Social Media
    This can potentially be one the the biggest and most targeted free viral traffic source I've ever experienced since this is where a lot of my target audience like to hang out. They key is killer content that breaks people's attention and compels people to share it. If your content gets attention but also ends up getting liked by others, then they will share it for free and it will spread like wildfire. Coupled with some advanced mass-auto-syndication techniques and your content can even rank easier for SEO (which didn't make it into my top 3, sadly lol)

    And here is the icing on the cake - these three methods can be combined and done together in so many different ways. The marriage of article and video marketing combined with the unlimited potential of social media could very well be the dawn of TRUE POWAHR!
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    Blogging With Attitude - Michaelangelo Flores Official Blog

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  • Profile picture of the author Terry Kyle
    I'll narrow it down to 1:

    Forum Marketing

    - more specifically by creating big case studies or live experiments (if that's relevant to your niche Dayne).

    One such one of mine here on WF has had 100,000+ views:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...xperiment.html

    Not bragging, just attempting to show the power of good case studies/live experiments on a relevant forum.
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