if you had to start all over again, which free traffic method?

63 replies
Let's assume you are completely brand new even if you have 10 years of experience..

Which free traffic method would you use to build your business?
#free #method #start #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author samjaynz
    At the moment I would be using Kindle + list building (sending Kindle traffic to a squeeze page and then promoting to that list) for these reasons:

    1) Easy to outsource and replicate
    2) Can drive quite a bit of traffic with KDP free promotions
    3) Affordable to outsource because you will earn passive income with each extra book you upload (for example, you might pay $500 for a quality eBook but actually earn that all back in a couple of months just from Kindle sales)
    4) You're building a list.
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    I would go back to the old and true free traffic source... Article marketing. However, I would add a twist to it by making my own article directory and then create a publishers list. Then I would find niche specific publishers that would like to use my content.

    I would write for their audience. In return I would get targeted traffic from their networks. Of course I would sign these visitors up to my list as well.

    Hope this helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author dnovacek
      Originally Posted by wrcato2 View Post

      I would go back to the old and true free traffic source... Article marketing. However, I would add a twist to it by making my own article directory and then create a publishers list. Then I would find niche specific publishers that would like to use my content.

      I would write for their audience. In return I would get targeted traffic from their networks. Of course I would sign these visitors up to my list as well.

      Hope this helps.
      Awesome Idea! Wow. I may have to try that!
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      • Profile picture of the author dwakeman
        I really like that idea. Allow other sites use your content and in the process build your credibility and your list.

        Thanks for thinking outside the box.
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    • Originally Posted by wrcato2 View Post

      I would go back to the old and true free traffic source... Article marketing. However, I would add a twist to it by making my own article directory and then create a publishers list. Then I would find niche specific publishers that would like to use my content.

      I would write for their audience. In return I would get targeted traffic from their networks. Of course I would sign these visitors up to my list as well.

      Hope this helps.
      This is awesome! I hope you don't mind if i try this out =)
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    • Profile picture of the author DoubleOhDave
      Originally Posted by wrcato2 View Post

      I would go back to the old and true free traffic source... Article marketing. However, I would add a twist to it by making my own article directory and then create a publishers list. Then I would find niche specific publishers that would like to use my content.

      I would write for their audience. In return I would get targeted traffic from their networks. Of course I would sign these visitors up to my list as well.

      Hope this helps.
      Interesting idea - can you explain what you mean by a "publisher's list"?

      Cheers
      Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author Ripster
    For me, I would use SEO to build up my business. You gotta love search engine traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author DeanJames
    Nothing is actually FREE when it comes to traffic, not in the true sense of the word, since you still trade time and if you place a value on your time, the traffic is NOT free. People often think that it is because they don't consider what finite chunks of time are actually worth, but it's not, so you have to really analyze how much your time is worth before you go chasing purportedly 'free' traffic. With all that said, the best free (or 'sweat equity') traffic is that which is targeted and converts for whatever you are offering within that 'space'. Again it all comes down to testing and seeing what works then ramping that up until you can afford to pay for traffic and leverage your time.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesBorg
      Originally Posted by DeanJames View Post

      Nothing is actually FREE when it comes to traffic, not in the true sense of the word, since you still trade time and if you place a value on your time, the traffic is NOT free.
      Good point, and that's why I'd use paid traffic exclusively if it weren't for one small problem: The paid-traffic providers are a bunch of heavy-handed policy wonks with double standards (big brands vs. little people) -- and when they're not (for instance, PPV providers), they'll let you pay them while you're refining a campaign, but the moment the campaign becomes successful, they'll steal it for themselves if they can.

      I don't consider paid-traffic providers reliable "business partners" at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    @D. Novacek, I have been working on this for about a week. I already have the sign up copy done... maybe. I have also been repurposing some of my blog content for the directory. I have 147 posts to retrofit into articles.

    Of course you would have to use a resource box at the end of the article. I plan on using a different call to action or resource box for each individual article.

    I have touched on the marketing: Finding blogs, ezines and newsletter publishers. So far I have 40 in my niche that I will contact in a few more weeks.

    I don't know how this is all going to play out, it should work pretty well.

    You can see the copy that I have written at 2ultra.com/A-directory
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  • Profile picture of the author TiffanyLambert
    I would start on my own blog. I would never have wasted one second on articles elsewhere. I would own 100% of everything I did with no one else having permission to use it.

    But not just article blogging, either.

    I would carefully craft each blog post to have a huge dose of my personality in it (weeds out the non audience and creates a rabid loyal fan base).

    I would forget about keywords and write for the audience only.

    I would create a community, not just blog.

    Of course, this is what I do now - but if I had to do it all over again, I'd have learned that lesson early on.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lfazevedo
      Originally Posted by TiffanyLambert View Post

      I would start on my own blog. I would never have wasted one second on articles elsewhere. I would own 100% of everything I did with no one else having permission to use it.

      But not just article blogging, either.

      I would carefully craft each blog post to have a huge dose of my personality in it (weeds out the non audience and creates a rabid loyal fan base).

      I would forget about keywords and write for the audience only.

      I would create a community, not just blog.

      Of course, this is what I do now - but if I had to do it all over again, I'd have learned that lesson early on.
      I assume what you did brought benefits enough you don't want to start over, right?
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    @DeanJames, In my case when I use the word "free" I am meaning not spending cash for traffic. I would rather use my time, blood, sweat and tears, to test out possible opportunities before I spend my money.

    I have always stated, nothing is free. You will either pay for it with dollars or time. In this instance I am using my "free" time. No tv, no interruptions for at least an hour or two, a couple times a week until I am up and running.

    Now if this pans out and I start making some money from this particular niche, then I will spend the money.
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    @TiffanyLambert, Hello Tiffany, but how would you get traffic to your site? If you had:
    *no list? Can't use your list here for the traffic.

    If you don't do the normal seo for your articles from your blog (for me that is using my keyword(s) in the <h> tags and maybe once every 100 words) what would you do?
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    • Profile picture of the author TiffanyLambert
      Originally Posted by wrcato2 View Post

      @TiffanyLambert, Hello Tiffany, but how would you get traffic to your site? If you had:
      *no list? Can't use your list here for the traffic.

      If you don't do the normal seo for your articles from your blog (for me that is using my keyword(s) in the <h> tags and maybe once every 100 words) what would you do?
      I do that with a blog right now - NO list for it, I just blog. Google and other SEs pick it up, and send traffic. (*Not talking about my IM blog, fyi - I know I have a list for that).

      I don't actively SEO my content. I just blog about the topic. I write naturally and it delivers traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
        @Tiffany Lambert,

        So you don't use any keywords-seo plugin-nothing... just write?
        You don't do any of the stuff you did on the your plr-atm video's none of that? (which by the way is a very excellent ebook).

        This amazes me. Everyone that I know uses some form of strategy to get traffic most of them use the basic seo or ezine directories, guest blogging, etc.

        Ok, let me ask you a couple more questions, are you video blogging or just using the good old fashion blog posts? or are you combining the two?


        @jonJonas: no go right ahead. Just let me know how it works for you.
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        • Profile picture of the author TiffanyLambert
          Originally Posted by wrcato2 View Post

          @Tiffany Lambert,

          So you don't use any keywords-seo plugin-nothing... just write?
          You don't do any of the stuff you did on the your plr-atm video's none of that? (which by the way is a very excellent ebook).

          This amazes me. Everyone that I know uses some form of strategy to get traffic most of them use the basic seo or ezine directories, guest blogging, etc.

          Ok, let me ask you a couple more questions, are you video blogging or just using the good old fashion blog posts? or are you combining the two?
          I pick a topic to write about and then write - no video, just text. I might Tweet or G+ it from an account but nothing else. No SEO plugins, nothing. Basically, it was out of laziness - but it works just fine
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          • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
            Originally Posted by TiffanyLambert View Post

            I pick a topic to write about and then write - no video, just text. I might Tweet or G+ it from an account but nothing else. No SEO plugins, nothing. Basically, it was out of laziness - but it works just fine
            Tiffany, I love the simplicity of this! I'm assuming you include links where appropriate to your own products? Or use adsense?

            Please tell more!
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            • Profile picture of the author TiffanyLambert
              Originally Posted by CatherineMay View Post

              Tiffany, I love the simplicity of this! I'm assuming you include links where appropriate to your own products? Or use adsense?

              Please tell more!
              Well he was talking about traffic with no list. For those blogs that I own with no list attached to them, I am promoting Amazon or ClickBank products.

              If it's a non IM niche, I'll generally set up a Twitter or something and just log in and Tweet it. The blogs are not monetized by AdSense - I basically got rid of most of my AdSense sites just because I make more when they buy CB or Amazon.

              I'm a really big proponent of writing for the audience, so I don't sit there for an hour trying to develop just the right keyword title with a perfect density. I don't use plugins for SEO anymore. Never have on these sites and for my main blogs, I got rid of them, too.

              It's much better to write for humans and have them socialize and share things naturally because they build a relationship with you. But on these blogs I'm talking about, with no list, there's also no commenting. I just use common sense about what the audience would type in to Google.

              So for example, instead of titling a blog post something like "relationship tips," because it has keyword volume, I would just title it, "why doesn't my husband love me?" Because then I can write about that heartfelt topic and make people relate to me. I write a shitload of personalized content. shit. load. It's all about personalization to me.

              Makes things convert better
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              • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
                Tiffany, thanks for your informative answer above. Just to confirm my understanding, for your blog with no list, where you just write as you feel led to write without SEO concerns, you don't engage in link building, either? People just come organically, and probably link your content themselves?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

      if you had to start all over again, which free traffic method?
      Article marketing.

      Out of everything I've ever tried over the last 5 years, in every single niche that I've been involved with, it's brought me by far my most responsive, most targeted, most productive traffic. For me, nothing else compares with it at all.

      Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

      Article marketing like ezinearticles is still a good method?
      Trying to use that as a "method" isn't "article marketing", really, it's only "article directory marketing". That died years ago. It was only ever based on a complete misunderstanding of how article directories work and what benefits they can provide, anyway: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5068872

      It's true that Ezine Articles can still play a small, supporting, afterthought role in article marketing, just as a place to deposit additional copies of articles in case of extra passive syndication. And that does actually bring me some benefits, even now. But it's a real afterthought, in article marketing. Nobody who understands how article directories work would want to try to use it to generate potential customer traffic.

      Using content/articles to get traffic is about where you get your content published.

      It's not much use to you just sitting on your own site: all that ever brings you, just about, is some eventual search engine traffic (the least productive, least responsive, least worthwhile kind of traffic I can ever have, in any niche).

      You need to take your content to where people are already looking for information (and that doesn't mean article directories or "Web 2.0 sites"!!). That's where the money is, because it's where the most responsive, already-highly-targeted traffic is, without you needing to do the targeting, or any persuading, yourself.
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      • Profile picture of the author DoubleOhDave
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Article marketing.

        Out of everything I've ever tried over the last 5 years, in every single niche that I've been involved with, it's brought me by far my most responsive, most targeted, most productive traffic. For me, nothing else compares with it at all.



        Trying to use that as a "method" isn't "article marketing", really, it's only "article directory marketing". That died years ago. It was only ever based on a complete misunderstanding of how article directories work and what benefits they can provide, anyway: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5068872

        It's true that Ezine Articles can still play a small, supporting, afterthought role in article marketing, just as a place to deposit additional copies of articles in case of extra passive syndication. And that does actually bring me some benefits, even now. But it's a real afterthought, in article marketing. Nobody who understands how article directories work would want to try to use it to generate potential customer traffic.

        Using content/articles to get traffic is about where you get your content published.

        It's not much use to you just sitting on your own site: all that ever brings you, just about, is some eventual search engine traffic (the least productive, least responsive, least worthwhile kind of traffic I can ever have, in any niche).

        You need to take your content to where people are already looking for information (and that doesn't mean article directories or "Web 2.0 sites"!!). That's where the money is, because it's where the most responsive, already-highly-targeted traffic is, without you needing to do the targeting, or any persuading, yourself.

        Hi Alexa,
        I enjoy article marketing - so it's obviously something worth doing for me. But I always feel I am not doing it right. When you suggest using sites other than ezinearticles etc... can you give a couple of examples?

        Thanks
        Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesBorg
      Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

      Article marketing like ezinearticles is still a good method?
      There are two sides of the coin to many successful marketing models.

      If you had an e-book to sell, for instance, you could actively seek out affiliates/JVs and ask them to promote your stuff. Or you could list it on ClickBank/JVZoo/etc. and let affiliates/JVs find it. There are pros and cons to each approach, but luckily, the approaches aren't mutually exclusive, so you can do both at the same time.

      Likewise, if you had some good traffic-generating content, you could seek out bloggers and other publishers and offer it to them (this active approach is what most people seem to mean when they say "guest blogging"). Or you could list it on EZA and other article directories and let publishers find it. Again, pros and cons to each approach, but you can do both at the same time.

      I imagine it might be a good way to get some writing gigs as well, just as photographers who upload Creative Commons attribution-required pics to Flickr have gotten photography gigs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gengis
    I would have to go with Video Marketing. I like making videos and have used this successfully for a local business I used to own even before I had ever even heard of online or video marketing.

    I used to post videos giving people valuable information about my financial products and would add a link to my website and my business phone # and I generated nation wide business because of this, I even did business with one of the members of 2 Live Crew because of this lol..

    Gengis
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  • Profile picture of the author amwarner
    I think I would just write quality content right from the beginning rather than trying to write for quantity and my content suffers. I find now that I'm writing more quality content, search engines are picking it up more and I'm getting more visitors. I didn't do this in the beginning stages.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
    I think I'm going to man-up this week and just do some video marketing.. Helps build rapport fast
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyTorrents
    Guest posts on niche related websites and video marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    Guet posting and SEO
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  • Profile picture of the author amuro
    Niche-related forums and video marketing.

    These are what I will do.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    video and press releases

    I find this not only brings the highest quality subscriber, but these are the subscribers that most often turn into sales down the track. People are more inclinded to buy from a video and or press release too, if it goes viral, then you have an even better chance. Start here, and test things, and you will be well on your way.
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  • Profile picture of the author bmw040
    I think TRAFFIC is always evolving and I keep trying new techniques along with several proven ones.

    So for me this minute:

    SEO
    Video Marketing
    Social Media Marketing

    I always use SEO when creating my sites from the get go. It always pays off in the long run.

    However, this will change every week or so...lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Vector Graphics
    If I was to do everything with a $0 budget I would start with these 3 things:

    - Write content for my own site
    - Create social media pages for that site
    - Start guest posting on high traffic sites related to mine

    For each piece of content I wrote I would do some keyword research to get more traffic from the search engines. For each social media page I would post links back to my blog posts or guest posts, funny pictures, quotes etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Buildingfutures
    I see everyone picking just ONE type of traffic source they'd use, but if you're starting out, have no solid business plan yet, what should you REALLY do?

    Well, if I was just starting out again, I'd find an affiliate program that I could get behind, and that could see me some great results.

    I'd then either pick apart the affiliate link landing page, or go and make one myself to pre-sell the product to the leads I would generate. Depending on what the product is, I can go all-out with Content Marketing.

    For the time I spend, Content Marketing will be the best ROI of what I can do for 'free'.

    -Sean
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  • Profile picture of the author TheLooper
    Hi! My first post here.

    Just started writing but noticed there is the word "free" in the title. Well, if it weren´t, i would say Social Media for quick traffic and particularly Facebook PPC. Find a good converting banner and move on from there - traffic to a viral fanpage - money site. Gives you fast results and since social signals plays a big roll in SEO nowadays, it´s easier to move on with my main traffic generation method.

    -Regards-
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  • Profile picture of the author Burton Lancaster
    With out a doubt, niche forum traffic is the best source for bootstrapping a product, site, or business in just about any market.
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    @Tiffany Lambert
    That is f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c! I am going to start doing this. You won't believe how freeing this information is to me. I spend at least 15-min. writing an average blog post, then another 15 or 20 min. using my seo plugin to get traffic. and many times I have to re-write some of my post to please the plugin.

    Thank you
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  • Profile picture of the author Trey Morgan
    Video Marketing with manual backlinking and forum marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author AlexGeorge
    I would probably do video marketing through Youtube. People love videos and if you do a quality video, then the conversion rates can be amazing. It's also quite easy to promote Youtube channels within the Youtube network which is convenient, and can help get more views and subscribers. From there, you can then lead viewers onto your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author GetBack2it
    Social Media traffic, Hands down.

    Don't rely on search engines(Google), any update could wipe out all your traffic.

    Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are a great source for targeted, free traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsage7
    Hi, I would use video marketing and purchase a fiverr gig to mass distribute it across tubemogul. Then purchase youtube views from vagex and other sites. Also, building backlinks to your video from fiverr services. With time, you will gain momentum.
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  • Profile picture of the author GGpaul
    The cool thing is, you can start all over again if you want. OR you can implement THAT free traffic method that you had in mind .
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  • Profile picture of the author hardworker2013
    The best free Traffic source is still SEO, If you write good quality content on your blog or
    website, Google and other search engines will reward you with lots of traffic.
    In second place i would say Social Media, share your website or blog on High Rank Social
    Websites like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus to name a few. Search Engines also treat these
    websites as high authority websites so it will also improve your Search Engine ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I'd start with blogging. I like it, no HTML knowledge required, nothing to build... i'd easily pimp this out.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    I wouldn’t have the courage to start over. All free methods are not working as they used to do in the past. What is saving me is word of mouth.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bent SEO
    Without a doubt - I'd guest post on related, highly trafficked blogs. Not only is it great for SEO, but it can drive in killer traffic as long as the blog has lots of traffic and you get a really high quality piece of content out there. I have a blog that gets over 50 unique visits a day from 1 guest post that went up about 6 months ago. Best part is a good portion of those visitors subscribe to the blog via RSS.

    BOOM!
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  • Profile picture of the author eman2011
    I think the best free traffic sources are search engines (SEO) and social media. Especially social media because SEO takes time. Social media are easy to use and you can reach millions of people if you know how
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  • Profile picture of the author aanuuman
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    • Profile picture of the author TemptressTK
      Still being fairly new to working on line, this thread has given me plenty of food for thought.

      Although I cant yet pick a favorite traffic method, I can say without a doubt it wont be seo!!

      Im with Tiffany on writing well anything!! I have never liked trying to use keywords and such. It interrupts my creative flow or something.

      It is very encouraging to find out that I can be successful without using it....thanks Tiffany!
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  • Profile picture of the author webprogramzone
    Getting quality traffic to it gratis is extremely hard. I suppose the most regular way might be to get present clients to recommend it and offer that illumination however I conjecture they need to keep such referrals for themselves. IMO you have to use a touch of cash advertising this and you additionally need to demonstrate that this is an honest to goodness solid method for profiting.

    Some of the free or cheap method that would definitely work are:

    - You can write articles for Ezinearticles related to your topic or niche and at the end link to your site in the resource box.
    - Endow with a subscription box, to your ezine or business proclamation record, on your most viewed website pages.
    - Do video marketing that will include more trustworthy information about the product or service you have.
    - Forums, blog are another proven method.
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  • Profile picture of the author Praize1
    Hmm, Let Me See
    I will go for Video Marketing
    The reason is simple:Youtube gets high ranks on the Search engines
    It's easy for your video to go viral meaning one lead can become 3 leads
    People come to know,like and trust you with videos more than any other form of advertising
    It can keep on generating leads and cash for you for a long period of time
    i love blogging too but if i was starting all over again,i would go over to the video route because it will be easier to get my stuff seen by interested prospects

    Cheers!
    Praise
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  • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
    These days I wouldn't bother with free traffic. The opportunities are drying up all the time. Better to start with a small budget and learn the discipline it takes to convert offers.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by TiffanyLambert View Post

      I do that with a blog right now - NO list for it, I just blog. Google and other SEs pick it up, and send traffic. (*Not talking about my IM blog, fyi - I know I have a list for that).

      I don't actively SEO my content. I just blog about the topic. I write naturally and it delivers traffic.
      I stopped doing the keyword research squint after analyzing my server logs and finding out that most of my search traffic was coming from keywords that I wouldn't have imagined optimizing for. Quit doing the research, with no noticeable change in search traffic, but much better relationships with readers.

      I do use an SEO plugin, but mostly to manage spider access to onsite duplicate content. I set it up once and mostly forget that it's there.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
    I would skip all the free traffic and fail my way to succeeding with paid.

    But if I had to go the free route exclusively, I would go with Facebook and Pinterest
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    • Profile picture of the author TiffanyLambert
      Originally Posted by Lfazevedo View Post

      I assume what you did brought benefits enough you don't want to start over, right?
      When I did that it was so long ago when those things may have worked. I still don't think that's what "brought" me the benefits, though. I have ALWAYS worked on community, relationship building, and branding. I'm very vocal and opinionated. It weeds out my non audience and attracts my diehard fans.

      So I see what I did with all the other stuff as *almost* a time waster. I say almost because I'm sure it did bring in some people - but what kept them (or repulsed them) was the other stuff.

      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      I stopped doing the keyword research squint after analyzing my server logs and finding out that most of my search traffic was coming from keywords that I wouldn't have imagined optimizing for. Quit doing the research, with no noticeable change in search traffic, but much better relationships with readers.
      Me too John. You nailed it.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by DoubleOhDave View Post

        Interesting idea - can you explain what you mean by a "publisher's list"?

        Cheers
        Dave
        Your "publishers list" is the group of publishers - websites, blogs, ezines, even offline publications like print newsletters, magazines and newspapers - that want to see your articles for possible syndication in their pubs.

        They won't all use everything you send, but when the fit is right, you get access to their audience with their implied or active endorsement. Which can bring a lot of folks to your site.

        Building a publishers list is much more work and takes more time than dumping your articles on autoapprove sites with some piece of software, but the results are well-targeted human eyeballs rather than a few worthless backlinks on a site no human will ever see.
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        • Profile picture of the author DoubleOhDave
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Your "publishers list" is the group of publishers - websites, blogs, ezines, even offline publications like print newsletters, magazines and newspapers - that want to see your articles for possible syndication in their pubs.

          They won't all use everything you send, but when the fit is right, you get access to their audience with their implied or active endorsement. Which can bring a lot of folks to your site.

          Building a publishers list is much more work and takes more time than dumping your articles on autoapprove sites with some piece of software, but the results are well-targeted human eyeballs rather than a few worthless backlinks on a site no human will ever see.
          Thanks John for this answer - it is a lot clearer to me.. I have been online for a couple of years and now support myself through it (at last) but am not out of the headache-y part yet where I have no bills to worry about - yet for some reason I never heard of this before and my gut instinct is telling me I really should learn more about the publishers list idea- does anyone have any good advice on how I should proceed with building my publisher's list?
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    • Profile picture of the author brentb
      Originally Posted by jasondinner View Post

      I would skip all the free traffic and fail my way to succeeding with paid.
      ^^^ THIS ^^^
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  • Profile picture of the author workoutstuff1
    Guest blogging. It still amazes me at how much traffic I can get to a CPA offer just by guest blogging on a popular website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Social media networks,

    Blog commenting,

    Solo ads, (will cost you, but are very effective)
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