How to Get Website Traffic
Many of us that drive a vehicle hate traffic. I know that when I drive the local highways in northern New Jersey and I run into traffic, I am always getting off the highway and taking the back roads. I learned early on that it is extremely smart to know how to get around instead of on the major arteries of traffic.
However not all forms of traffic are bad. There is one type of traffic that is very desirable and that is website traffic. Without website traffic you have no chance of becoming a success with your online business. So I want to discuss one of the ways in how to get website traffic that has worked well for me and others.
SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND
Building an online business is no different than building a brick and mortar business. You need to devote long hours and an unlimited amount of dedication in order to become successful. You cannot go into building an online business without realizing that it can take several years to become a very wealthy individual. If you are not willing to put in the time then guess what will happen? You will fail. Taking shortcuts do not work towards quality and will always lead to problems down the line.
In order to get website traffic you have to seek it out, you have to go looking for it. In today's world you have to seek out the areas where people gather and being that our businesses are online, we need to seek out where people gather online. I’m sure you know where that is, right? For those of you who may still be scratching your heads for the answer, that place is called Social Media.
Okay, I know some of you may be fearful of getting involved with social media but you better get over that fear because without social media you have no chance of getting a lot of website traffic. Social media is where the majority of people online hang out. However you DO NOT want to hang out on social media. Ultimately you want to go in, post and share your content, and get out. Staying around and commenting and liking everyone’s comments and photo shares does NOTHING for the advancement of your online business. That’s all just a distraction.
TRAFFIC DOESN'T COME FAST
Posting and sharing your content on social media is not as cut and dry as it may seem. You can't just post and expect to get traffic flowing to your website. That is not how it works. You have to lay the foundation for that traffic. Just like a city needs to build the infrastructure to handle the future traffic that will be flowing through it, you have to do that with your social media experience too. How?
You need to build your target audience by networking with people that have an interest in your niche. You can search for those keywords within the social media forums or communities and become a part of these. When you become a member of a community do not start sharing your content right away. You want to first network with the other members by commenting on their posts and/or liking them, +1 if you are on Google+.
You want to do this for a couple of days so that the other members will take notice of you but as another member and not as someone who is there to spam them with your shared posts, even though that is your intention. Make friends first and promote to them later, slowly. Once you do start sharing your content, take note of who likes, comments and/or shares your posts. Then invite those people to follow you, thus building your target audience. This will be a slow and ongoing task that will never end.
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE
While you are in the process of building up your target audience you still should be sharing your content with those who have already started to follow you. To do this you could share your content under the setting of “Private” which will only go to those who are following you. However you will not have as great a reach to the people out there. So what you should always be doing is sharing your content with the setting of “Public” so that more people can see your content on their news feed.
You definitely want to cultivate as many followers outside of Wealthy Affiliate as possible because the members at WA are not your target audience. Depending on your niche some might be but most will not be. So that is why you have to really go after the people from outside WA.
OTHER TYPES OF TRAFFIC
Though I have mostly talked about the importance of Social Media and how it is a major player in getting increased traffic let us not forget the other important factors that will increase traffic. The most important factor is having well written content and to have a lot of it. Having a combined 10 pages and posts is right around the point where Google starts to take your website as a whole seriously. So be prepared to write about 20 or more pages/posts of content.
Well written, unique quality content will get Google's blessing and they will eventually rank you high. The closer you are to Page 1 for your targeted keyword the more exposure you will get. The more exposure you get, the more traffic that will come to your website and that traffic can become customers. So it all comes down to well written quality content.
If you want your content to rank well in Google so you can get more traffic, you better know everything there is to know, good and bad, about your niche. If you are not an authority on your niche, Google will be able to tell by the content you write. Like Matt Cutts of Google has said, “To write good content you have to enjoy what you are writing about.” This is why it is very important to pick a niche that you are passionate about.
Finally to do any of this you need confidence in yourself and your ability to carry out this dream, this desire you have of becoming your own boss with an online business. Your website can make you money in many ways, even ways you may not have originally planned it to be. To see what I mean and for inspiration, I highly recommend that you check out the video link at the end of the WA blog I wrote last week at the below link. It truly is inspirational!
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/boomergp08/blog/you-have-to-believe-it
TO YOUR SUCCESS!!!
Recent Comments
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boomer always good info for us who have a ways to go. Hope you don't mind but I saw in another area you mentioned that you don't have a Jaaxy account but use the keyword tool. Do you have a blog are any info on how to use the site as they let us know how to understand using it like using Jaaxy. Not opposed to Jaaxy but don't want to use it up before I really understand the process. Hope this was ok to ask here as after I finished reading it popped in my mind. As always thanks buddy.
Tommy, no I do not have a blog about the keyword tool here at WA. Though it has slightly changed from when the following tutorial on it was made, most of this information is still relevant. Check out DomW post at the below link to learn more.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-use-the-keyword-search-tool-on-wa/using-the-tool
Hey Robert, Great information as you always provide! Something that i have found is the importance of google +. and having authorship, image and everything google set-up.When i share my latest post to google + they have in turn been putting my share on 1st page of my keyword. This is not a link to my website but rather to my google + page. But hey it is still front page!
Yes Dennis, Google+ gives a little "link juice" to your posts if you share it on your Google+ account.
Just make sure that when you are viewing the search results on Google that you are in one of the private browsing modes, Incognito if using Google Chrome, to make sure that you are actually on Page 1. You may be seeing it on page 1 because you are viewing it as yourself and not as the rest of the world sees it.
But either way, Google+ does provide a little bit of a link juice bump.
Well i searched incognito and did not even show up in the 1st 10 pages. searched again after closing incognito back to 1st page. That'ts just not right!!! them doing that.
That's why you cannot believe the search results unless you are in some sort of private browsing mode like Incognito.
You're welcome Brad. Social Media, though most people fear or don't like it, is a great friend for those creating websites and want traffic. You just have to use it differently than the people who use it to socialize.
Wow Robert, who knew you had the answer to "THE great big question of life", lol. Another great blog, good info, good tips. Thanks!
You're welcome Genevieve. I'll say this about getting website traffic, it's a long and time consuming road but the results are worth it no matter at what speed they happen.
That's what I like best about your blogs and the WA approach, work and time are part of it, no magic trick; just great training. :)
The only way to achieve success is to work hard for it. Cutting corners is not going to payoff.
Hey Robert! Great advice, Great video! I learned so much with the social media and the work ethic video....It's time for me to take bigger steps.
You're welcome Evelyn! Success is a journey so keep taking those bigger steps toward your success. :)
Hey Robert, Thanks for an outstanding piece of advice.
My content is building up quite nicely if I do say so myself. However, accruing traffic is probably going to be one of the biggest challenges thus far, but no one said becoming a roaring success was going to be easy.
Nothing wrong with acknowledging the success of your content creation Charlene. But you are correct, getting traffic is a big challenge and social media is definitely one of the major ways you will get it. This is why it is part of the Level 4 training and a requirement that you join Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest...if you are not already a member.
I would suggest that if you aren't then you should start as soon as you can so you can get comfortable with how they work. You could also start to build your target audience now. I know I wish I had started sooner than I did because it is a long road to building your target audience. But like you truly said, "no one said becoming a roaring success was going to be easy."
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Thank you for the inspiring message. Solving the traffic problems is key to our success.
You're welcome Darrell. - Without website traffic you will have no customers so yeah, traffic is key to our success.