I love traffic

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4.7K followers

No, not the kind that is shown in the image above. That kind of traffic is not my style, that's why I left the big city several years ago and settled down for a quiet life in a small town.

We all know what kind of traffic I am referring to—it is traffic to our websites.

There are a lot of ways to get traffic to come to our sites:

  • You can pay for it
  • You can trade for it
  • You can earn it

My favorite of these is to earn the traffic. I am a person who doesn't like to pay for something that I know I can get if I work hard enough at it.

Sure, I could shell out some money and "buy" some traffic. But, honestly, I wouldn't feel good about the traffic. I would feel like it was "phony." I don't like phony things (fake things). I also feel that this sort of traffic doesn't last—unless, of course—I keep paying.

I could trade for it. The "I'll visit your site if you visit mine" idea. I am far less opposed to this and, in a way, this is what we do a bit of through Wealthy Affiliate.

If you build it, it doesn't mean they will come....

When I was doing a website for someone once, they were excited about the visitors to their site. They were thinking it was all organic. I told them what I was doing, but apparently they thought they could get the traffic on their own. So they left... That was fine with me, I was very busy building my own sites.

After they left, their comments dried up and the visits nearly stopped. They couldn't understand why. What happpend?

I tried again to explain, but they just couldn't get it. Now, they no longer do a website. I wanted them to know that building an audience takes time and is a process, but until they saw what kind of work was behind building—not only a website, but also an audience—they had no idea.

Like many who come with the idea that "if you build it they will come" they were turned off when they learned that traffic wasn't automatic.

They had good content, but without an audience—without taking the steps to build traffic—they soon fell out of the loop and left. I'm sure their website is still sitting in the "breakdown" lane of the freeway, but I have not looked back to see. I know that may sound cold, but since I wasn't charging for my services in the first place, they really didn't have anything to lose by letting me continue to manage their site.

Enough of that, though.

Let's talk about traffic in a good way....

As I was doing a little research on driving traffic, I found some common themes:

  • Focus on content
  • Post regularly and consistently

These seem like no-brainers, but they are worth repeating in my humble opinion:

  • Focus on content
  • Post regularly and consistently

If we focus on content, we are not focusing on how to get more visitors, we are focusing on the thing that will bring us visitors and keep those visitors once they are here.

If you build a highway, you have a lot to think about before you ever get traffic on it. You have to think about where the road will go, what it will be made of and things like that. If you build a highway that doesn't go anywhere or is made up of second-rate materials, you may get the occasional "curious" driver, but you are not going to pull in real traffic.

If we post regularly and consistently, our readers know that they can expect a new post from us daily, weekly or monthly and they will begin to wait for it and anticipate and welcome it.

If we post whenever we "feel" like it, well, our visitors will visit whenever they "feel" like it. And trust me, if you are not regular and consistent, they won't be either.

It is easy to lose momentum in driving traffic, but if you want to succeed at it, you must just keep on doing it. That is why we are encouraged to build niche sites around something that we are passionate about. If you build a site around something that you really don't give a hoot about, you probably will lose focus and eventually just quit doing it.

Let's keep all lanes of traffic to our sites full!

With 2020 vision (and beyond),
Karin 😎

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    Recent Comments

    50

    Great post!
    This is so true! We all love traffic because it represents all the interest people have in our work. It's a very rewarding thing especially the free traffic as you explain it so well. Paying for traffic is not necessarily a bad thing, but it also means that we underestimate ourselves and think that we won't be able to interest anyone with our own talent. It's true that building our own traffic takes time, but consistency in our work is the best way to do it.

    Ingrid

    Thanks for reading and commenting, Ingrid. That free traffic really intrigues me! I am studying how to get more of it and doing some experiments on Facebook, too.

    I'll let you all know how they work out soon!

    With 2020 vision and beyond,
    Karin 😁

    When I first started I thought I could take a shortcut and paid for some "traffic" to my website. Well all it did was to falsify my Google analytics for that period. I am certain that the traffic I got from that paid "deal" were "bots"! I did not even get a single click!

    You have the absolute method of generating free traffic Karin: "Consistency and persistence".

    It's a matter of having a winning mindset!

    And instead of focusing on money, we should put our focus on serving a purpose that will benefit many others and success will definitely follow! 🙂

    Cheers!
    Denis

    Thanks for reading and commenting, Denis. Yes, I just have a feeling that "paid" traffic is not the way to go for me.

    Consistency and persistence!

    With 2020 vision and beyond,
    Karin 😁

    Lovely post Karin. When I first started I found the whole process of writing content quite difficult because I was intent on writing real good ones.

    Nowadays things are speeding up somewhat though not fast enough for my liking.

    My biggest trouble now is getting traffic. My next step is to set some time apart to concentrate on means to getting traffic.

    Thank you for sharing this post.
    Carol

    You are welcome, Carol. Just keep writing your quality content regularly. If you do that, the traffic will come eventually. But like all good things, it takes time. I am getting some traffic, but many of them click in and back out without further reading... That is where I need to focus my work and energy on getting them to stick around longer!

    With 2020 vision (and beyond),
    Karin 😎

    You are so right Karin. Traffic is the key--Yes, I know content is the key. so we have two keys to unlock the door to monetary rewards.
    It takes time to get everything in sync and you reminded us the amount of time and dedication it takes.
    I had to put down one of my cats today and I'm not in too good a thinking mood. I have my notes for my next post but I'm in no humor to write. I appreciated your post. It makes me realize I have to go on, regardless.

    Barbara, I am so sorry to hear about your cat. I love my cats, even when they drive me a bit bonkers! I would be heartbroken if something happened or I had to put them down. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Only other pet owners really understand how much these animals become like family to us.

    Take the time you need, but keep going on as soon as you can. It will help you to think of other things.

    Your friend,
    Karin

    A really great post Karen you really pounded that nail straight in. Consistency is the name of the game, without feeding your website with regularity just like feeding your body, the website will dwindle and lose energy just like your body would. People want to visit a healthy website, a website they can depend upon, after all they are out to purchase things on the Internet and need good advice and they need it from a person they can trust on a regular basis. By scrambling your times of posting you lose their trust, people want conformity just as you write about.

    Joe

    Thank you, Joe. You have clarified the point exactly!

    With 2020 vision (and beyond),
    Karin 😎

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