I've just been wondering where everyone else finds potential visitors for their websites.

Social Sites vs. blogs/forums

Does social media, such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. or visiting forums and blogs related to your niche have better results?

I've had traffic from all of them, but the ones that actually stayed long enough to read anything on my pages/posts according to Google Analytics are mostly the ones that came through related blogs and forums.

What's your thoughts on this? Is it a bad idea to have too many links from other related sites going to your site?

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UncleBud Premium
I have best response from Social media, especially twitter.
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Freedomseekr Premium
@UncleBud
That's great to hear, UncleBud! I'm glad to hear these are working for you well. It certainly seems twitter has a lot of potential, which I hadn't realized at first. Now that I've gotten a little more used to using it, I find a lot of people there that are interested in the niche I'm in...at least I keep getting more followers there. Just have to keep working at it though. Thanks for sharing your insights!
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Labman Premium
Typically most of my traffic comes from organic searches. Target the phrases they are looking for. You can understand these by spending time in related forums and seeing how people are responding to the content there.
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Freedomseekr Premium
@Labman
Thanks for the helpful advice Craig! You're right on, I agree with you 100%...Actually I'm seeing more from organic searches too, which I neglected to mention here...so I'm glad you brought that up! Forums usually have a lot of people asking questions, so they're a great place to check out for ideas. Again, thanks for bringing this up...I had the feeling I was missing something here, but couldn't think of it at the time, lol. :)
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Prana-Elite Premium
You are trying to create a site and program where your audience will find you. I may be wrong but it is my impression that getting traffic from social media is the norm in the early times of your business. It seems that way for me.

Doug
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Freedomseekr Premium
@Prana-Elite
Hi Doug,
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Social media does appear to help, especially in the beginning.

At least it's a chance to get your site seen by others. But, it seems there's also traffic coming and leaving too if it's not exactly what they're looking for.

It does seem to work a bit better if you add it to a short post on the social media sites explaining what it could help people with or get their interest somehow first, rather than just sharing it. At least that's what I've been trying to do and it seems there are a few more staying a bit longer.
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KatieMac Premium
I think it is a combination of things, like social media, good content, links are good if they are relevant to your site,, if you have affiliate links it is recommended that you have no more than 3 per page
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Freedomseekr Premium
@KatieMac
Hi Katie,
Thanks for stopping by and sorry I'm just getting back here...

Anyways, I agree that it can be a combination of these things. One thing I've noticed is lately when sharing posts/pages on any of the social networks I've taken more time to say something about it first and what it could help people with if they read it. So far, it seems to be helping and people are staying there longer.
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KatieMac Premium
@Freedomseekr
that is good we all just have to keep at it eh.. have a good weekend
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BIS Premium
My belief that social media can be a lot of 'noise' and it's quite possible to be successful without trying to do Facebook etc.... Unless you can capture the right people it can take an awful lot of your time. (I'm not advocating you shouldn't do it - just that you should put your efforts to the ones that yield the most effective results)
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Freedomseekr Premium
@BIS
Thanks for your insights, Bis! I agree there's a lot of "noise" on all of them.

It certainly would seem to matter which people you're trying to get to...I guess it's a good idea to focus on finding the people that are actually interested in the niche you're promoting on social media sites first.
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steveo5770 Premium
Do you have a Facebook page for your business yet? I'll give it a like:)
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Freedomseekr Premium
@steveo5770
Well, I really should get that done! I keep putting that off...probably why I haven't had much success with Facebook. I only have my personal one yet. Once I get a business one done, I'll let you know. But, if you've got one already, I'll give yours a like. Thanks Steve! :)
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steveo5770 Premium
@Freedomseekr
Mine is https://www.facebook.com/firemyboss.net
and Thank you! :)
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Freedomseekr Premium
@steveo5770
You're welcome :)
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steveo5770 Premium
I just write a lot of content based on low hanging fruit and Google sends people to me. Is use G+ because those posts rank well and rank quickly. I don't use social media because I can't seem to figure out how to make it worth my time. Writing new content however, IS worth my time:)
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Freedomseekr Premium
@steveo5770
Hi Steve,
It does seem G+ posts rank quite well compared to the rest. I'm thinking that's what I'll need to work on more again is the low hanging fruit keywords.
That's one of my problems with social media, I end up getting sidetracked when I'm there, and end up spending a lot of time I could have used more wisely, lol. Writing new content is certainly worth the time, which is something I need to get going on again.
Thanks for the advice, it certainly helps. :)
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steveo5770 Premium
@Freedomseekr
G+ is easy to work with and effective. I wouldn't say people shouldn't use social media. Obviously people are having success with it. I just haven't figured it out myself. But writing more content always seems to work so I stick with that :)
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spbpt Premium
@steveo5770
I am addicted to fb so will likely try to get it to work for me as I have a ton of friends there.....Susan
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Freedomseekr Premium
@spbpt
Hi Susan,

Certainly doesn't hurt to try, especially if you already have a lot of friends there. Using social media does seem to help, especially if you don't go wandering off track too far. Which is something I really need to work on...not getting distracted for hours at a time while there.
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steveo5770 Premium
@Freedomseekr
The problem for me is that I see tons of paid posts on facebook now and I automatically tune them out. If it looks promotional in any way, I ignore it so I assume others will do the same. The keyword here is "assume" which always gets me into trouble:)
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boomergp08 Premium
I'm a big fan of social media especially the niche specific communities on Google Plus and Facebook.
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Freedomseekr Premium
@boomergp08
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the ideas! I'll have to check into those more. I'm on both Google plus and Facebook, but haven't really gotten into the communities aspect yet. Not quite sure how to go about using them, but I'll have to learn soon.
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boomergp08 Premium
@Freedomseekr
In Facebook you just click on "Groups" in the left side menu on the Home page and then do a search for the niche specific community you are looking for.

On Google Plus you go to the menu drop down upper left corner of the screen under Google logo (it may say Profile with a down arrow next to it). Place your mouse pointer on top of it and in the drop down select Communities. Then do a search for your specific niche.
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Freedomseekr Premium
@boomergp08
Thanks again here Robert! I didn't realize that's what "Groups" was for in Facebook...now I know! And, Google plus, I'm still learning how to use it properly....so I wasn't sure where to find the Communities either. I'll give these a try then, thanks for explaining...it sure helps :)
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