The Traffic Factor

byrgblanchette

169 followers

Updated 6 years ago

Without Traffic, You Don't Have a Business

Let's face it, you can have the best widget in the world (like the missing link special), but unless people know about it (traffic) then you might as well be screaming into the endless deserts of Nairobi.

Sources of Online Traffic

There is paid traffic and nonpaid traffic. Paid traffic has it's own issues like the right ads to convert, the right audience to find those ads, the right keywords to place those ads and your budget to pay for those ads. That process can be very simple or very hard depending on your level of experience. Pay per click, paid ads, are an entire industry all to itself. But the one thing they all have in common is once the funding stops, the traffic stops. This being the case, return on investment (ROI) is all important.

The next source of traffic is nonpaid. This can include anything from having a website that is maxed out using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that search engines love all the way to putting up fliers on utility poles with your website address on it. Generally speaking it means that you have invest sweat equity to get traffic. You are creating content on social media platforms, videos for places like YouTube, Vimeo or Dailymotion and even creating content for places that like to have guest bloggers.

The Big Lie

There is a reason that big name "gurus" crow about how much money they are making. Money that you likely are not making. And the big lie is that it is impossible to create that sort of money unless you are willing to sacrifice your family, your life and everything in it to acheive that level of success. The fact is that if you can figure out how to get traffic you have half of the battle won already. What it means though, is that you first have to first educate yourself on what traffic source you want to use and then second master that method in its entirety.

Focus is Key

There are far too many shiny objects out that calling for our attention, far too many interesting people squawking about the "best method to drive traffic". That pulls our attention away from focussing on one method and mastering that method. It doesn't matter what that method is, what matters is learning everything there is to know about that one method. Finally the last thing to do is to be prepared to make lots of mistakes in that quest for mastery.

Don't Be Afraid To Fail

I have a few favorite movies. One of those is Dune. In Dune there is a hero that learned a mantra that helped him through some pretty nasty business. It goes like this (paraphrased):

I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me. In the end, only I will remain.

That is the same mentality you must have to become a master of your chosen path to traffic mastery in the method you choose. You must not be afraid to fail, because if you do not fear then the only thing left standing is you in your mastery of that method.