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Do you even think about your website traffic?

Earlier this year I embarked on a little ‘side project’. I mainly write about the bigger picture issues. Business strategy. Concepts. Ideas. Structures. Or self-development and self-realisation. Motivation. Mindset. Focus. Celebration.

But a lot of what how well we do in business comes back to how well we implement the tactics. What we know. And what we do with what we know.

Sometimes you have an idea that won’t go away

I started to think about getting website traffic. About why some people really focus on it and some people don’t.

I see a lot of tacticians on the internet. The people who optimise their SEO. Have all their feeds and optin boxes in the right places. Who know all the cool tools and plug-ins.

And then I see the rest of us. Especially in my immediate circles. We’re softer-centred entrepreneurs. Probably people like you who aren’t doing as much as you could to bring more traffic to your site.

Is traffic a dirty word?

It’s almost as if traffic is a dirty word. The bloggers do it one way and the harder-edged internet marketers do it another. But what about the rest of us. Those of us who have a ‘real’ business. Who do things off the internet as well as on it?

Why can’t we have the best of both worlds?

Because social media rocks!

You probably think that it’s all down to social media? It’s all you need, right?

Maybe you’re in the twitter crowd. You probably know more about getting traffic. A lot of you are bloggers.

Or maybe you’re in the facebook crowd. Women, in the main. With service businesses. Higher value services. Or higher value products. Forming and maintaining fabulous relationships. Levering who you meet and who you know to grow your business. And for some of you it’s working incredibly well. It’s all you need.

…doesn’t it?

But social media takes time.

And what if your business just isn’t structured in that way? What if your business is structured around products and you don’t have a lot of face time with clients?The personal relationships don’t matter as much and your profit per transaction isn’t as high so you need the volume.

And what if you just don’t like spending all that time on social media? What if, at heart, you’re a bit of an introvert? Or, shhh, what if you have better things to do with your evenings?

So, what else is there?

So I started to compile what I knew. I started to write down all the things that I love to do. All those ninja techniques my internet buddies love to tell me about. All the things that I know work when I actually get around to doing them!

Is there a secret?

I don’t know about a secret, but when I looked at what I had, it all came down to three basic strategies. Three techniques. Three methods. Of all of the strategies and tactics I went through, I could put any one of them into one of these three ‘boxes’.

1. Content

Content is king. Or so the saying goes.

Whether you’re a blogger or a social media queen, you need to have something to say. Something interesting. Something valuable. You need a certain level of quality.

And then on top of that you apply the tactics. Whether it’s SEO, video marketing, article marketing, re-tweeting and re-posting your content on all your social media channels. It comes back to having the great content in the first place.

But if you just do the content without the traffic tactics, how are those thousands of people who might be out there – who might potentially love your stuff – going to get to know about you?

Think about your channels. Do some basic research into keywords. Make sure your stuff gets seen!

Here’s what I do (and don’t do!)

My blog isn’t a great example of setting yourself up for SEO. You probably found me from social media, or from an email? But I do have a couple of posts that bring me search engine traffic. And I even have a couple of pages that are right at the top of page one on google. It isn’t hard to do if you know how.

So, spill the beans on ‘how’

It’s simply because I bothered to research the keywords for those pages. Because I looked at how competitive those keywords were. And because I, very strategically, post back-links to those pages. It’s not rocket science. You just have to make the effort.

2. Or you can just put your money where your mouth is

Paid traffic is great. Paid traffic let’s you know instantly whether someone likes your content. Whether your free report is grabbing their attention. Whether you have a topic that people want to click through for. Whether your product is doing to take off.

Ah, but did you notice that word content in still there?

I love recommending paid traffic. I’ve coached business owners whose only traffic sources are google ads. And not internet marketing types. People with very ‘soft’ businesses. Children’s toys. Crafts. But, still, if there’s nothing at the end of your ad then what have you just paid for?

It still needs to be interesting. Build your content out so people stick around.

3. Relationships and other peoples audiences

And I love other people’s audiences! What better than having someone re-tweet your post to get a surge of traffic?

Or what could be better doing a joint venture or having an affiliate mail out for you? Getting not only the traffic but also the revenue. And what about the coverage you don’t even ask for like getting a mention on another blog (I get a lot of that with my entrepreneur test. And thank you if you’re one of the many hundreds of people who has re-posted it).

Or getting coverage in your local media?

But still, if you have nothing interesting to say then why would anyone want to broadcast your stuff? You still need the great content.

But I have great stuff – that’s not the problem!

I understand! I see this all the time. You have the content. You have a good business offer. But you’re just not getting it out there.

I know it feels like a ‘tearing-your-hair-out’ moment. You’re blogging or posting on facebook like crazy and still only 200 people on your list. Where are they all!?

From there it’s easy

Well, in my opinion, you’ve already done the hard part. You have the content. Now you just need to pick your traffic strategy. What if you could get an extra 10 people to your site every day. An extra 100. An extra 1,000. Would that make a difference to your business? I know it would to mine.

You don’t have to do it all…

You know that 80/20 rule where they say that 80% of your results can come from 20% of what you do?

Well, this is exactly my approach to getting traffic. You don’t need to be a tech genius. You don’t need the best blog design. You just need a little effort and a little focus. If just going 20% of the way can get me 80% of the results, I’m happy.

Of course you can always do more. You can always do more of everything. But sometimes just enough is good enough. Don’t drive yourself crazy. Just pick one method and go for it.

I would love you to leave a comment and tell me your favourite method of getting traffic to your website or blog.

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