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Gaining Web Traffic – a Changed Game?

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Web Traffic

When I began getting serious in this game about two years ago, things were very different.

Comparing today and then is like comparing night and day… water and fire… John Lennon and Paul McCartney… You get the picture.

They may have their similarities, but in reality, they’re entirely different entities. It was a lot easier than it is now.

One of the biggest things that has changed is how traffic is obtained and directed to your website. Strategies that flawlessly worked back then are a marketer’s-worst-nightmare at this point. It’s pretty sad.

A Changed Ballgame

SEO? Impossible.

Google Panda is nothing new to most of you, but if you were to tell people two or more years ago that their entire SEO strategy would be turned to muck by it, you’d get laughed at. Seriously.

SEO is so screwy that you can get penalized for organically building links if Google doesn’t like it – it’s pathetic.

Don’t submit yourself to article directories like eZineArticles, either, because that’s bad, too.

SEO is still a viable option for many webmasters looking for traffic, but the sad reality is, that the time for it to be optimal is long passed.

Pay for Advertisements? Haha!

I walk around this planet each and every day with a library of information in the pocket of my blue-jeans (or shorts, if it’s hot outside). With my Blackberry and iPod, I can practically find any information at any time of the day.

While the fact that you can now do this is spectacular, it’s also very harmful to webmasters. I feel as if 2012 (and the later part of 2011) have been geared towards mobile-website-optimization.

The more complex information and designs are being scrapped from the mobile versions of websites, leaving mobile viewers with a dummied-down, yet still informative copy of your website.

When I first got started in web development, I was always told that buying banner ads was the “go-to-way” to get rich in traffic. It worked.

But we are now at a point where mobile phones (lets forget tablets – they aren’t fitting in my pocket and don’t count here) have screens that are, at best, four inches across.

Even the beautiful retina-displays of the iPhone, or the larger displays of Droids are having trouble displaying our content, let alone banner ads.

This wasn’t a problem two or more years ago, but it is now – the majority of our audiences are probably viewing our websites, for the first time, on a mobile browser. That ad campaign you just bought? Worthless.

Mobile viewers don’t want two-inch ads taking up half of their four-inch screen. They’re not being used as much, and thus, aren’t going to be as efficient in today’s web world.

What’s Left?

I’ll be the first to admit that there’s far more options out there than just SEO and banner-ads, but the point is simple – they were big then, and are now obsolete to a certain degree.

The future is long, and marketers are trying to stay one step ahead of the current trends – they have to to stay alive.

Websites like eZineArticles have perished, and other social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Delicious may soon follow. It’s just how internet-selection works (Charles Darwin said so, I believe).

The inevitable question still looms, though – what other options are still available for webmasters?

Guest posting still works (check the author), as do many other methods. Their effectiveness, however, is always dropping. Guest posting to “questionable” websites or posting “spam” comments will get you many slaps on the wrist with SEO, though.

I guess the real question isn’t what’s left, but what’s still effective?

How Do You Gain Traffic?

Image © buchachon – Fotolia.com

About

Joe Boyle is an entrepreneur taking the world by storm with a definitive style and legendary ideas. Joe shares his views on website development and design on WebsiteBegin, as well as other topics such as engineering, politics, and technology on other blogs.

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{ 21 Responses }

  1. Astro Gremlin says:
    Joe, it has changed since I started less than two years ago. My main source of traffic day-to-day has been Google searches. The variations in that flow are dramatic from month to month and, I have to agree, fairly unpredictable.
  2. Glen says:
    Give Google what they want and you will be rewarded (good relevant content). Google is also making social proof (likes, shares, comments) a big determining factor.
  3. Alex Bramwell says:
    Put stuff on your blog that people want to read and make it easy for them to find and share. Use original photos and always think of your target market.
  4. Samuel says:
    In my Own opinion , A correct online marketing strategy and the proper marketplace can help obtain a lot of online traffic inside a short time of your energy.
  5. Nishadha says:
    The methods have changes but it is misguiding to say SEO has become pathetic. Don't try to game the system, product quality content, write some guest posts and build connections.
  6. James says:
    Paying for anything these days has almost become impossible because of the rising expenditures and decreasing incomes. So paying for advertisements in order to market our websites carries a lower possibility. But we can advertise our wesites through other blogger friends.
  7. Ishan says:
    You have all the points spot on. I remember how SEO and banners used to be a big source of traffic and now they are going down. I have always belonged to the group of content marketers and get traffic via links from other blogs, comments and guest posts. Retweeted!
  8. Arwin Adriano says:
    I think what works for me now to gain web traffic is through social media shares from twitter and pinterest but I still believe that blog comments still works if done strategically.
  9. Thomas says:
    With the growing number of social networking sites and extreme usage of internet, it has become easier to access to almost anything online. A correct marketing strategy and the right target market can help to gain a lot of web traffic in a short period of time.
  10. JamesW says:
    Buying traffic is one of the best ways to get traffic fast and make money also. Blog commenting is good too, but let's face it, it's too slow. thanks for sharing
  11. Mark says:
    @Joe, I am pretty sure social likes and shares will be taking the lion's share of what SEO used to be. Funny thing. I did an SEO post about breaking the SEO mind set and after the analysis was all said and done, social shares seemed to emerge as what will be important. Basically, the people decide what's good and what's not. That really is a gut check to content farms for sure. The only way to go is human edited content that adds value to people's lives. SEO was an anomaly in the era of human information management anyway. It was/is a short-lived byproduct of search engines...soon to pass. Mark
    • Joe Boyle says:
      I agree to a point. SEO is only going to be effective if you have a positive reputation. How to build that reputation? You have to do it yourself! Shares will help with that - more people can find you and, thus, link to you. I think they work well together, hand in hand.
  12. Dave Lucas says:
    Hey Joe! IMHO the best way to "stay alive" blogging is to blog the way it all originally began - as apersonal weblog or diary or accounting of things that happen to one during the course of daily life. That's always been the best formula for successful blogging. All the chatter about monetizing and ads and all that has just gotten way way out of hand! By the way - I totally agree - "guest posting" has lost the importance and significance it once had, thanks to the "blogging gurus" who turned the concept into something they made a lot of money on. Blog On, my friend!
    • Joe Boyle says:
      I have a different opinion - do what you love and the dream will catch up with it. The big boys ruining something for the little guys? Nothing new there - just a new field. I think guest blogging is still effective for those that have good taste and good writing abilities ;)
  13. Anton Koekemoer says:
    Hi Joe,Yes – I do agree. The game was a lot simpler in terms of rules and effort needed to rank highly and gaining more traffic two years ago. And yes – I do agree. A lot of Social And bookmarking sites has come and gone, eZineArticles is one of the networks standing on the edge of nonexistence. And in a couple of years… who knows….
  14. Chris says:
    Hi Joe, SEO isn't dead - SEO has changed ;) As you wrote some kind of websites will die (poor article directories), but we still will get a lot of traffic from search engines. And traffic from social networks, guest posts and other media will grow :) Thanks for sharing, Chris
    • Joe Boyle says:
      I get about 100 visits a month from search engines - it's not great, but it's something. The point is, is that the tactics we used two or three years ago to build organic links are now turning into big bullets that are hopping up and biting us in the butt. Is the pain of following each and every strategy to the core (and then anticipating future updates that NOBODY could see coming) worth the potential traffic? To some, it is. But what about those who spent thousands of dollars on SEO and then lost it all and them some? It's a double bladed sword.
  15. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi Joe, Create value. Make connections. The timeless, all powerful formula generates traffic no matter what. As for SEO, be mindful. Common sense wins out. Be patient, study the updates, change with google and you can drive passive traffic to your website. Make connections. Once you have a massive, supportive network in place you become immune to any changes Google might make. This is why wealthy become build massive networks. So many people to help you, because you helped them persistently, helping them gain traffic first. Create targeted content and promote the stuffing out of people. It works ;) Thanks Joe! Ryan
    • Joe Boyle says:
      The problem isn't generating traffic when you have a community built - they do that work for you. The problem is simply generating the traffic to drive those original people into the machine, thus creating a community. Thanks for the comment, Ryan :)
  16. Ahmed Safwan says:
    I think there is no effective method and if there is one it will be as ezinearticles soon. Every one must be creative and do something different and by this you will gain traffic. Regards, Ahmed Safwan ToStartBlogging.Com
  17. Dean Saliba says:
    It certainly has changed, methods that had served me well for many years (forum linking, blog commenting, sponsored posts) are no longer working for me. I suppose this will sort the men from the boys so to speak, who will move on and find better methods and who will be left behind.