Over the previous few weeks I’ve had 3 conversations with readers relating to totally different sources of traffic.
In every case I had variety of email exchanges with every blogger (all on constant day) and ended up laughing to myself at the common theme however extraordinarily totally different opinions being expressed by every of the bloggers. In every case the bloggers had robust opinions (and experiences to back those opinions up) on what kind of traffic was ‘best’ and the way to induce it.
- In one case the conversation started with a blogger telling me that I focus an excessive amount of upon social media traffic and not enough on traffic from search engines. Their niche didn’t work with social traffic however with search traffic they did best.
- In another case the blogger told me that they’d been told to chuck search traffic in their niche and work additional on building traffic from different sites and to convert it into ongoing traffic with newsletters.
- Within the last case a blogger told me that in their opinion the simplest kind of traffic was social media traffic and that they didn’t see the purpose in newsletters.
I was reminded through these conversations simply what percentage totally different valid approaches there are to blogging. I additionally came away with many thoughts that i assumed I’d jot down here on the subject of driving traffic to blogs.
1. There are Several Valid Sources of Traffic
The higher than chart shows simply eight of the many sources of traffic to a blog. As I write this others are already springing to mind (for example some bloggers run paid advertising to drive traffic to their blog – others get it from banner exchange programs). the fact is that there are several potential sources of traffic.
2. The ‘Best’ supply of Traffic Varies from Niche to Niche
As i assumed concerning the three bloggers i used to be chatting to higher than it struck me {that every|that every} had found nice sources of traffic however that they were each operating in terribly totally different niches.
The first blogger who had written off social media was {in a|during a|in an exceedingly|in {a terribly|a really|a awfully}} niche that individuals were merely not using social media for (I won’t reveal the niche as I don’t have their permission however it absolutely was a very very niche targeted blog). maybe they might have driven a small little bit of traffic with social media except for them Search was a way higher place for them to speculate their time.
3. Totally Different Sources of Traffic can Monetize Differently
Another necessary issue to contemplate is that some sources of traffic can monetize A LOT higher than others. I’ve found that search traffic will work alright with AdSense for instance (it depends upon the niche and intent of the reader). folks arrive on your website looking for specific data, browse your content, see an advertisement that relates to their search term and click on on it.
RSS browseers on the opposite hand don’t tend to convert for AdSense as they have an inclination to be loyal readers and plenty of don’t even click through to your website to read your content. RSS readers (and social media traffic) but will convert rather well for affiliate promotions or selling your own product to.
4. Traffic Patterns Amendment Over the Life Cycle of a Blog
As a blog matures its sources of traffic usually quite naturally amendment.
There’s no typical one size fits all pattern to the current however initially the traffic would possibly mainly come back from different blogs or forums where you comment – or blogs where you guest post – or articles that you just write. In time you may begin to examine additional traffic from RSS or newsletters as many folks subscribe. maybe then some traffic can come back from different sites who link to you (people who subscribe via RSS might need their own blogs) and from social media. when a moment your search engine ranking would possibly kick in as a results of the links from different sites and your guest posting and article writing and you may begin seeing Google traffic. Once your blog is competent you may begin seeing social bookmarking viral events that spike your traffic.
Again – this can be not planning to be the pattern for all blogs however in time traffic can naturally begin to return from totally different places – the secret’s to do to leverage it for ongoing sensible (trying to induce your blog to be sticky instead of simply having just once visitors) and to figure out a way to convert that traffic for the goals you’ve got.
5. Bloggers Ought to be Open to Totally Different Approaches
While every of the 3 bloggers had discovered nice lessons and sensible sources of traffic for his or her niches and also the life cycles of their blogs – i used to be left wondering in every case whether or not the bloggers were being a trifle too closed off to totally different sources of traffic that maybe might have added to the mixture of traffic.
I see plenty of SEO kind bloggers write concerning the worthlessness of social traffic for example. One common comment that i purchase from some SEOs (definitely not all) is that social media traffic can’t be monetized. the fact couldn’t be clear of the reality. It won’t forever convert however it definitely will. for instance i do know in every of the E-book launches that I’ve exhausted 2 niches that I’ve seen vital conversions from Twitter traffic. On the flip aspect of things I hear some social media targeted bloggers write off SEO and say that it works itself out and you don’t ought to optimise your blog for search if 
I guess what I’m having access to is that if you get exclusive concerning the sort of traffic you’re when you may truly be limiting the potential of your blog’s incoming traffic.
6. Too several Eggs in One Basket will be Dangerous
I used to be terribly targeted upon search traffic in my early days of blogging. I worked exhausting to optimise my initial blogs for search and ought to some extent where i used to be creating a full time living from the ad revenue i used to be obtaining nearly completely from Google. As a result I got a trifle lazy in a number of the opposite areas – I didn’t work to convert readers to be loyal with newsletters or with outstanding calls to subscribe to RSS, I didn’t build too several relationships with different bloggers to come up with referral traffic and that i was terribly inactive in social media (although it absolutely was far more restricted back then).
As a result when Google set to regulate their algorithm someday and my rankings dropped (and nearly utterly disappeared) in their results I lost most of my traffic – and as a result most of my income.
I was lucky in that Google readjusted their algorithm some of months later and that i regained plenty of (but not all) of that traffic however within the mean time I searched for and located a ‘real job’ – and additional importantly learned a crucial lesson concerning the facility of getting over one supply of traffic.
That experience was the start of me doing many things that included operating tougher on capturing readers as subscribers (email and RSS), networking additional with different bloggers in my niche and obtaining additional concerned in promoting my blog in different places (mainstream media, social media etc). My hope in doing all of this was to create up different sources of traffic in order that if Google ever transitioned my traffic once more (temporarily or permanently) I’d a minimum of have enough traffic to survive.
Google still will send me around 40-50% of my traffic (it varies a trifle from blog to blog) however I’m in an exceedingly position currently where I might survive for an extended amount if it all disappeared (not that I’d like for that to happen).
7. The Importance of Temperament and Being Yourself
I’m certain there are different factors that are at play that may be value considering when observing traffic. one among these (that I’m nevertheless to completely assume through) is temperament kind.
For example plenty of my my technically thinking friends appear to relish the challenge of SEO a trifle additional. They love experimenting with and testing what happens once they create tiny tweaks to totally different aspects of their blogs. They’re constantly testing totally different setups and do quite well from it. I’m not technically minded and notice their attention to detail terribly terribly uncommon (and to date from where that I’m at that I feel like I’m from another planet).
Other friends are maybe a trifle additional social by nature and as a result appear to try and do well on Twitter. Others appear to try and do higher by applying their freakish ability to put in writing blog posts that get tonnes of links from different sites and that do brilliantly on social bookmarking sites..
Others are networkers and pay plenty of your time interacting with different bloggers and website homeowners and have a tendency to induce links and traffic that method. Others simply appear to be good at building community on their blog and as a result retain nearly everybody who ever comments and build new readers from those folks telling their friends. I guess the lesson here is to be yourself and work along with your strengths. in fact you don’t need to let your strengths dominate such a lot that you just ignore or become lazy in areas that you’re not as robust in – however do follow your natural skills and leverage them the maximum amount as you’ll.
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Remember that there’s no wrong or right thanks to generate traffic for a blog. If you were analyze the sources of traffic on several prime blogs you’d notice quite various factors at play!