You Want Web Traffic - But What Kind? Part 1
Human nature abhors being in a herd Our web designer/marketer says that they will drive traffic to our web site.
That is just a bunch of hooey.
When was the last time you were driven to a web site? Do you remember the crack of a whip and prodded? No? And no one else remembers being driven to visit a web site either.
It doesn't happen that way and to even suggest that people can be driven like cattle shows just how false that marketing concept is.
This is no way to get started building a web business, and yet it is a common sales pitch.
Just a figure of speech? Okay, we know that the phrase, "Driving traffic" is a figure of speech, but it is still a false figure of speech and it is misleading because we all start thinking about forceful means of gaining traffic when the only way to get web traffic is to attract it.
Although there is only one way to increase traffic to our web site and that is to attract it, there are various means by which to attract traffic.
BUY TRAFFIC - BUY ADS - PROVIDE QUALITY WEB CONTENT We can buy traffic which is pretty much a waste of money This traffic is often paid to visit and the bounce rate from your web site is in the high 90% range.
We can buy ads This will target people using common search terms (high volumes) and a few that are ready to buy.
The few add up and advertising does work, at a price - but the ads must attract us.
We can rank high with search engines when our site has quality content This is the most natural and organic way to attract traffic.
It is also the most enduring and each page or addition to our site only needs to be done once.
The quality plus the unique & original content is rewarded with a higher position for local searches.
But it doesn't end there - it is only where we begin.
When we choose to create an informative, useful and helpful web site for our market we can build on that foundation and it pays by being shared within our market.
We also receive links from other sites (blogs, articles, forums, etc) which builds relationships with our whole market.
This is what our web site can do, and should do to build an online business.
We do not need to make direct sales instantly.
We can help our market and build trust while we assist customers that need more time and information to make a decision to purchase.
Then there will be more decisions to follow by the same buyer and they each get easier to be in our favor.
There is no right way or wrong way How we choose to bring in traffic is a decision that needs to be based on what will work the best for our individual needs.
Any method from buying traffic to getting social media exposure may be a fit and whatever works is what we should use.
But, getting traffic is not a problem.
Our problem is keeping the attention of members of our market after they land on our page.
Making an immediate sale is nice, but that is not our primary objective because the ratio between ready buyers and those that are not yet decided is vast.
The difference is likely to be 1% ready and 99% not yet decided.
The long term goal, that works well with marketing by attraction, is to walk all prospective buyers through the buying cycle and right up to the checkout.
Running PPC ads don't do this Our page rank doesn't do this.
Our purchase of traffic volume doesn't hold anyone's attention, let alone help someone take one small step in the buying cycle.
The only thing that walks people right up to the cash register is the quality of service that our web page provides.
Nothing else matters until this job has been completed - and then everything we have done to make this happen does matter.
So, what kind of traffic do we really want? We really want our market as traffic.
When we have our market's attention we are not wasting time and resources by serving them.
When our web service is excellent we will acquire many customers that need our insight and information about their problems.
This service takes them step by step through the buying cycle and up to the checkout.
This process may take months for a customer to take the necessary steps and our web site will provide information for every step.
Here are the steps: 1.
) Problem Recognition 2.
) Information Search 3.
) Evaluation of Alternatives 4.
) Decision to Purchase 5.
) Post-purchase Behavior When our web site skips over these steps and goes right to #4 we will only be serving those that are ready to buy, which means that 99% of our market is not being served.
This also means that we have limited the amount of traffic our web site attracts.
When we choose to attract our total market we have a much greater number to serve even though many will take more time and information to make a purchase.
You could say that they are in the funnel and are being processed, a page at a time, until they have decided to purchase.
To attract and hold the greater traffic volume of our whole market our web site needs to be a resource for help and information.
The only salesperson is the information on our pages, but without a salesperson we cannot hold anyone's attention regardless of how much traffic we can attract.
That is just a bunch of hooey.
When was the last time you were driven to a web site? Do you remember the crack of a whip and prodded? No? And no one else remembers being driven to visit a web site either.
It doesn't happen that way and to even suggest that people can be driven like cattle shows just how false that marketing concept is.
This is no way to get started building a web business, and yet it is a common sales pitch.
Just a figure of speech? Okay, we know that the phrase, "Driving traffic" is a figure of speech, but it is still a false figure of speech and it is misleading because we all start thinking about forceful means of gaining traffic when the only way to get web traffic is to attract it.
Although there is only one way to increase traffic to our web site and that is to attract it, there are various means by which to attract traffic.
BUY TRAFFIC - BUY ADS - PROVIDE QUALITY WEB CONTENT We can buy traffic which is pretty much a waste of money This traffic is often paid to visit and the bounce rate from your web site is in the high 90% range.
We can buy ads This will target people using common search terms (high volumes) and a few that are ready to buy.
The few add up and advertising does work, at a price - but the ads must attract us.
We can rank high with search engines when our site has quality content This is the most natural and organic way to attract traffic.
It is also the most enduring and each page or addition to our site only needs to be done once.
The quality plus the unique & original content is rewarded with a higher position for local searches.
But it doesn't end there - it is only where we begin.
When we choose to create an informative, useful and helpful web site for our market we can build on that foundation and it pays by being shared within our market.
We also receive links from other sites (blogs, articles, forums, etc) which builds relationships with our whole market.
This is what our web site can do, and should do to build an online business.
We do not need to make direct sales instantly.
We can help our market and build trust while we assist customers that need more time and information to make a decision to purchase.
Then there will be more decisions to follow by the same buyer and they each get easier to be in our favor.
There is no right way or wrong way How we choose to bring in traffic is a decision that needs to be based on what will work the best for our individual needs.
Any method from buying traffic to getting social media exposure may be a fit and whatever works is what we should use.
But, getting traffic is not a problem.
Our problem is keeping the attention of members of our market after they land on our page.
Making an immediate sale is nice, but that is not our primary objective because the ratio between ready buyers and those that are not yet decided is vast.
The difference is likely to be 1% ready and 99% not yet decided.
The long term goal, that works well with marketing by attraction, is to walk all prospective buyers through the buying cycle and right up to the checkout.
Running PPC ads don't do this Our page rank doesn't do this.
Our purchase of traffic volume doesn't hold anyone's attention, let alone help someone take one small step in the buying cycle.
The only thing that walks people right up to the cash register is the quality of service that our web page provides.
Nothing else matters until this job has been completed - and then everything we have done to make this happen does matter.
So, what kind of traffic do we really want? We really want our market as traffic.
When we have our market's attention we are not wasting time and resources by serving them.
When our web service is excellent we will acquire many customers that need our insight and information about their problems.
This service takes them step by step through the buying cycle and up to the checkout.
This process may take months for a customer to take the necessary steps and our web site will provide information for every step.
Here are the steps: 1.
) Problem Recognition 2.
) Information Search 3.
) Evaluation of Alternatives 4.
) Decision to Purchase 5.
) Post-purchase Behavior When our web site skips over these steps and goes right to #4 we will only be serving those that are ready to buy, which means that 99% of our market is not being served.
This also means that we have limited the amount of traffic our web site attracts.
When we choose to attract our total market we have a much greater number to serve even though many will take more time and information to make a purchase.
You could say that they are in the funnel and are being processed, a page at a time, until they have decided to purchase.
To attract and hold the greater traffic volume of our whole market our web site needs to be a resource for help and information.
The only salesperson is the information on our pages, but without a salesperson we cannot hold anyone's attention regardless of how much traffic we can attract.
Source...