Article marketing and good 'ol fashioned PPC are two ways i enjoy getting traffic. they never seem to go out of style, no fancy tricks or anything. just learn the "Trade" and your on your way
Thanks for the kind words Lynx. This is why I stay away from forums pretty much nowadays. Even forums that used to be great like the Warrior Forum and Black Hat World are now filled with nothing but shameless marketers trying to pitch their product or service. Ever since this whole "forum marketing" craze took hold most forums have become spam central. It's too bad, because that's not what the whole idea is behind a forum. It's supposed to be a place to socialize and share ideas, and it should be a safe haven from shameless marketing and pitching.
A good thread topic, and its a shame it was derailed in its early stages by someone with no idea what they are talking about. I find that a great way to get fairly large amounts of traffic is to use Twitter. Yep. Use Twitter. A 'secret' that so many people 'know' about, but seemingly less than 1% of people actually know what to do with. Ok- it's common knowledge that to attract traffic from a twitter account you need a decent amount of followers. But, you need the right followers. Its no use having some giant circle jerk of IMers, all patting each other on the back saying 'thanks 4 tha follooew, vi$it my syte pls'. No. You actually need to spend time, make useful and engaging tweets, tweet @ others, and build a community. If you engage with your users like this, you'll see a huge following, that is not just a number, but an actual group of people who take interest in what you have to say. In my view, a solid twitter following is a fantastic complement to a traditional list, and done correctly, you'll see some great conversion rates when you do decide to sell to your list. Apologies that its not 'new', but its something thats done so wrong, so much, I felt I had to clarify things.
the best traffic comes from offline methods classified ads in newspapers direct mailed post cards radio and tv few know how to do these effectively, fewer know how COST effective they are, and most are blind that they can even work.
hahahahahahahahahaha! Holy Shiznick! Have I enjoyed reading this whole damn thread... I have been laughing my ace off... Thanks! @Pinellas County BusinessCoach - GREAT POINTS! @cmjo75 Chris - GREAT POINTS! You both are list builders, which is obvious, and I don't even do that. Looks like I'm missing out on a hell of a lot here. They will all learn from you both going back and forth with what works and what doesn't. Shoot, I have learned a few things already. The day you stop learning is the day you start dieing. Thanks!
I don't know if anyone has mentioned the power of radio as a traffic source but I work in major radio. I book guests on shows and write articles. One thing I hadn't done was research internet marketing which is how I found Digital Point and other forums. I'll give a big free tip right here and now. First of all make sure you've studied the fundamentals of internet marketing and have your sites, blogs up and running and optimized. Best if you've got some well done, non spammy articles and posts up. Check your local area for radio stations, talk, sports, and take the time to call in and comment on their topical issue of the day. Give a good comment so that the radio host may ask you to come back or if you have a website to where more info can be gotten. Now here's the extra plus, these radio programs now have blogs. It was a pain to get them to put up blogs and message boards. If you do get on the air, which is highly likely, make sure you mention you're posting to their blog or message board and then make sure you DO SO immediately. People who have heard you on the air will comment with you on that blog or message board. You can build up quite a bit of very, very, targeted traffic with no spammy smell to it all. It depends on what products/services you're selling. If you have a blog about "baby clothes", then keep on top of the news and talk show topics and also double check to see if that radio program broadcasts over the web. Big stations usually do so that people around the world can tune in. That's the jackpot right there. You get on the air of a major station like 50,000 watts and you're reaching half a million people EASY. Their web broadcast and podcasts are extra gravy. It takes some doing and I may make a list of my clients' sites and programs one day. It takes patience and good speaking skills over the phone and most of all MANNERS. Just one call in spot that ramps up the radio program's action can be quite a windfall if done right. Remember, call in and comment, comment on their message board/blog. You may be surprised at the response you get.
Articles Forum comments Squidoo, hubpages, etc Get the delicious toolbar and tag each page of your site Submit RSS feeds Sign up to Ping.fm and create accounts to all the networks it publishes to. If you are using Wordpress you can get the plugin "Publish to Ping.fm" Upload documents with backlinks to Scribd.com (yes I know what you are about to say but it really does work. try it) Twitter Identi.ca
54? like holiday, trinity, odessa or lutz? u put on top of the world - thought that was clearwater - the condos
I'm full of surprises. Now if I can just boost up my toons and copywriting biz here I'd be fine. Still studying the IM game.
Keep working at it and don't give up. you seem to be very creative and should be full of effective ideas!
My traffic isn't isn't "played out", and I never propped myself up to be anything, especially never "greatest marketer".
If you honestly think your site is worth more than the original million dollar homepage, that actually had publicity, then fair play to you. Have fun flogging that dead horse.