Traffic from Places Besides Search Engines

The idea of depending solely on Search Engine traffic as a business model is a frightening one. I think most realize this when Search Engines have a major update. There are always webmasters that complain in the forums about their rankings and losing their source of income.

As an industry I believe we have much to learn from the Brick & Mortar world of business. If I were to open up a retail shop in my city I would not just depend on foot traffic and the major newspapers to drive traffic into my establishment. I would employ every tactic I could think of to ensure the success of my business. All these tactics can be used by your website to drive traffic, provide a better business model and increase your revenue.

Here are a couple of ideas:
-advertising in alternative and penny savers newspapers
-hire someone to give out free samples
-direct mail
-put up flyers or paid ads in coffee shops, laundry mats, grocery stores, etc
-billboards
-partner-up with other business. example: stickers on pizza delivery boxes

I would like to hear from people about what tactics they have used to gain off-line traffic that has been successful or even just ideas you have thought of trying.

 

I think that some of your suggestions are good however some need huge amounts of capital.

 

I am not sure who, aside from small individual webmasters, rely solely on SE traffic.

Also why would you? You should market your website anywhere in which those marketing efforts are productive.

If you look around, you will find websites advertised on all forms of mass media.

 

good idea but as thekingpin said before need huge amounts of capital.

 

You are right about alternative advertising. Pixelbay sells ad spaces for as low $100 and it stays up for 5 years. Pixelbay is responsible for generating traffic to the site and they are backed by In Touch Media Group (some public company)

 

My husband and I have tried just about all of these suggestions and that is why I am here looking for better ways to get people to our websites. I've spent $1500 in the past 2 months on business cards, flyers, car magnets, brochures, penny saver ads, yadda, yadda, yadda.... There's got to be an easier way...

 

Plus this is a heck of a lot more fun then shoving flyers in people's faces as they walk by... LOL

 

Don't take this wrong, but I left your site quicker than I hit it. Your link page insists ion having a form filled in, and there is absolutely no information on the site about what you do!

Just another networking site. Please prove me wrong by defending my claims, (the read below)











Add your reasons why I am wrong to your website, because this is what a website should do. Answer all the questions, and get interested parties to sign up

 

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!! I've been bugging my husband about this from the beginning... *sigh* Unfortunately, the site won't let us get rid of that stupid page... it's too bad too because behind that page is some awesome information and videos..... suggestions????

 

Build your own site, and pull that good information into it. Doing this will set you apart from the average Joe. If the stuff is that good, then put down on paper why YOU got involved, and tell that to people. If the information and the system is that good, then the quality of info should outweigh any poor design on your behalf!

 

Thank you..... this was the little nudge we needed..... guess I'll get to work on a new page... LOL

 

Yes, I have to agree some of the methods I mentioned are for larger companies with large advertising budgets. Flyers and direct mail are not that expensive. They are time consuming when done right I must admit.

One thing I do that has been effective with direct mail is always to include a few business cards. While most of the time they will throw out the mail immediately, people are more likely to keep a business card around.

What other marketing ideas do you guys employ?

 

from my experience, it is very difficult to get people from a printed or audio ad to their computer and onto a specific website. I have spent ~$20 000 on air time on different radio stations to promote my URL (and I've got a very catchy one) and the results were devastating. Also, I have spent $$ on printed ads with little or no results.
Don't just take it from me, one of my programmer friends was working for a large online directory that spent 1000's on TV ads without results.
I believe that the only effective way is to get customers while they are surfing the web.

 

What you are doing makes a big difference. For example, maybe you have a biz op website. Placing a classified in say Entrepreneur Mag with good ad copy and url can drive targeted traffic to your website.

Offline advertising is also good for branding. However, you would not want to run an ad on Radio/TV that was something like "We sell Books, visit us at blah.com". The ad would need to promote something not in the immediate vicinity of the listener.

Ever see the ads for the Vermont teddy bears? Do you know why they work--aside from being pretty well crafted ads? Because most people don't have a place to go get hand crafted personalized teddy bears in their immediate area.

Finally, you have to research, be committed and put your best foot forward. Spending $10-20k in the online work might get you a good deal of advertising, but it is a drop in the bucket for good advertising on mediums such as newspapers, magazines, radio and TV.

 

No offense, but that is really bad strategy for marketing a website, I have spent no money advertising my sites and I generate pretty good traffic even tho i ve only been doing this for two months, I find new ways of marketing that dont cost me money and sometimes even make money...

Think outside of the box when it comes to marketing people tend to adapt and thus ignore trite advertising...

PS I dont know what your site is about but make sure its usefull and not just a copy of million other websites, think like the visitor *NO bias and Denial*

 

Yes traditional media such as TV and Radio is expensive if you are going to do it right. You need to be able to have your Ad delivered to consumers many times for them to remember it. Few individual webmasters or small companies can afford to do this effectively.

Their is one interesting website that took advantage of the high cost of Radio and TV ads and used it to their advantage. They teamed up with most of the radios stations in the area to run their commercials at no charge. In exchange the radios stations split 70% of the net classified revenues. http://regionalhelpwanted.com/home/2.htm?SN=2& Their rankings in Search Engines are horrible for Albany, NY (which would be easy to dominate). Yet, with poor rankings they have dominated the local job market for years now.

I like this discussion since it brings up marketing for different size/types of websites. I know I like to work with larger sites or individuals who realize that it takes money to make money. Obviously, most of theses sites are already highly profitable and want to grow their profits as much as possible.

 

I agree with you Emil... we are new to this and seem to be finding things out the hard way... I'm learning so much from reading all of your posts but it gets confusing because there is so much information to sift through.

 

I agree with the statement made that relying on search engines is dangerous. But I don't know how effective offline advertising is in helping a website succeed. I've read it in seo books but I don't know. I find it tedious and expensive to by cards and all that kind of stuff. But there is something you could do that would be cool, especially if you have a car. Advertise your websites on your car. Make a nice catchy sign and place it on your car describing your website and url. That is a cheap way to get a lot of exposure, especially if you drive around a lot.

 

This summer we spammed a concert. lol We have a forum about a specific music theme...... so I had a couple thousand stickers with the URL (six letters) printed up and passed them out after the concert.

The ROI was not great but I'm glad we did it. We are always looking for ways to generate non SE traffic.

 

studiotraffic is a quite good method to generate some addition traffic.