Best way to get traffic for an arcade site?

So I've decided to put a little more emphasis into one of my sites that's been around forEVER. Looking back at logs, I was getting around 1.5k uniques per day (about 25k page views) over a year ago yet I can't figure out how. Between summer and holiday fluctuations, it's never gone that high before since then.

So instead of letting it just do its own thing, I'd like to invest a little more into it. The biggest, and probably simplest, problem is getting targetted traffic. Anyone have any experiences that gave good results?

EDIT: One thing I had considered was buying impressions in arcade banner exchanges. I had really good results when I'd get like 25k bonuses impressions after signing up. But I couldn't justify the price of their CPM for the return I'd make, but I'll look more into the calculations as things have changed.

 

advertise with proxy sites, most people who go to proxys are trying to bypass firewalls to play games / myspace / etc.

 

But the majority of proxy sites already get crappy traffic. Surely there's better options than that?

 

Make a flash game for it, Can cost a lot but if u get it on popular sites u will get a continuous flow of traffic.

 

get some SEO services or do it yourself. Nothing beats natural traffic.
It may take longer, but the results are better.

 

I've made two flash games myself. They're not particularly amazing, but they're unique and exclusive to my site.

I'm actually ranking #2 in a popular keyword, and hope to be #1 soon. But it's not searched as often as others for arcade sites, and the competition for it is almost impossible to beat.

 

yup arcade sites are the hardest to advertise because there are so many of them out there....but best way would be to do link exchanges, if you got money use some to advertise

 

If competition is too strong, go for niche market instead.
use long tail for SEO, and offer games oriented to specific niches.
that may help you

 

Unforuntately, the things I'm knowledgable about (ie: flash, web design, programming) already have a very competitive market. I can't just pick a random niche and pretend I know things about it or that I'm even passionate to work on it. I don't know how others do it but I can't see myself doing it.

And I'm not even remotely good with SEO. It was by chance that I got ranked so well, and didn't try to work on it until I noticed.

 

buy some stumbles..

atleast 500 times.. and good review..

 

or try adbrite or any other like

http://www.adtoll.com/directory.php...alx=0&est=0&tra=ZZ&page=1&sortby=clicks&cat=5

and target game sites similer to urs who get maximum clicks on banners..

 

Anyone know of any companies that can make some decent flash games for a fairly low cost?

 

Go to big-boards.com or omgili.com and find highly trafficked forums related to games and arcades.

 

Here's a few top performers you could advertise on:

http://www.adtoll.com/rate_card.php?sid=348

http://www.adtoll.com/rate_card.php?sid=166

http://www.adtoll.com/rate_card.php?sid=194

http://www.adtoll.com/rate_card.php?sid=941

http://www.adtoll.com/rate_card.php?sid=125

 

try stumble upon, it's a great tool for gaming site.

 

finding banner exchanges! I have one that works great and offers good CTR and bonus's

ArcadeAdmin.com ...I could give you my word on it, but you can see for yourself

 

http://www.arcadeadmin.com/info.php

lol

well we all not to trust u on your word

ctr is 0.1% lol.

www.arcadechange.com
www.arcadeexchanges are better exchanges

 

I think a digg style game site might be cool!

 

Make an totaly new layout that hasnt been seen before and digg it and you will get traffic =D

 

I'm talking about quality traffic though. Traffic that spends 10 seconds on my site with a 90% bounce rate is not what I want.