How To Get Traffic To Your Website In A Nutshell

Hi All,

I've been reading through a lot of threads in the forums for a while, and it seems to me that a lot of folk here are obsessed with ways in which to get traffic to their websites, without looking at ways to improve their own websites. Now there's nothing wrong with this, and I too am looking for different ways to increase traffic to my blog.

But my thinking is, aren't we all looking through the wrong end of the telescope? Are we all looking for techniques which simply don't exist, or simply aren't worthwhile? I see threads along the lines of:

"How do I get to No.1 in Google for my keywords?" or;
"Help me make money from my website"

Isn't it obvious how to grow an audience for your website? If you or I provide content worth reading, then isn't that enough to encourage your audience to keep coming back? I realise that a little promotion goes a long way, and I submit articles to directories, regularly post to my blog, comment on other blogs, do a little SEO etc etc etc....

Here's my advice for building your audience:

1 - Post great content;
2 - Post great content regularly;
3 - Add a sprinkling of website promotion (see previous paragraph);
4 - Don't expect overnight success;
5 - Wash, rinse, repeat.

Shouldn't we spend a little more time on improving the content of our own blogs or websites, so that when people begin to visit, they see enough to convince them to stay / come back for more? What's the point of concentrating your efforts on external promotion if your blog / website isn't worth reading?

Isn't it that simple? Or are people so obsessed with getting traffic to their blogs / websites that they forget to actually post anything within their website?

I'm waiting for a new thread in the 'Review' section where someone asks everyone else to critique their blog, only to find that it's a blank page (trust me, it's gonna happen)....

 

Great post! Thanks

xx.

 

I like your "Wash, rinse, repeat" theory

 

Thanks webcosmo!

My feeling is, continue to do this (wash, rinse, repeat), and you can't fail!

The internet as a whole seems to be going the way of the radio, i.e. whenever you turn it on, all you hear are advertisements. Then when you decide to look into something based on an advertisement, all you find is the same old rubbish everyone else is hawking (hope this analogy makes sense)....

 

Well, that's the website consistency method of building traffic - I actually wrote a post about consistent blogging as a means to achieve visitors. The premise is that if you get at least one person from a search engine on each of your posts per day and you post for a year, you'll get 365/day.

 

Moneymoose,

Thanks for your response, had a look round your website, really like it!

All the best,

John.

 

John is right, it all comes down to quality content, on-topic, and able to captivate a reader's interest.

 

I...almost...totally agree. The quick buck crowd spends 90% their time trying the next new scheme trying to get traffic and only 10% of their time slapping content together. Then they wonder why they can't get any traction on their site. But that doesn't mean you can succeed with just a "sprinkling of website promotion".

Instead, you should spend most of your time creating valuable content then market, market, market with every spare minute of your day. Marketing is everything after you've created valuable content. If you have something of value your marketing and website promotion will pay off.

 

Quality content is what it's all about, no question.

I had what would be considered quality content in my niche from the outset. But it was only when I discovered on-page and off-page SEO that traffic jumped from the hundreds to the thousands of daily pageviews of that quality content. The content was there all along, but it took good SEO to bring people to it.

 

freelistfool,

When I said a 'sprinkling of web promotion' I was referring to the methods outlined in the previous paragraph (along with others). I realise that you simply have to promote your website or blog to get it 'out there'. You've hit the nail square on the head with your post though, valuable content is the key to unlocking the traffic door.

Jim47467,

Your experience is typical of what happens when creating great content is your number one priority. By implementing SEO techniques, you've simply alerted the search engines and your niche to the fact that your content IS worth reading! There are so many websites / blogs out there that alert people to the fact that their content isn't worth looking at. I'd rather have one person visit my blog indefinitely than a hundred / thousand / million (delete as applicable) visit my blog once.

All the best guys, I really enjoy reading comments such as these.

Cheers!

John.