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06 Aug 10 Website Traffic: Turn Left, Turn Right, Look Stop and Go

Traffic, visitors, customers, subscribers, readers, or people, whatever you may call it. It is the thing we want for our websites, regardless of the purpose of the website. Traffic is “the most important” thing. And traffic in itself means different thing to different people. For some it is something that you get as an result of search engine optimization (SEO), while for others it may be something that you get after investing some dollars in online ads (PPC, media buying, banner ads, Facebook ads, etc.). So what exactly is the nature of traffic; that is to say, what are the types of traffic?

There are two categories under which every type of traffic could be classified. Those categories are:

  1. Paid Traffic
  2. Free Traffic

Paid traffic

The traffic for which you have to pay even a single dime to the traffic source falls in this category. Traffic from PPC (Pay Per Click) ads, PPV (Pay Per View) ads, CPM (Cost Per Thousand) ads, Facebook ads, MySpace ads, sponsored tweets, banner ads, sponsored forum posts, etc., are the examples of paid traffic. And I must add here that your SEO agency does not fall in this category.

Paid traffic is said to be of high quality. It is believed that people clicking on the sponsored links are those who actively seek the solutions — whether informational or transactional — to their problems. But a proper care and due diligence is required on the marketer’s part to reap benefit from this source, for a small mistake can possibly cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars, if not whole business.

Free Traffic

Free traffic is the traffic that you get from Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other search engines, or traffic even from twitter, Facebook profile page, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social bookmarking or networking sites. Even traffic from classifies websites fall under this category.

Any traffic for which you do not have to pay to sending source is called free traffic. This is the best traffic you can imagine to have, and most of the Internet marketers focus on getting this. But some sources are too slow to deliver results — like SEO (search engine optimization).

For years, free traffic (unlimited) was supposedly Holy Grail of the online marketing industry, but soon the marketing community realized that paid traffic is also a good bet. And they started investing in it, big time. Paid traffic is worthy of admiration, for this is not something that depends upon the search engine’s (read Google) mood swing (read algorithm updates).

Google and other major search engine do affect paid traffic as well, but not the way it affects free traffic. It is advisable, therefore, to have a balanced mix of both kinds of traffic in your traffic getting plan.

That’s it for now. In the next article, I will talk about some traffic getting strategies. I am hoping to make it a series. Let’s see how it comes up. Till then keep reading.

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30 May 10 Internet Marketing Bloopers You Are Committing, and How to Avoid Them

We all being humans commit mistakes. The situations differ in the way we react to our own faults. Some of us treat our mistakes as failures and never try to proceed further from where we left. Others consider each mistake as a learning experience and each failure as a new milestone towards success. An internet marketing newbie is no different when it comes to erring while starting up an online business.

You can track these common bloopers that you might be committing, but be assured that it is not difficult to avoid them.

Insufficient research work

You will agree that most people get influenced with the best advertised products or business online if one is willing to begin one’s own online business. How many conduct an online research to verify and cross-check the advertisement or the claims made by the company? This is one of the biggest mistakes that a newbie internet marketer falls prey to. It is imperative to first gauge your interest and then launch an extensive research related to the product or service that you wish to make money out of. As you are planning to begin an online internet business, so you cannot afford to get cheated and lose money instead of making any. Whether it is to accumulate information abut the product or the company, the various search engines on the internet serve as efficient tools. Remember that product hopping cannot lead you to success, but a clear vision definitely can.

Lack of focus with dedication

If you are working from home on internet marketing for small business then nothing can be as satisfactory as earning money from the convenience of your home. The only trick is to remain focused. You will be surprised to know the fact that most of the internet marketing beginners overlook the keyword ‘dedication’ when at the ease of their home. There should be no distractions to lead you away from your work even if it is online business. Following a disciplined schedule and abiding by strict deadlines can make a firm client base for you. It may sound difficult, but practice carves out perfection which cannot be neglected for better professional prospects.

Inadequate internet marketing strategy

When you are in the rat race to make money then you cannot take chances with the internet marketing strategy made for your online business in the highly competitive work scenario. A carefully designed website with precise content proclaiming your domain of business is not assertive enough to divert traffic. You need to include the fast moving world of Twitter and the all exclusive insight provided by the Facebook’s Fan page in your business-to-business internet marketing stratagem to glide ahead of your competitors. It is essential for you to create a niche for your self online to be noticed by your clients and their friends to progress by leaps and bounds.

Confining oneself in a cocoon

You must admit that even the best product cannot sell without proper advertising. Similarly your services, however good, cannot make a mark without your vocalizing about them. Come out of your cocoon and become an active member of the social networking media. Speak in webinars and online chat conferences about your products and services directly or indirectly. This will not only increase the traffic, but also give an impetus to the word of mouth.

Abiding by these simple practices, you can become adept at internet marketing. Online internet mistakes are a part and parcel of business life. Even the most successful businessmen commit mistakes, but the real mettle is tested with the ability of ones brain power to absorb the shock wave and venture out with a refined spirit. So, better learn from others’ mistakes and avoid them.

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21 Apr 10 3 Things You Should Consider When Buying a PPC Ad

Not everyone wants to use SEO, as it takes months before it starts delivering results. And those who need immediate result use Pay per Click (PPC) campaign. The process of buying a PPC ad may sound simple — choose a keyword, create a killing ad, make a bid, and run the campaign — but it is not simple, and in this, one mistake will burn a very deep, dark black hole in your pocket. Hence, pay close attention to the things I am going to discuss here.

All PPC engines are not equal

In the heading, I was tempted to add some are more equal than others, but decided to leave it out because adding it would have falsified the claim heading makes.

No two PPC engine are the same. They function differently, their target audiences are different, they have different search volumes, and they convert differently. You need to find what kind of keywords or campaign works well on the PPC engine you are considering. For example, home stuff works well on MSN and tech goodies converts well on Google.

Special attention to Keyword selection

Keyword selection is the key behind high-converting ads, and low-cost ad spots on PPC engines. It is commonly believed the longer the searched phrase will be, the better it will convert, and cheaper it will come to you. Longer searched phrase has a better name. It is called long tail keyword.

One word keyword does not convert well. On the other hand, long tail keywords, brand names, etc. converts really well.

Use negative keywords

It is easier to lose money on a PPC campaign than to make some, and it becomes particularly easy if you are not excluding negative keywords from your campaign. By keeping unnecessary keywords and keywords that do not convert, you are opening a channel through which all you money will go down in the drain.

There are some keywords that could easily be dumped into the list of negative keywords for whatever campaign you are running. Words are free, illegal download, torrent, etc., are in almost all cases could be classified as negative keywords.

Study how negative keywords work in different search engines, and use it accordingly.

Keep these in mind when creating a PPC campaign. It will help you increase conversion.

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