Where Does Website Traffic Come From?

To generate website traffic – you have to make it happen.

We hear this question every day, repeatedly… “How do I drive traffic to my website?” No, there is no traffic fairy out there sprinkling magic dust on websites she prefers. Everyone wants to know the fastest, no-work-involved way to get overnight traffic counts in the thousands. It would be great really, if you could just plug in a website traffic generator that runs on auto pilot and in overdrive. Unfortunately, not only has such a thing not been invented that is legal in the eyes of the major search engines - it would not do you any favors in the eyes of your target buying group either.

Auto-pilot delivers tire kickers, not sales conversions. Just ask any cold calling salesman or TV, radio and newspaper advertiser what their conversion ratio is per hour or dollar spent. Mass media and hard copy print advertisements are the only no-work-involved traffic generation solution, and it doesn't work anymore. It's called interruption marketing. Not many people like this approach or are moved by it. We'd venture to guess this group of turned off consumers includes you.

It takes two things to generate website traffic:

I need SEO to drive traffic to my website?

Yes, you do. The only way anything at all is located among the billions of pages published to the internet, everything you need or want, must be searched for by keywords. The only way to connect from search to what you seek, is when the website or web page has those keywords in place. Exactly as you typed them in, appearing in the proper density, both in the public area and in the backend code. SEO is crucial to your entire ability of making the connection between your target audience, and what you offer them. You cannot generate website traffic without solid, thoroughly researched and analyzed SEO on every page of your website.

You need more than just perfect SEO as a website traffic generator.

SEO is only a basic, minimal website traffic generator. You can’t just toss up a few pages and call yourself on the path to a lucrative cash stream on the Internet. You need lots of rich, meaty pages of fresh content to show the likes of Google, Yahoo and Bing that you are very serious about growing your business on the Internet. Yes, it is much easier to establish a successful business online than in the brick and mortar world, but you can’t do it half way or without a sound foundation. The methods used to generate website traffic go far beyond content and code that is search engine optimized on every page of your website. Now you need backlinks and tons of them. If you are going to haul in a sizeable catch of suitable fish, you need a big net – woven just right, that leads straight to your site.

Backlinks drive traffic to my website?

If you have heard you need backlinks, links on highly relevant pages on other sites on the internet for PageRank, this is true. At this point, however, you don’t need to worry about Google PageRank. You’ll have plenty of time for that later. After you have developed, and implemented, an internet marketing infrastructure that bounces off your fine tuned, impressively informative website. You see, internet marketing does a lot more for your business than just increase your sales. The right marketing strategy provides you with unlimited backlinks and serves as a powerful website traffic generator.

Which internet marketing strategies work best as website traffic generators?

Do I need all this stuff to drive traffic to my website?

The answer to that depends on how fast you want traffic in big numbers. Don’t ever forget that hordes of visitors do not equal increased sales. You need to insist that your website traffic generator deliver only high quality, pre-qualified traffic. You also must ensure that when your target audience arrives ready to buy, the landing pages are easy to use, and chock full of awesome, original and free information they can sink their teeth into. Buyers want questions answered and the availability of interaction. They also want to know who you are, and what you’re all about. Consumers today look for value added businesses to deal with.

Deny your target audience anything, and you will fail. They will take their money elsewhere in a single click. You can’t just generate website traffic – you have to be poised to deliver the second they arrive. This next kernal of wisdom is exactly why so many site owners are mystified over the dilemma of, "How do I drive traffic to my website?" You have 3 seconds to grab their attention and give them what they need without having to hunt for it, or be confused as to what to do next. Even the most awesome website traffic generator mechanisms are useless when your website fails to pass, 'The 3 Second Test'. You need traffic of the right variety - visitors that stick around long enough to convert. When was the last time you decided to buy something in 3 seconds flat?