When asked about the most vital aspect of running a site, a likely answer that a webmaster or an online marketer would give is to generate traffic. Traffic is what keeps the site alive; think of it as blood circulating in the body.  It generates online revenue for you in mostly two ways: either by advertising or through sales on your website. So without quality traffic, your site is dead.

Here, you are concerned with the number of visitors along with the quality of visitors. The number of visitors or the amount of traffic gives you an online presence and makes your site known. The more clicks you get, the more your brand awareness grows. But don’t take it the wrong way; getting thousands of visits does not mean that you are making sales. Consider a shop that sells leather jackets. The number of people who visit the shop will definitely add to the popularity of the brand and may become potential customers, but revenue is generated when they actually buy the jackets. Moreover, never underestimate the nature of the product. Selling 5 iPods is definitely a bigger achievement than selling 10 Christmas cards.

Therefore, to an online marketer, it is extremely important to know the amount of qualified traffic that is received by the site, and where it is coming from; this is what will ensure sales later on. Here are a few techniques that you may use to increase the traffic on your site. These traffic sources are guaranteed to boost your online revenue.

1.    Search Engine Marketing is the optimal solution and the best source of traffic generation. Google captures more than 60% of the search engine market. So if your targeted keywords get a high ranking on Google, you will certainly get high quality traffic. Aim at being on the first page, among the top three entries of Google for your targeted keywords and you will get your game on.

2.    Article Marketing is another very effective way to bring in traffic to your site. Just write interesting and informative articles that include keywords of your website, build keyword links in the resource box and post those articles all over the web. You can also write unique articles and place on a single important site. This method is rapidly gaining popularity and ensures real quality traffic. People looking for information regarding your business spot these articles get attracted and then click on your keywords to get what they are looking for. This method is doing wonders for most of our clients so don’t hesitate to give it a shot!

3.    Nothing is better than a positive word of mouth that you hear from your peers. Yes, Social Media has taken the world by storm so why not use it for our benefit as well? From Twitter to LinkedIn to Facebook, social media sites are visited everyday by millions of people. Nowadays people are talking less and typing more. So having your page bookmarked at these sites will surely bring in a wave of traffic and you can use them for viral marketing campaigns as well. Youtube videos also attract targeted traffic so never underestimate these casual networks. Although most of the traffic will be temporary initially but stay consistent for long lasting results.

4.    Email Marketing, though redundant, is still a useful method. By making follow up lists and sending updates, you get repeat visitors to your site. Just make sure to put informative and useful content in the email or some creative viral marketing messages. You can make your potential clients into business partners by getting them to forward those messages to more people, again initiating word of mouth. This technique ensures targeted and quality traffic if done in the right manner.

5.    Lastly, I would discuss Pay-Per-Click Advertising. Yes, I know it is expensive as compared to others, but it is the fastest and the easiest way to attract traffic. Beginners can use this technique until you get really good with devising your own attractive strategies that work for you and soon you won’t need to pay. The traffic will find you itself. Use these sources as they suit you best to generate consistent and quality traffic for your site!

Posted: 17/11/10 11:44