It is universally understood among experienced marketers that traffic is the key to online success. Build enough traffic and the law of averages demands it. Traffic is GOLD online. It is the "Holy Grail" of online marketing. However, novice and mid-level marketers often fail to see the actual mechanics of this-- and continue to be frustrated by the lack of results, even as they hand the traffic they work so hard to generate over to someone else. You see, like gold, many will "divert" traffic from others, especially from novice marketers. They do this so smoothly that many go for years without ever realizing this is happening.



For instance, many affiliate programs "give" a marketer "their own" page. But this isn't really the marketer's-- because it resides on the company's site. So, when the affiliate markets, all their efforts are going to the program-- not the marketer! And this is only the most common example.

Ever wonder why so many blogs are free? Why so MANY services are free?... leads, forums, you-name-it, are given away for "free?" One word: TRAFFIC. in order to use the freebies, the user must visit THAT site. Even free online games are just a way to pull traffic to a site. Because the more traffic, the higher the ranking. And high enough rankings put a site on the first page of any search engine.

Understand one key element: A site can have one, completely unrelated, unconnected add-on page. If that ONE PAGE is hot, the whole site benefits from the traffic/ranking boost. This explains more than all the SEO information combined; why some sites are consistently at the top of seaches while others struggle to get onto page two.

So, how can the average marketer REALLY pull in massive traffic? How can someone, on a limited budget and with little technical expertise, benefit from this? There IS a way, if you follow these steps.

STEP 1 - CREATE A PRESENCE

To begin focusing efforts, a point of origin must be established. In other words, a marketer must create some kind of website of their own to establish a PRESENCE on the internet.

If this seems daunting, because of technical and budgetary issues, understand that a blog is just as much a recognized presence on the internet as any other type of site. In fact, a blog is the ideal solution for newbies (such as blogger-dot-com) because they are free and highly user-friendly.

STEP 2 - REAL CONTENT EQUALS REAL SITE

However, to avoid being designated as a "splog" (blogs that are ONLY used for advertising and generally panned by "respectable" bloggers) a certain amount of real content must be created. It is best to set up a real blog, add to it regularly, and include a side-bar where links can be added. With real content -- such as reviews of various products or other articles relevant to the products -- this saves it from that nasty designation.

STEP 3 - FOCUS MARKETING

Choose a blog that allows template editing. Many even include instructions for adding links within the template inside of "comment" tags. Look for them. Then simply add all the links to each affiliate or other referral.

STEP 4 - FUNNEL TRAFFIC

Change all marketing/advertising efforts to point to that website/blog. No matter which link the advertisement is for, set it up to link to this site first. By doing so, the increased traffic will build ranking and that will push THE SITE up on the search engines.

STEP 5 - FREEBIES WORK

Offering a free give away of some kind will draw traffic like nothing else. Whether it's a newsletter, a contest or a combination of things, free is everyone's favorite price. While a blog is somewhat limited in this respect, there are still plenty of options.

STEP 6 - BUILD CONTENT

The site itself can also become an attraction, if the content is continuously updated (i.e., once or more a day) and kept active. The more visits and re-visits, the faster ranking will build. It also offers another way to advertise everything-- because the content ITSELF becomes something to advertise.

NOTE: At this point, it is realistic to expect a ranking of 4/10 or higher. Also, until this point, all of this has been possible with a blog. Beyond this point, however, a completely independent site is needed.

If a blog has been used until this time, part of preparation for the next step should include transferring everything within the blog TO the website. BUT, in order to benefit from the traffic/ranking built to this point, rather than simply abandoning the blog, re-direct everything (via links) to the new site.

STEP 7 - GET READY

At this point, a certain amount of basic programming (html, if nothing else) should have been learned. If not, it's time. There are online resourses -- from courses to forums -- for each type of language-- html, java script, php and each is relatively easy to learn, even for a non-geek.

STEP 8 - THE BIG LEAGUES

Now it's time to offer something that is substantial because this will bring significant traffic-- remember? The Holy Grail. A unique forum, dating service, shareware, game site, homepage that has all of these, etc. Find and offer something that brings in major traffic. By the way, porn and gambling sites are NOT a good idea, as will be clear in the next step.

Ideally, find something related to the general site content, though unrelated content still pulls traffic in. But, by making it relevant, cross-links can be direct.

STEP 9 - FOCUS ON FREEBIE

Now focus all marketing on the major free offering. Take good care of it and monitor it to be sure it's running smoothly. It is your diva, your shining star-- and it will draw the traffic in. Never mind that your links and affiliates are different pages. The fact that they reside on the same site pushes all the pages up just as much as the rest of the site.

If all these steps are followed carefully, at this point, traffic should be translating into real dollars and cents-- and, probably, more dollars THAN cents! If not, revisit each step and look for oversights and errors. Add a second type of free site, something new and popular.

The best result is that the marketer is NOT dependent on the affiliate programs, and can change those as they see fit. They can also look forward to a time when actually marketing is unnecessary-- the site markets itself. All that's needed is to keep up the attractions.--mo