It takes less time to build a house of cards than it takes to build a brick house. But when the wind blows, the one that’s left standing is the one that took longer to build.
Quality is built over time. So when it comes time to focus those efforts on traffic generation, we tend to prefer nice and easy, long and steady ... opposed to fast and flaky. Plus, having a rock solid foundation ensures more stable revenue earning throughout the years and solidifies your reputation as a trustworthy affiliate.
But we’re going to be straight with you… it’s not always easy.
Your patience is going to be tested. Prepare yourself for that. And remember that "quality" and "speed" rarely go together to form something great.
However — we promise — it's oh-so worth it in the end. The positives will be plenty. In no time you’ll be rewarded with loads and loads of rewards.
So let’s get to it, shall we? Here are the first 3 things to keep in mind when you want to build traffic.
1- Provide truly fantastic (great) content to build traffic
… ideally exclusive.
Every business starts with an idea. And once that idea is clear, you gotta nurture it. Develop it. You gotta work on the execution.
Here you have two choices for acquiring exclusive content:
- Make (or produce) it
- Buy it
For adult content, visit forums that are popular in the industry, like GFY.com, where you can meet industry leaders. If you’ve got the funds, you can contact a producer that will make great content that’s filmed at your request.
Same with copywriting, or mainstream video content. When you hire quality workers, you simply get better results. The old proverb, “you get what you pay for” really does apply here. This will allow you to aggregate content with greater ease and — again — greater quality.
This will have your traffic coming back for more.
And while you’re on a roll with content that you can be proud of, make sure you don’t fall too behind updating your sites. Regular updates are essential. Google loves this. :)
Search Engine Optimization
For long-term profit, SEO is the way to go. Once you’ve got your content and are about to publish it, it’s important to make sure that everything’s SEO-friendly. This can be done by double checking to see that all links work, that all images and design elements display properly, and, of course, that your content is well-structured.
For more information on the topic of SEO, check out our other blog posts here.
Once you've figured out which source of traffic has the most interest in your content, check out popular influencers, webmasters and other social accounts that attract a similar crowd.
Trading Favors
There's another saying you've heard before ... "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine."
With respect to this idiom, when you reach out to other people in familiar circles, have something to offer them. It could be a backlink, an interview intended as content for them to use, or anything that you think of, really. With their help promoting your content, it only helps you acquire more traffic.
And if you have money to invest, you can bet on keywords. If you go this route, we like SEMrush — a Search Engine Marketing tool must!
This software allows you to find and analyze data attached to the keywords targeted by your competitors — and then allows you to “copy” their campaigns. Pretty nifty, eh?
2- Gather as much info & data as possible & find a way to communicate with your users
Once you've launched your site and users start trickling in, you want to give them what they want. And the best way to do this is by observing ... and by compiling data.
Google Analytics and heatmaps will help you determine if your site is well-built and if your users are easily finding the content they're looking for. An extremely high bounce rate should ring the alarm: that you're not giving your traffic what it wants.
With Google Analytics, you'll also know which content attracts your users the most and how people are actually finding your site. As soon as you have the right data, spending time (and money) on content becomes easier. Everything begins falling into place.
Another way to interact and get to know your users is through social media or by incorporating a Survey on your site.
Let’s face it, people love voicing their opinion. And once you give them the opportunity to do so, they will jump on it with the ferocity of a starved predator.
At this point, you should also try to find a way to reach out to your users. This will allow you to notify them of new content additions, site updates, and anything else that keeps them informed and coming back. There's also tremendous upside if you ever have something you want to promote or sell.
Two foolproof ways to get your subscribers to join your mailing list is by getting them to consent to receive communications by you when they complete a form, or by adding a mail catcher to your site template.
3- Don't get too greedy too soon
When you start building your audience (i.e. build traffic), the last thing you want to do is give them a reason to leave before they've even warmed up to your site or had a chance to be loyal to you.
So, be mindful that putting banners all over your site too soon can sometimes have a negative effect. If your users click on it, you run the risk of losing them forever; if they don’t click, you might just come across as another site littered with ads and yours has no distinction of standing out from the crowd. You also risk losing them this way.
But once they start visiting your site regularly, it's unlikely an ad or two here and there will change their overall opinion all that much.
And by that point, you won't look like your main objective is money, money, money!
So be patient and attentive to the needs of your traffic. You will be rewarded in the long run.