Last year, the promoters behind the award-winning film Prince Among Slaves tried to hire freelancers to Digg their movie to the front page of Digg.com. You can read about it here. And yes, this story is from January ‘08, but this backwards mentality still persists. Online marketers are still trying to pay for mass traffic – whether it’s hiring diggers, paying for links or even opting in for reverse pay-for-view schemes.
Too bad that’s never going to work.
You Have to Be Genuine
Not only will tales of paid-for-traffic haunt your business and your reputation, it’s ineffective and a waste of money. In the new Web 2.0 world, traffic has to be earned, not purchased. You need to attract visitors with genuine interaction and content that’s both valuable and sincere. And yes, you can outsource some of the content, but work with them closely and be sure that what gets published is real.
It’s not about paying for hits, hiring diggers or spamming – it’s about being transparent and genuine and really engaging the viewer.
So, how do you do it?
Stop Thinking About Demographics
If you’re running a blog for your business, stop thinking about demographics. Put away your assumptions that everyone who visits your site is 40-65 and female. Remember, iVillage’s visitors are 44 percent male while AskMen.com’s visitors are almost 25 percent female.
Instead, group your communities by interest, encourage their feedback and use that information to really build your micro-niches.
Let Your Readers/Users Inspire You
If you’re posting press releases or product information on your business blog, do you really know if it’s working? What’s actually driving users to your site and why? To find out, use a tool like Google Analytics to tell you not only how many people came to your site, but why they came, how they found you and what they were searching for.
By understanding what types of content actually work, you’ll be better equipped to build on the content that’s actually generating results.
For example, if most of your Facebook visitors are coming because of a particular product or topic, then give them more. Create series on the topic or engage in more conversations about that topic on your social networking sites.
Be Flexible
Not every post or tweet has to be about your product or business, in fact I guarantee that will turn customers off. So, stay flexible and let your posts or interactions go with the flow. Yes, you want your blog posts to stay on message, but you also want to sincerely address your audience’s concerns and interests.
Remember, be real and the relationships will follow.
