I think that everyone in the Internet Marketing niche or any other niche for that matter will agree that traffic is everything. I don’t think you need to become a “guru” in order to understand this simple yet very fundamental fact.
You can be offering millions of dollars for free on your site or blog but without traffic, no one will know about it and no one will claim it.
Traffic is the core and that is what we are all after. This is exactly why you see so many “Traffic Generating” information products and that they usually sell the most and for the highest prices.
So, let me share with you my thoughts about traffic.
I think there are 2 types of traffic and in my honest opinion, both types cost you something.
- There is “Paid With Money” Traffic
- There is “Paid With Time” Traffic
Paid with money will obviously require a budget and paid with time (SEO) will require great content and serious link building.
Pretty simple, ah?
No type of traffic is really free. If you want to rank for any keyword on the first page of Google within 24/48/72 hours you can. All you need is a budget and the will to pay so you will be in the first page of Google on the sponsored ads using Adwords.
If you think you can rank for any keyword on the first page of Google in such a short time frame without spending money, than you should quit dreaming and return to planet earth.
The bottom line is that you need to understand something, and this took me a little time to figure out as a newbie.
You need to figure out what you want to achieve.
If you are looking for top Google rankings tomorrow than you need to be prepared to spend money and possibly lots of money as PPC is not cheap.
If you don’t have the money or you don’t want to spend the money, than you need to be prepared to spend time and understand that results will take time.
I know I might have over simplified this but I only wanted to make a point and I think (hope) I did. What do you think? Please comment below and share your thoughts.
This is very true, the trick is how to reduce the amount of money or time you spend though isnt it.
With PPC etc there are things you can do to reduce expenditure.
With SEO there are things you can do to save time, though of course, they cost money!
I guess the hardest part is just fuguring out a forumula that works, after that its just a case of scaling… but that costs time and money :p
Jez recently posted..Google De-Values Links
Very true.
In fact, I’d add that even the type of traffic that costs time, also costs money. If you look at serious SEO’ers, they almost invariably use a whole series of tools and services for building links, getting links indexed, analyzing and testing webpages, they outsource content creation etc.
As a complete beginner, you can definitely make your first few commissions without spending a dime, but I’d wager that almost anyone who’s serious about their business will soon start looking for ways to leverage their income and that usually means investing some money back into the business.
Shane recently posted..The End is Nigh! Google Instant
I agree.
There is no doubt that in order to rank high with SEO and to truly make money using it you will need to use link building tools that cost money.
I don’t see any other way to compete as you can be sure the competition is using all the big guns.
The true fact about internet marketing is always Time versus Money. You spend money to get the fastest results and save a lot of time for yourself to do other things. If you don’t have a budget to spend on, you’ll need to do all the hard work yourself which will take a lot of your personal time and the result may not be as fast.