When the M25, the London Orbital Motorway, was opened by Margaret Thatcher on October 29th 1986 (just over 30 years ago; it seems much longer!) it was heralded as the great development in transport infrastructure. It was going to solve the traffic problems of the South-East of England and keep the traffic moving freely around the London area. How attitudes have changed. It is now often described as the world’s largest designer car park and has become, almost without doubt, the most hated road in the whole of the UK. When the traffic doesn’t flow, everything in the vicinity grinds to a halt.
That final sentence should resonate with anyone involved in internet marketing. When the traffic ceases to flow, the business grinds to a halt. Getting that traffic to visit our websites and our sales letters is the lifeblood of our businesses. There are a number of ways to generate that traffic flow but none of it is particularly easy for one reason or another. Sometimes it all hinges on the effectiveness of an email. Sometimes it is all about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). On other occasions it may well be the results of Pay-Per-Click Advertising. There always seems to be an element of trial and error in these aspects of the business which is why internet marketers are encouraged to regularly test anything that can be tested, to try to reduce the risk and/or cost of promoting their products.
We may have one of the best products ever to have been offered on the internet and have put together the best sales letter ever written, but if nobody reads the letter the products will not be sold. If our traffic flow is no better than the M25 around the Dartford Crossing, we are dead and buried. I have written before about my use of Article Marketing when I first started in the business, which is a great way to promote products and services because it doesn’t cost anything other than the expenditure of time. If the articles don’t work, at least it doesn’t cost you anything.
The exchange of links is another possible route to promotion with no financial outlay. This particular approach means that your website is being exposed to someone else’s regulars on a related site. Hopefully, this will result in more visitors to your site; – more traffic. Reciprocal links are also popular with the search engines so it can help your ranking on Google, etc. Nobody has yet come up with a fool-proof way to attract traffic. You can put as much time, effort and expertise into promoting a product but it is still a question of: “Wait and see!” to quote the words of Mr. Asquith the Liberal Prime Minister of the early 20th Century. For those who have long established businesses they have their list to promote too, a list which after several years should be very substantial. As the saying goes: “The money is in the List!”
Good luck in your efforts to brind traffic to your site. May your traffic flow be more like a sunny spring morning on the A272 rather than a miserable November evening on the M25.