Internet Marketing Tips - Traffic Generation – Standing In the Flow of Traffic

Willie Crawford, a very successful Internet marketer, often advises other marketers who are either not generating as much website traffic as they desire, or who have not yet developed their own "lists" to "stand in front of someone else's traffic".

I have found the above to be extremely good, and simple advice. Simple in that it's one of those "Duh" statements as in "Duh, I should have seen that one for myself." But it's surprising the number of online marketers struggling with generating their own traffic, who fail to simply stand in front of someone else's traffic flow in order to generate their own.

I said that it was simple advice. What I meant is that it is simple in terms of concept, but not always so simple to implement. Why? Because it is often difficult, especially for newbies, to know 1) whose traffic to stand in front of, 2) how interested that traffic is in what they have to offer, and 3) how much that traffic is worth. If you're not careful in the consideration of several factors, it's quite possible that the traffic you find could either run over you, or completely ignore your presence.

If you're the owner of a website that features supplies for sports fishermen, but you elect to advertise on a site focused on basketball, chances are you're not going to get much response to your ad offers. Although both sites specifically target sports-minded individuals, those individuals are clearly within two different and distinct interest groups. So, while it's theoretically possible for you to generate traffic from that traffic flow, chances are it won't be much and what of it you receive, won't convert (to subscriptions or sales) very well for you.

Then you have to consider what the traffic is worth. Believe me, while I understand that advertising can be expensive, especially for small business enterprises, some of the ad rates I've lately seen charged for ezines, newsletter and email solo ads, as well as banner or text link ads is absolutely astronomical, and often times, at least in my experience and opinion, highly inflated considering the ROI (Return On Investment).

The value of traffic is not an easily made determination. While some value can be proven (i.e. traffic volume, general interest based on things such as demographics, referrer, previous purchase characteristics, etc.), other factors in determining the traffic's worth can be somewhat subjective in nature. Value can depend on how closely related the traffic's interests are to your niche or product, the likelihood or potential of the traffic for taking desired action (clicking on your link or banner to visit your website or promotional page), then the likelihood of that traffic converting (subscribing or making a purchase).

The bottom line is this...standing in front of someone else's traffic can be a good strategy for developing your own traffic streams. However, proceed with caution. Make certain that if you are paying for the opportunity to benefit from another's traffic, you do so having full knowledge of what the value of that traffic is to you, and what benefit you expect to receive based on all available information. Do your homework or you could easily get burned.