Internet Marketing, Make Money Online - Traffic vs Backlinks, Which is Better?

Wednesday, February 24. 2010

A lot of people get really hung up on getting traffic to their websites or blogs, so they use a variety of different methods to attract traffic, from StumbleUpon, to Digg, Facebook, Twitter, [insert name of favorite social networking site]. But these don't work if earnings are your goal, let me tell you why.

Most desperate webmasters, and lets face it we know who they are, these are the people who have this sudden idea of making millions of dollars online and becoming rich with very little effort. Or, they're from some Asian nation and have a very low standard of living in their home country and are desperate to start earning online.

I don't have a problem with desperate IMers, but I know a lot of the information they read just isn't correct so they do a lot of stupid things. Namely, chasing social media traffic in the hope their visitors will buy something or click an ad.

Now this is where the difference between traffic and backlinks becomes critical. In the past I've talked about getting keyword rich anchor text in your backlinks, now I'm telling you why getting backlinks is more important than traffic.

Most people think traffic is traffic, it doesn't matter if it comes from social networking or search engines, or referrals from other sites. But let me tell you that's WRONG!

Search engine traffic is guaranteed better than any other type of traffic because someone who goes to Google, Yahoo, or Bing and types in a keyword is looking for something, they really want to find the answer to their question, and if you've targeted the correct keywords in your website they should be people who are looking for something to buy.

Traffic from social sites on the other hand are mostly coming to your site because they think you're going to entertain them. Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking, some of those people also buy, but you know what, the number who buy is so low it's going to affect your earnings, and worse, programs like AdSense could smart price you, and that's also bad for your earnings.

Newbies and desperate IMers chase as much traffic as they can get because they think one or two people buying is better than none, but in the long term they aren't building a sustainable business. The smart Internet Marketer actually looks for these people, watches their desperate shooting blindly approach, then casually avoids them like something you'd rather not step in.

I'm being rude, but if you aren't making a good income online, and if you're serious about doing so, then do everyone a favor and get a clue. Stop thinking that traffic from Digg or SU is going to make you rich. All you're going to achieve is lots of traffic, but your earnings will probably stay the same.

One of the readers of this blog, Andrew Rondeau has written a good post about where to get backlinks, I have personally used all of these in the past, and his list is a great start for people new to Internet Marketing.

in SEO, Traffic Comments (13)

Comments

Becas 2010 said,

Wednesday, February 24. 2010 at 18:02 (Reply)

Great article, i´ve been trying all of this so now have some focus!

PC Monitors said,

Thursday, February 25. 2010 at 10:46 (Reply)

There is nothing like targeted keyword-oriented organic traffic from search engines. I have consistently found that those are the people most likely to support my website by either clicking advertisements or visiting my shop. Social traffic tends to just click about on my site because they're bored.

Carl said,

Thursday, February 25. 2010 at 14:01 (Reply)

Couldn't agree more. Some of my sites are quite large blogs in the travel niche, but they get a lot of SU traffic because people like seeing the pretty pictures - but I really detest that kind of traffic - I don't go to a lot of effort to build a website just so people can admire the pictures, every site I own is a money making site, and that traffic never converts.

Andrew@BloggingGuide said,

Thursday, February 25. 2010 at 11:34 (Reply)

Thanks for the mention. I really am a loyal reader of your blog because I love the mix in your blog. Even if it's just a picture or something, it gives me the break I need from all the usual things I read. Keep up and more power! Well, what can I say about your post? It's all in my article :)

Carl said,

Thursday, February 25. 2010 at 14:02 (Reply)

You're welcome :-)

Roy Jones said,

Friday, February 26. 2010 at 19:45 (Reply)

I really need to focus more on some of these techniques, but thanks for the heads up

Carl said,

Friday, February 26. 2010 at 22:38 (Reply)

The simple approach always works better, build your site but don't waste a lot of time doing it, then go hard on getting backlinks so you rank in the search engines. Too easy, although much easier said than done. I'll talk about getting backlinks in another post.

Bill Perciballi said,

Sunday, February 28. 2010 at 21:00 (Reply)

I read the article and nearly all of the links to your other blog posts. Great information. What's missing from my perspective is more pragmatic advice on creating anchor text. In this case, I am learning about things to help my business. I would have to be pretty artful to create an opportunity here to be relevant with our products: military body armor.

Now as I created the link - I have no idea if it will actually create an active link or just expose my link code. Anyway, maybe a video of you doing this on a few blogs to help us get the hang of it. My 2 cents! Thanks.

Carl said,

Monday, March 1. 2010 at 09:39 (Reply)

Thanks Bil, great comment, and you're right, I have neglected the craft of creating anchor text, I'll get an article written up in the next day or so, though I can't promise a video :-0

adam said,

Monday, April 5. 2010 at 21:54 (Reply)

Great article, you are right. Traffic isn't traffic. Targeted traffic is traffic. If you use the search engines to get your traffic then you are on the right path.

Carl said,

Thursday, April 8. 2010 at 12:07 (Reply)

Absolutely, actually I like the really simple phrase you use there, perhaps I should rename this article Traffic isn't traffic. Targeted traffic is traffic.

John Emmett said,

Friday, April 16. 2010 at 17:05 (Reply)

Hi Carl, great article again, read a few now and you explain really well.

I've read quite a few articles and SEO bits and bobs and was obsessed with getting as much traffic as possible (as i was told to do so) to my site but your right. My site is quite specific so even if i manage to get peope to look at my site through digg, twitter, etc. they would close the browser or go back because they are not fully interested in the site or the content. So as you said, traffic isn't always traffic! My efforts will be more focused and doubled.

Thanks again,
John

Carl said,

Saturday, April 17. 2010 at 13:53 (Reply)

Hi John, even one person understanding the different types of traffic means my article has been successful so thanks for taking the time to let me know - and good luck with your new SEO initiative.

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