Photo by kevindooley
I want to ask you a really tough question. And the answer will have a lot to do with how much traffic you receive.
What makes your site different, unique, or special?
A quick example
Let’s say, just for fun, that you are running a website selling Halloween costumes. You know that Halloween is kind of a big deal in the United States and that parents frequently spend $10 or $20 or even $50 on costumes so that their little Skippy can dress up as his favorite superhero.
You’ve heard that there are 17 trillion people on the Internet and you hope to sell something to each person. You dream of being a gazillionaire.
Here’s the problem: There are literally hundreds or thousands of websites on the Internet selling Halloween costumes.
I just did a quick search on Google for “buy halloween costumes” and it reported that 27,700 pages have this exact phrase.
With so many options available how are the 17 trillion people going to find your site?
Traffic is not equally shared
You might think that each website will get an equal share of the traffic but nothing could be farther from the truth.
1% of the sites will get 99% of the traffic.
So the question is this: What do the 1% of sites do to be so successful and get 99% of the traffic?
The answer is easy to understand but difficult to implement.
Successful sites do 4 things that make them different and set them apart from everyone else in the herd.
1. They provide value
It all starts with creating value for your visitor. This value can come in different shapes and forms.
The value you provide might the by having the largest selection of Halloween costumes on the Internet.
Or it could be your blog where you answer everybody’s traffic generation questions. (This is what I’m trying to do.)
Or maybe you are like Zappos and you offer free shipping and a fabulous return policy.
Whatever your niche is there is a way for you to provide value to others. And more importantly provide value in a way that no one else does.
2. They make it easy for you to share
They use Twitter and StumbleUpon and Facebook to share updates with followers. And they make it easy for visitors to share with their friends.
Learn more:
- How I get Traffic from Facebook
- 10 Ways To Get More Traffic From Twitter
- Why you’re not getting traffic from stumble upon
- Video: How To Get 9,000 Visits From YouTube Every Month
3. The build trust and get permission to contact people in the future
You need an email list. Pure and simple.
My email list is 1 of my best sources of traffic.
Learn more:
- 12 Steps To Setup An Email Newsletter, Get Traffic, And Make Money
- 8 Tips To Get Traffic And Make Money From Your Email List
- 15 Videos: How To Setup An Email List
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thx for the fab info – I've learned a lot from your traffic tips and implement them everyday. The question indeed is : How to you stand out in the crowd and get noticed. Like you said – Quality content, hard work and determination!
Cheers
Maggie
Awesome video really! I think overall performance is essential for sites quality. One of the best blog post I read in recent past. This post have great content. I can stand up and say superb! There is sufficient reason why you got more visitors to your article.
"Successful sites do 4 things that make them different and set them apart from everyone else in the herd.
1. They provide value"
One way of providing value using the Halloween example from above is to NOT sell the most Halloween costumes, but 'only the best Ghost costumes'.
You could also come up with a guide on how to prepare for Halloween.
Make it a Newsletter series starting a month before the holiday and offer besides the information some links to affiliate products (e.g. costumes, make-up, recipes etc.)
You can use this mailing list again next year (and you can even mail them for other holidays (Send out a mail for thanksgiving thanking for being a loyal subscriber to your halloween list and offer some tips for a good thanksgiving dinner)
Very true. It's all about building a relationship with your readers.