I reference TV, YouTube videos and podcasts quite a lot when I'm trying to explain different traffic acquisition and search engine engagement models as the visual and audio media are great ways to cram an awful lot of information into a relatively short space of time.
A recent Apprentice episode (The Apprentice, reality TV programme, BBC One, London, 29th March 2014) serves to highlight a traffic acquisition technique that I'd previously heard referenced in a recording of an event set up by Matt Bacak (Traffic Infusion 2014) -- namely, using social influence to generate leads.
For those who didn't see The Apprentice Week Four episode in question, the task was to create a YouTube video channel and see which team got the most hits. This has echoes of a similar task run by Donald Trump in the original US version of The Apprentice franchise (The Apprentice : Episode 4, Snack Attack, NBC, New York, USA, 7th October 2010) which involved creating a viral video to promote a popcorn based snack brand.
Where the US version concentrated on getting the message across to promote sales, the recent BBC spin was to generate views, on the assumption that traffic attracts advertisers. That's a business model in itself, but the end result hinged on a part of the task that at first glance might have been overlooked by many viewers.
Traffic Acquisition using Social Influence
Part of the task was in selling their concept to a YouTube celebrity, to get them to agree on a collaboration, and then, vitally, use their social influence to promote the channel. We all know how hard it is to get traffic to an online property, and so using someone else's influence is an obvious strategy.
During the Traffic Infusion 2014 event, it was suggested that one of my favourite traffic acquisition strategies -- participating in online discussions -- could be enhanced by finding one person with a very active, and respected, profile, and paying them to host your link in their signature for a set length of time.
The Apprentice task mirrors this, using a popular online video producer to drive traffic; not for money, in this case, but in return for the exposure on one of the BBC's flagship crossover reality TV business programmes.
My point is this: if you're looking for a traffic acquisition strategy that really engages and pre-qualifies your audience, then using collaborations, or just paying for the association with someone who already has authority in your target channel, can be a very profitable way to create new traffic streams.
One book that is strong on this subject is Social Media Metrics Secrets, by John Lovett. It might be a 2011 book, but it's worth reading if only for Chapter 7, which gives you explicit guidance on measuring your ROI from social media engagement strategies, including a section on traffic acquisition.
Recommended if you are thinking of taking the plunge and using search engine and social engagement as part of your ongoing traffic acquisition strategy.
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2014
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Reducing Traffic Acquisition Costs using Destination Sites
Traffic acquisition costs are probably one of the highest direct costs for online businesses. Anything that you can do to reduce traffic acquisition costs must, almost by definition, be a good thing - but there's a right and a wrong way to do it.
Like the hotel industry, the web is split into two kinds of page - destination and everything else. Budget hotels that people use whilst traveling offer a very different experience to so-called destination hotels, which have to give customers more than just a bed for the night.
Likewise, destination sites are places people go to for something, unlike 99% of the other random search results which are just places people find themselves almost by accident.
Look at your own mental bookmark list. The chances are that you have a favorite site for social networking, video sharing, even email. There's also a good chance that these don't need to be in your browser bookmark list. You know the URLs by heart.
Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that you try to become a destination site. That's part of the misconception that people have about the web - everyone wants to be the next big thing, the next mental bookmark, but very few people reach that status.
Mostly, we're all part of the 99% of pages that people visit on their way somewhere else. And that's okay, because it's what makes the web tick.
However, despite the fact that Google AdSense is available on many of these destination sites, and despite the fact that you might be paying for prominence on them, what happens when traffic acquisition costs outstrip the earning power of the target site.
We're in a world wide recession, after all, and people are cutting back spending in the so-called power niches of health, money and sex. Never mind hobbies, dating, and suchlike.
However, the power of the destination sites can still be harnessed by offering content in return for traffic, thereby significantly reducing direct traffic acquisition costs.
Right now, for example, there's a WSO (Warrior Special Offer) that uses the power of YouTube to drive traffic. It's called the Royal Affiliates Banker, and seems to be a process, coupled with some software which purports to drive traffic to a web site with only 15 minutes of real work.
(Disclaimer - that link makes me no money. Zero. I have NO affiliation with the product, and am just citing it here as an example.)
If the Royal Affiliates Banker works, it could significantly reduce traffic acquisition costs, and boost profits. And, it's likely that a very similar process can be applied to other destination sites - it's all about giving potential customers valuable content, and a reason to click through to the target site.
Just like a promotional blog, but potentially with much more power, and certainly a lot more fun to put together!
Like the hotel industry, the web is split into two kinds of page - destination and everything else. Budget hotels that people use whilst traveling offer a very different experience to so-called destination hotels, which have to give customers more than just a bed for the night.
Likewise, destination sites are places people go to for something, unlike 99% of the other random search results which are just places people find themselves almost by accident.
Look at your own mental bookmark list. The chances are that you have a favorite site for social networking, video sharing, even email. There's also a good chance that these don't need to be in your browser bookmark list. You know the URLs by heart.
Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that you try to become a destination site. That's part of the misconception that people have about the web - everyone wants to be the next big thing, the next mental bookmark, but very few people reach that status.
Mostly, we're all part of the 99% of pages that people visit on their way somewhere else. And that's okay, because it's what makes the web tick.
However, despite the fact that Google AdSense is available on many of these destination sites, and despite the fact that you might be paying for prominence on them, what happens when traffic acquisition costs outstrip the earning power of the target site.
We're in a world wide recession, after all, and people are cutting back spending in the so-called power niches of health, money and sex. Never mind hobbies, dating, and suchlike.
However, the power of the destination sites can still be harnessed by offering content in return for traffic, thereby significantly reducing direct traffic acquisition costs.
Right now, for example, there's a WSO (Warrior Special Offer) that uses the power of YouTube to drive traffic. It's called the Royal Affiliates Banker, and seems to be a process, coupled with some software which purports to drive traffic to a web site with only 15 minutes of real work.
(Disclaimer - that link makes me no money. Zero. I have NO affiliation with the product, and am just citing it here as an example.)
If the Royal Affiliates Banker works, it could significantly reduce traffic acquisition costs, and boost profits. And, it's likely that a very similar process can be applied to other destination sites - it's all about giving potential customers valuable content, and a reason to click through to the target site.
Just like a promotional blog, but potentially with much more power, and certainly a lot more fun to put together!
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Online Media Challenges of Traffic Acquisition
It used to be easy to get traffic. Well, easy-ish, anyway. Back when all we had were static web pages and a generic email address (webmaster@somewhere, usually) traffic acquisition was just a case of making sure that the page was indexed by the search engines, was relatively unique in terms of keywords, and was useful to the visitor.
This was back when we all edited our sites in a text editor, mobile (cell) phones were still almost a novelty, and certainly very, very few people had heard of social media.
These days, anyone can have a web site, and throw up any old traffic-catcher garbage, and it tends to clutter the search engine indexes. Of course, the boffins over at Google are making incredible headway in weeding out the rubbish, but it has still forced the rest of us to spend slightly more time (and hence money) making certain that we get seen.
Were it not for social media, it'd still be a case of throwing money at the issue.
Solving Online Media Challenges
See, these days, the challenge is not getting indexed. It's getting people to be aware of the site/brand at a number of different levels. Sure, people still use Google as a search engine, and they still type in words that they hope will return information, but they're a lot more savvy about choosing the results.
For all those people who continue to say "you gotta be on the first page of Google SERPs, otherwise it's a waste of time", I say : you're at least half wrong. I say this because people are using Google search engine results in a more canny way. They can spot if the top 5 places are going to be selling them things while offering them nothing.
On top of which, Google is going to be using (and has started using) social media techiques such as +1, and G+ Circles, to inform search users as to the perceived value of the page behind the result.
I have no proof of this, beyond what you can see on every search page, if you're logged in to Google, but it's a logical extension.
It also means that we have to be similarly more canny about the way we approach traffic acquisition. We need to leverage social media and rise to the online media challenges in making sure that if we are the best, then the online world knows we are the best, and, more importantly, Google recognises that we are the best.
How do we do that? Twitter. Blogs. Forums. In a buzzphrase, Social Media. We've come full circle, and we're back to word of mouth advertising, the best kind. Only, these days, they're digital mouths and ears.
This was back when we all edited our sites in a text editor, mobile (cell) phones were still almost a novelty, and certainly very, very few people had heard of social media.
These days, anyone can have a web site, and throw up any old traffic-catcher garbage, and it tends to clutter the search engine indexes. Of course, the boffins over at Google are making incredible headway in weeding out the rubbish, but it has still forced the rest of us to spend slightly more time (and hence money) making certain that we get seen.
Were it not for social media, it'd still be a case of throwing money at the issue.
Solving Online Media Challenges
See, these days, the challenge is not getting indexed. It's getting people to be aware of the site/brand at a number of different levels. Sure, people still use Google as a search engine, and they still type in words that they hope will return information, but they're a lot more savvy about choosing the results.
For all those people who continue to say "you gotta be on the first page of Google SERPs, otherwise it's a waste of time", I say : you're at least half wrong. I say this because people are using Google search engine results in a more canny way. They can spot if the top 5 places are going to be selling them things while offering them nothing.
On top of which, Google is going to be using (and has started using) social media techiques such as +1, and G+ Circles, to inform search users as to the perceived value of the page behind the result.
I have no proof of this, beyond what you can see on every search page, if you're logged in to Google, but it's a logical extension.
It also means that we have to be similarly more canny about the way we approach traffic acquisition. We need to leverage social media and rise to the online media challenges in making sure that if we are the best, then the online world knows we are the best, and, more importantly, Google recognises that we are the best.
How do we do that? Twitter. Blogs. Forums. In a buzzphrase, Social Media. We've come full circle, and we're back to word of mouth advertising, the best kind. Only, these days, they're digital mouths and ears.
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