I realize there are many people who have things to say about how to build and promote a website... but most of the people who have something to say.. DO NOT actually have a proven website which demonstrates what they are saying. I want to hear from those webmasters who can backup their advice with solid statistical PROOF. I have 2 websites that I'm trying to promote, and over the last 20 days, I'm getting an average of 95 unique visitors per day (combined for both sites), with approximately 70% of those being NEW visitors.

In other words, I get a relatively high percentage of new visitors and low repeat visitors by comparison... and this makes complete sense seeing as how the sites basically offer nothing but products for sale... (I would expect people to come, buy what they need and not return until they want to buy again)...

OK, so to move along, I realize that my traffic is miniscule, and I want to know what I should focus on to create a significant increase in traffic!!! (Right about now you are probably saying to yourself, WHAT THE HECK!!! THIS GUY IS CRAZY!!! THE ANSWERS ARE ALL OVER THESE BOARDS!!!)

Well, sure it's true that there are general suggestions all over the boards, but I want some people to come forward and say, "I'm getting xxx amount of traffic, and most of it comes from..." and then actually say where its from, whether it be a certain SE, or banners on a certain site, or a popular message board or email, or what...

I'd appreciate if some of you out there could step forward and help a frustrated young webmaster make some sense out of all this... I think the best way for me to learn in the world of the internet is the same way I learn in the *real* world... I find that I tend to believe those who *lead by example* - I'm looking forward to all of your responses, if any.

FYI, the site listed in my profile is NOT one of those which I am referring to above.

Well, what's the average...?

Humor sites = Jokes that I post...and the banner spot is at the top of the page, just next to the logo. I also have a spot at the bottom of the page...

Clip-Art site = Site where people can download clip-art, animated gif's and such stuff, and the banner spot is at the top, next the logo. I also have a spot at the bottom of the page...

Can anyone guide me on this?

Thanks,
Steve Rodrigue

I cannot necessarily provide you "proof" like you're asking because the how and when and how much money is made is confidential. With that said, here is my advice.

You say that you have a website where you're selling products. It really doesn't matter WHAT that product is; it could be computers or it could be windmills. For argument's sake, let's say it's the Microsoft Xbox.

If you are selling Microsoft Xboxes on your website, then you have to make it easy for people who want to buy a Microsoft Xbox to find you. What would they do to find one? They might go to a search engine and type "Microsoft Xbox" or "buy Microsoft Xbox". So, to get your best highest traffic to your site, then you should go get listings on the search engines for "Microsoft Xbox" or "buy Microsoft Xbox". That way people wanting to buy a Microsoft Xbox from you will find you and come to your site and, hopefully, buy one from you.

You can also trade links with other websites that have information about "Microsoft Xbox" or even sell them on ebay.com or go to Overture.com and bid on a keyword and get hits that way.

You see, if you're selling stuff on your website, it's not the amount of traffic on your website and how many hits you get. What matters is the quality traffic that you get. You may have only 95 visits a day; so what? but those 95 people are looking for a Microsoft Xbox and buy one on your site then you've got it made!

Our CPA banner & text links do better, but we make most of our money from our newsletter.

Bryan

Besides which you need to realize that where my traffic comes from and what I did to get it as a content site will be very different for you as a retail site.

That said I'd say the biggest source of new visitors for me is google. First google itself then yahoo.google.

thank you for your attempt, but it was NOT an ANSWER to MY QUESTION...

Maybe I should clarify what i want...

"I get most of my daily traffic from.... [FILL IN HERE, and be as specific as possible]"

example1: "I get most of my traffic from people who have found my site on ODP-based SE's"

example2: "I get half of my significant traffic from a link on xxxxx.com and the rest comes from a variety of sources, such as a banner i paid for on xxxxx.com and a weekly mass mailing I do"

I don't think I'm asking for too much here... I don't care how much income you make and for the sake of simplicity, let's please assume that my ONLY measure of "success" is in raw hits... and please people don't get carried away and start lecturing me on how "a site with a million hits and zero sales is not successful"

I can go on and on about what I don't need to hear, but I;ll just stop here and hope somone can help me...

I ask because the answer to your question is going to vary greatly at different traffic levels. No truly successful site ever gets “most of their traffic” from just one source, and few even get a large percentage from just one source. Ignoring the occasion anomaly, I think most successful sites very purposely and actively nurture multiple sources. That’s a large part of what makes them successful.

I honestly don’t think it matters too much, beyond personal preference, where you initially concentrate your efforts. As long as it is just initial.

Let me try to clarify once again - I was NOT asking for anyone's personal opinion on WHERE i should concentrate my efforts..

What I'm asking for is a simple listing of your main sources of traffic - nothing else.

I'm asking please for people to refrain from posting if they can't answer my question...

If the admins find my request to be unacceptable, then I'm sure my topic will be removed, or i'll just be flamed to xxxx - either way, i'll leave that up to them.

[Note: This message has been edited by Jim]

[Note: This message has been edited by Jim]

If you want to poll sites that are getting 30 or 50 or 100 thousand uniques a month, then that’s the question you should probably ask. If you want sites with 1 or 5 or 50 million uniques a month, then you need an entirely different question, because yours makes very little sense. I could no more tell you where I get “most” of my traffic than I could specify where I get “most” of my oxygen. If I had to rely on just one room full of air, I’d be in a world of hurt.

Your original post said you wanted to know what you “should focus on to create a significant increase in traffic!!!” And you wanted to hear it from someone who had been there. Well, I tried to tell you. I tried to get you to rephrase a bad question into one that might actually help you, because there ARE related questions I would have been more than happy to answer. And would have made more sense.

Good luck with your web sites…

[Note: This message has been edited by Jim]

There’s just as much traffic as there is oxygen. But the oxygen isn’t going to do you any good unless you know how to breath. Fortunately, learning that wasn’t too hard. A sharp slap on the rear is usually sufficient. Learning to attract traffic is more difficult, but not by a lot. Of course, with 95 uniques a day you already know all about that.

But, this does create an opportunity to make a point. I have always felt that any issue posted on these forums becomes the property of the whole community once it is posted. The answers, and the direction of the discussion are determined by everyone, not just the original poster. I would probably object to strong demands from a moderator if he/she demanded that we answer in certain way/direction. I also think even Jim would start to drive people away if he did this--although I could not imagine that he would.

I believe we all feel that we are free to take a discussion where we feel the value lies. If this is not where you want it to go, then maybe there is very little interest in your topic, or maybe you have done something to cut off participation.

We are currently getting from 35,000 to 70,00 UNIQUE visitors per day on one of our sites - that's uniques, not page views (put that in your pipe and smoke it "krazul")

How'd I do it? - I don't really feel like telling you ha ha

Ok already, here it goes - start your own affiliates program - this is where 75% of our traffic is coming from.

The other 25% is coming from the various top engines (mainly google)

later...

later...