One thing I quickly realized when I got started online was the fact I needed to generate quite a lot of traffic to my websites if I was to make any money online. It’s no good sending a handful of visitors to your offers. If you want to be truly successful you need to be sending thousands of visitors to your offers every single day.
In the early days I fell for the paid traffic scams that promised a huge amount of traffic for a small investment! None of those methods delivered any results, the ‘hit’s were probably automated or from visitors that were so un-targeted that they would never bring any real results.
So I tried my hand at PPC (Pay Per Click) traffic, mostly Google AdWords and Facebook ads, with that comes a whole new level of stress, first of all you have to set up your campaign, have it approved, bid for keywords, track results, etc. This was something I was never able to turn into a profit as I was always having to pay over $1 per click for decent keywords. So after losing a few thousand dollars and wasting hundreds of hours researching and testing I decided I wasn’t going to pay for my traffic.
Then I tried my hand at SEO. (Search Engine Optimization) Unfortunately, with the vast amount of competition out there, there’s just no easy way to approach SEO. Plus I have heard horror stories of people spending years perfecting an SEO method that starts to bring results only to see the mighty Google change its algorithm and the traffic stops overnight.
You see, the problem with paid traffic and organic search engine traffic is it can disappear overnight. If you remember the famous Google slap a few years ago that basically put thousands of marketers out of business overnight by making PPC keywords so expensive they couldn’t be bid on you will know what I mean.
Then we’ve had the famous penguin and panda updates that have seen poor quality websites disappear off the search results altogether. While this is not a bad thing if you provide quality content it did kill off thousands of businesses.
Thankfully I don’t have to worry too much about anything the mighty Google does, in fact Google could close tomorrow and it would have very little impact on the amount of traffic I receive. That’s because I have learned tons of traffic generation methods that bring in thousands of visitors to my websites every single day and most of them don’t involve Google, and it’s these methods that you should be incorporating into your traffic efforts.
So how do we drive targeted traffic to our websites or affiliate offers for free?
Simple! You stop looking for traffic systems, hacks and loopholes that promise traffic for doing very little and focus on traffic methods that you know work.
Here’s 3 examples of traffic methods that work really well:-
Posting to your blog (I’m doing this right now)
When did you last post to your blog? If it’s more than one month then shame on you, adding fresh content to your blog is one of the best traffic generation techniques out there, it also helps you interact with your followers. If you can try to get into the habit of posting to your blog at least 2-3 times per month and more often if you can.
Commenting on other peoples blogs
How often do you comment on other peoples blogs? I bet it’s not as often as you should, again this is one of the most overlooked traffic generation techniques. A well written comment with a backlink can drive highly targeted traffic to your to your blog, product or service. You could start by leaving me a comment on this post.
Being active in forums?
Are you active in any forums? By active I mean posting daily, gaining a following and gaining respect from other forum users. A well written comment on a forum can drive tons of traffic to your websites. For example if you were an expert blogger you would be getting involved in blogging related forums and providing valuable advice. You would have a signature in your forum post to drive traffic back to your website. Of course the signature would be related to the forum you are involved with, you would also look for posts related to the offer you are making via your signature.
Again this is a highly effective traffic generation technique that works very well. In fact I know there are people on the Warrior Forum who use this single technique alone to earn a full time living.
I promise if you spent an hour a day implementing the 3 traffic generation methods I’ve just mentioned you would probably drive enough traffic to earn a full time income after a few months. Of course it depends on the work you put in, the value in your content and the offer(s) you are promoting but it could be done.
However, there is a problem with these traffic generation methods. They involve work, in fact almost every free traffic generation technique involves work and this is the reason most people wont do anything. They want traffic right now and they don’t want to put any work in, so they will go looking for traffic systems or buy into traffic generation scams that will never bring real results.
There are a ton of free traffic generation methods out there, unfortunately most (if not all) involve work, never forget that.
Just so you know that I know what I’m talking about here’s a
traffic report for just one of my servers for July 2012.
So stop looking for traffic ‘loopholes’ and traffic ‘systems’ as this is not the way to build real targeted traffic over long periods. Focus on methods you know work, I’ve just gave you 3 examples, there are a lot more.
Want to learn more? Find out more here
101 Comments
Carl Picot
August 3, 2012Hi John
Many thanks for the great info once again!
These are the exact methods that I have been trying the last weeks….
I managed to get a steady flow of traffic – even though it was only about 15 to 20 visitors a day but it did work.
As soon as I stopped, my visitor count went down to 1 a day and even 0 two days ago, so this proves that putting the work in and doing new posts, with blog commenting and forum traffic really does work.
I’ve just posted my 200th post on the Warrior Forum today and will be posting many more!!
Thanks once again – really good advice.
cheers
xxxxcarlxxxx
Cararta
August 4, 2012I agree with the no pay for traffic. My sites are new and small and lately neglected…but I had just finished posting on two, because I know when I post, my numbers go up. I’ve got to finish my “give away”, a squeeze page and set up aweber with follow up emails (back to the videos for help) and really get this show on the road.
Have one diabetes site 137 visitors yesterday and one internet marketing site 143 visitors yesterday…that I am going to concentrate on for all of August and see if it makes a difference….Need to do the squeeze page thing on both..but must have emails for aweber, gift etc
Thanks for verifying what I was thinking and not doing.
I have improved traffic by making a few videos and posting them on Youtube
If interested in finding any of my sites just Google
Cararta
any comments appreciated you can find me as ArtaGene in FB
Mandy Allen
August 3, 2012Excellent tips, John. There do seem to be an awful lot of scammy traffic methods out there that cost the earth and provide little or no results. I know you have always advocated these methods in your training and I know that I have benefitted greatly from following your advice to the letter.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Donald
August 3, 2012Thanks you John. Great post.
Donald
Barton Nash
August 3, 2012Hi John,
I think marketers would do well to follow your advise. I think the reason many marketers are not following the white hat marketing strategies you talk about is because most of us over the years have fallen in love with Blog networks and Backlinking Automation and Super Tweaked Black Hat SEO Tactics. If you haven’t realized by now, with Googles Panda and Penguin updates, these strategies offer very limited value and it would be wise to follow a more holistic approach to marketing.
If I understand what you mean when you say post more often to your blog. Are you saying to forget about SEO and ranking for keywords and just concentrate on writing good quality content for your blog.
Great post. Best,
Bart Nash
John Thornhill
August 3, 2012Bart,
When I write a blog post I never think of keywords, I write for people, not search engines.
I know very little about SEO but as you can see by the screenshot I do ok so I would say go with what has been proven to work over the years.
reginald
August 4, 2012i need more traffic to my ebay. its doing good but i need more
Tasleem
August 5, 2012Use keywords that people are using to search for your item, that ALWAYS helps me to sales. You can can also use facebook, twitter and pinterest. Use the share button within you listing. But you do need accounts in these social website. I hope that helps.
Steve Miller
October 12, 2012I agree with Bart and John. I have given up on the old hack and scam of traffic loopholes. Its all BS. I have especially denounced and gotten away from relying on Google for anything other than search for what I need!. As they only thing predictable about Google is that they will change something every month to screw with marketers. I was recently developing a software application that relied on the free Google data available for video tags etc….. and they suddenly a few weeks ago Google disabled the feature without notice! Basically making my software worthless. So I had to change its parameters and make it into something else. Moral of the story. Don’t rely on Google for anything other than searches. Connect online with people via blog and in the relevant forums. ~Steve
~Allan Cazaly~
August 3, 2012Yes John!
As always, you are correct. I have wasted money on “Fail-Proof Systems” that just don’t work, or end up so complicated
that one gives up along the way – Either way, it would have been easier to put money down the loo and pull the flush! At
least one would not have the hassle!
Yep! I have learned the “Hard” way and burnt holes in my pockets to no avail! It took me a long time to sort out where my
money is well placed (Actually, you did this for me, the first time we met at Randy’s Internet Meet in Yorkshire!
You didn’t do anything special that day, except to relate your attitude and always ready to help and “Over-deliver” And
Yes! during our little chat, you over-delivered, probably not realising it!
By the time I got home again (Down South) I had forgotten most of our discussions – BUT – a bit stuck and during my
association with you, through your marvellous teaching courses, I remembered some of the things you spoke about
It takes a long time to build up a confidence, like I have in you and your products. Today, I have absolutely no
hesitation to recommend your courses and other digital products; every one is thoroughly research and is of a high
professional finish
By following you, I just hope that I can tread the same path as yourself over time. One thing is for sure, I’ll certainly
do it much quicker with you on my side, helping me. Your back-up services are second to none!
Just “Pop” into my NEW website ffom time to time and you will see what I mean. I am adding one or two “Extras” that tend to
make my blog page “Unique”, so that it stands out from the avaerage blog, both in “Graphics” “Content” and “Interest”
Thanks John! Wityhout your dedication to the Internet, I wouldn’t have got this far, and I’ve only just started!
Sincere regards,
~Allan~
Be Positive! Have a “Great” day
geoff Lord
August 3, 2012Hi John
thanks for reminding us about the 3 great fundemental traffic generation techniques. Speaking as one who was dramatically effected by the google slap of old, and then once agian with the recent penguin updates you can take it from me that trying to rely on google is a total folly, unfortunately for some businesses it is virtually impossible to actually generate enough traffic without them !! I have been a regular blog writer and commentor in my niche and know that I can generate traffic from those activities, it does work, but if you have any golden nuggets to share later just send me the link….
See how well blogging works !
I am already Pre-sold on your upcoming product already !!
Geoff Lord
AppAttract Mobile Phone Advertiser
Tim Bonner
August 3, 2012Hi John
I’ve been posting to my blog at least twice a week and commenting on other people’s blogs daily for a few weeks now.
It’s starting to give me some decent traffic.
I’ve not been very active in forums though, so thanks for reminding me of that one.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Tim
Vic
August 6, 2012Hi Tim,
I do like your site.
I am having a few difficulties using flexibility 3 theme in the right hand side… where you have:
*Connect with Tim
*Categories
*Other Cool Blogs
*Recent posts
*Archives
And the like
Tim,if you could help me in anyway I’d really appreciate it.
Are there any help videos or pdf to help with setting up the lists?
Thanks
P.S. Sorry to pounce on you, its only when I saw your site that I could see what I wanted.
Vic
Spain
Andrew Stark
August 4, 2012Hi John,
I think that nasty four letter “work” is what puts people off.
When I do look at my stats I see most of my traffic comes from the warrior forum and google, but like you I know nothing about SEO, so this google traffic is a bonus.
For my affiliate sites the best traffic sources are getting into downline builders or some sort of integration on the download pages. Again this requires work as you have to approach someone you have a relationship with to set this up.
Ultimately if you think you’re going to be able to play games with billion dollar companies via loopholes your going to end up worse off. As you say, stick to creating content people want to read, and put it in front of people interested in the subject.
Andrew
Liz Armond
August 4, 2012Hi John
Great blog and the information is spot on. I have just been looking at the exact same advice and have slotted 1 hour a day into my to-do list to post on other blogs and sign up for related forums as well as regular posting to my own. I did try some paid ad/solo swaps without much success and my list is still quite small so I am hoping that this will improve it.
Liz
Anna Ajina
August 5, 2012Hi Liz
It sounds like your IM business is similar to mine. Would you be interested in ad swap?
Best regards
Anna
Rob Corrigan
August 4, 2012Hi John
thanks once again for reminding us of the very basics we need to do to build a business, although the scammy methods are attractive your results prove that by following the three points you mention you don’t need any of them
Cheers
Rob
Ray Boreham
August 4, 2012When John Thornhill blogs, those of us keen to get ahead take notice!
Words to the wise guys as usual, John. As you rightly say, the days of being able to rely on Google for traffic are all but over, so these tactics are a timely reminder that we need to look elsewhere for consistent, reliable traffic sources.
Cheers,
Ray
CHARLIE GONZALES
August 4, 2012Yes, JOHN YOUR absoultely Correct, about GOOGLE. I was ranking in the 1st and 2nd positions for my keywords and OVERNIGHT they disappeared with the Penguin update. (I should have just left the website alone, once it was RANKED.)
I’ve noticed though FACEBOOK is pretty good for driving Traffic. Am also doing other social media. TWITTER and STUMBLEUPON is OK to. Am also trying others. And have purchased alot of YOUTUBE programs though have not had the time as of yet to go through them. Will do pretty soon, though.
My Blog deals with mostly Learning to Communicate with People and Getting along with others. (Smile, Think Positive, and Learning to CONTROL YOUR THOUGHT’S, FOR WHAT YOU FOCUS ON IS WHAT YOU WILL ATTRACT)
DO YOU WANT LOVE?? GIVE LOVE FIRST.
I have studied Psychology for over 13+ years and spent UPWARDS of tens of thousands of dollars on different courses, through-out the years)
PRACTICE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND LOVE.
http://www.sandiegoplumberonline.com/plumbing-tips.html
Galen Anderson
August 4, 2012Hi John, and thanks for these valuable SEO ‘secrets’. I believe you are right on with the blog posting, reading and commenting on blogs, and posting on forums. You make it sound so easy! However, I am just now trying these methods, but I am not as gifted a writer as yourself. Well, I have not posted on any forums, in all honesty, but will start today. Thanks once again for your post, and for your honesty in general. You’re the best!
Thanks, Galen Anderson
Tasleem
August 4, 2012Hi John,
TRAFFIC is the life blood of every Internet Marketing Business. And this where any newbies fail.
Once again excellent post and great advice anyone can use straight away.
Chris
August 4, 2012Hi John,
Like you, I never do and have never done any keyword research when I write my blog posts. It’s just more work to do that may in fact be unnecessary and a waste of time that you could be spending on more productive things plus the added benefits of doing so are tenuous at best.
I totally agree with the sentiment of writing for your readers and at the end of the day, I think that’s what Google wants as well if we are indeed going to consider them as a traffic source.
From what I read, they want a useful and informative experience for their search customers so if you write naturally and well, you should be just fine. Gaming the system or trying to second guess the algorithm is pointless in my opinion.
Another great blog post John… thanks
Chris
Brian Oliver
August 4, 2012Hey John,
Thanks for this. I too have wasted money onPPC, more recently on Facebook. I haven’t seen the results I was hoping for.
It goes to show that the age old, trusted methods still work well.
I’m off to the warrior forum right now to go give some valuable comments.
Brian
Michael J Ming
August 4, 2012Thanks,John. I’m guilty of inconsistency in blog posting,forum marketing. etc. You have brought my attention to it and empowering me to take action to correct it. Thanks once again
Karl Dieterich
August 4, 2012Hi John,
Another benefit of commenting on forums related to your niche is the authority and trust you’ll earn as your comment count increases. Of course, our comments need to contain value as you mention. When you comment regularly, with quality, and your count begins to rise, it tells people that you care about the subject, you care enough about them to take time to answer questions and you’re willing to participate in open discussion. Just knowing there is a real person who’s willing to connect with you despite whatever other marketing tactics they may use goes a long way towards establishing trust. No clever headline, video or popup can establish the trust created from simple one-to-one communication.
Karl
Twisted Mister
August 4, 2012Sir John – your honesty is so refreshing I’m getting light headed.
At least, I think that’s what’s causing it…
Thanks muchly pal.
Steve Cottrell
August 4, 2012Hi John,
Great stuff again! I agree that writing for people is by far the best way to go. I always try to connect with the reader, not Google.
You have to let your readers know you’re a real person, that you have feelings at least!!
Thanks for the post John,
Regards,
Steve.
Mary Stephenson
August 4, 2012Hi John
Well I do know for sure that viral traffic does not work, especially in the eyes of Google. It will kill your page rank. I am just now trying to recover from what I was at a year ago. It helped for awhile but soon it took a nose dive. I am building videos for another site and have started a YouTube channel. Concentrating on writing and building. Unfortunately nobody has the crystal ball that tells us exactly what we personally need to do. But thanks for pointing me back in the right direction.
Mary
anth11
August 4, 2012Hi John, thanks for the info, I`ve done most of the deadbeat methods
to get signups and sales without results. I appreciate the straight talking about hard work, and ignoring the scams. I will be knuckling down and churning out content to get myself launched . I think I`m going to be really busy, “but, I wish I`d heard about John Thornhill a few years earlier”.
Thanks so much.
zora
August 5, 2012Thanks John,
Another great post full of good traffic tip that are real. Methods that have and will work from now on.
Like you said I am using one of your methods here in this post on your blog with a link back to my blog.
I’ll be back
Regards
Zora
Linda
August 5, 2012John, give me “work”, as you describe it in getting traffic, any day of the week! I find SEO confusing and frustrating and feel I can never truly depend on it anyway…certainly not for any given approach on a long-term basis.
Thanks so much for the freeing information. It’s as if a huge weight’s been lifted off my shoulders!
Ryan Reger
August 5, 2012Great post, John!
I just started my own blog to help people with business ideas, tips, and strategies. It’s a work in progress, but I really appreciate the advice on how to grow an audience. I bookmarked this post and will be referring to it often.
James Hughes
August 5, 2012Hi John
Thanks for this interesting post.
I think forums are definitely a good way of driving traffic.
I’m going to become more active in the warrior forum these next few weeks.
Cheers
James
Anna Ajina
August 5, 2012Hi John
Great post es ever. You are a good teacher and mentor. I also started my new blog to help people with business ideas and methods. Lots of people are thinking now about starting their own business. The articles and information there could help.
Thank you John
ken
August 5, 2012John, great post. Another good traffic generating tool that gives your blog a nice backlink is guest blogging on other authority sites in your niche.
Aigul Erali
August 5, 2012Hi John,
Yes, I do agree – these are 3 main free traffic sources, I especially love forum marketing.
Where are you most likely to find consumers who are looking for a solution to their problem?
Most of the people seek like minded community where they can share their problems and find possible solutions. For that reason, forums and online groups are popular places to hangout for most.
Apart from Warrior forum, I love Digital point forum.
Sign up and after 25 posts you can go to the cheap stuff section in that forum and post a link to your squeeze page and get subscribers to join your list.That particular internet marketing forum gets alot of traffic daily and i have had lots of daily sign ups as a result.
Aigul Erali
Simon X - WebTyrant
August 5, 2012Exactly what we’ve been talking about and sharing for years over at http://www.WebTyrant.com
There is no easy / quick magic button
You either buy eyeballs, or you grow real authentic value
Better question.. do you really want 10,000 eyeballs,
or 100 of the minds of qualified prospects
Simon X
http://www.WebTyrant.com
ps
John keep being ethical in your web marketing
why you’re on of the people that gets http://www.WebDomination.com
and can live it.. not dream about it
hope more people start to wake up to it..
Charles Tidmore
August 5, 2012Hi: John
Great post, i’m doing your One Month Mentor program. I’ve been taking my time with the program, trying to do a good job. I’ve ran into a problem with choosing a niche market. I’ve sent several emails asking for your help. But my emails are not sent to you. I’ve ask Paula to help me decide on a good niche market, but am told she can not help me decide on a niche market. Can you, please get in touch with me and help me with this? I want to become a good internet marketer like you are.
Thanks,
Charles
Ken McDaniels
August 5, 2012Hi John,
Thanks, so much for this information. I have wasted a ton of money on traffic generation, solo ads etc. and gotten very little return on my investment. This post is a God send.Looking forward to updates.
Thanks again!
Ken
http://www.marketingstrategybonuses.com
Gopal Iyer
August 5, 2012John,
Thanks for sharing the 3 traffic techniques. I have been commenting on other peoples blog and newspaper articles for quite sometime. It has been very good. I have one website ranked number 1 on google on a keyword for more than 6 months now.
Paul Whelan
August 5, 2012Hi John,
Great information, as usual, and thanks for sharing. Have people also considered Guest Posting on other blogs? I use this strategy and it works well for me, as the resulting traffic is always very well targeted. You also have credibility by default, deferred upon you by the blog owner. Cheers, Paul
Ed
August 5, 2012Hey John…
To me once you have the offer in place giving value to your targeted audience…and I’m talking REAL VALUE…then its kind of like what Ray Liota said to Kevin Costner in *The Field of Dreams* “If you build it they will come”…in other words I think the masses found you naturally on Google…I really do…because Google are simply going to rank you well giving you good exposure…
…simply because the topic and content is in-demand to start with and of course the content, be it free or paid for, will be closely related to that segment of Google’s readers…SO Google will give this content to them on a plate regardless of S.E.O….I personally get annoyed with ALL the hype around S.E.O, it’s a bug bare of mine if you are concerned with all of that?
THEN…you not concerned with focusing on what your readers subscribers and customers want…I create content for my blog…and because of the honesty same as yourself that goes into it my traffic now is on autopilot and they love the content it’s what they want and they know where to find it…S.E.O…complete tosh leave it for the ADsense merchants!
At the end of the day your blog as ALL the links to your business in general…they go to it…you are not hit n miss on Google…it’s all about getting yourself known in your niche…then when these visitors see you on your blog they don’t look for you on Google because you now have *direct targeted traffic* to you…so like you say S.E.O…TO ME life’s too short!
As usual John great content great subject thanks John….John
Andrea
August 5, 2012HI John
Thank you for reminding me of these traffic techniques. I should contribute more in forums. I do not do it enough. So let me clarify when you write a blog post you do not even look for keywords in the keyword tool to write about? I mainly look for one keyword and then I probably use teh keyword two to three times in my post. Looking forward to your new product. Thanks. Andrea
John Thornhill
August 6, 2012That is true Andrea, I don’t do any keyword research as I write for humans, not search engines.
Val
August 5, 2012Hi John,
I asked on a forum recently what three things people would recommend doing every day to increase traffic. The answers were a bit vague. Thank you for your clear cocsistent teaching. Just about everything I have learned about Internet marketing , I learned from you. Your standards are so high they stretch me towards excellence. Great post and great advice, thanks.
Val
Ian McConnell
August 6, 2012Thanks John for this reminder.
In my experience it’s the boring traffic strategies that work the best. Blog commenting can be very successful IF executed properly. Usually the amount of comments on a post is only a small fraction of the people that have actually read the post and comments… So, your comment could be viewed by hundreds (if not thousands) of people.
However, your comment link will not get clicked if you leave 2 sentences saying thanks for the post.
A QUALITY comment that adds to the information in the post is going to make readers curious and want to know more about you. The same applies for forums… it’s not about the amount of comments you make in a day, but the quality of those comments.
Cheers
Ian McConnell
Western Australia
Shireen C
August 6, 2012Hi John:
Another great post!
I use ebay to drive constant traffic to my websites.
– place classified ad on ebay (free ebook + opt in)
– sell some low price mrr products
I’ve been using these methods since 2007, never fails me
Shireen C
Vic
August 6, 2012Hi John,
I have been a loyal follower of you for a long time, and I have in the past few months set-up my own new website… struggling a bit but hoping to eventually get there. I decided to use flexibility 3 free option… but with a paid skin. What I now need is traffic… and your post fits the bill
Then I suppose my site will need an auto-responder like aweber and hopefully I’m off to a good start.
If anyone is interested in Meditation… that is what my new site is all about: http://www.AlphaWavesAndBeyond.com
Thanks John for all your efforts in keeping us newbies up to date.
Regards
Vic
Spain
Dick
August 6, 2012Thanks John for this great post.
I am in week 15 of the partnership to success program. I am enjoying the training very much. I wouldn’t mind going a little faster but I am being patient. I have my graphics done and I’m working on making my mind map better. I will incorporate the suggestions from this post and will do these things everyday.
Thanks again for bieng my mentor.
Dick Weber
Steve
August 6, 2012Hi John,
Great informative post once again.
The 3 methods are pretty basic things to do that cannot be affected by any crafty techniques by Google which is a huge thing nowadays in particular for those who use to make decent income from “Sniper Sites” and now they are getting less and less effective.
Number 2 of your methods is something I simply do not do, this is my first comment on ANYONE else’s blog/website. So we’ll trial run it over the next 14 days finding subjects i can provide helpful content to contribute to and see what happens.
Knowing you’ll have my e-mail address from this post, can you either provide me with direct info on how to improve traffic to an ebay page or even offer some more great advice for your readers here on your blog. =)
Keep up the great work John. Much respect to you.
Steve
James Tan
August 6, 2012Hi John,
I am glad to have your One Month Mentor program, it is marvelous!You are my real mentor for the internet biz.
By far my internet biz have not enough traffic, if you are available please advise.
Thank for your time and support.
James Tan
peter hodgin
August 7, 2012Hi john
still working on my blog it’s a long slog but getting there life keeps getting in the way i have been trying to get my head around traffic generation for a while as you say free trafic does take a lot of work once you understand what is needed never thought about commenting on other people’s blogs etc
I have got my blog up finally not much trafic well none realy
but i will try a few of your tips and see if i get eny
great tips as ever john thanks again for your great effort to help
us newbies
pete
Dan Sumner
August 7, 2012Nice post mate, I would also like to add guest posting into that list as you know can make a big impact if you hit the right blog with the right ‘epic’ content!
I have tried my hand at PPC and seen some success with PLRM monthly, but not a huge amount. We make a profit, but nothing big. It’s all about getting your sites out, networking, affiliate marketing etc.
Great article JT.
Dan Sumner
Dean Thompson
August 7, 2012Hi John,
Regarding content I have always stuck by the principle that if you write good value, honest content, then you will always have the same writing style that people will get used to seeing.
Writing in an honest fashion will also mean you won’t find yourself jumping through hoops to please google.
Regards,
Dean.
Brent
August 12, 2012Hi John,
I will most definitely be buying this new traffic course, I don’t even need to read the sales page. I am currently taking your One Month Mentor Course, it is very easy to follow so far, just like all of your course’s are. I don’t really know how to properly go about driving traffic, I think I know some of the steps, but would really love a step by step plan to implement. I know that their are many traffic course’s out there, but I trust John Thornhill.
Thanks John for all you do for us beginners,
Brent Martin
Matt Morgan
August 23, 2012Hi John,
blogging is defiantly one powerful source to build up traffic, and gain followers.
Along as you provide some hot info which they can use, then you will benefit long term with traffic.
SEO Traffic can disappear overnight when the Search engines change their formulars which they do.
Matt Morgan
Kerry McNally
November 16, 2012Thanks John great post.
Kim From Online Marketing Training
December 7, 2012So true, for a long time I have been trying to find that secret to get rankings and traffic, but it simply just don’t exist, work is the only way to bring traffic, and blog comments, forum posting and videos can bring in a lot of traffic if it’s quality content you share at those places.
Thanks for a wake up call.
Dita from ebizdame.com
December 7, 2012Hi John,
Such a great post, as always. I think most online marketers, especially the ones who do not have billion visitors to their websites (like you)try various techniques and mostly fall prey to traffic scams or complicated techniques that don’t really work.
I am back to KISS (keep it simple sweetie) and I am following the good old traffic techniques that you so well teach in your Simple Traffic Solution course.
It is a lot of work, but establishing a business, be it online or off line takes a lot of effort. I believe that if one establishes a solid foundation with the simple, some may say old fashioned, techniques to acquire traffic it will become like a rolling snowball bigger and bigger all the time.
Cheers,
Dita
TJ Moore
December 7, 2012Thank you, John.
I love it when people take the time to share their experiences as clearly as you do. I think it is important to be honest with people. Those who are will make more in the long run.
I understand completely how frustrated you were with trying to get traffic. I have done much of the same as you. After a while I too found the secret was to simply apply myself to creating relations with others.
This works great!
zora
December 7, 2012Hey John,
Thanks for inviting me over to read your great post tips and trick on getting free traffic.Your right about PPC it totaly to much of a pain.
Regards
Zora
Shirl
December 7, 2012You are so right! No matter how many new traffic gimmicks that come out it’s the tried and true methods that will win out in the end.
Thanks for the reminder.
Uros
December 7, 2012John, this post is amazing.
IM is really hard in this days, specialy traffic. People don’t want to do this, because to much work involved and the results are not so quick.
Dave Ball
December 7, 2012Great Post John , I really like the part about being active in your niches main forums. Although I am only at about 100 posts in the warrior forum I do recommend trying to help at least 2 people a day in the hot topics that re trending in the warrior forum.
Also changing your signature to suit the topic you are talking about is a great idea, so if someone is having problems with getting traffic to there site, you could change your signature to ” 3 simple ways to get more traffic free” and then have it link to an article you have on your blog about traffic generation.
Thanks again John for a great and valued post.
Jhans
December 7, 2012If only all marketeers have the same simple mindset in generating free traffic. I agree with your 3 ways of generating traffic. BUT still are more if you want more traffic flow consistently
Awesome post!
Val Waldeck
December 7, 2012This is good solid advice. I, for one, am going back to basics! These three plus article marketing.
omecool20
December 7, 2012Great post
the comments alone are worth it as the commenters have left some gold nuggets on traffic generation tips. I think the fault of many IMs ( including me 😛 ) is that we tend to fall for the latest shiny method. In the end, IM needs work like any other business endeavour. 😉
Winchel
December 7, 2012Hi John thank you.
This is really great info you give us.Sometimes we tend to fall for new traffic loopholes.
Thanks again to remind us the true meaning of traffic.
Cheers
Winchel
Phil
December 7, 2012Hi John,
these are the classics under the non-SEO traffic tactics. I never thought they could really bring in traffic, but I tried it few weeks now and I start to see the traffic rolling in. It’s amazing what you did without SEO and I hope to do as well as you one day.
I think the hardest part about this is to keep on track. I can only do this for one website or maybe for one niche but not for many I think.
Erwin
December 7, 2012Hi everyone,
nice post John. The traffic always is a one of the most important thing in your on-line business. The other one is great content.
I’ve also tried all the traffic methods you’ve mentioned but now I’m focusing on the there you’ve highlighted.
And I hope if I will do it right I won’t be disappointed.
Thanks again.
Erwin
http://erwinmentel.info
Diane Hurst
December 7, 2012Thanks, this is helpful, to narrow it down to three things. There is also social media, but looking at it ALL can be just overwhelming. I haven’t tried forums much, within potential customers in my niche, though I’m in a yahoo group and Linked-In group for vendors in my niche– that’s helpful for info and networking, but doesn’t give contact with the potential customers.
Israel García
December 8, 2012Hello John.
The truth is that only the work will give you a stable long-term blog, SEO is a business just for search engines.
* Another way to bring traffic to your blog is to share your articles on document sharing site.
Greetings.
Val Mitchell
December 8, 2012I found this blog to be so interesting. I had never thought of pinning it down to just these 3 methods. I havent dont much in forum marketing.
I have spent a lot of time in classifed advertising – which doesnt seem to be working so well anymore.
Samuel Heins
December 9, 2012Super good stuff. I always like a blog post with great content and HONESTY. The free stuff has a problem and that is it requires work. Truth.
I do not do much blogging or posting on forums so this is a great lesson. thanks
Michael Oberhausen
December 10, 2012Hey John,
Great post with truth that should inspire us to want more for our businesses and that we are not born with silver spoons in our mouths…that this marketing stuff takes work..so chop-chop you can read this anytime, get to work!! Thanks for the insight, Michael
Tracey L. Moore
December 26, 2012Thank you for these tips. Once I get my website up and running, I will definitely start blogging and getting involved in forums in an effort to promote my book effectively.
Tracey
Author of the upcoming book, Oasis For My Soul: Poems and Inspirational Writings for Spiritual and Personal Growth
ray menecier
December 30, 2012Hi John At this time I am on day 9 of your 31 days of mentoring.
if you look at my site above you will see that I got Steve to make me a heading and footer.I have added 2 Squeeze pages every day so my site gets added to on a daily basses.
As I progress through to day 31 I should have a good site up and running.
Of all the people that I have dealt with YOU and DAVE are the most concentrated people that I have ever dealt with.
So far thank you very very much
Ray Menecier
RichardP
January 1, 2013John, I have tried all three of your techniques with mediocre results – but when I read this sentence in your blog post “I promise if you spent an hour a day implementing the 3 traffic generation methods I’ve just mentioned you would probably drive enough traffic to earn a full time income after a few months” I recognized that not too much works unless you work at it consistently – and I have not been consistent enough.
Thanks for prodding me to apply more focus on increasing my traffic and developing my lists.
Paul
January 3, 2013John,
Great post and I am guilty of being sucked in to many paid traffic scams.
I have a question. If i was to implement your 3 strategies above would you recommend linking to a squeeze page and building a list or linking to a blog?
Look forward to hearing your answer.
Thanks,
Paul
L. Conrad
February 6, 2013Thanks John. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me because I find paid traffic to be too expensive and stressful to keep up. I started using free traffic methods and as you said, it calls for work but it does eventually give you steady results in the long term.
frank Rijkers
February 26, 2013I recently joined Simple Traffic Solutions because like everyone else I need more traffic and require help. My biggest problem is I keep wasting time, money and get distracted on the next new shiny offer that comes along. I realise there are no short cuts but what gets me is that these offers usually come from the very people who are mentoring me through their news letters. This throws me off track so when I should be concentrating on the tried and trusted long term methods, I waste time looking for a short cut. Thanks for redirecting me back on course.
Roger Weavers
March 11, 2013Hi John,
I have relied on SEO for my traffic for many years, I have also done PPC but both take a lot of time or money and over the last 18 months this has increased dramatically. I think if I had devoted all my time to blogging, commenting and posting on forums instead of keeping up to date with the latest SEO algorithms and strategies I would have probably generated just as much traffic.
I will continue to use SEO for some websites (espiaclly my clients’) but for certain niches I think your traffic methods could be much more effective.
Cheers
Roger
Don
March 17, 2013Hi John, I have a golf school website and need to know which media I need to try to get targeted traffic to find my site. I also would like local traffic to find my site.
Thanks for your time
Don
Roger Weavers
March 18, 2013Hi Don,
If you want local traffic the best why is to get a Google+ Places page and post your details on local directories. Make sure you local address and phone number is clearly visible on your website.
I took a quick look at your site and I could not see your location. Do you operate from one club or do you travel around?
I have achieved many number one rankings on Google for my local clients so if you need some help feel free to contact me via my website.
Regards
Roger
Don
March 19, 2013Hi Roger, Thanks so much for your reply. I will check into Google + Places page. I teach at one main golf course for my school and my local teaching is at a different location. My main market for my school is here in Texas for the most part. When I had the school 15 years ago I had students nation wide but the economy was much different at that time. I taught the schools for an established golf school and at that time they did the advertizing in a golf magazine. I have found on my own that getting traffic to my site is not a simple task.
Thanks again
Don
Guy Martin
March 29, 2013Hi John,
Just received this post in my email today as I just recently signed up to your blog. Am also a member of the one month mentor and I find you simply refreshing. I’ve been writing a post a day for the last couple of weeks and my goal is to keep going. Checked my ad-sense tally and it’s registering about 40 views each day. I’m going to follow your 3 recommendations and this is number 2. I’ve yet to try my hand at number 3. Where should I be looking?
Thanks again for your help.
Guy
Tega
May 13, 2013Hi Guy,
When it comes to forum interaction, it may take some time to actually find a good quality Forum, and when you do sometimes you have to pay just like Warriorforum. you can find forums by carrying out a google search, or even Bing.
All you need to do is “Niche+Forums”, so if your niche was dog training you type “dog training forums” in the search engines.
Just make sure that you find an active forum and whatever you do please refrain from spamming as that will likely hamper you reputation.
I hope that helps you.:)
Kitty Jellinek
June 4, 2013Well I agree with most of what you say John. However I believe you left out a very important ingredient. Firstly leaving comments on blogs and forums, article marketing and press reviews will generate traffic. Naturally people will visit your site if they are interested to find out more on the topic you are discussing.However to get your site to the top of Google search is still the best draw card – and you can do that and stay there through all the changes Google makes. I know because I have had 3 sites at the top of Google for over eight years and they each bring in around 90,000 visits per month. Actually, I get these results by doing what you suggest – with one important ingredient added to maximize your efforts in the search engines eyes.I don’t call it SEO [search engine optimization]- I call it WSO [WebSite Optimization]. I have a free tutorial on my website with step by step instructions if you are interested to take a look – absolutely nothing to buy no list to join just pure information gained from years of real experience at the Kimbro’s Study.
Mario Arnero
June 16, 2013Over the past 6 months, the learning curve has been steep, but the results are finally materializing. This June, my site reached over 10,000 unique visitors, and is oftentimes close to 1,000 visitors daily.
Thanks for sharing!
Miller Grace
June 29, 2013I admit that I hardly paid any attention on updating the content or sorting out an inaccurate,out-of-date material on my page.I can now understand that could be a reason that I had very few visitors on my Business Page.I think I’ll focus more on my page content than other insignificant things as you have suggested.You have made a good point that keeping the track of your own post,sharing on social media,liking and replying on the comments and commenting on other forums can be a productive way as it can set up a good rapport with members and will help in publicizing your page and expanding a fan base.
Bob Gilson
July 25, 2013Hi John,
I admit, I have bought into a couple of traffic systems, mostly systems that sounded like they offered something really different on the Warrior Forum. My experience has been that most of them just find new ways to write about old systems. One system did seem to be new – that I tried. …but it didn’t work.
The only problem I have with forums is the same problem I have with using social media – it can be a huge time-sink. Personally, I can’t afford that time right now. It takes a lot of self-discipline to keep that under control.
In place of forums, I submit ezine articles. It takes some time for results to start filtering in. However, I personally spend less time writing articles than I end up spending on forums.
I also agree with you on th classic forms of paid traffic. My impression of PPV, PPC, etc., is that you had better have a fair amount of cash reserves. I can see those methods getting out of hand in a hurry. I have better uses for cash reserves than paid.
advertising. LOLO
Thanks again. Great article to jog people’s memory.
Bob Gilson
Robert Watkins
July 25, 2013Hi John!
Great information as always! I’m afraid I fall down on all three of the methods you discuss…
I really must try harder! I think I’ll start with method two!
Rob
Donald Gavin
July 27, 2013Hi john,
You make some excellent points. I am`just starting out and cannot afford to pay for traffic so I only use traffic generating methods that don’t cost. The great advantage of the methods you mention is that they force you to provide good content.
There is no point in commenting on a blog unless you say something meaningful and by submitting good quality articles you almost can’t miss generating traffic. The end result of providing good content in your traffic generation efforts is that it flows over into everything else you do. So your own blog posts are better, the products you create are superior to what you might create otherwise.
Donald
Chris
September 6, 2013You make some good points here and I totally agree with you with regard to PPC, especially Facebook. SEO, however, if done properly can yield excellent results particularly when you get your keyword research right. I’ve bought your course last week and am still going through btw. Some good titbits there for sure. All the best.
Graham Snell
September 24, 2013Thanks John.
This post is very timely for me as I haven’t posted a blog in awhile and wrote one earlier today. I had just decided in the last couple of days to spend my time on my blog and establishing a presence in facebook groups and forums. I was getting no results on other free traffic sources such as traffic exchanges and safe lists. So your post has given me a lift. Thank you
Connie
November 24, 2013Hi John:
I couldn’t agree more, I have spent a ton of money on e-books, video’s, and other people’s courses trying to learn how to get traffic and nothing works. I was about to try Facebook Ads again but you have just changed my mind, I will do as you suggest and check out doing forum postings, commenting and posting more on my own blog.
Great post…thanks!
IPAS Online Business System
December 4, 2013Great post…forget google
there are so many ways to drive traffic for free to help build and start up your business. You helped me build my business so I thank you for that. If anyone is reading this and you don’t have Simple Traffic Solutions you need to get it now.
Mark
January 31, 2014This will help me to get a better statr thank you
Steve Harrison
February 6, 2014Hi John, timely article for me as I’m endeavouring to post content on my site and then support it with Facebook, Google page, Twitter etc at least 2-3 times a week (at the moment!). Being fairly new into IM sometimes I feel a little intimidated by others more advanced knowledge when looking at forums. What can I usefully add ? – I’m refraining from adding the nice-article comments but maybe over time as my knowledge and experience grows I will have valuable nuggets to post – or should I just get stuck in? I have your guide and from your comments here – I will now read it!!
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