Article Traffic Vs Social Web 2.0 Traffic Hype
In the last couple of months, there have been some major hype about getting massive traffic from Web 2.0 sites.
As always, I would personally test these products out myself to verify if social traffic really lives up to what gurus are saying or have they even applied it themselves…
Wanna know the results?
Well, one of the methods I have used for my niche sites is using StumbleUpon.
Here’s how you can instantly drive 100s or even 1000s of visitors to your site with just one click.
You see, StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site where you can share your bookmarks or view what others have bookmarked.
Here’s a surefire step-by-step guide to StumbleUpon Traffic but there’s a downside to such traffic which I’ll reveal to you later…
Step 1: Join StumbleUpon at StumbleUpon.com.
Step 2: Go select a category that is related to your niche and add as many friends as you possibly can. (All of them must be related to your niche).
Step 3: After you have added as many friends as you can, simply Stumble Upon YOUR website.
Here’s what happens when you Stumble Upon your web page or blog post:
When you Stumble Upon a site, that site title and description will be submitted not only to your StumbleUpon account and will also show up on the StumbleUpon accounts of your other friends you have connected resulting in a massive exposure.
What you can do further is to join StumbleXchange.com where you can help others stumble upon their sites and in return they stumble upon yours.
Having taught you this, I guess I should tell you the truth about this kind of Web 2.0 Traffic…
Guess what?
IT SUCKS!!! Yes, It Sucks…sorry for showing you the step-by-step StumbleUpon guide, getting you all excited and pumped up ready to StumbleUpon….only to tell you that it SUCKS!!
Let me explain…
When using StumbleUpon on my sites, they did bring in a substantial amount of traffic but something was wrong. There was hardly any opt-in subscirbers to my mailing list which I had put on my site. (I had put in place a tracking mechanism)
That was when I realized the power of targeted traffic….
In fact, I get less traffic BUT more opt-in from EzineArticles.com than my Great StumbleUpon Experiment.
Here’s why…
StumbleUpon generates visitors that are mostly surfers who are curious but not necessarily targeted Traffic.
On the contrary, EzineArticles.com generates better traffic because those who end up on EzineArticles.com are prospects who are genuinely looking for solutions to a problem they are currently facing.
They are called “Solution-Oriented Visitors“!
These are the kind of visitors you will want on your website because they are the ones that are more likely to opt-in to your list and ultimately become your curstomers.
This is what I have discovered. You could try it out for yourself.
The fact that they are reading your articles on EzineArticles.com confirms that they are looking for how-to solutions.
However, the most important part of your article is your resource box. It’s what you write in your resource box that determines if the “Solution-Oriented Visitor” would arrive on your website.
I have seen many articles whose Resource Box does NOTHING to encourage the “Solution-Oriented Visitor” to visit their website and it goes something like…
“For More Information On Losing Man Boobs..visit www.getridmanboobs.com”
Instead it could be written as
“For A Limited Time, AuthorName is giving away a free report on how to get rid of your man boobs in just
under one week. Get your free report worth $27 at www.getridmanboobs.com now”
I bet the visitor would visit your site without even blinking…
The resource box should aim to accomplish only one thing:
An IRRESISTIBLE Benefit They Will Get For Visiting Your Website!
Try it out and let me know how it goes…
Craig
del.icio.us Digg it Furl ma.gnolia Netvouz Netscape Onlywire reddit Scuttle StumbleUpon Yahoo MyWebMay 30th, 2008 71 Comments posted in Affiliate Marketing, General, Website Traffic
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May 30th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Damn straight! Craig for president! But seriously… Thanks for coming outta the woodwork with this one and clearing things up - a very interesting (and truthful) analysis.
- David
May 30th, 2008 at 8:27 am
That is something I didn’t know. Thanks for posting this. I too write a lot of articles and submit them to Ezine Articles and they do give me targeted traffic.
I’ve tried StumbleUpon but not with a group. It sounds interesting. Although you mentioned the traffic’s crap…I’ll still give it a try. Perhaps I’ll get some subscribers. Thanks.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Right on with you there Craig
I only use social sites for getting search engine attention for my sites. I recently couldn’t get a blog to show up for a ‘company name’. Their website was number one but the blog didn’t show up.
So I posted an article as a ‘page’ (not a post) on the blog and made sure it received at least 25 Diggs from Digg.
24 hours later and the blog appeared at number two in the search engines for the companies name
Mission accomplished and realized the real (and quick) use of social sites.
Michael
May 30th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
To get more traffic i sign to all social networks i knew.
But no result.
When i got your email i didn’t read much because i know
if it’s from you, must be good.
So i went to the site StumbleUpon and then i was shocked.
What is wrong with Craig? Sorry i was to fast.
Then i came back to Blog and read the rest of the story.
It was funny.
Thanks for lesson. And all your help.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Craig, thanks for the test & the post… are there any decent companies to purchase traffic? I would like to buy some targeted traffic so that I can establish a matrix for my site..
May 30th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
You are right, and 100% agree with you. ezine provide quality traffic, people those looking for something, and they optin and buy. ezine work good for me. I think web 2.0 traffic is good only for adsense or pay per click programs.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
What i love is the way all thing can be misunderstood even the word refer to this in the true truckers lingo means the driving cooler or heater depending on temperature you set it at. Some places make you feeze and others get you really heated up.. see refer to posts above this post. lol but it does make you think i better look again just to be sure i red it write… thanks for the tips one day i’ll get it rite.
May 30th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Thanks, Craig, for sharing the results! We all have only limited amounts of time to deal with driving traffic, and I am regularly inundated with friend requests from sites I’ve never heard of. Sounds like my time is better sent submtting articles, which I do (and suspected were better anyway).
May 30th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Craig thanks for the very nice article you’ve just gifted us! My suspicion proved me right…that you will get tons of traffic from StumbleUpon but optin will not be as good as article submission. You saved me time and effort as I don’t have to perform same experiment you did.
However, I don’t discourage anybody from using StumbleUpon to dig more traffic. You may use this as another traffic stream especially if time is your asset.
I hope you’ll post more stuff of this nature.
– Ding
May 30th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
To Answer Kelvin, most of the sites out there(if not all) that promises to bring you targeted traffic are bogus…. Bogus in a way that they can never bring targeted traffic as great as traffic derive from articles…
I wish there were other ways around it and sadly, articles is still the way to go….(plus articles has also long term residual traffic effect)
Every article submited to ezinearticles or any other articles site will remain indexed in google for a very long time….plus you get regular visitors from ezinearticles… so it can not only bring you targeted traffic but for a very long time….as compared to Social Bookmarking traffic which brings in untargeted traffic that only last for a couple of hours….
And to also answer your software submission question…it’s a great idea as software also brings solution oriented visitors (only if you’re also selling the similar version of the software)…
The context in which the visitors arrives on your website is crucial…
Remember, if you’re selling ebooks or solutions oriented products…the visitor has to be a “Solutions Oriented Visitor” in order (at least to me) to qualify as a targeted prospect..
May 31st, 2008 at 4:21 am
Hi Craig,
Good info as usual….I am subscribed to countless no. of newsletters….most of which I dont even get the time to open, much less read.But I make it a point to read your mail.
Thanks & Best Wishes,
Robin Alex.
May 31st, 2008 at 4:39 am
Thanks Alex, I do my best to help folks out there…
June 1st, 2008 at 3:13 am
Hi Craig,
Thanks for your traffic research on Web 20 sites. What I have learn so for about Web 2.0 sites that you get instant traffic, but it dies down after awhile.
But one good thing you have to look at, that it creates a one way back link to your site or blog which is good for ranking.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:27 am
Hi Craig,
Thanks for revealing the secret and your own experience. I have also signed up at many social bookmarking sites and was wondering why I am not getting traffic. Your post has revealed everything.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:04 am
Dear sender
with you respect, that i am marketing officer in Noregian Afghanistan Committee (NAC) i would like to start my own business but i donot have enugh money to start my own business in kabul afghanistan so what is the prosiger to start business, and how, i have very good skill and 12 years expirences in leather works, making leather bags, jeckets, travel bags and shopping bags etc.
with thanks Nawab niazi
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 am
Yeah, traffic from social networking sites such as Stumbleupon sucks. I have discovered that last year. Sure, you can get hordes of instant traffic but they will not be around for long.
Better go for targeted traffic from search engines.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:54 am
Thanks for the info.
I have found the same with my sites
The best source of traffic that converts is still free search engine traffic
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
greetings, and thanks for the advice
I love posts like this because it gives invaluable insights into what’s worth doing and what’s not. There’s nothing worse than spending hours, days weeks, months……setting something up only to find the benefits of doing so have been questionable. In the overwhelming world of internet marketing it’s key to find a few strategies that without a doubt work and focus on them.
thanks again,
Keep choosing
Grant
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 am
This is indeed a very useful post.
Thanks for sharing!
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Excellent post. You really did pull back the curtain on this one. You are absolutely correct about traffic. Many people do not see the difference. Traffic by itself is worthless.
Targeted traffic is pure gold.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
I agree, but I disagree. (but who am I?, right?)
Anyway, same results for me… exactly. With StumbleUpon my traffic went up by 5 times! My opt-in numbers, raw numbers of opt-ins, actually went down - not just the percentage, but even the actual number of people opting-in.
My articles, though, have remained tried and true.
Now, here’s where I sort of disagree…
Personally, while using StumbleUpon myself (as a “stumbler” or surfer), I discovered a few sites that I would’ve never looked for. And there was a rare occasion that I would forward it to a bunch of my non-StumbleUpon friends, just because the site was so useful or funny - that it stopped me in my tracks.
So, you mentioned that “StumbleUpon generates visitors that are mostly surfers who are curious but not necessarily targeted Traffic”. That’s not bad. It just is what it is.
So the question for me, now, is not “How can I use StumbleUpon to drive traffic to my site?”… The question becomes, “Is my site something that would stop a StumbleUpon user in their tracks?”
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Great info Craig - but let’s not lose site of the “relationship marketing†value in social networking sites.
No different to turning up at your local BNI and throwing your cards at everyone.
Take the time to be contact and develop potential connections and see the real value emerge.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Thanks for your valuable tip. Yes, Ezinearticles and Press releases surely give you much targetted traffic that converts. But submission to social media websites also give you valuable backlinks which if properly optimized can rank your site higher in search engines.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
This is a good practical test of the optimal method of promoting a site.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Good practical advise. Keep it up.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 am
Thank you so much for cutting through the tech’ie garb,and sharing exactly how to do StumbleUpon, in simple instructions.
Thank’s again,
Tim Henderson - Timsbiz
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 am
That’s a wonderful post, Craig!
Thanks!
Andy
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
Yeah, you’re right, StumbleUpon brings untargeted Traffic.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
Nice post Craig. I agree. The hype around social sites is overstated and frankly I can’t see why so many people are in love with these things. I also agree with other commenters that you can get almost instant SE results from posts in Digg, Clipmarks, Propeller and a few others.
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Thanks Craig,
I do look forward to your e-mails, they do separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak.
Greg Johnson
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Hi Craig,
Thank for the info. I have tried StumbleUpon I can truly tell it is suck if you are targeting a specific market. Most of my quality traffic derive from ppc, squidoo, and forum signature.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for putting Web 2.0 traffic in perspective. Seeing the sharp spike in traffic that comes after you stumble a fresh article is exciting, but you’re right, it’s useless. I’ll concentrate on article marketing for more targeted traffic.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Just found this…and I must say it is an informative post and well written Craig. I love Ezine Articles and while others have always been complaining that it takes too time, or too much effort, this and that, I feel it comes down to your work ethic.
Some people like me, can crank out 6 articles a day easily. If you do the math that is a lot of traffic to your niche sites in a month.
I use Web 2.0 sites for networking, and backlinks. And video marketing has been huge for bringing me targeted traffic too.
Thanks for sharing a great post.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Excellent article. I especially like the point you make about the article’s call to action that will increase your odds of getting a focused visitor that will actually benefit your website.
Don’t forget the seo value of bookmarking.
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I guess they are then good for buliding link popularity? If not used for quality traffic, may be for SEO help in the long run.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Great explanation of the difference in traffic types.
I have long been an advocate of article traffic and the importance of building relationships for ministry from providing information that tells you how to reach a destination, not just that the destination is a good place to go.
Building online ministry relationship in this fashion provides a great foundation for what ever you desire to accomplish from the relationship.
A key component is to know the “NEEDS” of your target group. When your articles or blog posts satisfy the needs that THEY have rather than the knowledge you may want to deliever. They will eventually listen to what you want to deliver as a result of the relationship.
This does not happen when surfers surf. Only when relationships are built. Btw, relationships are the building blocks of ministry, anyway.
I agree that backlinks developed from web 2.0 can generate significant traffic that then can be used to develop the kinds of relationships that I advocate
Thanks for a great post
In Him,
JMb
Bishop James ‘I Feel God’ Brown
The Internet’s Favorite Pastor
Visit My Blog http://www.ifeelgod.org
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Craig,
Outstanding point! Your message really carries along to other elements of marketing, both off and online. You’ve validated a critical marketing rule and that is to spend your resources target your audience and niche. It doesn’t matter for squat how many people have seen your message. What matters is how many prospects in your niche you’ve reached with a targeted offer.
Thanks for sharing your findings.
Paul Flood
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Great post Craig.
I often wondered just how much traffic was coming from these type of sites and with your stats it proves the old systems still work the best!
DesDrec.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 am
Craig:
Digg can deliver some very valuable “targeted traffic” through an indirect route.
I submitted my blog post, Blog And Ping - List Of Ping Services, to Digg. Within 1 hour this post was listed as #1 at Google Blog Search for the keyword phrase “blog and ping”.
So, you can get very targeted visitors via Google Blog Search if your post or page is indexed. This approach will work in the general Google search engine for sites like Squidoo, when you create a lens.
Finally, you can use your article resource box to link with keyword rich anchor text to your blog post or Suidoo lens and have them rank high in Google that way.
Best of success,
Robert A. Kearse
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 am
Hi Craig,
Thanks for telling it like it is. I think one of the best ways to market to this group is to create some major controversy.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to create an uproar over metal detectors. haha
Mike
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Damn right you won’t get targeted traffic from web 2.0 sites, BUT if you generate revenue to your site mostly by advertising (Adsense etc.) wouldn’t it potentially be great to recieve loads of visitors? It doesn’t cost them a dime to click an advertisement, or fill out a short form (if you get paid-per-lead) to recieve something in your niche. And if they’re just curious, it is quite likely that they will click adsense ads, that’s in their interest field.
- Preben Frenning
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Intested in the free traffic ,Need help getting info down loaded
Thanks Bev.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Article Traffic Vs Social Web 2.0 Traffic Hype…
[[Article Traffic Vs Social Web 2.0 Traffic Hype
Craig Johnson wrote an interesting post on a comparison between using StumbleUpon to promote his sites versus writing art...]]
June 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Hi Craig,
That’s real straight shooting, and right on target. Bookmarking sites are just like traffic exchanges and list-building sites. Every visitor has got one primary objective — and that is to promote his or her own business offer.
There may be any occasional interest in what I have to whirl, but honestly the time and effort that needs to be invested is not worth the result.
Article writing, paid advertisements and targeted traffic are streets ahead than volume exposure like posting your url on 2,000,000 sites. Talk about a grain of sand on the beach.
Dan J.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thanks for the tip on the type of traffic that the social sites like StumbleUpon and Digg will bring. Wanting to try various SEO techniques to drive traffic to my site about ways to tolerate chronic pains like fibromyalgia and sciatica, I thought that StumbleUpon was a good fit. After reading your information, I see that yes, my site vinicent-d-holland.4t.com would get more visitors but the likely hood of the visitors actually reading my site and utilizing the information, tips, methods and products for tolerating pains quickly was between little to none.
I appreciate a straight shooter who will tell you like it is regardless of what you want to hear. You also follow up with good advice after revealing that StumbleUpon was only good to get clicks to your site but not real viewers and that EzineArticles was the better, more targeted way to go. I know that others like myself appreciate being able to get a straight answer when it comes to ways to get traffic to our sites for little to no money.
Again, thanks and keep putting out products and information that help make the internet a easier place to have a website.
Respectfully
V. Holland a.k.a Chronic Pain Hero
http://www.vinicent-d-holland.4t.com
June 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I have been submitting my posts to Stumbleupon and others for a while but it doesn’t seem to bring much traffic, despite what you are told. I suppose they are useful for backlinks and therefore SEO.
I find if I write a good original article and it gets indexed by Google that brings substantial traffic and lots of comments. It has to be totally original though, not a quick rewrite of some PLR.
Quality is what it is all about in the long term, not short fixes which disappear quickly.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Funny there is a website that combines both social bookmarking and article marketing called Qassia
You bookmark your site and then submit articles to raise the ranking of your bookmarks.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:14 am
What if you LIKE manboobs?
June 12th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Hi Craig,
Thanks for your very frank, pertinent and practical article. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Internet businesses start off with lots of promise, high expectations, nerve-tingling excitement and glorious colors. Netrepreneurs sign up for anything and everything — traffic exchanges, surfing for credits, social sites, site-building, viral marketing, and every new offer or scheme — ad infinitum.
The result is a ravaged inbox, exhaustion, mental apathy, stress, confusion and probably extended procrastination stemming from discouragement.
Social networking and their derivatives have their place but they seem more applicable for fun than for business. They also need an inordinate amount of time to maintain.
Selecting two, or at the most three strategies and focusing on these constantly and consistently will definitely yield more results. And article marketing is one definite choice.
Thanks for the pointer on the resource box. It’s excellent advice and without exception.
Wishing everyone a spectacular future.
Dan.J.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Hi Craig - Yeah I’ve seen spikes in traffic from stumbleupon but zero quality.
But don’t throw the baby out w/ the bath water.
Some people posting are confusing social bookmarking with social networking, social marketing, and social media as an overall category.
Yes it takes time but you *can* get high quality, low volume traffic from socnets when trying social marketing.
Also you can get high traffic, low-medium quality using advertising on socnets, e.g. Facebook social ads.
Some people I know and their affiliates are doing quite well. But don’t tell everyone
June 14th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Interesting take on things. I agree with you wholeheartedly
You’re right; a lot has been said about social networking sites and their ability to get traffic to your site but not much about it getting targeted traffic. That means traffic that will produce a desired result on your website whether it be signing in to an email list, clicking on ads or buying an affiliate offer.
I try to use social networking sites to boost traffic to my blog with varied results. I normally use SocialMarker to post to various Web 2.0 sites.
However what really gets the traffic counter running is a good article with an appropriate author resource box.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Hi Craig . Thanks for your update
I appreciate very much all the valuable
Information you ad to your blog
that keep us in line with the information
Age rape advance .
Louis
June 14th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Enjoyed reading this article, Craig.
There has been a lot of hype about web 2.0 and social bookmarking site traffic. However, I don’t believe one platform delivers more targeted traffic over another. From my experience, the deciding factors in whether or not you get targeted traffic are the quality of your content, how relevant your content is to the keywords you’re focusing on and your backlinks. I’ve been able to generate very targeted traffic from EZA, hubpages and Squidoo - actually I use them together to take advantage of their authority site status. As far as social bookmarking is concerned, I don’t do it for traffic; I do it to get an article site indexed quickly.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Hi Craig
Thanks for the great post, in the start , I had a great response from stumbleupon, but then like you have said in the post, the targeted traffic got less and less.
I get for more taffic with article marketing.
Regards
Alan
June 25th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Hi Craig,
It is alway refreshing to read what you have to say. Down to earth, with no “Hype”! I have read alot about Social Web traffic, have not gotten into it yet. I have listened to some cd’s on the subject matter, big name Guru’s, and yes they do get traffic, but they did say they didn’t know about the conversion rate etc. Just wanted to say keep up the great work of being real! There is so much over hype in this business. Have a great day!
LareBear
June 25th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Great stuff Craig…
I would have to say that Press Releases go hand in hand with article submissions; even more targeted and (sometimes) great traffic.
And just as you stated regarding articles, Press Releases stay in G/Y/MSN for a LONG time. I have 5 and 6 year old press releases still indexed by the Big G…
Thanks for the great info!
Jon Heller
June 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Ezine and MyBloglog is all I know since I started. Yes, it is true, there is nothing compared to article marketing. It would take me more time to understand about the other sorts of traffic generating methods, like clickbank and social bookmarks. For you who have no flair for writing, the good news is even non-English natives are writing …. but the sites are what attracts readers. See you at Ezine! and don;t forget to submit on other sites too!
July 26th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Hi Craig,
I just read your post, and I agree that Social Web 2.0 traffic is over-hyped! In my experience, most of it is fleeting, and few people will hang around to check out your site fully.
Yes, article traffic is more targeted and valuable.
All the best,
Laurie
July 26th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Very impressive Post.
I appreciate other like minded Marketers sharing the “Truth”
I am fairly new to the Internet, but have found it to be effective for what it really is…
A bridge of communication that allow one to develop solid Business realtionships with like minded people.
I have put my own little Blend of Web 2.0 systems that iI utilize Daily, fro less than 1 1/2 hours and my ROI has been a steady hundred dollars plus per hour, which is less than my Off- line Rate, but the ROI is Higher because of corse Overhead is Less.
So I am pleased
July 27th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I can’t believe I have missed this blog. It offers honest approaches to traffic. I found the same thing with stumbleupon. I used the social media tool for some time. Not the targetted traffic I am looking for. But ezine articles you may not get the volume of traffic but it is certainly more targetted traffic.
I will definately be watching this blog. Great info
Megan
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Thanks for clearing that up. It’s true that you can get good traffic from social sites. There are some good methods of generating blog traffic before you even hit web 2.0 sites. But do any of them work? I toiled away at a particular wordpress blog to create quality backlinks in about a week on a lower competitiion keyword phrase I’d established around 90. It currently stands at 134 backlinks and that is in atound 6 weeks. Not bad. Have I made any sales? NO!! I’ve only managed about three sign ups and as I’ve also promoted the products elsewhere most of them have been generated outside of the blog. The amount of time I put into the blog was enormous.
So now I know my time would be much better spent on articles and article sites.
What’s your take on Hubpages?
More great info, thanks for that.
Tim
August 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
It still boils down to Dan Kennedy’s marketing triangle. Market-Media-Message. This is assuming you have a good handle on your customer profile as well as your company and product benefits clearly integrated into your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
I see great value in social networking as a component of the marketing mix. Of course, the value is relative to the effectiveness and execution of your strategy.
What I particularly like about articles is that you have a visitor saying “I’m interested in hearing what you have to say” and if they like it, they may decide to take the next step in the sales cycle and move into your funnel.
Even knowing this, we still need to test each point of the triangle and what is effective today may fail tomorrow. That’s another powerful justification to creating an offline direct response marketing component to your business model.
What works best? Only testing will tell!
August 14th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
It’s all in how put words together, I definitely enjoy reading your posts, I wish I could do what you do.
August 25th, 2008 at 4:52 am
An illuminating post this one idol Craig. May you live to a thousand year!
August 25th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Great info Craig, I think social bookmarking is a good thing, but it does take time if you don’t already have a bunch of colleages or friends that use them as well. But in time they can be an asset to your online business!
Thanks,
James
August 28th, 2008 at 6:14 am
I tend to use onlywire for my social bookmarking needs
I must say that I agree with ‘affiliate marketing guide’s comment that the best traffic is the free traffic from the search engines. better conversions
I have not tried the Qassia thing mentioned by one of the commentors above but will give it a go, see what happens
October 18th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Very Nicely Done!
October 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Good article Craig, I figured it would be the opposite between stumble and article marketing. And I have dabbled in both, but you have inspired me to rewrite my resource box and start shooting out some well thought out articles!
Thanks, James
and p.s.: anyone wanting some free preoducts, click my link, there’s my resource for you guys now!!
October 31st, 2008 at 12:52 am
I agreee with you craig.
But don’t you think it is very “time consuming” submitting each of your article to different article directories. There are software but still it takes time.
If you have to submit one article, you may have to submit to many different article directories.
Where as social bookmarkmarking posting is faster. You can use auto social poster or book demon that submits articles in a flash.
Each of them have pros and cons.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:28 am
Glad you’re back:)
I have the Stumble plugin on my Firefox browser but only use it to see what new sites are have been added for photography (not my niche, just like nature shots).
Article marketing works for me and I’ll continue to use it. Ezine Articles is good, but don’t forget the niche article directories out there. They are smaller but bring in very targeted traffic, maybe only 2 or 3 new subscribers a day but I have people from them that have been with me since 2006 - not bad.
November 1st, 2008 at 7:30 am
hey, i coud nt agree with Craig mre..ezine articles are still one of the most targeted traffic it ll bring.