In the past we\’ve talked about some more traditional ways on how to get traffic to your site. Today, let\’s discuss some of the new ways to do this that have started to crop up over the past couple of years:
Non-Text Traffic:
This means traffic from videos, images, and photos. Video-sharing sites are highly popular as are image- and photo-sharing websites. If you optimize your content (videos, images, photos) you might rank high within such sites, which will drive more viewers to your content.
In addition, this can also drive more traffic to your site from the dedicated and major search engines. The more popular your videos or photos the greater the chance your content will turn up when doing natural searches. That\’s your additional traffic. You need to take video and image/photo optimization seriously as search engines are paying much more attention to it and will continue to do so in the future.
Wiki Traffic:
This is traffic from knowledge and encyclopedia sites. We all know Wikipedia\’s links do not matter for SEO anymore. Yet, they still bring lots of traffic, which still surprisingly comes from search engines. This happens because lots of Wikipedia articles are still coming up on the first positions in both Google and Yahoo! for many highly searched terms and thus the most clicked as well. Inside the article page, people who are interested in the subject are exploring it further by clicking the external links. That\’s how they come to your site through the searches.
This shows that Wikipedia can still get you lots of targeted traffic from it. However, Google is developing its own wiki-site called Knoll. It\’s going to be a real rival for Wikipedia someday if they really put their heads into it. Also, Amazon, one of the best optimized sites of all time, has a wiki in beta called Amapedia. When Amazon products come up, they can dominate natural search results by showing entries for Amazon and Amapedia. Look for more corporate wikis to start popping up as this trend continues to develop.
Widget Traffic:
This is traffic from small toolbars, and applications that are collectively known as \”widgets.\” Widgets didn\’t even exist until a couple of years ago and have soared in popularity even since. They are designed to be shared on other web sites, which makes them a good traffic source.
There are many popular sites to place the widgets at and generate traffic from there: iGoogle, Myspace.com, Flickr, Facebook, etc. Plus, they can be placed on your own site for people to access as well as stored locally as a desktop application, a browser extension or a toolbar. If properly optimized, widgets can generate a lot of traffic and even more importantly can help with SEO rankings for any website. This is because the widget posted on blogs and sites are counted as links, and it can be one of the easiest link-baiting techniques: when links appear without your interference.
Mobile Traffic:
This is traffic from mobile phones and similar mobile devices. Google is once again the leader even in this nascent category but Yahoo! also fares well. Still, mobile search only represents a tiny fraction of the overall search market but will no doubt grow in the years to come. A unique issue with mobile search is that many of the carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile have their own mobile search engine and often use that as the default for users.
Google, with its Android initiative is entering in the mobile space in a big way but for now it\’s still not certain who will prevail. Plus, as more and more users start using mobile devices for their searches, especially for location based searches, there will be new changes in search algorithms and the results might be delivered to users by automated presumptions based on search history, preferences, local and cultural limits, etc. The web is going to be much more personalized and it\’s going to be mobile. Be prepared for this!
Local and Offline Traffic:
Local search marketing is a good traffic source that many marketers forget to utilize. It\’s free or cheap and is highly converting, especially when your business is local. The number of locally concentrated sites and blogs will only increase, so make sure you are represented on all maps and local sites.
Offline events can drive search as well. All you need to do is to act in a timely manner with your both natural and paid internet marketing activities. Business cards, posters, and original campaigns will drive traffic as well. Just get creative; don\’t say much; intrigue them and make sure your web-location is clear and easy to remember.
Conclusion:
As you can see, search engine technologies and strategies are constantly evolving, and you need to make sure you stay on top of all it to ensure your SEO efforts are as productive as possible. Until next time\”¦
Shavkat Karimov
Director, Online Marketing
mobileStorm, Inc.
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