Can You Build An Online Business Without Google Traffic?
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This article was inspired by Sage Lewis who made one statement in particular, which I think is worth reflecting on a bit:
“It is very possible to build a business without Google traffic.”
It may not seem like it sometimes, but I believe Sage is right. Do you? Can you run a business without Google traffic?
I think that most online business who have done well for themselves are those who for the most part have stayed away from all those “Hyped-Up” fire-sale, push-bottom wonder solutions most of us have fallen for. I for one will confess to have fallen for a few of them and not only ended up losing time, and effort, but money as well.
So how can you survive without getting your traffic from Google?
The all mighty “G” has been telling you how to do this from the very beginning, and now have come up with two changes in their bot algorithms that have drastically impacted a segment of online marketers.
First was Panda. The Google Panda update targeted “low quality” sites. These sites not only had low quality spunned articles which where created without any concern for their readability but they also had links to other sites which for the most part where stuffed with ads and little if any valuable content for their readers.
Danny Goodwin from Search Engine Watch wrote a really good article about the Google Panda Update. He wrote about “How To Make Google Trust Your Site” and how Google defines “Low Quality”.
The Solution
I remember when most of us migrated to Twitter, and Facebook because of the promised made by certain Gurus. Principally, that we would get “server melting traffic”. Remember those accolades? Although it was just Hype, the truth is that the concept was good, and still worth including in your traffic getting strategies. However; the way some Internet Marketers went about it created defense strategy adopted by Twitter which penalized everyone who had adopted an automated strategy to building followers.
After using Twitter for a few months I managed to get a few of my Twitter accounts up to over 50K followers. I was not following the spamming strategies used by many, but because I was using automation my accounts were suspended. I can not tell you how dreadful this was for me. Some of those accounts where only posting articles generated from one site only and where also posting information found in other sites which where thematically related to my niche. But when Twitter droops its hammer, unless you are a celebrity, your account gets suspended if suspected of using automation.
So the solution is to focus on your market
If you are going to use Twitter and or Facebook, then focus only on your marker. Target your buyers, and give them useful and practical information and or tips related to your products and or service.
This will not get you tens of thousands of followers, but you will get potential customers. You will get followers interested in your products and or service and this will increase your conversion rate.
I have a site which only gets about 1000 new visits per month. But I make around $300/month from it, and the average price of the items which I sell is $400.00
The point I’m trying to make is that if you invest time and energy into focusing on your target market, you will be able to better understand who your buyers are and what they are looking for. With this information you will be able to target them more successfully, and hence direct them to visit your site.
The New Successful Online Business Model
Truth be told, there is not “New” business model. Just a change in strategy or focus. What I’m saying here is that your need to get over the “Hyped Up” pipe dream of building hundreds of sites each making a few dollars per day. I too fell victim of that pipe dream, and now just focus on a few sites which are well targeted, thus need very little attention from me. I now spend my time on the sites which make me the most money with the least amount of traffic. This are my Super Targeted Sites.
Get back to the Basics
Get back to the basics of:
Become a student of the industry. Use freely available tools like Google Trends. Go to the major online retailers like Amazon, Overstock, eBay and others and look for whatever is selling really hot, and find a product you can feel comfortable selling. This means you “know” something about the product, or can learn enough about it in order to write insightful useful articles which your readers would find beneficial to them.
The bottom line is that whenever you write an article do so as if Google did not exist.
This means that you are going to focus on what your target client want and needs. Focus on that, and the rest will fall in place like magic.
