Now we’re talking bread and butter folks, which in the online world is summed up in two words: traffic and engaging/conversion. You could have a $10,000 hardcore-customized niche dating site but it means absolutely nothing without traffic. So, here we are, 2020 is in the distance, the digital realm is evolving at an incredible rate and you need to know how to get traffic in a way that has a future and won’t get your website penalized by the Google Gods.
That’s what we’re going to focus on in this 3-minute article. By the time you’re done you’ll have a solid grasp of how to do it or hire someone else do to it for you, and what kind of costs can be involved. Ready? Thought so…
There Are No More Shortcuts
You know what, how about you say that aloud with me just so it really gets burned into your memory?
“There are no more legitimate shortcuts to organic or paid traffic.”
Trying to game the system, or invest in outdated search engine optimization (SEO) is only going to lead you to trouble. The only real benefit to SEO anymore is optimizing your website so that it’s incredibly easy for web-spiders to index: meta-data and the foundational meta-details, descriptions, tags, etc., of the website from the perspective of search engines not human beings.
Other than that Google has methodically killed all the conventional SEO methods people used from about 2000-2013: guest blogging, low-quality backlinks, keyword stuffing, generic internet fodder posting, fake social media activity (bought likes, shares, tweets, etc.), and on and on the list goes.
What Does that Leave?
Two things really: legitimate and organic content marketing and paid advertising (typically PPC/AdWords). But, across the board what most online business owners are seeing in terms of PPC is that the cost keeps going up while the ROI continues on its downward spiral. So in reality it all comes down to doing it the hard/right way through content marketing.
The Basics of Content Marketing
Everything that’s published online under your brand is a piece of content marketing whether you think so or not. But common, it’s not that simple. The word “content” really minimizes the realities here. The Sistine Chapel technically has content on the ceiling but does that really capture its allure and value?
The quality-bar keeps rising in terms of blogs and web articles, videos, brochures, infographics, web design, ebooks, etc. It’s about producing content for inbound sales, leads and organic traffic. You pump out useful, authoritative, niche-focused and quality content that all leads back to your primary website or service site. People like the videos, blogs, and whatever else and through reciving that value from you build a relationship.
As your organic traffic goes up through hard work and content marketing, so will your position in the search engines. We’ve only scratched the surface so far, and here’s the two realities you need to face:
- Quality Content Isn’t Cheap: To really bring in quality traffic that has any hope of converting you need to provide them with useful, premier content that’s at least better or as good as your major competition! Even if you’re starting out with a small budget, it’s quality over quantity in every respect.
- It Needs to be Outsourced: Are you capable of doing everything yourself? Do you possess all the necessary skills and the time to accomplish all this in a manner that will come across well to your audience? The answer is no. These days it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re not a one-man-band. Everything has become so complex, and it’s only becoming more so with each month that goes by.
What about Costs?
Oh boy. Well, right now there’s really only one game in town. There used to be two, but then the companies merged to become the largest online platform for digital workers and professionals in the world: oDesk-Elance.
On either site you can set up an agency for free to post jobs, interview prospective employees (designers, developers, copywriters, project managers, virtual assistants, social media managers, etc.), hire them and begin building your company. You’ll find the prices run the entire gambit. It’s best to begin now and if you need any help please let us know. Thanks for reading!