Is FREE traffic time consuming?

[martinIM]

Are you using free or paid methods to drive traffic to your websites?

Is it very time-consuming and soul-draining?

Your opinion?

 

[Nytshade]

I'm using both but mostly rely on free traffic. You're damn right, free traffic is very time-consuming and soul-draining but the benefits are really great. I use paid traffic mostly when I'm split testing a squeeze page, a different niche or an entire funnel, just to get quick results.

Paid traffic works great, especially if you have a good budget, and paid traffic is easy to scale. So your business can grow really fast in a short period of time. There's a learning curve though which means you will lose some cash (or a lot) when you're just getting started.

Free traffic takes time and a lot of effort, but once you've built a good audience, then you have traffic on demand. You will need a lot of content though. It can be original or curated content but if people like your content and share it then you have a winner. You might get organic backlinks and get free search engine traffic from those shares.

And we all know that SEO traffic converts really well. Last night I was checking my amazon stats and realized the reviews I created (which are getting SEO traffic daily) are converting at 6% and sometimes 4%, which is really not bad because no relationship was built with the prospect.

Even my email list, most people come from search engines and optin via my blog. Another great thing about free traffic is that you get referral traffic (not sure if this is the right word). I get traffic from forum mentions I didn't even join, one of the forum members asks a question and someone recommend my link, I get a lot of those.

So after all the effort of building an audience from scratch, I can chill for 2 to 3 months without doing anything and still get traffic and generate sales. Yes, without lifting a finger simply because I gave people quality content and they're sharing it daily on social media, forums, magazines and websites I don't even know.

So free or paid? I go with free and like it when things go viral. I just love that feeling of seeing people sharing my content all over the net like crazy or looking at the stats and see 600 visitors a day from search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, Yahoo, Ask etc.

Nothing wrong with paid traffic though, I would use it any day and recommend it. When I started internet marketing I was introduced to free traffic and was able to build a big audience so I don't need paid traffic that is why I don't use it.

Hope that helps you decide.

 

[martinIM]

Paid traffic works great, especially if you have a good budget, and paid traffic is easy to scale. So your business can grow really fast in a short period of time. There's a learning curve though which means you will lose some cash (or a lot) when you're just getting started.

I agree with you about Free traffic.
If I go with paid traffic then which ones you will recommend me for low cost but getting more good results.

 

[Nytshade]

I agree with you about Free traffic.
If I go with paid traffic then which ones you will recommend me for low cost but getting more good results.

At the moment, I would recommend either facebook or bing ads for ppc traffic. If you're into video then youtube ads will be great and they're really cheap as well.

Another great paid traffic source that I don't see a lot of people talk about is reddit ads. Target a couple of sub-reddits and advertise your offer to them, the traffic is really active and engaging. The best part is that your link might end up getting truck loads of organic traffic if the reddit community likes it.

Hope that answers your question.

 

[Tina Golden]

Free traffic generation is naturally more time-consuming than paid traffic methods, but I wouldn't say it's soul-draining. Much depends on what you enjoy. Most good free traffic methods work well with content marketing, for example. Since I enjoy writing and creating other types of content, I don't find this to be a soul-draining activity.

There are also ways to work smarter, not harder, when it comes to content marketing. It's quite easy to re-purpose all types of content in order to use it on multiple venues to reach new audiences. Much smarter than creating brand new content for each outlet.

 

[Naveen Karma]

I think Paid traffic is very bad habit because it is not a beneficial and getting unique natural effective links to you website.
I suggestion to you that don't recommend this work and don't try this. Even you could punish by search engines that is out of rules.

 

[ulterios]

Depending on the method that you are using, most of the free methods used to get traffic for your website or blog are time consuming unless automated. If they were all easy then there would probably be less sellers trying to sell their paid services.

I use both paid and free methods for most of my sites, depending on what the site's topic/niche is.

Social media is a real good source of free traffic, as long as you aren't using their paid advertising methods.

If the free methods were all easy to do, then there wouldn't be much need for the paid methods.

 

[ProfMike]

I use both paid and free, but I am in a very competitive market and a combination of both is what works best for me.

I think a lot of the determination on what is best for your site is just how competitive the niche you are in really is. You have to take an honest look at your market and make a determination. As far as soul draining, I have never thought of it in that way. I consider it a challenge that requires a solution. I enjoy looking for the right solution. It is part of the building the audience.

 

[ims]

At the moment, I would recommend either facebook or bing ads for ppc traffic. If you're into video then youtube ads will be great and they're really cheap as well.

I tried Facebook some times but just for increasing Likes for fan pages, if choosing it for drive traffic to sites then very expensive, you can spend more money if targeting to US audience.

Social media is a real good source of free traffic, as long as you aren't using their paid advertising methods.

Just curious which social network is working the best for your site? how you measure it?

I use both paid and free, but I am in a very competitive market and a combination of both is what works best for me.

I think a lot of the determination on what is best for your site is just how competitive the niche you are in really is. You have to take an honest look at your market and make a determination. As far as soul draining, I have never thought of it in that way. I consider it a challenge that requires a solution. I enjoy looking for the right solution. It is part of the building the audience.

Obviously fee traffic is always good if you do right and I agree with you on this.

In some cases, paid services to increase traffic are more effective to get good results quickly. I bought paid services to improve traffic for my sites and forums, although they did not help directly or immediately but they are always a good option to increase traffic for sites.

 

[ulterios]

Just curious which social network is working the best for your site? how you measure it?

I have social accounts for all my websites and always have gotten the best results from Twitter.

As for measuring it you can use Twitter analytics but sometimes their numbers are off. I use shortlinks (URL Shorteners) for all the links that I post and that can give me the number of people who clicked on the links and went to whatever website I am promoting. You can also get an idea about if people are interacting with you if the like or ReTweet one of your Tweets. Nothing is 100% accurate for measuring results from social media but using these methods I listed above you can get a good idea.

Cheers.

 

[Kb24]

Are you using free or paid methods to drive traffic to your websites?

Is it very time-consuming and soul-draining?

Your opinion?

To each their own.. and if some of you guys want to chase after free traffic, be my guest.
But if I had to choose between free traffic and paid traffic, I'd choose Paid traffic - All day every day.

There's no comparison.

Time is your most valuable asset.

With most free traffic methods you are exchanging serious time in exchange for a small trickle of traffic.
And it's not worth it.

And even if you somehow manage to tap into social media to get alot a whole bunch of traffic one day.. so what?

It's not really dependable. It's not really scalable. So it's unlikely that it's going to last long.

With paid traffic I have something dependable, steady, scalable, etc.

I think most people get suckered into chasing after free traffic because deep down inside they have alot of fears and doubts. They are scared to death of paid traffic because of the 'risk'.. What if they spend $5 on an ad and lose it? surely it will be the end of them.

So many people chase after free traffic because it's Safe. it's not as intimidating.. and if it doesn't work out.. No harm done right? they didn't lose any money, right?

Wrong.

If you spend 6 months chasing SEO / social media or some other magical Free traffic unicorn and it doesn't work out.. You just wasted 6 months of your life.. That's time that's gone forever.

And time is priceless. Time is worth more than gold. On his deathbed, the richest man on the world would give all of his wealth to get more of it.. yet you just threw away 6 months of your life chasing a wild goose.

Not only that.. Free traffic is EXPENSIVE.. think about it.

Had you worked a minimum wage job during those 6 months instead and saved up money.. how much money would you be sitting on?

Depends on where you live.. but could be anywhere from $10k - $18k

So what if you just saved up that money and than did paid traffic? Imagine what you could do with an $18k budget.. you'd probably be in a WAY different position than you are now.. and wouldn't have all the stress / headache..

So is free traffic really worth it? you tell me..

 

[Ilyas]

I use both but what I love about free traffic is that most of them are showing interest in my product and go several pages deep. They also tend to convert better. With paid traffic, I see much higher bounce rates and less conversion.

 

[Dean]

Of course most methods for getting free traffic to your site are going to be more time consuming versus paid methods but that's the trade-off. You either make it easy and pay of get the traffic for free but spend more time getting it.

If free traffic was so easy then there probably wouldn't be much of a need for paid traffic services.

It all comes down to how valuable your time is!

Cheers, Dean

 

[KeralMTG]

Free traffic is nice if you can not afford to pay but you must be prepared to work. Most free things are not easy so you must work to earn them instead of paying.

 

[marka3441]

Free traffic might be time taking and soul breaking at times but its worth it. Gey your website on top using SEO and brand yourself on social medias while SEO is going on. By the time your result is in top, people will know about your company and do not use paid traffic services instead use PPC and SEM

 

[Storm]

Yeah free traffic can take some time but if you do a little each day or when you have the free time it really will not take away from the important stuff.

 

[Maria Marketing]

Right now I mostly use free methods myself but will soon be trying some new paid sources to test out how well they perform. Using free sources are going to be more work most of the time but since they are only costing you time and not money that should be expected.

 

[Ben]

If free traffic was easy and didn't take any time then why would people ever buy paid traffic? If it was so easy then everyone would be doing it.

 

[Traveler]

Free traffic methods can be time consuming but if you are starting out or if you can not afford paid methods then you must do this to help get traffic. Yes it can be some trouble at times but until you are ready for other methods then you must do this.

 

[ulterios]

Yes it can be some trouble at times but until you are ready for other methods then you must do this.

Good point Traveler. Traffic will always cost you something, either time or money. If you don't have the money to spend then it will cost you time, even if it's just doing SEO to get your site to rank better and gain more traffic that way.