16 August 2010 ~ 6 Comments

Traffic Generating Techniques

Traffic is the key to a successful website, and a domain, for that matter. The earning potential for affiliates and link sponsors as well as featured ads is a function of what traffic will participate in the lure of services and goods for sale. But so many domainers expect traffic without putting out sufficient incentive. The lure of a site must be established for traffic to evolve in significant numbers.

The time and efforts that domainers will put into domain development varies. The investment some domainers are comfortable making may skip the right name and focus all the marbles on the wrong name. The more names a domainer adds to their stable, the more the effort for each individual name will diminish. Advice can come from all sides, qualified or unqualified, and mean nothing or everything.

Partnership is key to developing domains intelligently. Unless the independent domainer forges ahead with a team of inspired specialists, the registered domain will languish inside the locked vault of the parked page or lie fallow in the doldrums of the hosting account. That’s a lot of wasted  Cnames setups and idling frames redirect records.

These types of scenarios generally increase the value of a domain name very little. Many domainers operate alone, with hundreds of name waiting in the wings undeveloped. Partners can break down the benefits of link promotion strategies and help make decisions regarding text contributions and editoral calendars for content posting. And the main thrust of the impetus forward can be put toward a tangible goal.

Domainers rolling their sleeves up and developing make money. Otherwise so many domain energies are wasted in pointless debates between ad types, website features, or value appraisals that don’t really add to the bottom line. Posting on discussion forums can help a newb domainer learn, but many busy domain portfolio managers are much more concerned with marketing their names to buyers directly.

Sales pitches without teeth tend to be ignored or dismissed outright. The pumps for a domain buy needs to be primed when the transaction is domainer-to-domainer. Just shoving the domain onto the market rarely brings a satisfactory return. Savvy domain shoppers want stats and traffic volume to cement a bid. Without these a domain offering can sound like a desperate Hail Mary pass.

Undeveloped and/or unused domains are a huge waste. The importance of a road map or marketing plan for every domain at purchase is key. At the very least any unused (undeveloped) names should be directed toward a landing page of the domainer’s existing site to bolster traffic for a target name under review for development or sale.

These are the risks of domaining. And the rewards? Huge auction bids, online traffic in cascades of hourly clicks, and ad revenues piling up almost faster than the metrics can add them up. Or perhaps one sale happens with just one very happy bid that makes a domainer’s year. For prurient domain developers, this can be very feasible if they don’t overspend on media buys.

After all the Adwords, SEO, Article Writing, Media Buys, Blogging, Classified Ads, Social Bookmarking, and buzz, a big ticket domain resale is the goal. But not every domain marketing instrument is right for every site. The appeal of a website based on a speculative domain can be a delicate thing to manage or anticipate. Media buys for one audience can work whereas for another domain audience they fall flat.

And that’s just the beginning. There is always the hook of the promotion cycle at the social networking sites, ongoing link building, and negotiating and pitching to joint venture partners. Domainers spend the balance of their time wrestling with their hosting accounts and tugging names from one registrar to another. The most desperate go for email drops and ad swaps, which pose SEO risk for negligible return.

Adwords can work when the site had traffic. SEO is the responsibility of the webmaster. Article writing is a core foundation of any site strategy. Media buy investments like blogging, Classified Ads, Social Bookmarking, Facebook or other social networking, paid link building, and other sponsored appeals for traffic can blend into a nice fountain of online viewers.

Domainers, start your engines and rev up to speed new traffic clicks to your site today!

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