Combining Search Engine Traffic With Alternative Traffic Sources: 5 Ways To Do So

While we talk expansively on the subject of organic search traffic and SEO, site owners frequently ignore other potential sources for visitors. The argument is often presented that should a Google penalty come down the line, the other traffic sources won’t matter; they’re too small. However, we’d argue that the additional visitors and resulting revenue in the good times can create a defensive fund. This can cover a temporary problem with Google ranking, and time to remedy it or launch a new site in its place.

Also, if you wish to list the site for sale later, diversified traffic and income are looked upon favorably against other listings with single sources of traffic and revenue. The former usually command a higher multiple of earnings due to this too.

Now that you’re hopefully sufficiently convinced about needing a diversified traffic profile, here are five ways to do so.

Use Audio Ads For Brand Attention

Getting on major cloud music services or radio stations with an advertisement used to be expensive for ad production and difficult to get the ad time. However, that’s no longer the case with audio ads because they’ve gotten more sophisticated. To advertise on Deezer, SoundCloud, Spotify, Pandora, and others, it’s possible to use Decibel and their audio ads. Creating an ad is simple. Various voice actors can be selected based on gender, age, etc. So, you can produce the ad copy but also specify the level of enthusiasm, and how old the voice actor sounds too. Then use specialist targeting to select the audience who can hear your ad.

Drive Engagement Via Social Media

While social media can take a lot of time to keep up with, it’s invaluable for reaching people who won’t hear the advert or find your site or brand through another source. For smaller businesses that don’t feel they can keep up with 3-4 social networks or aren’t going to be hiring a full-time social media manager, pick the most valuable one for your industry or niche, then manage that platform well.

If you’re unsure which platform will be best, look over the social media profiles of your peers. A deep dive into their followers on various platforms, retweets, and other activities can establish their primary social media platform. Also, look at the SimilarWeb analysis to confirm which social platform drives the most traffic to their sites, then follow suit.

Use Reddit To Your Advantage

Reddit can be an excellent source of the traffic to a website when managed properly. Each subreddit is controlled by moderators and there are different posting rules to make note of. Determine which subreddits are relevant for your business. Then push ahead by building out a Reddit profile through the activity that’s useful to other users.

Be especially aware of what type and level of commercial posting are acceptable on each subreddit. Posting external links is not always accepted, so check first. Also, posts will be deleted if they break the rules and usually won’t become do-follow unless they pass a certain threshold.

Develop A YouTube Channel

A YouTube channel has become more relevant for site owners, many of whom might have previously dismissed the idea of starting one. As you will have seen, many Google organic search results are displaying videos first, then maybe quick links, and eventually the top 10 search results. For these queries, ranking with an article means losing out on videos on YouTube channels.

Also, looking beyond the SERPs, embedding a video in an article or a sales page proves authoritative. It goes to the next level in terms of professional presentation. Also, it meets the visitor where they are, with content that fits their expectations or their mobile requirements.

Use Quora

Quora has taken over as a dominant ‘questions and answers’ site where others have fallen by the wayside. What’s considered the best or most accurate answers are voted to the top, leaving usually better-quality answers for Quora users. Quora is a site but it also has an app to pull up fast answers when consumers are on the move. These can include links to other resources, so they can be partly used promotionally too. Just ensure that the best response is included where people find the right answer and may click through, rather than being overly commercial in the response.

In Conclusion

Traffic is available from numerous sources. Figure out how much time it will take to build up a profile and a valuable presence to engage with their visitors. This needs to happen up front but it pays off later. Even for sources that require more time invested to make them work, diversification benefits go beyond a few percentage points of traffic not originating from SEO. Also, as pointed out earlier, site owners with an eye to the exit should appreciate that buyers prefer diversification. They’re often willing to pay up for it too.

Read More:

• 4 Updates To Google’s Algorithm That Influenced The SEO Industry
• 8 Important Features To Consider When Building An Ecommerce Website
• Reverse Video: Complete Guide to Reverse Video Search Engine
• Making Your Online Presence Stand Out In An Increasingly Competitive Environment