Matt Way’s Blog » archive for April, 2007

Get Web Traffic Not Links

  • April 5th, 2007

Usually when I think about search marketing, I think of getting links to my site. Most of my client understand this aspect of the web yet disregard the opposite - the need to link to other helpful websites that are related to your own. In fact, just the other day, I had a client come right out and tell me that they did not want to link to any other websites. I was dumbfounded.

The Problem is in the Basic View

So why do people make these mistakes? Well, one cause is that they are thinking from the wrong perspective. They have a ‘got to get links mentality’ rather than the ‘got to get traffic frame of mind’. Yet when one operates on this foundation, she misses the opportunities that exist for traffic.Buying traffic verses links brings more benefits.

So, what is the difference? Well, let’s look at an example.

Promoting Branson Area Real Estate

Real estate agents in my area consistently seek better rankings in SEs, yet few of them are willing to give outbound links to related sites. What can they do? Well, one option is to buy links to their website (which, by the way, many do) and thus not have to give a link in return.

Seems like a great idea right? Well consider this option:

In Branson, there is a marketing company that has put together what I believe to be an excellent concept that is designed to push traffic to a real estate agent rather than just links. Browse around at this Branson real estate TV channel and you’ll see what I mean.

First, this concept has a website to promote all the REALTORS® in their members database. Second, the concept carries a 24 hr. cable channel devoted exclusively to the showing of homes in the Branson area. So not only are there benefits coming to participants from the Internet through the link provided on the website, but they get the community awareness through the television channel as well.

Along with the web and TV traffic generation, the company that designed this concept also promotes the channel through TV commercials and print advertising so the effects are compounded, not to mention a variety of other important benefits. In fact, the website has an entire section discussing the advantages to real estate agents using HomeStation.TV verses traditional methods of marketing property.

In short, when a real estate agent purchases advertising from this marketing company, they get advertising for their brand across a variety of mediums instead of just a link to their website. To me, it just seems to make more sense.