Money Comes From Traffic? Wrong! It Comes From Targeted Traffic!

Read most blogs or guides that walk you through some super secret method for making mega-bucks blogging and you’ll find that 25% of the content is devoted to the method and the other 75% talks about traffic generation. Why? Because without traffic it doesn’t matter what you’re selling or how you’re selling it. But you don’t just need “traffic”, you need targeted traffic. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels.

What’s the difference between traffic and targeted traffic?

Traffic is everyone who visits your blog, and that could be anybody, especially if your getting your links out there. Targeted traffic is the traffic that visits your blog that would be interested in whatever it is you’re promoting. It’s a much smaller group of people but you’ll see in the following example why targeted traffic is the only kind that matters.
Judith owns a baby boutique and so far, she hasn’t been getting much business. Her only customers have been women who are expecting babies. Knowing that sooner or later most women need a gift for a baby shower, Judith decides to expand her marketing efforts and include the words “baby shower gifts” in her promotional materials.
So far, Judith’s on the right track. She’s getting more traffic and sales are increasing, but Judith wants more.
Judith also knows that all women can’t resist a good shoe sale, and she carries shoes in her stores. They’re baby shoes, but they’re still shoes. So now she includes the keywords, “Shoe Sale” in her promotional materials. What’s the harm, right?
As predicted, the traffic pours in. However, because Judith neglected to mention that she’s selling baby shoes, nearly all the women who walk through the door turn right around and leave. They came to Judith’s boutique looking for shoes, not baby shoes, and since there are none in sight, and they’re not looking for baby clothes or gifts, they’re not interested.
Judith succeeded in bringing in the additional traffic, but since it wasn’t targeted traffic, her additional marketing efforts and expenditures were wasted.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Judith’s erred in assuming that more traffic would mean more sales. Whether she blatantly misrepresented her product or whether she just didn’t know is beside the point. The point is, she had already proven that by zeroing in on one specific keyword – baby shower gifts – she could increase traffic and sales. It was a small increase, but an increase nonetheless.
Her next step should have been to target the buyers in her marketplace that would be interested in purchasing baby shoes, not just shoes in general. Again, it would be a small increase in traffic and sales, but any increase is better than none.
After that she could have promoted baby bonnets at Easter time, baby buggies in the Spring, baby snowsuits in the Winter, and so on. Each keyword she focused on would bring in another small increase in traffic and sales.
As it was, Judith had to work harder trying to sell something to all of that additional non-targeted traffic and in the end, she didn’t see a sales increase at all – because none of them were there for baby products.
Work smarter, not harder. It takes a lot of content to attract traffic to your blog, but it takes a lot less to attract targeted traffic – and those are the people who turn into buyers.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!