10 Steps to Success with Alternative Traffic

Presentation Title Here

Tony WrightCEO & Founder, Wright IMC

10 Steps to Success With Alternative Traffic SourcesJoe YoungbloodSenior Account Executive, WrightIMC

What is Alternative Traffic?

@YoungbloodJoe

Not Google Organic, Not Search, Not SEO

@YoungbloodJoe

1. Question:

But Google Organic / Search Traffic is free. Why would I want

to invest in Alternative Traffic sources?

@YoungbloodJoe

Update: Ex-Googler Says Forget About SEO

@YoungbloodJoe

Answer:

Protect yourself from major search engine updates, reach audiences

outside of search engines.

@YoungbloodJoe

Oh, the memories….

Image From http://mominthelastfrontier.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-need-good-battle-cry.html

What we thought Panda was going to do…

@YoungbloodJoe

What really happened

Panda Hit and Recovery

Image courtesy of Jerry West @ SEORevolution.com

@YoungbloodJoe

2. Vertical Search

– A search engine for one topic or industry– Drives quality traffic or leads– Cost money, typically per lead vs. Adwords per Click– Google moving in this direction

@YoungbloodJoe

Old and Varied

– Verticals have been around as long as the internet– Examples:

• Travelocity• Trulia• Expedia• ThePirateBay• DealWell.com• TinEye• Technorati• IceRocket• HotPads

@YoungbloodJoe

How to Win with Them

– Make sure you provide unique content to verticals

– Make sure verticals do NOT cache and maintain your content after your delete it.

– Provide as much data as possible, the more unique the better

– Gauge quality of leads / sales w/ back end CRM (ask me about Hubspot)

@YoungbloodJoe

Cons

There are drawbacks to using vertical search engines that must be considered.– If you’re not careful it will become duplicate content

– Verticals WILL compete against you in Google / Bing SERPs

– Typically do not provide link / citation of content originator

– Reviews and other Consumer Generated Content might have backlash effect on your website.

@YoungbloodJoe

Vertical Aggregators

– Social style list of resources / websites in your industry

– Typically drive high volumes of traffic in a short time frame, focus on time sensitive information

– Examples:• Inbound.org• N4G.com• Some sub-Reddits• Slashdot.org

@YoungbloodJoe

3. Advertising – Get Creative

It’s time to get a bit creative in your display advertising. Try making image or text ads with a unique call to action and continue the story in a congruent fashion on the landing page.– Avoid bland ads– Avoid overly active ads– Use Site / Search retargeting, do not overdo it – Refresh ads every 3-6 months

@YoungbloodJoe

3. Advertising – Retargeting

Retargeting Resources:– Remarketing Pro - http://shelleyellis.com/– Remarketing Network - http://fetchback.com/– Remarketing Network - http://www.chango.com/– Remarketing Network - http://www.adroll.com– Remarketing Network - http://www.retargeter.com/

@YoungbloodJoe

Sponsor Niche Website

Find and sponsor websites / communities in your niche or industry.– Forums– Blogs– Video Hosting– Deal– Review– Other

@YoungbloodJoe

Think Outside the Industry

– Focusing on websites just in your industry may not always work. For example Energy Drinks, computers, etc.. These products are of interest to general consumers. Find compliment websites where the users might fit your target segment.

– Examples• Travel Sites – Target family niche websites• Computer Sites – Target PC video gamers• Coupon Sites – Target mommy bloggers• Restaurants – Target local websites

@YoungbloodJoe

4. Social Advertising

– Make a post on your website? Start off by broadcasting it to your users.

– Was it Funny, Sexy, Smart, Informative or Entertaining?• If yes, consider purchasing ads on social networks like:

Facebook, Stumbleupon, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, Reddit

@YoungbloodJoe

Targeting Social Ads

– Facebook: Target by “Likes”, Geo location, Age

– Twitter: Target by Geo Location

– Stumbleupon: Demographic, Interest categories

– Vimeo: Custom – email advertising@vimeo.com

– YouTube: Demographic, Remarketing, User Type, uploader targeting.

– Reddit: Target by Sub-Reddit

@YoungbloodJoe

Reddit Ad Example

@YoungbloodJoe

Reddit Ad Stats

Twitter Ads: Promote Account

@YoungbloodJoe

Twitter Ads: Promote a Tweet

@YoungbloodJoe

Twitter Ads: Promoted, Targeted, Paid

@YoungbloodJoe

5. Guest Blog Posting (for traffic)

– Find blogs / news websites dedicated to your industry.– Offer to provide guest content from time to time.– If possible link to your content within the blog post, or list

as a resource.– If nothing relevant on your site or not possible, link to

your website in Author Bio

@YoungbloodJoe

How to Find Guest Post Opportunities

– Bloggerlinkup.com– MyBlogGuest.com– Technorati.com blog search– Google “inurl: blog [topic] guest author/post/contributor”– Google Blog search– Help a Reporter Out (not really guest posts)

@YoungbloodJoe

6. Other Sources of Referral Traffic

– Lots of other types of referral traffic just waiting for you to snag it.

– QnA Sites:• Quora• Yahoo! Answers

– Deal Sites / Coupons:• Retailmenot.com• SlickDeals.net• FatWallet.com

– Unique Offer– Forums– Yellow Page Listings

@YoungbloodJoe

Tips on Other Referrals

– QnA: Find questions on these websites you can answers. Spend a few minutes a week with an official profile offering your expertise for free to answer questions. If you have an FAQ page on your website with the info offer it up for further reading.

– Deal Sites: Offer online coupons / Give something away free.

– Joyent, a cloud host, reached out to downtime plagued Reddit with a thoughtful and humorous offer to host their website: http://www.joyent.com/blog/if-i-was-your-cloud-provider-i-d-never-let-you-down

– Forums: Participate in community discussion. Watch for hot topics, cover them on your websites blog, refer back to them in future conversations.

– Yellow Pages: Get local listings right, be at the top.

@YoungbloodJoe

Traffic From Free Offer

@YoungbloodJoe

Free Giveaways

Free Giveaway lead to learning

@YoungbloodJoe

Free Gift from Telligent / Big Social

@YoungbloodJoe

7. Video Marketing

– Make an entertaining video.– As simple as using a flip cam– Skype interviews, event videos, off the cuff videos– Answer in-depth questions– Kinetic Typography videos– Tilt-shift videos– Video mashups– People respond to humor, cats, dogs, babies, injuries,

flash mobs, unscripted slip-ups

@YoungbloodJoe

Video Optimization Tips

– Use more than YouTube• Vimeo• GamersTube (shameless plug)• Daily Motion• Live Leak• Meta Café

– Annotations linking out (in pilot / beta)– Video Sitemap

• In Google Webmaster Tools

– Video embed (your image + link)• http://www.tedxsmu.org/talks/behind-the-scenes-at-tedxsmu

-2011/

– Local video sites??• YouPlusDallas

@YoungbloodJoe

Traffic from Embed Video Image

@YoungbloodJoe

How to Find Video Ideas

– Persona Modeling / Target Segmentation• Know Your Audience

– Google Adwords Keywords for Complimentary sites • Aggregate keywords• Place keywords into ‘concepts’• Link concepts together for video ideas

– YouTube Keyword Tool• Keywords from YouTube• Equals Video content that people want

@YoungbloodJoe

8. Email Marketing

– Beating a dead horse I know, but make sure you leverage your own email list for marketing opportunities.

– Find industry / complimentary websites with an email list, purchase sponsorship of that email.

– Read This: http://www.copyblogger.com/email-marketing/

@YoungbloodJoe

9. Offline Traffic Sources

– Really? Can you get traffic online from offline content? YES!

– QR Code All the Things• Don’t link QR code to Facebook pages (shows a login field or links if user is

not signed in via their browser)• Track QR code with # or offline specific page• Make QR code look interesting. Use HowFarQR.com to put your logo in one

real fast

– Sponsor an Event

– Sponsor a local Band / Artist

– Host an Event

– Jump from Space <<<<<<<<<<<

@YoungbloodJoe

Dustin Perkins Band 1

@YoungbloodJoe

Dustin Perkins Band 2

@YoungbloodJoe

QR Code Digital Library

QR Code W/ Logo

@YoungbloodJoe

Do Something Out of this World

@YoungbloodJoe

Do Something Cool / Relevant

A tale of two brands being associated with President / Vice President debates in 2012– Pizza Hut: Attempt to force themselves into the debate

by offering free pizza for life to anyone that asked what pizza the candidates preferred.

– Red Bull: Mentioned by consumers after the last presidential debate when President Obama mentioned the space program, Red Bull had just had a guy jump from the edge of space.

@YoungbloodJoe

What Jumping from Space Looks Like on Twitter

@YoungbloodJoe

Timely mentions of achievement

@YoungbloodJoe

Consumers insert Red Bull into Presidential Debates

@YoungbloodJoe

10. Mix and Match

– It’s called the “marketing mix” for a reason.– Build your marketing mix for budget and time constraints– Combine as many steps as you like keeping both SEO

and non-SEO goals in mind.– Examples:

• Display ads, Free Giveaway, Email Marketing• Guest Blog Post, Video Marketing• Sponsor local band, QR Code w/ Logo, Free Giveaway,

Email Marketing• Make something cool, Social Advertising

@YoungbloodJoe

#Winning

@YoungbloodJoe

@YoungbloodJoe

FIN

Email Me: Joe.Youngblood@WrightIMC.com

Tweet Me: @YoungbloodJoe

Get Knowledge: http://www.wrightimc.com/blog