Online Business Q&A

QUESTION:

I want to know about guaranteed traffic and click-through programs? They are free so I will probably use them but I want to know what to expect from them?

ANSWER:

Most "guaranteed traffic" programs aren't worth your time. Normally how they work is that they'll send you a certain number of visitors... sometimes you buy these visitors, sometimes you "co-op" with a bunch of other people in order to build up "credits" for yourself (start page and exit page programs are good examples). The more credits you have, the more times your site is displayed somewhere within the network of websites.

Because online businesses are forever trying to increase their traffic, traffic-generating programs will probably always be popular. But that doesn't mean they give results.

Over the years, I've tried guaranteed click-through programs, start and exit page programs, and even purchased a guaranteed number of visitors and banner impressions. With each of these I experienced dismal results.

However, like I always say, what works for one business may not work for another, and vice versa. If a free program is available and it interests you, by all means, it won't hurt to give it a try (assuming you don't get mixed up with anything remotely related to spam...). Just keep in mind that the visitors are often not very targeted at all... so the best way to use this traffic is to give away something free:

• Invite visitors to subscribe to a free newsletter, report, email course, stories, etc.

• Offer a free download - software, eBooks, reports, tools, worksheets, stories, etc.

• Feature a newsworthy poll. For example, maybe you sell CDs from your site. Direct your 'free visitors' to a poll where you ask, "Who will be the next American Idol?" To see the results, visitors have to vote... and after they vote, you can place a link to an American Idol CD on the results page.

Guaranteed traffic programs can certainly send you traffic - but usually it's not meaningful traffic. You don't want people to hit your site and then immediately leave... but instead, you want someone who actually interacts with your site.