Should Your Blog Be A Traffic Generator, Or The Traffic End Destination?
One question I hear asked a lot from people trying to make money blogging, is whether they should use the blog as a traffic generating tool, or whether the blog should be the end destination for the traffic.
It's an interesting question, and in this article I'm going to go over the answer...
Well, in fact I'm going to go over the answers, plural, because it all boils down to how you intend to use your blog.
One example might be that you are using your blog as a CPA hub - that means you want visitors to click on ads, or fill out forms, and you get paid every time, that's Cost Per Action.
The same thing applies if you are using Google's Adsense, you want traffic to click on the ads and you get paid.
Maybe you are offering affiliate products on the blog, and in all 3 of these cases, your blog is the end destination for your traffic.
A quite different model might be that you are using your blog as a way of providing content to your market, and offering them the chance to opt in to your mailing list in exchange for a report of some sort.
In this case, you are using the blog as a traffic generating tool, because you are going to be monetising that traffic further down the road, I.
e via the emails you will be sending them.
That may seem like an odd concept, because while you are using the blog as traffic generator, you still need to drive traffic to it in the first place! In fact, this logic may seem so odd that it confuses some people to the extent they never put a real plan in place for the blog at the outset.
Here's a third option which may confuse you even more...
Your blog might be *both*! Both a traffic generator and the end destination.
This is a combination of the 2 models I've covered, so let me explain.
If, for example, you have a blog which promotes affiliate offers, whether that's physical products or ebooks.
You aim for people to click on the offers there and then, which will make you a commission, but if they don't, you have an opt in box somewhere on the blog, which will allow you to have further chances later via the emails.
Now, I happen to prefer the 'either, or' options.
Whatever you decide, it's always preferable for a visitor to your site to be directed in one direction, the direction you planned.
That can be a direct click, or it can be an email sign up.
Either works well, and in my view it works less well when you offer both at the same time.
It's less focused that way, and after all the effort to get someone to your blog in the first place, you want their actions to be as focused as possible.
Going for an email sign up may seem like delaying the money making side of things, and to an extent that's true, but the value of each visitor in the long term is much higher, because you can promote to them repeatedly rather than just once.
And if you want to make money blogging, the higher value per visitor the better, right? So, to sum up, your blog can indeed be used as the end destination for your traffic, yes, but I prefer to use it as part of the traffic generation process to build an email list.
It's an interesting question, and in this article I'm going to go over the answer...
Well, in fact I'm going to go over the answers, plural, because it all boils down to how you intend to use your blog.
One example might be that you are using your blog as a CPA hub - that means you want visitors to click on ads, or fill out forms, and you get paid every time, that's Cost Per Action.
The same thing applies if you are using Google's Adsense, you want traffic to click on the ads and you get paid.
Maybe you are offering affiliate products on the blog, and in all 3 of these cases, your blog is the end destination for your traffic.
A quite different model might be that you are using your blog as a way of providing content to your market, and offering them the chance to opt in to your mailing list in exchange for a report of some sort.
In this case, you are using the blog as a traffic generating tool, because you are going to be monetising that traffic further down the road, I.
e via the emails you will be sending them.
That may seem like an odd concept, because while you are using the blog as traffic generator, you still need to drive traffic to it in the first place! In fact, this logic may seem so odd that it confuses some people to the extent they never put a real plan in place for the blog at the outset.
Here's a third option which may confuse you even more...
Your blog might be *both*! Both a traffic generator and the end destination.
This is a combination of the 2 models I've covered, so let me explain.
If, for example, you have a blog which promotes affiliate offers, whether that's physical products or ebooks.
You aim for people to click on the offers there and then, which will make you a commission, but if they don't, you have an opt in box somewhere on the blog, which will allow you to have further chances later via the emails.
Now, I happen to prefer the 'either, or' options.
Whatever you decide, it's always preferable for a visitor to your site to be directed in one direction, the direction you planned.
That can be a direct click, or it can be an email sign up.
Either works well, and in my view it works less well when you offer both at the same time.
It's less focused that way, and after all the effort to get someone to your blog in the first place, you want their actions to be as focused as possible.
Going for an email sign up may seem like delaying the money making side of things, and to an extent that's true, but the value of each visitor in the long term is much higher, because you can promote to them repeatedly rather than just once.
And if you want to make money blogging, the higher value per visitor the better, right? So, to sum up, your blog can indeed be used as the end destination for your traffic, yes, but I prefer to use it as part of the traffic generation process to build an email list.
