Which Comes First - Traffic or Monetization?

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I recently had a conversation with a very good friend of mine who has made a fortune in the natural gas industry as a consultant. I was asking him for some advice on certain parts of my business. He asked me what we do at 1Cat.biz. So, of course I gave him the 30 second elevator speech.

"We help our clients increase traffic to their websites and blogs, capture more leads and make more sales…"

From there he started to break it down. He said, "so I assume the very first phase of the process is to get more traffic to a website. Then, tweak for better conversion of leads and sales."

It was then I realized that this is a very common mistake that most website owners make. They put the cart before the horse or in this case the traffic before the monetization. (Of course it didn't help that I just gave it to him in that order.)

I've heard and read this many times and perhaps you have too. "The 3 keys to a successful website are Traffic, Traffic, Traffic!"

Well, guess what? Driving more traffic to a website site that has no clear call to action and doesn't convert well won't make you more successful. It just means that you've wasted more time, money and effort on getting traffic and you have nothing to show for it.

I like to look at it this way. If you're going to throw a party do you invite all of the guests over and set everything up after they arrive? No, of course not! That would be ridiculous wouldn't it?

Well, this is exactly what many people do with their websites.

Don't make this mistake. Before spending time, effort and money on getting traffic to your blog make sure it's ready first. Do you have a very clear call to action? Is the purpose of your blog and the benefit it offers to your readers stated clearly?

Test your site on a few of your colleagues, family members and friends. Ask them to log on to your blog and within 10 seconds tell you what the blog is about and what it offers. Ask them for their honest first impressions. Does your blog interest them? What action are they compelled to take? Would they spend time reading your posts? How do the colors and images make them feel?, etc…

Of course you have to take into consideration how connected each person is to your topic and weigh their opinions accordingly. Just because grandma prefers pink doesn't mean you should change the background color of your gaming blog.

While this may not seem like a very scientific method it is a good start to evaluating your blogs usability and call-to-action.

The bottom line is this. There is no such thing as "free traffic". Traffic always costs something. Even organic search engine traffic costs you. So make sure you are getting the most for your time, money and effort by making sure that your blog is ready for your guests when they arrive.

Good luck, Barry O.

1Cat.biz Tags: Blogging, start a blog, Traffic Strategies