Sources of Traffic - Setting PrioritiesWritten by Abdulrehman on February 3rd, 2009
To begin with, there are basically three sources of traffic to most websites, which are Direct Traffic, Referred Traffic and Search Engine Traffic. Whenever I am asked the question “How can I build consistent reliable traffic?”, What I’ll discuss in detail is something I usually briefly tell my readers. Before knowing how to build traffic which is targeted and good for your website, you need to know where to start and set your priorities. First, you’ll have to be familiar with each type of traffic:
Direct Traffic
This is the traffic which you’ll get from people who either remember your website’s URL, visit it regularly or have bookmarked it. This is the most reliable source of traffic and builds up constantly with the blog’s reach. An ideal percentage of your total traffic should be somewhere near 30-35%.
Search Engines
Unlike direct traffic, as the name suggests, most traffic will be from search engines, namely: Google, Yahoo, Windows Live Search. Search engine users who arrive on your website will not normally be interested in your site but rather a small part of your content which matches their search. Bounce rates are always more than 80% and you have very less chances of expecting them to return, so the ideal share of search engine traffic should be somewhere near 25-35%.
Referring Sites
Most websites tend to receive traffic from this source which is very general as it can be further classified as follows:
- Social Media
- Social Networks
- Other Networks
- Websites
- Blogs
Although this list continues but I’ve listed the most common ones. Referring sites usually give traffic which does not last very long. Normally good traffic ranges from 2-3 days especially on Social Media and Social Networks. Some networks bring recurring traffic which is dependent on some other factor such as your contribution or activity while others might bring a few traffic spikes to your overall graph. This should normally range from 25-30%.
The advantage to bring diversified traffic to your blog is that your blog’s traffic never falls weak whether there are no people interested in your site directly or others stop using keywords related to your blog. You wouldn’t want to rely 90% on Social Media which brings you about 300 Visitors a day, as time goes by, the traffic fades out and you’re left with less than 50 visitors a day, which is pathetic. So always set your traffic priorities accordingly to obtain good results from your traffic in the long run.
Related Articles:
15 People have expressed themselves on“Sources of Traffic - Setting Priorities”
Leave a Reply
To begin with, there are basically three sources of traffic to most websites, which are Direct Traffic, Referred Traffic and Search Engine Traffic. Whenever I am asked the question “How can I build consistent reliable traffic?”, What I’ll discuss in detail is something I usually briefly tell my readers. Before knowing how to build traffic which is targeted and good for your website, you need to know where to start and set your priorities. First, you’ll have to be familiar with each type of traffic:
Direct Traffic
This is the traffic which you’ll get from people who either remember your website’s URL, visit it regularly or have bookmarked it. This is the most reliable source of traffic and builds up constantly with the blog’s reach. An ideal percentage of your total traffic should be somewhere near 30-35%.
Search Engines
Unlike direct traffic, as the name suggests, most traffic will be from search engines, namely: Google, Yahoo, Windows Live Search. Search engine users who arrive on your website will not normally be interested in your site but rather a small part of your content which matches their search. Bounce rates are always more than 80% and you have very less chances of expecting them to return, so the ideal share of search engine traffic should be somewhere near 25-35%.
Referring Sites
Most websites tend to receive traffic from this source which is very general as it can be further classified as follows:
- Social Media
- Social Networks
- Other Networks
- Websites
- Blogs
Although this list continues but I’ve listed the most common ones. Referring sites usually give traffic which does not last very long. Normally good traffic ranges from 2-3 days especially on Social Media and Social Networks. Some networks bring recurring traffic which is dependent on some other factor such as your contribution or activity while others might bring a few traffic spikes to your overall graph. This should normally range from 25-30%.
The advantage to bring diversified traffic to your blog is that your blog’s traffic never falls weak whether there are no people interested in your site directly or others stop using keywords related to your blog. You wouldn’t want to rely 90% on Social Media which brings you about 300 Visitors a day, as time goes by, the traffic fades out and you’re left with less than 50 visitors a day, which is pathetic. So always set your traffic priorities accordingly to obtain good results from your traffic in the long run.
I am Abdulrehman Agha, the guy behind 3arn.Net. I am 16 years old, study in grade 10 and live in Pakistan. I started this blog in the hope of making money on the internet, sharing my computer experiences and proving that despite many barriers, one can make money on the internet.
Copyright © 2007 - 2010 
If you can building a loyal base of readers, it also impacts the social network or referring traffic. They are often the one’s who are digging or recommending your site. Same is true of fellow bloggers.
[Reply To This Comment]
hey,
Thanks for sharing such wonderful informative post. Thanks a lot !
I was not aware but I believe one should work patiently, regularly and results will follow in long-run. Yes, if one knows technical terms how to boost traffic it is an advantage.
In my case I do not know all such technical skills but yes, I know what I can do and i.e, to write & write regularly. Internet is full of knowledge and I find tough to follow information about traffic increase etc. etc. that is why I most of the time try to concentrate on my writings regularly.
But good-wishes to you and yes, claps for you because at this age you are better than me and I feel proud of you. I wish to learn & learn from you.
Thanks buddy Thanks !!!
[Reply To This Comment]
It’s so nice to diversify your traffic sources. It helps you depend on everyone less and allow each traffic source to contribute evenly. I’ve really worked hard to get my referral numbers up since my traffic is predominantly search engine driven. It stinks depending upon google rankings to get good visits.
Overall, good post!
[Reply To This Comment]
Great post. It definately draws us to look at our analytics!
[Reply To This Comment]
If you want to make money online you want search traffic and a lot of it. My goal is to have 80% or better search traffic since that will insure that I make money on a site.
Social referral traffic doesn’t make money because social visitors don’t click ads for the most part and typically convert poorly for advertisers. They can be useful to exploit with other products, such as funneling them toward a membership site or eBook purchase, but for a blog alone, they’re useless so far as making advertising cash goes.
[Reply To This Comment]
Nice Analitycs, I think SE is must greatest than others for good traffic
[Reply To This Comment]
Good explanation, if we can make it optimal, would be better
[Reply To This Comment]
I’m using MySpace to try and drive traffic to my site from very specific parts of america. I want to get one unique visitor from each site to my blog in a very specific amount of time. No real reason other than keeping in practice while I’m in school and don’t have much time on the computer.
[Reply To This Comment]
Search Engine traffic is the one that’ll bring you the most money. They’re the most likely to click on ads.
[Reply To This Comment]
Referring traffic or Search engine traffic are areas which helpful to get fresh juice, mean to say we no one having control on direct traffic, previous visitors coming via direct or what no one knows but for new traffic need to work from referring traffic which quite helpful.
[Reply To This Comment]
I agree with the post but still there are other ways for obtaining traffic and/or customers.
[Reply To This Comment]