“How can I get more traffic?” is one of the MAIN questions people ask me.

But last weekend, while I was preparing for a presentation, I had a HUGE “AHA!” moment.

Looking for “traffic” is a HUGE mistake.

Why?

Keep reading.

The #1 reason why you don’t want traffic

Traffic makes us focus on the raw numbers, but those raw numbers are MISLEADING.

Here’s the deal:

Back when I ran an entertainment blog, I was generating millions of hits. Heck, in 2007 alone, it attracted around 30 million hits.

(Side note: My entertainment blog was so large that a publicly traded company actually reached out and wanted to acquire it. I said no)

But the one statistic that most people NEVER knew about had nothing to do with my “traffic.”

I’ll explain.

You see, even though I was getting millions of people to my website, if I updated a NEW blog post and linked someone, I’d send at MOST 1,000 people to their website.

Yep, a site that received millions of hits each month could only direct at most 1,000 people to another person’s site with a new blog post.

Pathetic.

Why?

I had traffic…

…But I didn’t have readers.

What’s the difference?

My white iPhone story…

In September, when the white iPhone came out, Social Triggers was flooded with iPhone traffic.

You see, I ranked on the first page for “White iPhone,” “White iPhone vs Black iPhone,” and various other iPhone related phrases.

While I don’t have exact numbers for you, thousands of people stumbled on my site looking for information about the brand-new white iPhone.

But take a guess how that traffic performed when it came to conversions… orbuilding my email list.

It didn’t. It was DEAD traffic.

Even though it looked good on paper, the reality was a much different story.

Now let’s take this back to my entertainment blog

The traffic I was getting there wasn’t dead traffic, per se.

The traffic I was getting was looking for one thing, and when they got it, they left.

“britney spears bikini pictures,” as an example. They’d get to the page, get the pictures, and leave forever.

Were those drive-by visitors good for ad revenue?

Yep.

But were they truly listening to me?

Nope.

And that’s why:

You don’t want traffic, you want readers.

Readers who listen to what you say and buy what you sell.

Because when you have those types of readers… that’s how you build a REAL business.

Trust me, I know.

Social Triggers is not even 2 years old, and my intense focus on getting readers (not traffic numbers) has laid the groundwork for my company Social Triggers, Inc to grow like a weed.

(I won’t get into numbers, but let’s just say I’m doing fine  . Maybe one day I’ll reveal more, but not today. Oh, and if you wanted to join the team here at Social Triggers, I’m hiring an executive assistant).

The question is “how can I get more readers?”

A Short Video About Getting Readers Who Listen To What You Say… And Buy What You Sell

I know I’m being a stickler for words here… traffic vs readers… but the distinction is important.

(Even if I’ve failed to make this distinction in this interview and in the past when I wrote about increasing blog traffic).

But now you know.

When I’m talking about traffic, and many other top experts are talking about traffic, we really mean readers… listeners… or watchers…

That said, I’m proud to share this video of me and Marie Forleo, the founder of a thriving community of more than 100,000 women.

In this video I share 3 specific strategies that can help you get more people to your website…

…and also do the “Gangnam style” dance.

Ridiculous…

[facepalm].

Watch the video right here:

The one thing I want you to listen in for is the part when I talk about massage therapists. You’ll LOVE that.

Also, send Marie Forleo some love by letting her know how much you loved this video!

You can tweet this:

“Just saw a video about getting more traffic with @marieforleo and @derekhalpern. Loved it! (click to tweet)”

Also, if you have one friend—just one friend—that you think can benefit from this article today, send them a quick email that says “If you’re looking for more traffic, STOP!” and link to this blog post.

They’ll thank you  .

That said, what have YOUR experiences been with traffic and readers?

Did you get linked by a huge website… just to find out they sent you almost NO readers?

Source:

http://socialtriggers.com/more-traffic-stop/#more-3698