When it comes to making money online, there is only one metric that matters - traffic!

The more traffic that you have, the more you can charge for advertising space and the more you can earn through pay-per-click or pay-per-impression advertising. But not all traffic is equal - what you want is “laser guided” targeted traffic to make your website stand above the rest!

What’s targeted traffic?

Targeted traffic consists of visitors who were actively searching for specific information and landed on your site as a result. These surfers are already interested in your site’s topic and don’t need it to be “sold” to them. They may have found your site through a search engine, an advertising campaign or a recommendation from another site.

What matters is that your site was displayed to them as a provider of information and they clicked your link as they believed your site was going to be useful to their search.

For example, if someone was searching for ways to “make money online” and they landed on Cash Quests, they’re perfectly targeted traffic for this site.

This type of traffic is infinitely more valuable than any other type of traffic as it consists of the visitors who are likely to become your loyal readers and become your most valued customers and subscribers.

What’s NOT targeted traffic?

Many webmasters make the mistake of thinking that all traffic is good traffic and that it will all lead to an earnings boost. As a result many strive to make the front page of Digg or perform “less than ethical” techniques to drive visitors to their site.

For example, there has recently been a trend in the blogosphere of listing your site for sale on eBay or Sitepoint forums with no intention of actually selling it. By listing their site for a high price, many webmasters have seen a spike in their traffic as other webmasters visit the site to check it out and see why it commands a high price. But the spike is never sustained:

The problem with this type of traffic is that once the visitors have satisfied their curiosity, there is no reason for the visitor to ever return to your site. I’ve visited many sites listed for sale, but I have only visited to see if they’re worth the price and have never been “hooked” enough to return to the site.

Aiming to receive an unsustainable spike in traffic is simply a waste of time that will not make you any money or give you a loyal readership.

How to get targeted traffic and be a nice person

Perhaps the easiest way to increase your targeted traffic is to receive a recommendation from another webmaster. Receiving a recommendation amounts to a pre-selling of your site so the visitor already has a good impression of your site before they’ve even landed on your page. These visitors will convert to loyal readers much easier than the random visitor who stumbles across your site.

The question then is “How do I get recommendations?“. The easiest way to get positive recommendations about your site is to order reviews on other sites with the requirement that the review be positive. Of course, this has the drawback that it will cost money and many reviewers (like myself) do not write positive reviews unless they feel the site truly deserves it.

If you’re after free recommendations, the best way to go about is simply to do something nice! That’s right - not evil - nice!

Got some empty advertising space? Give it away to someone for a week.

Just get paid $100 for a review? Spend $3 and buy someone a beer.

Can’t think of anything to write about? Write a free review of your favorite site.

By doing these kind gestures, you may just get mentioned on another site and it’s almost guaranteed to be a positive recommendation. That results in targeted traffic heading your way and an increase in your loyal readership.

Nice + targeted traffic = healthy site

Receiving consistent targeted traffic to your site is like eating healthy food - in the long run your site is going to have a lot more energy than those who go after the quick Digg sugar rush!

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