Search Traffic Or Social Traffic | Where’s The Gold?

This article is guested post by Andy.

What is your goal with an online business? Are you doing all this work so you will be famous or are you interested in making money online? This basic question is usually skipped over by most online entrepreneurs. Why? Because most of the “Gurus” who are selling information are worried about their profit not yours. They tell you to Stumble and Digg and comment on blogs and you will get rich if you buy their $97 ebook on how to get social traffic.

The fact is social traffic is terrible if you are trying to make money online. They hardly buy anything and, like all other businesses, you have to sell products or information in order to have a successful online business. This means you solve a problem or fill a want and the customer pays you. End of story; go get another customer. The only way money is made online is if a need is filled and money changes hands.

To make a sale you must have a customer with a problem to solve. Think about what you do when you have a problem. Do you Stumble around and Digg around for an answer? No. You search in Google or one of the other search engines for a website that will provide the solution. You don’t just surf around to see what everybody else is doing you find the product and if it is at a reasonable price you buy it. Why? Because you were in a buying mode to fulfill your need.

Social traffic on the other hand is usually comprised of people just looking around. They may be slightly interested in a product or service but they really aren’t trying to solve the problem right now. The social person might start looking for a solution but they are quickly side tracked to finding out about Lindsay’s latest antics or who got voted off of Idol. In the mean time they don’t buy a thing. You can get a lot of social traffic and have a lot of people visit your blog but if they are not in a buying mood you won’t make any money.

If you want to attract buyers to your blog or website concentrate on search engine traffic. If you just want a bunch of visitors and a huge RSS list go after the social traffic. There is nothing wrong with social traffic you just won’t make any money when they come over for a visit.

About Andy :
Andy Bacon writes a Christian business blog that is dedicated to helping people actually make money online not just talk about it. You can find more tips about traffic and market research to jump start your success at The Online Christian Business blog.