Problogger On “Fast Traffic”

I clicked through to a post on Problogger yesterday because the post title included the words “fast traffic” – I’m a sheep for those buzz words too!

Darren in his typically honest and down to earth style gave an answer that I couldn’t resist commenting on because it was exactly what I’d hoped he would say…

The post was an interview the interesting segment of which I thought I’d paste here – keep in mind this guy is probably one of the most highly respected and knowledgeable bloggers around:

4. If you have to bring instant visitors to your blog in the next 30 minutes, what steps will you follow?

If you’re expecting big traffic quickly you’re asking the wrong guy. My strategy has always been to write content that people will want to read now – but also for years to come. Some call this ‘evergreen’ content and it takes time to write. It might not bring traffic quickly but if you write something that is still relevant in a year or more you’ll continue to draw traffic to it.

I’m sorry if that doesn’t answer your question but to be honest there’s a lot of bloggers looking for quick traffic and quick money and a lot of people promising to teach them how to get it – but that’s not my experience of blogging.

Take a long term view, build something that matters and you’ll build a blog that grows in traffic over the long haul.

He even comments on “passive traffic”…

5. Most bloggers like to get passive traffic… What are the one time actions we can do which will keep on bringing traffic without any effort after that?
Once again I’m afraid my answer could disappoint…. I’m not really someone who has found too many actions that will bring traffic (or income) without any effort after you do them.

The only real exception to that is to write brilliant content. When you do this it has the potential to bring traffic to your blog (via search engines) for years to come. This in turn can lead to ongoing income.

Other than that I’ve not really found too much about blogging that is ‘passive’. It’s a lot of work over the long haul.

Great to see someone telling it like it is.

Sure there are ways to get traffic quickly – PPC, even article marketing can deliver. But if you’re looking to build a real business you need to be driving that traffic to something that has some inherent value. If not you’ll soon be replaced, both in the search engines and in your marketplace by someone who is.

Furthermore, it’s another example of something that gets continually promised to us because it’s what we all “want” but really SHOULD we want it? I’m no exception, those buzzwords sucked me in too but again, is fast traffic and fast money what we REALLY want? Not if we want to build real lasting businesses, that’s for sure.

Let me know what you think.