Facebook Drives the Most Traffic to Publishers, Beating Twitter and Reddit

There's no beating Facebook when it comes to driving traffic to publishers. The world's largest social network directed 10.4% of traffic to websites this past September, according to data from 200,000 publishers.

Coming in an unexpected second place, Pinterest drove the second-most traffic to publishers with 3.7%. The photo-sharing website drove three times as much traffic as Twitter, which clocked in at 1.2% in September 2013.

Created by Statista, the chart shows the amount of traffic driven to publishers by eight social networks; it is based on data from Shareaholic.

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Image: Mashable composite: iStockphoto, murattasci and hugolacasse; Wikimedia Commons

How Facebook Can Make Money Off Facebook Home

Facebook took a big step on Thursday towards increasing its presence on mobile with the announcement of Facebook Home — a new home screen and app launcher for Android — and the release of the first-ever Facebook phone manufactured by HTC.

Mark Zuckerberg, the company's CEO and co-founder, spent most of his time discussing his vision for reorienting the smartphone user experience around people rather than apps, but as with most Facebook events, he stayed vague on one big point: how Facebook plans to make money off these new products.

"There are no ads in this yet," Zuckerberg said of Facebook Home during a Q&A with reporters after the launch event. "I'm sure at some point there will be."

Unlike some of the other new features that Facebook has unveiled in recent months, analysts we spoke with believe that there is no immediate plan for monetizing Facebook Home and Facebook phones in a way that would lead to a noticeable increase in revenue for the company.

Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee, says that Facebook's primary goal for Facebook Home right now is to boost engagement and adoption for Facebook on mobile — and for teenagers in particular, a group that Bhatia says "was starting to lose interest." Assuming that there is strong adoption, Facebook Home could serve as a powerful and lucrative platform for serving ads to mobile users.

"This real estate is going to be very, very valuable," Bhatia tellsMashable. Home would give Facebook a way to let marketers place ads front and center on the home screen rather than buried in an app or website. Facebook might also gain a better understanding of its users' habits across devices, which would help it improve mobile ad targeting. "I think the relevance and the targeting will get better and Facebook will be able to charge much more over time."

The new mobile products might also help Facebook increase the volume of ads it serves and increase impressions by boosting engagement with Facebook's platform, both of which would contribute to an increase in the company's advertising revenue, according to Clark Fredricksen, VP of communications for eMarketer.

As it stands now, Facebook already leads the market for mobile display ads, with eMarketer projecting that it will take in nearly one in three ad dollars in this category in 2013. eMarketer believes it's still too soon to tell whether the products launched this week will increase that share further. "It's unclear whether this will have an incremental impact or a re-distributive impact," Fredricksen says. "We just don't know yet."

Apart from mobile display ads, analysts we spoke with speculate that Home may give Facebook an opportunity to boost ad revenue from mobile app install ads and perhaps even from search ads, if Facebook plays up its Graph Search feature on mobile in the future. The bigger picture for Facebook Home, according to Fredricksen, is that Facebook is looking to be "the starting point for messaging and the starting point for search content and commerce discovery on your phone."

Beyond the potential for advertising revenue, Facebook could also push to get a cut of the revenue from sales of Facebook phones sold by its manufacturing partners like HTC. Brian Wieser, senior research analyst with Pivotal Research Group, notes that there doesn't appear to be a revenue sharing agreement with HTC or any other manufacturing partner for the Facebook phone yet, but "that doesn't mean it won't happen at some point."

All of this hinges on the assumption that smartphone users actually download Facebook Home or by the new HTC Facebook phone, which is anything but certain.

"I think we have yet to see any evidence that consumer demand for this is...," Fredricksen from eMarketer says, before starting over to put it more bluntly. "We've yet to see any consumer demand for this."

Does Your Website Need More Traffic? Here's 5 Essential Techniques

"How can I increase traffic to my website?" is probably one of the most frequently asked questions in the field of website marketing.

The obvious reason for this is due to the fact that website traffic is essential if you want to make money online. To define what is meant by website traffic, it is not only the number of visitors that go to your site, but also the total amount of data that is transferred through your website. If you are planning to market your business via the internet, then you need to send as much traffic as possible to your website.

A website without traffic is akin to a store without shoppers, hence attracting customers to your web business is absolutely crucial to your online success. It is quite pointless having a fantastic website for your products or affiliate business if no one knows it exists or, to put it quite frankly, no shoppers equals no sales!

Most people believe free website traffic is the best and most desirable source to a web marketer, solely due to the fact that it is exactly that, free. This idea may sound great, but is somewhat misguided. In fact, it is significantly more important to focus on the quality rather than just the quantity of traffic, as this is what will be instrumental to the success of your site.

It goes without saying that any website traffic is good, however, unique targeted website traffic is far better. Targeted website traffic is the dream of every online business, whether a multinational conglomerate, or an independent work from home Mom. Free targeted traffic is even more desirable than targeted traffic.

Why, you may ask, targeted traffic in particular? This is because it is key to a successful online business, this kind of traffic will have a much higher conversion rate i.e. converting visitors into buyers, compared to random non-targeted traffic. It's basically giving an interested party what they want rather than attempting to sell something to a bunch of tire kickers with no intention of buying.

Enough significance cannot be put on this type of traffic as it is crucial for any website hoping to create revenue. As I wrote earlier, it's not simply the quantity of traffic that you generate, but more so the quality of the traffic. The higher the quality, the higher your conversion rates and the greater your income.

So how do you increase traffic to your website? Here are a few very good tried and tested methods:-

Good keyword research may be long, tedious and sometimes boring but it is essential. Don't forget to include these targeted keywords throughout the content of your website, this alone will attract traffic.

Another vital way to improve the quality of traffic is through S.E.O (search engine optimization.) S.E.O techniques significantly improve website traffic by helping your site rank higher on large search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo

Join online forums on the subject of your website and get involved, make comments, offer help etc, etc. Make sure you fill out your profile and signature details that will include your website URL, this will naturally help promote your website, and generate targeted traffic.

Another very similar and very useful marketing tool for generating targeted website traffic is to frequently update your blog, if you haven't got a blog, get one! Also comment on other blogs within the same business as your business, again leaving your website URL in your signature.

Last, but certainly not least, is email marketing. This has to be one of the best methods to generate targeted web traffic, the twist in the tail with this technique is you need a list of subscribers to your site. So you will need to build a list first.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6931788

Increase Web Traffic - Here's How

You big concern is how to increase web traffic,and that's a big one for all webmasters too. You are burning to get instant traffic, but realise that long lasting traffic requires methods that can be sustained and, in some cases, will sustain themselves after a while. Bravo! That's a very practical, professional and ultimately successful approach.

I have written about the methods you can use to increase website traffic before. Whilst these are successful ways of increasing traffic most people fail, not because of the methods themselves, but because of the way they are applied.

Do not start to build lasting website traffic until you have a website that is built to 'look the business'. That means it must contain a number of key elements or the search engines will give it lower priority. You can achieve this by such things as the selection of your domain name, the way the pages and posts on your site are named and the use of the META tags such as Page Title, Description, and Keywords.

Moving on there are a few essential pages every good website must have. First you must have an About Us page; this says who you are and how you can be contacted. Next you need a Contact Us page; you can use a website form, some helpdesk type software or just and email link. Then a Privacy Policy page that says how you will handle personal data and finally a Terms of Use page. Add a Disclaimer page if you are an affiliate marketer.

Now that you have a properly set up site with good foundations you can move on to the promotional tasks. You should always aim to do this in what must appear, to the search engines at least, to be a natural way. However, if you go off like a whirlwind promoting your website in every way you can think so as to try and drive early success, and then sit back to see what happens, that shows all the hallmarks of a desperate scammer. If a site is to be regarded as valuable and worth being lifted higher in the rankings then it needs to demonstrate that it has regular attention, so pick a pace that you can maintain.

Now we come to the crunch. And this is where many fail. Maintaining the pace. It's not technical, it's not difficult, but it does take both planning and then dedication to carry your plan through. Traffic will be slow to arrive at first; it seems discouraging and this is where you need your determination. But if you have done your research and know that your target is achievable, then you have every incentive to keep going. As soon as the visitors start to arrive your efforts will be well rewarded.

So now you know the secret put aside a bit of time every day to do your research and increasing your website traffic.Your reward will be an increasing number visitors to your website. Your visitors will see the value you have put into your website and will point their friends to it. This viral marketing is another way to increase website traffic as an indirect result of your efforts.

To Your Success!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6949870

Build Online Traffic Through Social Networking!

Building online traffic can be accomplished in many ways: post blogs and join online forums; create relevant articles; optimize pages and keywords; use video marketing; and invest in pay-per-click. Use of any of these options can help increase bring visitors to a website.

One very current and successful way to increase online traffic is through social networking. Every minute of the day, thousands of people are visiting websites to share ideas, post comments, give recommendations and advice, expand a circle of friends, and meet new individuals. Internet users in different demographic profiles are coming together in large numbers for one specific purpose - sharing knowledge and gaining friendship.

Build Relationships

A good relationship is absolutely necessary in order to maintain friendly ties which can be utilized to influence individuals and organizations. The pattern of human interaction in a social network can be a great tool to increase the volume of traffic to a website. Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace are major social networking groups that can influence the spread of information about merchandise and services and can actually bring a greater percentage of prospective buyers to visit on a website.

Benefits

There are several benefits that can be derived from social networking.

Links - More quality links from these networking sites can increase online traffic to a website.

Advertising - It is a very advantageous way to advertise a business and have a particular brand be recognized and known to millions of social network subscribers.

Sharing - It can bring more potential online customers to visit and share essential information about a website to interlinked friends.

Traffic - The degree of connectivity from one person to another through the use of this networking will cause a positive increase in visitors to a website's.

Visibility - Viral marketing promotions through the use of social network sites will also boost online visibility which can bring increased free traffic and numerous readers and purchasers.

Targeted Audience - Targeted visitors can be directed to a particular location each day by enhancing advertisement performance and promotional items.

Branding - By taking advantage of this kind of method, a particular brand image is being presented to everyone's attention to make them aware that a particular online business exists.

Increased Sales - By increasing the volume of a website's traffic, it is very likely that higher sales and revenue will be generated. Social networking is very conducive in building revenue for a business and increases the likelihood of increasing sales and profitability for a business.


Building a strong relationship with customers and creating conversions within the parameter of social networking is a great tool for online marketing. Millions of potential customers can gain access through Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and others, increasing the percentage of such traffic and serving as a great promotional tool to market a business.

It has been reported that the top source of web traffic is through social media sites, with Facebook being the best to bring more visitors than any of its competitors. A comprehensive study by a marketing research company indicated that 25% of web visibility is developed through social networking links. Increasing online traffic by social networking is indeed an increasingly favorable means to increase revenue for any internet marketing company!

Traffic generation with facebook

I have been away for a while, going to great seminars of Mark Anastasi and great speakers, I have had the opportunity to share ideas with Jason Osborn, Jeff Mills, Jennie Armato, and many others, great experience meeting Armand Morin!

After testing and experimenting the power of Twitter, which has brought to me huge traffic and income, I have started to use Facebook as well to generate traffic to my websites.

I will be sending in my next emails the link to my Twitter course, which is a complete course on how to create a business using only Twitter and clickbank (for affiliate links) or your own link to your website if you have one. How to build your list, make huge sales and have the traffic that you always dreamed of.

All these is included in my course, all you will need to do is follow it step by step, no need to have knowledge of computers, internet, or sales. I have had my mother trying it, anybody can do it. So this is very soon to come. Free Traffic generation.

Keep in mind Twitter and Facebook are the biggest social networks at the moment.

After some weeks of testing I will like to share with you my knowledge about Facebook.

You can drive huge amount of traffic using Facebook as well, if you have a personal account and you don't want to use it for Internet marketing reasons, just open another account.

Twitter seems to be the fastes and easiest way of driving free traffic but facebook and some other social networks can give you extra traffic that will only generate more sells, so lets get on with it here.

Now these are the steps to generate traffic with Facebook:

1. Join as many groups as you can that talk about your niche and make comments every once a week or so; this will make people know you and invite you to be their friend.

2. Accept everyone that invites you to be their friend, no matter who it is as you can't see their interests until you are their friend.

3. Update your status once or twice a day and share your website link together with your status.

4. If you have a free product like an ebook, course, DVDs, create a group for it, inviting people to use it and give you feedback. this will make people get to know who you are and what you do and want to be your friend and follower, and you will get attention from them

5. Using the HTML application add an opt-in form to your account.

6. Once you have around 100 friends, which will happen pretty fast, create your own group about the niche you are interested in, and invite all your friends to join and talk about it.

7. Make a video of yourself or your product explaining as much about it to create interest and register it in Youtube with your link embedded to it.

Using twitter and Facebook you can make an insane amount of free traffic and start or grow your income for free.

Increase Web Traffic With Banner Advertising

Some people might look at that sentence and say to themselves, Banner Advertising, isn't that dead? The answer is defiantly NO! Banner advertising is an immense strategy for driving traffic to websites and one that I would rank in my top 5 traffic generation strategies.

The key with banner advertising is to buy the placements on high traffic sites and to do this you will most likely have to have a lot of money and deal with an ad network (There is a cheaper and easier way around this I will talk about in a moment). There are so many of these companies, the likes of Double Click, Azoogle etc that work brilliantly, but you do need a bit of cash to get started in them.

So, what can you do to start banner advertising without big pockets?

The best thing for you to do is:

You should start by looking for a site within your niche and not actually competing with you. (You would be surprised how little you can get these banners for).

Website owners sometimes don't realize the value of their traffic in certain niches. They don't realize that they've got 20,000 businesses a month coming to their site. Often, you can get the banner placed on these websites home page for very little indeed.

If you offered them a certain amount of money to put your banner on their site, sometimes they will come back and say no and sometimes they'll come back and say we charge this amount and other times they will say yes.

Approaching the websites is a numbers game. If you're approaching enough people, you will find that it is paying enough dividends. For example, having a banner on someone's website for say $75 a month that you're paying to them, you could get an awful lot for $75 if you used pay per Click, but you might get a lot more if you bought the banner placement.

Your banner's got to be good and attractive and obviously you can't have a plain banner. It has got to be designed well and made to look attractive wanting to give them a reason to click on your banner. I use a website called 20dollarbanners.com which makes all my banners for me and you can get them done in all shapes and sizes.

The banners that have the highest click through rates are as follows:

300x250
250x250
280x336

Remember this is only the small scale of banner advertising, and when it's time to move to the bigger networks you will make a lot more money. But for the time being this will be a great way to get that targeted traffic that you need.

Ciaran Doyle, Internet Consultant & Interviewer Of The biggest names in Traffic Generation. Ciaran Doyle is one of the top Internet Marketing Interviewers & Consultants. To find more about Ciaran Doyle and how he can help you and to collect $497 worth of free gifts visit Traffic Generation Experts

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