(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe -------------------------

In this Article we look at second competitive advantage of successful Internet Marketers - Warm Traffic and True O'pt-In Lists.

Good, Bad and Ugly Traffic --------------------------

Marketing depends heavily on type of Traffic you attract.

* Untargeted Traffic

Similar to Traffic passing high street shops in vehicles.

This Traffic is of very little use.

* Targeted Traffic

Similar to people window shopping on high street.

There is a chance that if products appeal, they will walk in to get a better look. Competition from other shops, for this type of Traffic is very high.

* Warm Traffic

Similar to browsers who walk into high street shops to "Touch and Feel" merchandise.

Your best prospects and chances of sales come from this group.

=> Sidebar - What Traffic Touts don't want you to know * They can and will sell you untargeted and targeted Traffic.

* Very few can deliver warm Traffic! <=

Wrong Traffic Is Bad For Business ---------------------------------

* Paid Traffic

1) Adverts in Cyber Space

Surfers who see your ad have a choice of acting on it or moving on.

This can deliver all three types of Traffic. It depends on quality of your advert AND where advert is placed.

2) Buying Popups, popunders, or popovers of your offer

Depending on where you buy your Traffic you are given O'ption, at a cost, of filtering for language, geographical region and surfer interests'.

=> Sidebar - What Traffic Touts don't want you to know * Page Impressions with no filter deliver untargeted Traffic!

* Page Impressions with filters result in untargeted to targeted Traffic. You have to buy big Traffic volumes to convert a small percentage into warm Traffic. <=

3) Pay Per Click (PPC)

If you have never done a PPC campaign start small with a less competitive engine than Overture or Google.

PPC delivers highly targeted to Warm Traffic depending on quality of your advert.

4) Cost Per Action (CPA).

Providers of CPA are not easy to find because entire risk of promotion lies with provider not advertiser.

This is a good way of building Warm Traffic and only paying when that Traffic takes particular action such as subscribing or buying on your web site.

CPA delivers Traffic similar to PPC.

* F'ree Traffic

1) F'ree For All (FFA)

FFA sources typically generate untargeted Traffic. But there is another reason to avoid them.

They are not entirely F'ree !

Apart from time it takes you to earn "credits" which are currency FFA's, any Traffic costs you bandwidth, and although most hosting accounts these days have generous bandwidth, if much of it is being used by people who will never buy from you, then that is a wasted business cost!

2) Traffic Exchanges (and Safelists)

People exchanging Traffic are often, like yourself, primarily sellers of services and products and not buyers.

Unless you have exceptional or very unique products you are unlikely to attract much buying interest from other people in exchange program.

3) Search Engines and Directories

These sources deliver highly targeted to warm Traffic in potentially big volume.

The drawback is that Search Engine O'ptimisation is difficult, and time consuming.

It can be frustrating because payback in higher ranking and Traffic often takes anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months

4) Self syndication through Writing Articles and Press Releases

This results in similar Traffic to Search Engines, but volume is significantly lower !

When Is An O'pt-In List Not An O'pt-In List ? ---------------------------------------------

Many marketers do not really understand True O'pt-In lists and therefore they end up building a collection of names and e-mail addresses from which O'pt-Outs are highly likely.

* Single O'pt-In Lists

Constructed on strength of a single contact people receive a one off or periodic information and products from you.

* Double O'pt-In Lists

Constructed as above, with a confirmation step that signup details are correct before you send information or start selling.