What is the most effective way to drive traffic on a budget?

I would suggest you start blogging, on any free blogging platform is fine. Consistent traffic is built slowly. Also after you create content you need to follow it up with social participation in the community you serve.

For example write article -> Share article on social networks -> help out people in your community, usually clustered in forums and communities such as SavvySME.

You want to be building your personal brand at the same time, that way no matter what business you are in, you've built personal value. Also supplement all this with strategies like google re-marketing ads and other pay per click ads.

SEO traffic is built over time with good content and fresh content so if you follow the steps above consistently, you're traffic will build over time. I've built my own personal sites using this method from no traffic to over 6,000 visitors a month in a period of about 6 months - also be realistic with your expectations as well :)I find that traffic is getting harder to come by these days.

Hope this helps :)

Henrick, 

"without costing a bomb" is subjective. You may want to explore your budget and then work out what you are willing to pay for a lead. 

Once you understand your budget you can try all different marketing mediums and stick with what works for you. Each business is individual, so try asking other successful IT firms what works for them. 

Social media is free, however when was the last time you used social media to look for any product? Or when was the last time you recalled a brand from social media? Social media is great for branding and being front of mind. Yet, for business development it still has a long way to go, especially in Australia.  

Wendy is right, consistent traffic is built slowly, so as Chris mentioned, try joining some forums and communities where you can participate and add value.

Another question: Why do you want heaps of traffic to your site? I know many businesses that have very low traffic, however the traffic that they do get, is highly targeted. So the people visiting their site are only looking for what they offer.

Think about your target market, how do they find what you are offering? 

I'm struggling to find anything, that delivers a better return on investment, to SEO. Coming up on the front page of google, for exactly what you are offering, is a marketing godsend. Hence why Google is one of the most successful businesses of all time.  

Wendy's answer is correct. SEO takes time and the more quality content you have on your site, the more traffic will come. If your content is interesting, visitors will begin sharing it and you will see incoming links pop up online.

While SEO is free traffic, it may take a while for you to gain significant traffic. Also, you can influence the type of keywords you would like your website to rank for, but you cannot guarantee a top result in search engines for those keywords. There are advertising platforms that still have affordable CPCs (Cost-per-Click) which may drive traffic to your site without costing you 'a bomb'. If you do advertise, you will see the traffic come to your site much faster.

I would recommend you focus on both online advertising and SEO efforts for 6 to 12 months, and once you are satisfied with the incoming traffic volumes coming through organic rankings, decrease your advertising spend (unless profitable).

Note that durations will vary depending on your site, how niche your vertical is, how competitive the market is, etc.

Short term: social can drive traffic to your site directly.  Sites like StumbleUpon advertising can really *really* drive traffic if you have content that makes people REALLY want to share.  Not good for average or boring stuff - too expensive.  I had a $100 Stumble campaign get a whopping 1000 hits (yawn) and another get almost 14,000 (WHOA) and the difference was what we were sharing.  Make incredible content and then social it.  It works.  Our Twitter Tools blog post was shared over 120 times (according to Topsy.)

Long term, SEO is a "cheap" way to attract visitors - long tail keywording and writing about your niche.  Also, this gives you new content to add to social.  So now we're at social + SEO.

Finally, participate - forums, blog commenting, any niche related groups on FB or niche sites (model/commercial photographers = Model Mayhem, etc.)  People who are genuinely interested will click through your profile to see what you do.  The more you participate, the more people notice you.

If we can help, let me know.  

~Matt @ High on SEO

I would start buy using the Google keyword tool and enter your website into the search bar.  Make sure you choose exact match search results.  You can also select the approx cost per click for a guide on what this traffic is worth via Google adwords.

NOTE:  This is what Google find's your site to be currently relevant for

Next you should search again, but this time for search terms that are most relevant for your business.  Once you put together a list of search terms that are most relevant for your business, break they into 3 categories;

A) Buying keywords

B) Browsing keywords

C) Research keywords

This should provide an overview of how large the market is and also how competitive it is.

Need immediate results:

If you are looking for immediate increase in sales, look at running adwords for buying keywords.  Your industry is very competitive, so seek professional help.  If you want to do it yourself a handy article is:

Google Adwords Cheat Sheet for Small budgets

Longer term results:

Do some ranking checks on the keywords that Google finds your site to be relevant for, check some of the new variations from the list you built at the start.  You might find that creating blog articles some niche terms for these search terms will deliver the increase in traffic you are looking for.

Given that competition is high, I would be seeking professional help on what strategy will deliver the best bang for your buck in the short term.  This should also provide a framework moving forward for sustained growth in SEO.

I agree with Wendy, blogging is a great way to drive traffic and for me it works really well. My business is fairly specialised, we sell voice recording equipment so for example dictaphones for doctors and lawyers, voice recorders for journos, transcription kits for typists and voice recognition software for everyone.

I write regularly with how-to's, news on what's new in the industry, software and firmware updates and of course equipment reviews. Content is key, write for the people reading your blog not the googlebot and follow a few easily found SEO rules and soon enough the traffic will come.

Although I only sell in Australia my readership comes from all over the world, everywhere recorders are used. Blogging also helps define you and your business as the knowledge leader in your specific fields. Do it regularly, keep it interesting and away you go.

I use WordPress for my main articles and back that up with a shorter version on blogger.com (both free). I kept my blog separate from my main website, there is some debate on whether or not to do that, for me I like it that way and it works well.

Hi there, from a quick look at your site, I would say as IT consultants you should be thinking of using content marketing as your main strategy.

As a professional services firm focusing on the cloud, I am sure you have lots to say about this area. What technology and businessp process problems do your target buyers face? by writing blogs and short whitepapers or eBooks, perhaps generating some short sharp videos on that address these problems you will earn the right to have a conversation with these buyers.

Technically speaking this content must be optimised around the keywords that you think your target buyers will type into search engines. Your content must feature these keywords and be tagged so Google can find it.

Secondly, get involved in forums like these and on LinkedIn groups and join the conversation. yes it takes time and discipline but it really works. I think of it as "digital word of mouth." Start small focus on a couple of groups and forums, its better to do a little well than a lot badly.

We have some free resources you might find helpful

cheers

Chris

Good answers guys. Also have think of short youtube videos in which you will solve problems for you target market. In that way you are adding value to your prospects and establishing yourself as an expert and authority in your niche. Youtube is for free as you know :)

Number one is quality blogging. Like this site, I accept submissions to my BLOG (Monday Motivational Moment), but I find the quality of writing is poor and mostly just self promotion. You absolutely must add value to the reader, be on topic for the BLOG you write for, be entertaining, and produce articles which take about 90 seconds to read.

AdWords, and their equivalent on LinkedIN and other sites, can be very expensive if the conversion rate is low. I have found, in the initial stages of an Adword campaign, the most common click is from a competitor wondering what you are up to - ouch!

If you are just after cheep traffic (fellow SavvySME's please don't hit me) try some of the traffic builders on sites like fiver.com - but use with caution. You are unlikely to get conversions - but will get traffic.

Word of caution - do not use any of the BLOG 'spin' services as this is a quick way of getting black listed by Google.

Greg

This is good info.. I have actually been using adwords for a bit.. kinda not as easy as it's made out though.. still struggling big time figuring out how to increase the quality score..!! Figured out that it's relatively easy to get lots of impressions and lots of clicks but much harder getting the RIGHT clicks i.e. the once that leads to conversions.. 

Consider hiring someone on a consulting basis to spend a little time to help you formulate a cost effective strategy that you can easily manage either on your own or outsourced.

Feel free to contact us at the seo company for some advice on how to get started.

1300 88 55 57