Quality traffic is the lifeblood of your website! 
If you struggle to get quality traffic, this post is for you.
Since I started this blog in 2011, I’ve grown it from 0 – 10,000 real traffic per month.
As for my niche sites, they don’t get thousands of monthly visitors as such, but the traffic is targeted and ready to buy. And that’s the real deal.
If all you do is look for traffic loopholes to exploit, but don’t care about quality, then you’re making a big mistake.
Truth is, most website owners don’t have problems with traffic generation, but getting the right people is the MOST difficult aspect of it.
But I want to help you change all that – now.
What is quality traffic?
Simply put, if your website is about “Babies Toys” and mothers who wants to buy toys visits you in order to read the latest reviews as well as find helpful handling tips, then that traffic is a “quality” one.
On the other hand, if you send people who don’t care about ‘Babies Toys to your website on a daily basis, that’s a generic traffic and it’d never convert.
Now, let’s bring it closer to internet marketing. I see a lot of bloggers and website owners make terrible mistakes when promoting their websites.
Guest blogging has become a buzzword for building traffic and getting your name out there, but it must be done with care.
A practical example:
Let me give you an example. When I started guest blogging, I had already published over 300 quality guest posts on A-list blogs before I realized my mistakes.
This is a content marketing blog but my focus is 87% SEO and traffic generation. But I was pitching my guest post idea to every blogger out there. It was a wrong move.
At the time, it was pretty easy to get published on popular blogs because Google had not rained down their mighty bullets as yet. Even though I successfully published a lot of guest posts, my traffic didn’t increase – let alone my income.
You’ve probably read about guest blogging, but I want to caution you to tread wisely. Don’t just write a guest post for every damn blog out there – make sure the blog is relevant and at least, has a reasonable amount of targeted traffic.
The other ugly side of writing a guest post for a blog that’s not related to your topic is that you’ll attract “useless/generic” visitors. These people are just robots and will never help your website.
The traffic results that I got
When I discovered the huge mistake I was making at guest blogging, I decided to take things slowly this time around and think. When last did you think about your business plans?
Sure, I still wrote guest posts but no longer for every blog out there. I changed my approach on 15th, August 2012. I wrote 1 – 3 valuable articles in a week and sent it to relevant blogs that were in my niche.
The effect of this was that my website began to grow. The traffic coming to my blog was real, targeted and interested in the content I had on my blog. My email list began to grow and subscribers fell in love with my writing.
A day came when I got over 1,000 targeted traffic and 365 email subscribers. This was the result of ONLY sending my guest post to a high-traffic blog in my niche.
Please understand that this post isn’t about guest blogging. I’m only using it to explain the concept you must adopt if you want quality traffic to come to your website daily.
You may have the best content in the whole world, but if the right eyeballs don’t read it – you’ll be sad and confused on what next step to take.
How to drive “QUALITY” traffic
No matter the traffic generation strategy you’re using, there is a way to make it count.
These people who would be interested in your content and help you reach out for more targeted traffic – focus on them. I’ve experimented with this strategy and it worked.
Did you know about storytelling? It could help if you know how to tell stories that captivates.
But only few content marketers actually tell stories that inspires. There is one simple way to get people hooked and fall in love with you, whether directly or indirectly.
On my niche sites, including the ones I’d set up next year, I only attract targeted traffic and engage them because of one simple secret. This secret is what copywriters use 95% of the time to persuade, and get you unto the buying state.
I’m eager to know, what’s the secret?
“ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS” 
There you’ve it – ask a lot of questions?
When you write articles for your website, don’t just share your personal opinions and go home.
Did you see my opening sentence for this post?
I actually started with a question. Hmm, I practice what I preach!
Ask people questions. Ask them to leave comments. Do it as if your success depends on their contribution.
Get people involved in whatever you do at content marketing.
The way to build engagement is to bring people into your bedroom and sleep with them (***Hmm, I know what you’re thinking now…).
What this means is that you should invite people to your inner room. Tell them the secrets that you can’t share outside.
Ask your readers to share their opinions. Recent studies have shown that nobody gets tired of asking or answering questions that could help them.
So don’t get tired of using questions in your content. It’s worth it and would get you the right traffic all of the time.
When you write guest articles, don’t write what other writers have covered in the past. Use your own VOICE to give your content life. Did you realize that your target audience is sick and tired of reading the same articles everywhere?
You’ve to do something different and differently as well. Sure, nobody expects that you write a heavenly content on a topic that’s out of this world, but use your imagination and finesse to stand out.
If you don’t feel comfortable with some words and sentences, those are the types of content you must publish – yes, do something unique. Go crazy if you have to.
President Barack Obama’s traffic strategy
Barack Obama, the 44th President of United States strikes a Chord with his speech in 2012. But one thing I enjoyed the most was how he uses questions to capture the Americans. The engagement was so intense that the populace fell in love with his acts.
Apart from asking questions to engage people and earn friends, he also welcomes any type of question. See example here.
If you don’t ask questions, then your ideal customers can’t open up to give you insights on what they’ve in mind. And until they share their innermost secrets, you can’t truly serve them well.
As a content marketer, your duty is to woo your target audience and get them talking. Yes, let them talk about the good, bad and ugly.
Let them ask questions so that you can use the idea to research long-tail keywords. And answer their bugging questions.
Each time you ask a question, you’d be surprise with the answers your blog readers and ideal customers will send you. On a normal day, they can never share such delicate matters with you, but your emotional question got them activated.
How to use “questions” to drive quality traffic like a pro 
Millions of people search Google every second because they want answers to their questions.
And Google wants you to answer those questions and build engagement. That’s the reason for all the Panda, Penguin 1.0 and most recently, Penguin 2.0 updates.
If you truly want to drive organic traffic and dominate Google very quickly, then start optimizing your content for questions.
There are “how to” keywords and “question-based” keywords.
Funny enough, when people search for information using key terms that begin with “how to,” then 95% of the time these people are not looking to buy a product or subscribe to learn more.
Of course, there are several factors to this, but you should dwell more on the question-based key terms because the searchers who use them are inclined to either learn more, hire you to help them out, subscribe to your newsletter or buy your product.
Learn from Obama, get targeted traffic ONLY
Remember, this post is about getting “quality” traffic that truly counts. Since my website is about content marketing (SEO to be specific), I need business and website owners who wants help in this respect.
That should be your FOCUS also. Identify your audience and go get it.
A few of the questions I’ve been asked over and over again in my niche are:
- Does content marketing work?
- How can I drive traffic with guest blogging?
- What is content marketing?
Ideally, put the questions people are asking in your title.
If it doesn’t fit in naturally, please don’t stuff it to avoid Google penalty. But you can use the idea in the question to write valuable content that drives you real traffic.
If a potential customer or client asks you a question, quickly visit Google keywords tool here or your favorite research tool and search for other related questions. Or use research with keyword canine.
For each question you ask people or get from them, provide simple answers to it and you’ll keep driving quality traffic to your website.
Quality traffic is King
Before you can build a website or blog that would generate income, you first need to get quality traffic. It’s the King!
If you know anyone who is been struggling to drive traffic to their website, tell them to stop and focus on “QUALITY” traffic only.
Because at the end of the day, a website that attracts (100 quality/targeted traffic will perform better than the one that generates 985 irrelevant/generic visitors).
That is the truth and I need you to live by it.
What kind of traffic do you drive to your website? If it’s targeted, why are you not getting results? Please share your opinion in the box below. See you at the top!
Top right Photo Credit: Vistage