There’s a lot of talk out there about how to get more traffic to your website. Most of it is bogus. It’s either too out-dated (meta keywords) or the competition is already using it. Today I just wanted to point out 3 mistakes we see businesses doing in their SEO efforts.

Mistake #1: Focusing on traffic instead of revenue

If you’re focused on traffic alone, you’ll lose sight of what’s important: revenue. If you’re a mechanic, would you rather get traffic from 100 users who have cars, or 10 users whose cars have broken down by the side of the road? I’d rather have the 10 who need my services than 100 who don’t.

Before going about getting traffic to your website, define who your ideal prospect is then gather some intelligence on what they do, where they hang out etc. By doing so, you’ll be able to develop more effective plans to get them to your site.

Mistake #2: Throwing money at traffic problem

While buying traffic through Google Adwords and other banner advertising channels may work in the short term, it doesn’t work long term. The main reason is that usually you spend money per click, so to get more traffic, you have to pay more money. However, there are other far better investments to make. For example, if you write a piece of content that gets shared multiple times, you multiply your efforts and create credibility at the same time. Remember, we’re only concerned about creating quality traffic and merely paying per click is not gonna get you that.

You’re better off spending your marketing dollars on building trust through education and sharing high quality content.

Mistake #3: Assuming that more content will lead to more traffic

Having more content on your site does not guarantee more traffic. A lot of businesses are putting up blogs because they heard that it helps their sites rank higher, but that’s half truth. The other half of the story is that you have to promote content elsewhere online. Once you figure out who your ideal prospects are, it’s time to send your high quality content to them, wherever they hangout. This could be professional organizations, social networks or even new media. In order to substantially increase traffic to your company blog, follow these simple steps:

  1. Create high quality content. Make sure your blog posts are valuable and interesting enough to your audience that they would be willing to share. Check out Copy Blogger for tips on how to improve your content,
  2. Leverage social networks and other professional networks. After you create great content, it’s time to share with everyone in your network,
  3. Lastly, participate online. Usually when you write a blog post, for example, people will comment on the topic. Try to respond to comments so others can connect and participate in the conversation

Conclusion

There’s a lot of advice out there about how to get more traffic to your website. People tend to make these mistakes because in most cases they’re just mimicking what others are doing. However, what works for someone else won’t always work for you.

Have you made any SEO mistakes you’d like to share?