I agree with most of your assessments. I'd like to comment on your post...

Pay-per-Click - Google, Yahoo/Overture, etc. I've had mixed results for copywriting/copywriter. I've found that fitting my bids in the middle allows me to avoid the tire kickers and people looking to join the throng of other copywriters in this crowded field. Definitely stay away from Content Match. Besides, there is just so much work the leaders can take on and prospects trickle down to me.

I definitely prefer solid, quality content to reading the same word or variation thereof 20 - 30 times each page. Makes me feel like a parrot.

Ultimately, a solid mix of marketing, advertising and PR through all mediums is probably the best bet. Some mediums more than others depending on your service or product.

Thanks for the Post!

Thought-provoking post.

I agree about Google AdWords. The category is saturated and it costs a fortune. Natural search is far more effective in my experience.

Blogs: I disagree. My blog brings me clients, paid speaking engagements, press coverage, and clients.

And it does an amazing job of search optimization and building traffic.

But no blog can succeed without skillful promotion, including PR and lots of networking.

Blog advertising has been an enormous win for my clients, and it's obscenely cheap at this point. That won't last long!

Viral marketing is another win for my clients. Nothing like a good meme to get traffic rushing.

Thanks, Ira!

So if I understand you correctly about pay-per-click, you're finding success with moderate bids that don't necessarily place you on the top page? If so, that's interesting. Do you find that the people who bother to scroll more deeply into the returns are more serious, better qualified prospects?

Jonathan,

I agree *and* disagree on blogs. That is, if you are just writing your blog posts and then sitting back until inspiration strikes again for another blog post, then, yeah....you are just serenading under the window, as you so wonderfully put it. But the trick with blogs is what Amy Gahran calls "strategic commenting" and what Mack Collier calls "joining the conversaiton." To truly tap the power of blogs as a driver of traffic, you've got to get off your island and start participating in others. Add your own voice to the conversation -- impart your own wisdom. It's hard work -- but it works. Online discussion lists used to play this roll, but I think they are increasingly ceding to blogs here.

My clientele are all entrepreneurs, mostly women working a business from home.

The biggest challenge for them is feeling comfortable using the Internet at all. They ALL want to learn, but they have an hour or so a day what with their families, community stuff, etc.

So a big thing I do is show them where the resources are, especially the blogs that can help them. Unlike some of your clients who seem to be too busy, these folks WANT to learn how to use blogs to feel like they're making a difference. And to connect with others like that.

So what has helped them, and my readership, is for me to show them during regular teleclasses, on the house, how to use blogs to educate themselves about topics they care about. On a recent call, I introduced them to Scoble's blog, in particular the posts about his Mom and her terminal illness.

Suddenly they realized that here's this well known geek, who's just like their sons - someone with whom they now connect from a new perspective. It makes them less afraid and they feel more like they can be part of this great Internet community, which is so much dominated by all the boy stuff.

I also have a newsletter that goes to about 10,000 regular readers, most like what I described, and I use it to give them the week's blog topics, with links. Since no one has a clue about RSS, and since they can dispense with that now there are services like Squeet where they get the posts via email, (i have a link to it on my site) they don't feel so dumb anymore, and now read blogs they wouldn't have before. (I know Squeet costs me traffic, but it's easier for them.)

The links in the emails, which I present with just titles, gives me several hundred more visitors each day once or twice a week, keeping those numbers up, and getting new readers.

I also encourage comments, and most posts have them. We also discuss the topics on the teleclasses to keep everyone connected.

So for me, my blog has been a kind of training tool, more than a marketing tool.

Although the tele-conference seminars all focus on topics I post each day on my blog.

Incestuous perhaps, but so far, so good.

In my initial post I mentioned a variety of Web-traffic builders. Yet most of the responses have focused on just one: blogs. What about putting blogs in context? Of course it takes time and money to build a blog. Given all the Web elements available for development, the important question is whether blogs represent the best investment. For most of my clients (B2B), the answer is probably not -- they would be better advised to improve and continually refresh their deep content.

Jonathan I don't want to get completely off-topic, especially since everyone seems to be focusing on blogs as traffic-builders, but simply being a part of the blogging community has been far more valuable to me than increased traffic. I've met so many simply amazing marketing people with amazing marketing minds that I would otherwise have likely never met. People that I have learned from, and who have challenged me to re-evaluate most of what I thought I knew about marketing. It's so exciting to meet and get to know people that are as passionate about marketing as I am, people that don't view marketing as a 'necessary evil', but as a way to help the community.

Their energy and desire to 'change the world' is infectious, and their passion is contagious. Sure we all want more traffic, but don't show me numbers, show me people that have the same passion that I do.

Passion inspires me, not a traffic spike according to SiteMeter.

It seems that the passion for blogs is greatest among those marketers whose business model is almost entirely built around...blogs. But for me and for most everyone else, blogs are but one part of a Web strategy and the Web strategy is, in turn, one part of a business strategy. So passion and sitting around the virtual campfire is all well and good, but I want to see material evidence of business value before I recommend blogging to my clients. Above, Kim mentioned one way in which a blog has served an authentic business purpose -- I'm eager to learn of others.

Jonathan asks, "What about putting blogs in context?"

In my view, blogs are an important cornerstone of any content strategy, which might include authored articles and a newsletter, as well. You're right, however, Jonathan -- it does take money. But I think the potential is greater and the content itself more interesting than a static article or newsletter.

Blogs have a clear advantage because they offer (as David Armano says): "real talk and unfiltered perspective...What happens in the comments area of blogs is almost as interesting as the posts themselves."

I disagree that blogs wouldn't be a priority in a B2B context. I think SRF Global Translations' EthicsCrisis (http://www.ethicscrisis.com/) (produced by BL Ochman) is one creative example. It's a great take on how to leverage a blog as a marketing tool.

I agree that the comments are often (usually?) more interesting than the initial blog posts (mine included). In fact, the best reason to read a blog may be to take a "temperature check" of popular responses to certain topics. (At the Daily Fix, for example, I've learned never to mention "Starbucks" in a marketing context again. ;)

But as far as being the most important content on a site? Google a topic that's important to you and let me know if the most valuable info you find is buried within a blog -- or somewhere else.

Here is my take on traffic generation:

Google AdWords:
For a marketing business paid placement is essential. The return does depend on the cost, but if you have a new website (or a website without presence) the ad words give a boost you could not get naturally. The only way to continue spending for paid placement is to make sure you are making money. That takes time and effort managing the campaign… but probably will return more for your investment than traditional direct marketing.

Keyword stuffing:
I agree keyword stuffing is bad… but you should worry about keyword density to make sure the search engines see your content the way you want it to be seen.

Blogs:
People do read blogs… and the most successful are conversations (with comments and feedback)… however I find the readership is greater through RSS and more impactful. The busy people of the world do not surf blogs… they consume the content through aggregators. I spend 30 minutes a day tracking my “blog news sources” and going where they tell me.

E-newsletter:
I completely disagree. E newsletters generate traffic to the site. I have plenty of reports that show a “double” traffic boost the day a newsletter goes out for our clients.

Articles:
Articles are essential. They are great original content with words that get archived and searched. If you want to get the most bang for your buck make sure you have text links in the articles to destinations you want the readers to see.

Public speaking:
I agree. So-so for traffic. If you are mostly a local or regional market it helps make a personal connection with your prospects. Nothing like backing up what you say in public speaking with good online practices.

URLs in print ads, direct response vehicles, etc.:
I can’t comment much here, but I have had several launches tied to major direct marketing campaigns and the traffic was not staggering. Some were successful and others were not. In comparison I would spend my money on PR, articles, posts and paid placement.

Thanks.

E-newsletter: Not really a traffic builder. But a great way to capture visitors who have arrived. And those that sign-up tend to be on the more qualified end of the prospect spectrum. In my experience, the e-newsletter fulfills the relationship sustaining role that blogs are alleged to have, and it does so in a less intrusive, less time-intensive way.

I can honestly say as someone who sends out newsletters and someone who receives them I find it is a fantastic conversion tool. I am forwarding to or being forwarded newsletters from other people and it makes me want to act. Whether it is for a sale or an event I am thankful for newsletters. I have converted from non active user to a sale in many newsletters that were forwarded to me from other people. I think you haven't done enough research into this to state that it doesn't work. It does and I witness it on a day to day basis with some of our clients

Hi Jonathan!

I also agree with most of what you say. I've found though, that creating Lenses over at Squidoo is a great traffic builder. It increased traffic by over 30 percent for one of my clients, and that seems to be pretty constant.

Anyone else have experience with Squidoo?

First, in response to Aaron's comment that paid Google AdWords is "probably" a better investment that traditional direct marketing: I've yet to see that substantiated in real life with real numbers. If you have them, please show them. Most of my B2B clients would be better served with improved web content development or traditional direct (i.e., mail) methods that give them greater control over both messaging and segmentation.

But the larger point is this: in the time since I've made my original post, prospects have been asking me an entirely different kind of question -- how do they generate leads from the traffic they do get? This definitely brings us back to a traditional direct marketing approach -- make an offer. It kills me how so many businesses invest so much money into pulling traffic toward a site that's essentially static: lots of "information," but without any offers or calls to action that might actually create an honest to goodness business lead.