Driving traffic to your site is one of the first requirements to a successful online business. Without traffic, your site may as well not exist. There are numerous ways you can drive traffic, so let's take a look at some of them and evaluate them. Keep in mind, this isn't a comprehensive list, but it is some of the more successful ways. . I invite you to share any other ideas that have worked for you.

PPC

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Affiliate Programs

Article Syndication

Press Releases

Blogging Banner ads

Joint ventures

Offline campaigns (that drive traffic to your site)

Advertising (on other sites, ad networks and industry publications)

Let's look at the pros and cons of a few of the methods, to help you determine what methods are viable for your business. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3, as we work our way through the list above and determine the pros and cons.

PPC

Pros:

You can drive traffic quickly -- that's a good thing!

Your traffic is targeted if you select the right keywords -- also a good thing!

You can use PPC to test things (headlines, landing page copy) -- great way to use PPC, in addition to just driving traffic for sales. Be willing to sacrifice some profits and use PPC to test ideas before you fully role them out.

You control the settings and can turn it on and off any time -- control is good.

Cons:

There is a lot of research and set up required (unless your outsource it) -- not necessarily a bad thing, unless you don't have the time to learn and implement or the budget to outsource. Your best bet is outsourcing, if your budget allows it. You should be running your business not becoming a PPC expert.

The cost per click can be very expensive on some words -- in some industries and on some words it is prohibitively high. In other cases it's just annoyingly high. You have to determine where your keywords would fall and if you can afford it. How much is a lead worth to you? How much is a sale worth to you? You should figure this all out before your start.

You have to worry about click fraud -- bummer! There is software out there to help.

Once you've reached your daily spend (the amount you are willing to pay each day) your ads are turned off and your exposure disappears -- that's just how it works. It means there is often a good part of the day where your ad isn't showing, unless you have a large budget.

SEO

Pros:

· Organic search listings have a higher click through rate than PPC listings. -- Getting the most clicks out of any listing is a good thing. Major pro!

· Traffic from the organic results converts at a higher rate than PPC traffic. -- Another major pro! Conversion is what it is all about, so getting traffic that is more likely to convert is your ultimate goal.

· Your traffic is targeted if you select the right keywords. -- That's a good thing.

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