Search engine traffic versus link traffic. Options

[newsguy]

I've always read (and it makes sense to believe) that search engine traffic is the best kind of traffic because it's very targetted--people are actively looking for what your site contains (usually).

But one of my sites in particular gets a lot of traffic from a link that's on another site with a similar theme. Would that traffic be just as good as the search engine traffic? What do you think?

[Caissa]

Hi newguy,

The way I judge traffic is by conversion. Does that traffic from the link convert to buying (joining) customers?

That is something you can test and should. If the traffic is coming in fron natural listings in SEs then it cost you nothing. If you use PPC there is a cost and I would assume there is a cost for this banner.

Take a look at where the "buyers" are coming from. Not all traffic is good traffic.

[bragadocchio]

Good answer, Caissa.

I think that it is important to look at the conversions, and to test.


Newsguy,

I've been looking at some other forums this morning, and it appears that you are looking for a lot of answers to the questions you've posted. I saw this very same post at the following other forums (alphabetical order).

While we appreciate people posting here, your posts are taking on the appearance of the automated spamming of message boards. Are you a real person? I'm not sure that I saw any responses from you to the answers people gave you.

Are you there?

Aqua-Soft Forums
Best Practices Search Engine Forums
BizHat.com Forum
Digital Point
eCommerceTalk
Great Nexus
Platinax Internet Community Forums
PowWeb Community Forums
ProgrammingTalk
PulseToday.com - Marketing Forums
RevenueForums.com
Search Engine Watch
Search Guild
SEO Chat
SEO Guy Forums
Siteowners - webmaster forums
SitePoint Forums
Small Business Forum
Templates911
Web Hosting Forum - Tophosts.com
WebDeveloper Forums
Webmaster Forum
Webmasters Market Forum
WebTrafficTalk Forums


Traffic from other sites that are related to yours can be as good as, or better than traffic from search engines if the link from the other site is at the right place at the right time - usually when the person has completed the task that they came to the other site for, and the services or goods or information that you provide might be a logical next step.

[Nick_W]

Thankyou Brag, it's about time someone pointed this out. I've been seeing this nick do the same thing for a week now...

-- good forum list though, dont delete the thread till i've bookmarked 'em eh?

[newsguy]

I've actually posted on many many boards, and I've been replying to all of the posts I've made. I haven't been able to reply to this question yet as I was out all day. I wont have time to do much posting this evening or tomorrow, but Monday I will respond to all of my posts.

I am involved in MANY boards and ask the same question at all of them. I have gotten A LOT of good feedback from this method.

[bragadocchio]

Hi Nick,

It's an interesting list, and I've probably gotten some value out of this thread by seeing some of those forums for the first time. We'll probably keep this thread around.

Newsguy,

I'm glad that you responded to my post. Frankly, when I see the same questions from you plastered all across the web, my enthusiasm for responding to one of your posts wanes, and my desire to engage you, and to provide "good feedback" is near nonexistent.

I don't know if you are aware that signature file URLs from here are redirected in a manner that imparts no page rank back to the sites you've listed?

I'm going to suggest that the amount of "good feedback" that you receive from people will probably be tied to the level of participation that you are involved in, and brief summary statements or questions will never get anything more than brief summary answers, if any at all.

If you are interested in good feedback, you might find some value in this essay: How to ask questions the smart way

[McFox]

Thanks for posting the list Brag!

Took me a little while to bookmark them all. Much too easy to get sidetracked reading.

[bragadocchio]

You're welcome.

Some of those forums were new to me, too. Once I started seeing the same posts on four or five forums, I figured that I'd check to see where else Newsguy was shaing the posting love.

So I spent some time looking over some of them. Fun filled way to spend a Saturday morning. I'm sure that I missed some that Newsguy has posted to.

Maybe if we ask him (or her) nicely, we'll get a bigger list of search and marketing related forums.

[Tim]

Here's another one to add to the list:

eWebDevelopment Webmaster Forums

[newsguy]

Maybe I'm just new to this whole thing, but if posting an engaging question on multiple boards results in numerous responses (and it has on many boards) with lots of good ideas and feedback--what's the problem?

I could see if I was not coming back and responded to the posts. Sure, that would be an obviously bad thing to do. But that is not what I am doing. I am posting to numerous boards, yes, but I am replying at those numerous boards, too, and if a person sees the good responses on one board or the other and acts on that good information--hasn't a good service been done toward everyone involved?

I just don't understand the hostility as long as I'm coming back and participating and as long as the posts are actual questions or comments on real, related issues.

I will end the practice if I can get some solid answers as to what makes this wrong to do.

[newsguy]

Oh, and one more thing--I'm not interested in PageRank. PR plays very little part in SEO these days (or so I'm reading on the many boards that I post at), and besides all of my product sales come from my affiliates. So I have no desire for PageRank.

[bragadocchio]

How many threads have you been involved in on all of these forums that you post to that were started by other people?

[newsguy]

Not too many, because I'm interested in the topics that I'm posting about mostly--though there are some exceptions (like at some SEO-specific boards I frequent).

That, however, does not answer my question. If my posts are generating good discussion on relevant topics that benefit the readers, why does it matter if the same post is located on multiple boards? Especially since most of the readers at one board do not read the others. Why should they miss out on a good topic discussion that will benefit them? The answer I'm hearing is "because it's wrong to post on multiple boards". I am not hearing any valid reasons why.

Again, I emphasize, if I was not taking part in the threads, I could completely understand the argument--completely. If I was a "post and run", doing drive-by postings and never discussing the points I post about, I would completely understand the criticism. But that is not what I'm doing.

And again I say, if valid, logical arguments can be made for why the same questions should not be posted and discussed on multiple boards, I'll stop doing so tonight. But I have yet to hear any such arguments.

[Black_Knight]

Maybe I'm just new to this whole thing, but if posting an engaging question on multiple boards results in numerous responses (and it has on many boards) with lots of good ideas and feedback--what's the problem?

Not seeing a problem really, except the miniscule danger of duplicate content filtering hitting those forums, and the greater danger of slightly chipping away at the uniqueness of each forum.

It's simply unusual, thus the comments. Usually people attempt to find a community to be a part of, not just start lots of copies of the same conversation in different places. Both can be interesting, but the second is somehow a little more self-serving and less generous. I don't know why that should be so, but that's how it feels. Perhaps it is the sense that you are seeking to test and judge people responding to posts without them being aware of being compared. Or maybe it is that it serves you (by giving you a huge variety of answers) far more than it serves the members who help you (unless you are somehow able to spend so much time on all of those forums that you've answered ten times as many questions of others in each as you have asked).

Forums aren't about content so much as about contact. The human social element, the community, is what a forum is all about. It's about giving opinions more than taking them. Otherwise, how could each question have ten varied answers? For forums to work, there have to be people to answer the questions of others. I can't see how you could do that properly on more than a very small handful of forums.

I think eventually you'll see fewer and fewer responses at forums until you are seen to be reciprocating fairly, and returning the favour generously to those who have helped you with responses.

I certainly don't think you're doing anything 'wrong' in any moral or ethical sense, but maybe being just a little short-sighted in terms of how a social economy works.

I'm not interested in PageRank

Just as well here, newsguy, as no links in posts or signatures here can pass any link popularity benefit as we make the links pass through a redirect that is banned to spiders by the robots.txt, and reverse the url parameter so it can't easily be decoded otherwise.

That way we encourage that all links given are for the benefit of readers, not spiders, and we prevent the danger that all forums face - that of becoming a FFA link resource (and penalised as such).

[projectphp]

I wonder what one expects to get out of being involved in forums if posting the same thing at 20 some forums is one's modus operandi. Do you hope to be a member at these forums? Do you want feedback and knowledge?

I also don't get why are threads started by oneslef are likely to be more valuable a learnign experience than those started by others. I rarely if ever start threads, as I have found that I learn more when I approach a subject in thread I have never thought of before, than I do when I start threads. I also finmd I learn more from others successes and failures tha n I do from overanalysing my own situation Case in point: Caissa's Virtual Assistant thread. I heard Kal mention it a while ago, but forgot about it. That sort of positive feedback is great to know!!!

IMHO, posting at several forums isn't "wrong" in any sense other than perspective. Forums offer so much knowledge and learning, but that ammounts to very little if the number of forums and the types of questions asked and read reduces to only thsoe one starts.

My $0.02 anyway

[Tim]

I haven't got much to add to what Michael (projectphp), Ammon, and Bill have already said, but the way I personally see it is that I wouldn't want to spend time answering one of your questions if it was also being posted in numerous other places. I might spend awhile writing a detailed response, only to find out that someone else had already answered your question in a similar way to me. It would be a waste of my time, and would probably cause me not to respond to any more of your posts.

As such, I haven't responded in detail to any of your posts yet. The ones I did respond to on various forums, I only wrote one or two sentences, and left it to someone else to cover in detail. If everyone leaves it to someone else, there's no-one else to write a detailed answer.

I hope that answers your question for "valid, logical arguments ... for why the same questions should not be posted and discussed on multiple boards".

<added>

Especially since most of the readers at one board do not read the others.

As you've seen now, most readers at one board do read the others. And Threadwatch showcases good threads from many SEO-related forums. So among us all, we pretty much see all the topics on all the boards - as you've found out through this.
</added>

[newsguy]

Black_Knight, projectphp:

Thank you both for your responses to my question. I can certainly see the point of view that if one posts question after question and receives lots of feedback but fails to go and respond to others questions, one would be viewed as not very generous and thereby provoke fewer responses. That's a logical statement that makes sense (unlike what was posted by others before it).

Let me ask this, then: if I post helpful information as new threads, and not -just- questions, do you think that would "level out" the give->take that forums are designed for? Instead of just asking the questions that I have, offering the suggestions and information that I have as well?

Looking forward to more insightful answers.

[newsguy]

Tim,

Thank you for your response. I appreciate how you feel on the matter, but must disagree on one point:

As you've seen now, most readers at one board do read the others.

Just because a handful of people have noticed the same post on multiple boards does not mean that everyone does. I have, in fact, been responding to very long threads I've started on other boards where not one soul has mentioned having seen the question elsewhere. So perhaps a few people here have read those other boards, and perhaps a few people there have read this one, but that by no means indicates that everyone reads every other board out there on the topic of SEO/Marketing.

[projectphp]

if I post helpful information as new threads, and not -just- questions, do you think that would \"level out\" the give->take that forums are designed for?

Perhaps, but any sort of forced approach to forums usually is pretty transparent.

I think, newsguy, that a blog is probably better for posting thought provoking stuff, and maybe what suits you better. If you make an RSS feed, people will naturally talk about your posts on forums as appropriate. If you build trust in the user base as well, you will attract readers directly to your blog, and as most have a comments feature, users can comment there as well.

This all comes back to nwhat you want to get out of forums. Do you want to be respected and well regarded? Do you want to build a reputation that you can then profit from? OR, like me, do you just like them, and wanna hang out with friends (sure, I learn HEAPS, but that isn't 100% of the reason I hang out at forums so much).

If you work out why you want participate in forums, then you will probably understand beter how to acheive what you want out of them.

[karinza]

I would like to respond as someone that normally just posts questions. I am just starting my business and feel that, compared to the others on the forum, I am pretty computer and Internet stupid.

I read A LOT of the posts but seldom, if ever, have anything I feel would add to them.

Karinza