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Web Site Traffic - The Future | ||
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  I’ve received amazing feedback about The Rebirth Of Internet Marketing report. We’re heading towards *500* comments on that one blog post. Others have written about the report on their own blogs or in articles to their ezine lists. I would say that 95% of the comments and feedback have been positive but there has been some criticism. Which I certainly welcome. Several people have raised some interesting points about different sections of the report and in my next few blog posts I want to address them… “I disagree about the Internet getting more competitive and becoming a harder place to make money. As more people start using the Internet around the world there will be more opportunity to sell things to those people.” Of the people that had some criticism about the report this was by far the #1 reaction and disagreement. Some even claimed I was preaching “Doom & Gloom” merely as a marketing tactic to promote Income.com as the solution to a false fear that I was making up. (Now that made me laugh!) I stated in the report that it is going to become increasingly difficult to make money online because the competition is growing by the second.  Generating an income from the Internet is the ultimate business and more people are figuring this out everyday. ANYONE can start an online business without much capital or technical experience — so the low barrier to entry is going to grow competition at an extremely fast rate. So let’s examine the argument of as more people start using the Internet there will be more people to sell to…
According to InternetWorldStats.com there are currently 1.114 Billion people using the Internet out of the entire world’s estimated population of 6.574 Billion people. That means that 17% of the world’s population is currently using the Internet. It also means that 83% of the world’s population is NOT yet using the Internet. So this means that eventually there could be FIVE TIMES as many people online (compared to today) and FIVE TIMES the amount of money being spent online for goods and services… This means that there will actually be FIVE TIMES the new opportunity to make money online compared to today, right? BZZZZZZZZZ WRONG. What it really means is that the search volumes across all keyword phrases will increase. And existing markets will see major growth when more goods and services are sold. TRANSLATION: The Internet’s rich will get richer. It’s just like I mentioned in the report, the few top players in each niche stand to gain the lion’s share of money to be made. As more money is spent in each of those markets the top 1% will end up with 99% of that new sales volume. Let me explain it further… As a statistical sample, 17% of the world’s population is enough to establish 95%+ of the existing niche markets in the world — with the exception of micro-markets where maybe 50 people in the world collect a certain item or are interested in an obscure topic. And it’s nearly impossible to build much of a business around a micro-market. Sure, if you can combine enough of them (the premise of The Long Tail) you can generate enough volume. But even those micro-markets will be affected by the major players in the large niches under which those micro-markets fall. So with that being said, the marketers that control the markets today stand the highest chance of controlling those markets in the future. More buyers (demand) doesn’t necessarily create more opportunities for ‘new’ competitors to come along and compete in the same markets as those established players. In fact, it’s the opposite. Let’s examine things from a Lead Generation standpoint — i.e. the process of you getting more traffic to your site that you can monetize; through ad revenue, affiliate income, by selling your own products, etc. We will do this by covering the FOUR major traffic generation methods that make up at least 90% of how traffic is driven to a web site: - Search Engine Optimization - Buying Traffic (PPC, Banners, CPA, etc.) - Affiliate Programs Or Other Partner Programs - Recommended Or Syndicated Content And, Yes, I’m fully aware that there are additional OFFLINE methods. But let’s focus on the online ones for this discussion. Search Engine Optimization Take the Top 25 keywords in any given market. The top players in that market that control the free organic traffic are only going to see their free traffic numbers GROW as more customers enter those markets and begin utilizing the same group of keywords to do searches. The players that rank towards the top of the SERPs will see the greatest gains in their traffic — by a longshot. So more people coming online to increase the search volumes doesn’t necessarily change much aside from making the top players even richer. Okay, okay. One could argue that it will create more long tail keyword variations. And I agree that will happen as more people come online. But I also believe that the “bottom feeding” competitors (new marketers or ones that aren’t able to compete for the top or even ‘middle’ group of keywords in a given market) will be going after the same group of long tail keywords to generate traffic. And because these long tail keywords will never individually generate a lot of traffic it’s going to take a lot of them to have much of an impact — which is why many marketers will be going after the same ones; there will be a lot of cross-over. There will always be long tail keywords at any point in time that will generate some traffic… but I believe that traffic will not be enough to sustain a business for the long-term. Firstly, because that traffic is not enough, and secondly, because any traffic generated from long tail keywords will be short-lived — because it’s only a matter of time before other marketers try to generate traffic from the same long tail keywords. The activity for the Top 50 to 100 keywords in any market in the SERPs will become a lot more stable than the activity at the bottom (long tail.) This will be because of the low barrier to entry for marketers to attempt to generate traffic from long tail keywords as compared to the massive barrier to entry to move up in the rankings for the most popular keywords. So as more of the world’s population comes online, I don’t believe it makes generating traffic from SEO any easier — and I stand by what I predicted in the Rebirth report that it will only make things tougher. Buying Traffic Pay-per-click prices are on the rise and there’s no reason why they won’t continue to rise. The same goes for traffic generated from other purchased methods — CPA, banners, etc. Some argue that other search engines could come along and create competition for Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others — thus putting pressure on their advertising prices and lowering ad and click prices across the Internet. I seriously doubt it will happen. The barrier to entry to get into the search engine game is just too high. And even if one were to succeed, the rates you charge for your advertising (by click or by CPM) end up being set by market demand and ROI — which would eventually have them rise to the point of the other SEs and their prices. Unless their traffic is of lower quality and doesn’t covert as well. As more advertising money goes online the cost to purchase traffic goes up. And we haven’t seen anything yet. It will continue to rise. So as more of the world’s population comes online, it’s not going to lower pay-per-click or other advertising prices online. Affiliate Programs Or Other Partner Programs It’s nearly impossible to survive the Affiliate Game as a merchant unless you have a high-converting offer. Affiliates in any given market will naturally find and discover the best paying programs and will put most of their efforts into them. Any affiliate, or potential business partner online, is going to promote other products and services that will generate the highest return. More customers coming online isn’t going to dramatically affect conversion rates as there will just be more sales made. Which again, allows the rich to get richer. So as more of the world’s population comes online, it’s not going to make it any easier to get people to promote your Affiliate Program. Recommended Or Syndicated Content This is the one major area that WILL be affected by more Internet users coming online. If you have content that is distributed across many web sites and have incoming links as other sites recommend their visitors check out your content, your site traffic WILL GROW. From social bookmarking, to blog distribution, to viral pass-alongs, and more. This is the nature of the Internet. Because of this, you can potentially generate ZERO visitors from SEO, buy no traffic whatsoever, have no Affiliate Program, and still generate a massive flood of visitors to your web site — and produce a huge amount of income as a result. And this goes right back to the primary point I was trying to make in the Rebirth Of Internet Marketing report! Having fantastic content makes all the difference in the world online. The foundation of your Internet Marketing should be your content. In fact, it needs to be. 95% of the top players across most markets will have moved into that position because of producing great content and using great marketing. (They know how to convert their traffic.) If you produce great content on a regular basis, and focus on serving and helping your market, you can’t help but succeed online. You will be well on your way to becoming a top player in your market.  Â
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« Long Overdue Praise For PayPerPost | Internet Marketing Must Absolutely Start With One Thing - The Exact Targeting Test » |
May 13th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Great article John, looking forward to the site being launched!
May 13th, 2007 at 7:25 am
Very nice post. You make a compelling argument for top quality content. If you can publish good content on a regular basis, you can be seen as an authority in your field. This, alone, builds trust in you.
As far as affiliate marketing is concerned, I would think that as more people come online, it would boost sales for affiliates.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Yep, a great post, great explanation. Can’t wait for the site to open.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
interesting post john. A lot of the questions i had after reading the “Rebirth of internet marketing” report have been clarified…thanks again for the report, a definate eye opener!
May 13th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
very imformative article john!
A number of the questions i had after reading ‘The rebirth of internet marketing’ have been answered….thanks again for the report.
May 13th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Once again great post.
May 13th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Income.com - HURRY UP!
Eric Louviere
May 13th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Yes great post John and I agree great content will win in the end. I see search engines cracking down on junk content and concentrating on helping their searchers so they will continue to use their services.
I have one question though if you would give a recommendation on a submitter what would you recommend?
Thanks Bill Shultz
May 13th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I agree that “Having fantastic content makes all the difference in the world online.” .
But not just content, you need to have thousands of incoming links too.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Hi John, I agree with you, the internet is the ultimate space (no different than the universe) for honest content. Having a website of no effort, dishonest content may have worked in the past and occasionally it may work here and there but ultimately you need great competitive content. Thats what makes all technology including websites and the world a better place to live in.
The websites with the best content will be the winners from now on.
Rick Gomez
May 14th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Great insight John.
Now stop fooling around and “get back to work” on Income.com!
May 14th, 2007 at 10:39 am
John,
Nice supplement to Rebirth…
From the beginning…the Internet relied on content to survive.
Now that the Internet has become a “regular” part of our lives…it is still that content that now drives online businesses.
For those may not believe 100% that “content is king.”
Ask yourself this question:
“What am I using the Internet for?”
The answer usually will be: To find information on something.
Information = content.
Joseph Ratliff
May 14th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
500 replies is pretty good. We are ready to see http://www.income.com to launch… Any projections?
Joe
May 15th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Nice summary and rebuttal John.
What about the effect of new language search engines/translators? Would you then say that the “big guns” who can afford to outsource translations/internationalization of their sites will still ‘win’?
Maybe we should start learning to copywrite in Mandarin…
Cheers!
Robert
http://www.instant-self-esteem.com/
May 15th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Very good follow-up to one of the thoughts I had when I originally read your report. I sometimes get the feeling though that there are more people selling something out there than there are buying, which really cuts down our odds of being truly successful. But if we continue to provide good quality content, the “good” will win out. Thanks for an excellent post.
May 15th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Great article john. A number of questions i had after reading “the rebirth of internet marketing” ebook have been clarified.. thanks again for the report. ;-).
May 15th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
This makes me really focus on content
May 15th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
It is about time the instant pushbutton revolution comes to an end.
It was always going to happen, and it will continue to go the way of quality content.
Just like offline, the goldrush fields became sophisticated towns with competitive businesses.
The rich will get richer.
May 16th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
[…] This is one blog that you definitely should subscribe to (RSS feed). Go read is last two posts if you haven’t yet; - The Exact Targeting Test - Web Site Traffic - The Future […]
May 16th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
John
World Wide Web = Internet = Information = Content = KING!
People go on the internet to look for Information, and not go on the internet to Buy something. This was told to me by an internet marketer ‘guru’. Such a statement is so Basic and has so much Truth in it.
Build Content > Drive Traffic > Good Sales Page > Converts crazy > Sales > Profits
May Ong
IM Trainer
May 17th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
John Reese is an expert and is correct in my opinion … But there is a new wave of technology on the horizon that will transform the internet.
This is 10 - 15 yrs down the track and may sound weird but I am an electronics engineer so it doesnt to me. The reason IPV6 was phased in is to accomodate integration of the internet with physical devices EG cellphones, appliances etc.
Big deal right ? But in 10 - 15 years it will be a big deal as there will be a whole new “internet based” industry emerging involving teleoperated robotics.
Imagine if your car hooks into the net and can be driven around by some body in another country hooked into the net via a Virtual Reality interface.
Its sounds absurd I know but this sort of this will be going on in 10 - 15 yrs time.
So the money making potential of the net will explode - so will everybody making money online in 15 yrs be doing it via marketing ?
I dont think so.
May 24th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
To resume what you’ve said, only real business people will stay in the game, people who deliver quality, and invest in their BUSINESS.
People who just want to make money oline will find the game to difficult and quit. Plus, big companies are catching up, and those biggies have their blogs and are playing the niche game as well.
Yup, 2007 is much harder than 2003 or 2004.
May 25th, 2007 at 8:10 am
[…] With thousands more coming online to compete with me, you, and each other, in the immediate future, the failure rate is going to be even higher! (John Reese – The Rebirth of Internet Marketing 2007) John discusses more on that competition statement here. […]
May 28th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
That John Reese Adsense Presentation, where he made Loads of money, with Loads of traffic, (where he was at Frank Kerns house)
What traffic method did he use to generate that traffic? he said it was Free traffic.
Was it articles? content pages? Email marketing? Blogs?
Does anybody know what method he used? - he said it was Free….
and he generated LOADS of traffic.
John…, if you are reading this, what method did you use ? lol
Get back….
May 28th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
[…] http://www.income.com/blog/ […]
May 29th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Isn’t video content king because we love our mobile phones? As more individuals begin to search the internet upon our mobiles we are going to find video based sites designed for mobile use less frustrating to view than the traditional website. Sites which are effectively well indexed video libraries will be easy to access and more compelling to use from our mobiles. We won’t wish to move through more than 2 or 3 pages because we like to reach for our small gadget from our pockets, handbags or nappy-bags/diaper bag. Moving through pages on mobiles isn’t as easy as on laptops and I don’t expect that will change. Reading web content from our mobile phones I expect will become the future norm. We will do this at the office, at home, in the playground, park and even the beach. None of us want to watch or read things of no value. So only those sites offering videos of value and quality suitable for mobile delivery will make the grade in the future.
May 29th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Hey John,
I believe this is one of the best, if not the best, article I’ve read in a very long time. Why? Because it states the truth!
The real problem is that people cannot handle the truth. They justify what they see and hear to make it look and sound better for them. In the long run, the distorted truth falls and the reality sets in.
Anyone who has followed the internet to some degree in the past 2-3 years should have seen this coming. If they have, they know what you say is inevitable.
At the very worse, it isn’t gloom and doom you write about, but a wake up call to many of us, so we can make sure things are in place!
Thanks for sharing your opinion and expertise with all of us!
I for one value your contribution so keep pouring it on kid!
June 5th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
There is only one truth and many lies. The truth, is certainly in this article. Excellent John. Infact..Bravo!
June 7th, 2007 at 9:14 am
This is exactly what steve pavlina promotes in his blog. (http://www.stevepavlina.com) he has built a website that brings in $50k a month doing no SEO, no Adsense, no marketing gimmicks, no squeeze pages, nothing of that sort.
The site generates 99% of its traffic by providing extremely good quality articles and information that is both timeless and appeals to nearly everyone. As such nearly all his visitors come from word of mouth and the thousands of other blogs linking in, constantly quoting content and linking back to posts.
Its something many marketers can’t quite grasp but works very well if you put in the effort, providing valuable timeless content that has real effort put into it, huge blog posts discussing many different viewpoints and reasonings on a matter etc. He has ignored nearly every single thing marketers say you must do (make 400-500 word posts, post 20 times a day, use keyword research for titles etc) and still made a hell of a lot of money.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
After building my site for the the past two years, I’am ready to give it up.
It seems everyone is making money, but me! I put my whole life on the
line with this internet bullshit. but, deep down inside, someone or something
won’t let me quit. So on I go, on and on. following the internet dream, I just
want to be my own boss.
June 21st, 2007 at 2:56 am
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July 8th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Thanks for the MORE explanations. Looking forward to your launch soon…
July 12th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
This was really a great post.
I have been marketing online for 4 years, and I am continually amazed at the stuff you share for free.
The powerful thing is that it has shifted my paradigm, and made me look at the Internet in a different way. This in turn will help me prioritize my activities.
Driving traffic will remain one of the most difficult thing to do on the Internet… laying base that CONTENT is your real asset because it GROWS with growing users on the internet is genius.
The barrier to entry for new internet marketers will keep rising, since everyone is on the same level playing field.
It was hard enough when I first tried…. At first… I tried, failed and failed so much it’s not even funny, but anyways.
Even with all the tools… The reality of most webmasters is that they can’t drive MASSIVE traffic to their websites…
Besides Google Adwords… there’s no REAL good answer in how to generate TARGETED traffic to your websites.
And the truth is that it’s getting harder and harder to make money with Google Adwords with rising costs due to increased competition.
Now.. Traffic generation is one of the most difficult things to do, most web masters would agree to this.
Luckily I found something that works really well…
Discover the amazing formula that generates FREE traffic like crazy:
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October 19th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Nice follow-up John. I also read and enjoyed the original report.
Also I agree that your primary focus should now be your content. I think the Internet has gone through patches with content. I think when it began it was all about content, you needed good content. Then I think not long back before average users became more aware, you could make money without good content.
And I think it’s come back full swing now and will continue to rise in quality. The top blogs and sites which are not huge media or social networking portals all have fantastic content. That’s the key, great content and consistant marketing
January 19th, 2008 at 2:49 am
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March 16th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
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March 17th, 2008 at 7:21 am
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March 17th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
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April 29th, 2008 at 3:53 am
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
The reason IPV6 was phased in is to accomodate integration of the internet with physical devices EG cellphones, appliances etc.
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