For a long time there's been a certain amount of obsession among webmasters about building traffic—any traffic—for websites. But really, especially if you're location-based, the focus should be on building the right traffic.
Of course, search takes center stage in that struggle, but more recently social media sites like Digg.com and BoingBoing have captured the imaginations of traffic-obsessed marketers. Here's what many of them discover, though: traffic bursts from those sites do little for sales.
That's because most that show up at your website's door aren't looking for your site, product, or service specifically; they're looking to graze and move on.
That's not to say there's no benefit in traffic bursts. If you run a content site, i.e., content is the product, then boosts to your traffic numbers and pageviews only help the business.
What Cracked has done right here, echoing Godin's advice for focusing on and engaging existing visitors, is provide an interactive experience for readers. But also, from a branding perspective, whatever the rate of bouncing visitors, those bursts aren't for naught. If you're able to generate bursts consistently, you build familiarity and reach, which in theory generate more sales. Still, many aren't interested in the macro-elements associated with branding. They'd rather focus on the nitty-gritty, the proven sales boosters, the more directly measurable strategies. My friend, Shaun, for example, whose specialty is
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