Traffic Jam!

Traffic can come from anywhere, whether it’s paid, earned or owned, but knowing where to look is half the battle.

While it’s a relatively simple process to sort our marketing efforts into these three categories, it’s much more difficult to extend energies and resources across all possible channels. From search and social to video destinations and news wires, ’Net workers can amass traffic in both predictable and unexpected ways. Moreover, we’d be remiss to forget, the traffic-producing power of advertising and affiliate networks. Many of these traffic sources are detailed here, but you’ll find the remainder of the list and more on the Web at wsm.co/trafficsources13.

Each enterprise must strategize where to spend their resources (time and money) or all the trafficgenerating possibilities can be expensive and cumbersome to implement. As someone responsible for digital acquisition, you are likely already familiar with the destinations discussed in this month’s Top 50, particularly those in search. Challenge yourself, however, to think outside of the Google (#1) box and look to very specialized search services.

Also look beyond the king and queen of social — Facebook (#1) and Twitter (#2) — when thinking about acquiring visitors. Tumblr (#5) lets businesses effortlessly share anything and gain visibility through its website. Features like tags can help consumers discover a brand’s posts and recent additions like a chat widget and real-time notifications keep up with their interests.

When looking to video destinations to acquire website visitors, you’ll see big players like YouTube (#1) and DailyMotion (#2), and also the SlideShare (#4), a site that allows companies to present content in the form of presentations, documents, PDFs, videos and webinars. What is good enough for the White House and IBM (who slideshare counts as users), is likely good for your business as well. Do not forget the power of the humble press release. There is no press release distributing venue simpler or more productive than press release wires. We’ve ranked 10 that provide businesses with credibility, acquisition and SEO benefits, such as PRLog (#1) and PRLeap.com (#9).

Last but not least, this month’s Top 50 looks to advertising and affiliate networks that can take your site’s traffic to the next level. 7Search (#6) and Commission Junction (#3) are two that fit the bill and can make an impact on your bottom line immediately.

Open Road

Your competition is using these surprising traffic sources to build their enterprise. Don’t let them pass you by. See what other traffic sources made this month’s Top 50.