Top ranking in all the Major Engines...and now what?

Increasing links only way for more traffic?

[FrankWeb]

I have one site where I concentrate on. I started the site about one year ago.

For all the main keywords + combinations the site turns up in the top 5 results of Alltheweb, AV, AOL, Dmoz, Google/AOL, HotBot/Inktomi, Lycos, Netscape, Teoma, WiseNut and Yahoo.

The site now has around 1200 real unique visitors a day. But ofcourse I am hungry for more. PPC is not really an option for me.

Is the only way to get more traffic, to increase the links from other sites? or are there more ways to improve traffic?

I look forward to hear how other sites keep improving there numbers.

[heini]

Congrats, Frankweb, sounds like you made it.

One thing to keep in mind is those who think they own serps are sometomes due to ugly surprises. Change is the only constant in search engine marketing. So I agree, working on solid links to secure positions is always a good thing.

Another thing to think about would be going for traditional PR, on- and offline. One article in a major press can bring you more than 1 week of search engine marketing.

Also you might want to look into returen customers/visitors/readers. High visitor numbers are not the only measure of success. Depends on the nature of the site, of course.

[Shak]

Frank,

You say that PPC is not an option, but could you possibly elaborate on that, and the reasons:

1, Site does NOT generate revenue.
2, PPC pricing is too high in your industry
3, You dont belive in paying for traffic.

Hope you dont mind me asking, but it would be helpful to know the reasons.

Shak

[Nick_W]

Also you might want to look into return customers/visitors/ readers.

Yes, good point. How about

• Email this Page
  
• Bookmark us
  
• Link to us
  
• Email notification of new content
  
• Email discussion group
  
• Forum
  
• Sticky content -> Tools/reference
  
• The list is as long as your imagination...

Just a few thoughts for you...

Nick

[FrankWeb]

Thanks Heini,

Sorry if I sounded snobby about my results .. You are right. I have experienced it now a couple of times, from standing at the top of the hill, to off the hill is a small step.

PR, That sounds good and I know you're right, One time we had the luck that MSN homepage had a link to us through an article. Traffic was crazy, and so were we. Too bad it lasted only two days.

We already try to get some PR with articles, but I will see what more ideas we can get for more PR. I will let you know.

[heini]

>snobby
Not at all. We should enjoy the moments of success, no doubt :)

I wonder though if number of visitors really means all that much these days. Sometimes I think this is mostly a concept of the past, where all revenue came from banner ads. Yes, eyeballs where everything then.
Today it's for most sites more about getting in front of the right eyeballs, and making them return.

[kyr01]

I figured I share the same situation with Frank, so I'll report my point of view here. I have a website (about aesthetic surgery and in Italian, so it probably doesn't have a huge pool of people looking for it) and, mostly thank to the help from this forum, the site went from 100 visitors per day to 700 in about one year. It ranks quite well for any search engine, so I do worry about what's coming next. I also run a small campaign on Adwords, which is a small investment with a reasonable return in terms of visitors. As for the points that Shack raised, this is my situation:
1, Site does generate revenues, mainly from booking appointments for surgeons;
2, PPC price (Adwords) is low, and so seems to be the return in term of conversion (appointments booked through the site);
3, I don't believe in paying traffic and I do prefer to invest in original, fresh and useful content (Overture may see this in a different way...).
I figured that, having the largest site for the Italian market in a quite small field, I could receive some attention from printed media, which didn't happen to any significant amount. This is probably going to be my next target, even if I don't know the right way to go (I'll probably add a 'media' page or section, but I am not sure this will change the situation...). Any suggestion about how it is possible to get the attention of press will be greatly appreciated...
Other than this, I'll keep working on content (this is my way to deal with serps and search engine mutations) and, hopefully, I'll find new ways to increase the conversion rate (right now about 20.000 visits a month and only 60-70 appointments booked online, not the best I could, I suppose...).
Do you see any mistake with this approach or something I didn't mention that I could possibly improve?

Ciro

[FrankWeb]

Shak.,

"PPC pricing is too high in your industry", is indeed the reason. Min. PPC like 15c is too much for me.
Adwords from Google with its 5c is just on the border.
That is why I get nervous too see Overture getting more bigger every day.

The "Forum & Sticky content -> Tools/reference " from Nick_W sound like a good ideas, the other things I already implemented.

I guess that increasing the size of the site is always important + fresh content.