There are plenty of ways through which successful websites and brands derive their traffic. Some may be focused on organic search more than most, while others use a combination of social media and paid search methods to achieve a similar goal. In reality, there is no one universal method needed to become a well-diversified and popular presence on the internet, but there is almost always room for improvement when it comes to how your referral traffic is distributed. In the following article, we will discuss some observations that you might wish to consider when assessing how diversified your current traffic is, which could come in handy in the future.

Balancing Social Media

Some brands absolutely love social media for the massive amount of traffic it is capable of driving to them. With many well thought-out social media efforts requiring minimal time and minimal financial investment, no wonder it has become so popular with brands, many of which rely upon it for a large percentage of traffic. Unfortunately, there are some downsides in doing this. If social media networks suddenly change the way in which they are pinging servers with content, your traffic sources may suddenly dry up. In addition, many reports show that social media traffic is the least valuable of all the major types. As such, relying heavily on social media for referral traffic is generally not a good idea for a long-term strategy.

Organic Search Woes

SEO revolves heavily around the need for having a consistent form of referral traffic through organic search, but you can also be too reliant upon this form of traffic. Many webmasters have felt the sting of algorithm changes on at least one occasion, with their search traffic dropping off of a cliff until adequate changes are made on their end to readjust. There is also the risk that you might inadvertently make changes to your website that trigger a drop in traffic through a similar concept. Inevitably, it is important to cultivate your organic traffic through search engines like Google. Relying upon it solely is a risky gambit that leaves you exposed to even the smallest of changes.

Paid Traffic Considerations

Once you have developed a solid organic presence across search and social media, your interests may turn to paid traffic and PPC campaigns as ways to attract an even larger audience. Having a combination of paid and organic traffic is vital to long-term success, but balancing the use of paid campaigns must be considered. It can become easy to forget about your organic efforts when low-cost paid campaigns are generating an intended effect, but remember that niches are subject to volatility. You may not always be able to generate traffic so cheaply or without additional competition, so be sure to always value your organic strategies at least as much as your paid ones.

Conclusion

Referral traffic ideally will be pinging servers on your website through multiple sources. If a majority of your traffic originates from any one website or strategy, then you are in serious danger of having your overall marketing and content strategies upset one day in the not so distant future. By combining organic and paid solutions in general and spreading these efforts across search engines, social media and various other websites through referral and backlinks, you’ll be able to keep your brand’s eggs in multiple baskets and avoid significant problems in the future.