I do have websites with traffic based on social media, others based on search engines and others combined. I have been doing a lot of research and comparisons between all of them. Of course it’s hard because of the niches, but I do have some that are on the same niche that are some based on search engines and some on social media.
I will try to point the advantages and disadvantages of both traffic sources, so we figure what’s the best option. Of course all traffic is good, more or less, but let’s see what should we concentrate more on.
1. Quantity
- Social media traffic is much more easier to get and stumble can bring thousands of visitors from only a few votes on one page. Also a Digg front page is not so hard to reach, if you write quality content and it can bring tens of thousands of visitors. You only need to build strong profiles on social networks and the traffic will come, if you respect the quality guidelines.
- Search engine traffic is usually less favorable to be compared with social media, because you need to have a very well optimized website, with many quality inbound links. The content also must be good, as in social media’s case, but you also need to write it seo-friendly. Also the website needs to be old and established, with many pages and the inbound links need to come on a constant basis.
- Conclusion: Social media can bring more, easy traffic than search engines.
2. Quality
- The visitor that comes from social media usually doesn’t know what he will find on your page, especially on StumbleUpon, so the conversion is really low, because he might not like your page and close it. Also social media users are looking for news, entertainment and don’t intend to buy anything, so it’s hard to convert them into clients. All stats show that the CTR generated from social media is much lower than search engines.
- Search engine visitors are very targeted and the chance to find on your website what they are looking for is higher. The chance for those visitors to buy your product or click your ads is much higher, so monetization chances and possibilities are better.
- Conclusion: Social media doesn’t offer quality traffic and isn’t relevant, search engine traffic is better.
3. Monetization
- There aren’t many ways you can monetize social media traffic as well as search engine traffic. Due to the quantity, the better option is to use CPM ads, that pay for every impression and not for click, sale or lead.
- Search engine traffic can be monetized in a lot of ways. If you have a website targeted on products, like a review blog, you can easily place affiliate ads and get a sale commission. Also chances for the user to click on the CPC ads are much higher.
- Conclusion: social media traffic has more limited monetization options, only working good with CPM ads, while search engine traffic being better on CPC and CPA ads, that pay more.
So search engines bring visitors really interested in your website, while social networks bring visitors that will read a bit and then leave. But you have to use social media, because all traffic can be monetized in one way or another and you have to waste nothing. One more advantage of social media is you get your website noticed and this can bring readers and a lot of inbound links, that will help search engine traffic.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:14 am
It’s hard to compare search engines with social media, they have brought advantages and disadvantages.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
The bottom line is, you needs tons of visitors… And I do mean tons in order to get return visitors, or visitors who will subscribe to your blog. It seems that no matter where your traffic is coming from, for every few thousand that see your page, only a small number ever return. I could be wrong about that, but that is the impression I get.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
@Bamboo: You’ll need to reduce that I guess. Once they subscribe to your blog then they might come back if it’s interesting =) And digg only gives you temporary popularity. If you want constant popularity then just keep digging your outstanding posts. Hehe
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
it is really hard to compare. But I think now a days the Social web site are getting response so fast. So, that Google can easily mark the page rank. Thanks
May 24th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Both of them do have their own advantages. so they should not be compared…
May 24th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I gotta run with the SE people.
I have a little blog in a fairly obscure niche that logs a few sales per month when I’m lucky. It’s a no-maintenance thing, so I can live with that.
Anyway, one day I put a little post up with a crazy YouTube vid I happened to bump into elsewhere.
Someone Dugg. Others followed. It went big and bad for a full day and change. Reddit traffic, too. My wee little blog was a temporary Destination with a capital “D”.
The results? No sales. And next no appreciable increase in Adsense click-throughs. Just killed my CTR. That’s all.
Obviously, that’s in large measure because it’s a specialized niche site and the audience was general.
Overall, I tend to work in small niches, so the SM traffic doesn’t interest me all that much.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Good information. Love it. Thanks
May 27th, 2008 at 4:32 am
zohai> It more about writing digg worthy posts than relying on the same diggs. If you have enough friends 100 diggs is easy in a very short time. If you write good posts 500 diggs is easy in a short amount of time.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I think seo traffic is better for ppc ads like adsense, while social network traffic is good for cpm traffic and text link ads.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Nah, it’s hard to compare…what for to compare with them?
May 29th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I still prefer the google traffic.Its much more organic and targeted then the digg traffic.
May 30th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I prefer the search engine traffic as well. Good read though must say keep up the good work!
June 1st, 2008 at 5:24 am
I do mean tons in order to get return visitors, or visitors who will subscribe to your blog. It seems that no matter where your traffic is coming from, for every few thousand that see your page, only a small number ever return.
June 1st, 2008 at 11:09 am
Ill say Google traffic is much more better. Results in google are much more wide, quality, targeted and specific.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
i hate google i hope digg kicks the @($*@)$@&@ Outta GOOGLEY.
-JeRRy
June 5th, 2008 at 7:59 am
hard to say because this both google and digg have their own advantages and disadvantages…just choose where you comfortable with,that;s more important..that’s only my opinion…
June 12th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Thank you for the info. I don’t know the right answer as well but I like your brainstorm.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I have been writing about the use of social media sites and the benefits for small business. Putting the social in social media,it is something I have been reevaluating as a better way of business.
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
I think both has their own importance. The main difference is SE are not controlled by humans, they are simply controlled by crawlers and backlinks, keywords are the main part. However Social Media are human interacted and have more relevant results.
But SE are always better than SM because of its popularity.
Chris
July 6th, 2008 at 4:14 am
For a niche blog like mine, Google searches result in repeat visitors who load a lot of pages. I can’t even imagine someone submitting my posts to social media sites. Machine knitting isn’t on a lot of people’s to do lists. I’d love the traffic. I’m just not holding my breathe for it to appear.
Since I will never be a popular site, I work to build an inventory of posts that will be timeless to my niche of machine knitters.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Good article. Social networks are also pretty good at spreading the word around and build some link authority.