When I first started out with FreeTrafficDirectory.com I was just trying to win a bet. Some colleagues bet me that I couldn’t get my site in Alexa’s Top 100K, get spidered and included by Google, create and sell a profitable product, and get a PR of at least 3 in 90 days spending less than $100. I won in 34 days flat, and if memory serves I spent less than $30, including my hosting fees.

I couldn’t use Google AdWords, I couldn’t solicit people from my other sites to visit, and I couldn’t go on a reciprocal link campaign. I had to get my visitors as if I was just starting out for the first time and do these things as if I was nearly broke.

One of the primary tools I was able to use was the traffic exchange method. I quickly learned that all of them are not created equal. I’ll go a bit further into this on Thursday. In the meantime, here is a list of the ones I joined.

What’s better than more free traffic? You would think that I’d say nothing. But the truth is, the one thing better than more traffic, free or not, is a higher conversion rate.

When I say conversion rate, I’m speaking of the percentage of people who come to your site and take the action that you’d like them to take. For some that’s getting a visitor to join your forums. For most of us, it’s making the sale.

The number one thing I have found that people don’t understand about getting traffic, is that you can get up to ten times the results by setting your site up to convert your visitors better.

The truth is, you do not need to have all the top positions in the search engines, or to have tens of thousands of visitors to make money on the Internet.

You need a quality site with good fresh content, a way of updating visitors to changes at your site and a page that converts them to buyers at a consistent rate. Don’t quote me on this, but for internet marketing the conversion rate seems to be around 3-10% for immediate sales. About a third of my audience converts sooner or later.

Let’s see what a difference this can make with a quick example. Let’s say you get a package of 1000 visitors for $5 from a site that actually sends you real buyers. You’re excited because you know that out of every 100 untargeted visitors, 1 will buy. Your product costs $10, you’ll make 10 sales. $95 profit.

Great. But let’s look at what would happen if you increased your conversion rate just slightly, to 3%. What would happen, all other things being equal?

3% of 1000 is 30. That’s 30 sales, $295 profit. Much better, yes?

That shouldn’t be the end of the road for you though. Instead of just depending on the conversion of people who see the value in your product right away, what if you got your visitors to volunteer for you to follow-up with them before they even saw your offer? Now what if, in addition to the original 3% conversion, 30% of the people who joined your list eventually saw the value of your package, and grew to trust you?

From that same 1000 visitor package, what if you could end up with a conversion rate of 33% over the course of the next 30 days – 3% immediate, the rest over time? All else being equal, you’d make 340 sales. At $10 each that’s a $3390 profit.

I did that for easy math – my sticky traffic doesn’t necessarily convert within that first 30 day period, as I follow up with them weekly and not daily, in an effort to control my growth and continue to provide quality service.

However, 33% of my audience eventually converts. And I know what you’re thinking – that’s a neat trick Tinu… mind telling me how you do it?

Well, I can’t tell you ALL my secrets. But I’ll give you a few pointers and direct you to some people who use similiar methods… Be back with that information soon.