Going Offline for Online Growth Posted September 20th, 2006 in Promotion / Contests, Guest Contributors

Last spring I found myself in a difficult position. For whatever reason, that I’m still to this day unsure how to explain, Google sidelined my site. For any keyword where my site would have naturally shown up for searchers, my site had been hidden. Some say I was penalized. Others claimed I was victim of the Big Daddy roll-out.

Whatever the reason I was forced into a position to reassess things after I managed to get reinserted into King Google’s graces.

The Bottom Line

Only 11-12% of my traffic had come from Google. Another 4-5% via other online search engines. The balance of the traffic was being generated from direct hits. Word of mouth. Women telling other women.

While this is enviable, the month we were without Google’s blessed listing, I took a 12% hit in revenue as well.

Assessment of my website led me to one basic question:

How can I make sure that I am not dependent search engines?

Since Google reigns supreme in the search engine wars, it seemed silly to consider the answer to my question was found in Yahoo! I knew if I was to stabilize the traffic for the future growth of the website, it would have to be something other than Google. It would have to be something other than Yahoo! If I accepted the largest segment of our traffic comes from word of mouth, could I enlarge that influence?

Breaking it down into bite-sized pieces - Where?

Word of mouth was all ready working on my site so I had to understand where it was working well. And I had to understand where it could use some additional help. Women were telling women about the website in grocery stores, at school functions and across the backyard fence. Where else could my website be advertised offline that could make a difference?

The target audience of my website is medical patients so the answer turned out to be the most obvious. I needed to expand “word of mouth” into doctor offices. “Where” was a no brainer. “How” would be the most challenging.

How?

One of the best things my website offers (in addition to the personal support through the forums) is a group of emails written specifically to our members based on their perceived needs. The emails are content rich with helpful information and resources. I knew the information my website provided to its members would also be a great help to women in doctor’s offices. After researching the existing offerings for this specific topic, I knew there was a hole we could fill.

Taking the content and reformating it with some editting along the way, I contacted a local media group to make it happen. They took the content, created a gorgeous booklet (over 50 pages) and are funding the project with eager advertisers who have been the bread and butter of our online existence.

Within a month, the booklets will be in the hands of women, helping them offline through the wisdom of our online members. And of course, the stream of “word of mouth” will continue to bring many of these women online for the first time.

Think Outside Your Box

If you have considered how to add traffic to your site apart from the search engines, consider “Where” you could target and then consider “How”. While it won’t work for all forums, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover that the community you have provided online could be a benefit to others offline. And in turn, will ultimately build your online community with a steady stream of new faces.

by Kathy @ HysterSisters.com