Just curious, where do you get most of your traffic from?

I am curious how various outlets of garnering traffic work for people. I have dabbled with all the major sources and have seen mild success with some and nearly nill from others. For example, I have a YouTube channel where I sometimes post my guided meditations in video format (my website is primarily about being positive and sells guided meditations). My most popular video has gotten nearly 4,000 views. Altogether, I would say my videos have about 5,000 views. However, I'd say I've gotten somewhere between 5-10 people who have actually clicked through to my website from YouTube. Some people have had great success with YouTube and built their brand around it. For me, it's not doing much. I'm considering if I should even make more videos.

My Facebook business page, another place that sometimes feels like a blackhole, sends .000000001 traffic to my page. I keep it going mostly because I find it enjoyable to post photos and quotes there. That being said, people who share from my site to their FB generate about half my traffic. I would say what has worked best for me was adding the "add this" social share buttons.

Another source I recently started dabbling with again is Google Adwords. I am getting people clicking over, but the thing about this is I have no idea how much they engage. They could be potentially clicking through, saying "Oh not for me," and then going back. I don't know. I think because there's potential for FB sharing though, which for me actually works, I'm going to let these run a bit longer.

All in all I've found listening to experts can be a little self-defeating. I have watched a few webinars of people who are clearly marketing wizards, but the truth is, the only thing that has worked for me is trial and error. When I try to do what the experts do I get crickets (a la my YouTube page) and that used to bum me out.

So because what works for one person doesn't work for another, I just ask out of curiosity what has worked for you and what hasn't. I ask purely in the spirit of fun. What has worked?

Oh yeah, one last source, doing a giveaway through Promosimple, was a total bust. I posted on that here in another thread.

Interesting, and thank you for sharing. I find that reassuring because it seemed like I was really failing at the social media thing. I'm starting to think that's overhyped though and one should just follow what works for them.

Laer, I was in fact asking out of curiosity, and not because I was trying to figure out how to get more readers. I've read up on the various ways to get readers also, and watched several webinars. That's why I said in my original post that what works for one person doesn't work for another. From the various responses people gave, it seems to me that there is no sure-fire way, and all you can do is find out what works for you. I did enjoy reading your notes and I have found over the year I could sum up the only sure-fire method as this: write what you like and do it often. Don't give up. Other than that, the various methods of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. are all based on a person's personal style and preference. For me, not knowing how to use these was at first frustrating. Some just fell into place on their own, others have never worked and I've found that they probably never will, and to let it go.

Springs2, I am amazed you get people from Twitter! I never really got into Twitter and so my tweets there always seem to fall into a blackhole. The same for YouTube Rumbaugh.

Hey henmatth, I'm curious what you mean by publish your site on Linkedin? I just started using Linkedin. I'm not totally familiar with it and still getting comfortable with the layout. But I'd like to use it more because I think it's a nice alternative to Facebook. I like the idea of a social network where I don't just stare mindlessly at my screen. I've joined a few groups on Linkedin.

Nobody else has mentioned Linkedin so far. I kind of find Linkedin to be a little confusing, but I'm hoping I can get better at using it.