Thanks for stopping by my review of Traffic Travis!
Is it really the most awesome keyword research tool for improving your blog’s search engine rankings or are there far better alternatives out there?
Continue reading…
Quick Overview
Name: Traffic Travis.
Website: traffictravis.com.
Cost: Free to get started. $97/year for PRO Edition.
Owner: Mark Ling (co-founder of Affilorama).
My Score: 7/10.
Traffic Travis (TT) is actually the very first keyword tool I started out with back in my earlier days as an affiliate marketer in 1999.
To be fair, the tool (although very basic) did a pretty sweet job at getting my Squidoo lenses ranked in Google.
But fast-forwarding to today, the software has undergone some great changes and is still an invaluable asset for any digital marketer, in my opinion.
However, the only downside is that ‘TT’ claims it’s “free” to download, when in fact, the free download option has a number of restrictions. So it’s more of a “free trial” in reality.
Before digging into this FULL review…
See my #1 recommended keyword tool here – It gives you 30 searches for free to start off on the right foot.
Table of Contents
What’s Traffic Travis All About?
‘TT’ is a piece of software for helping you to uncover the right keywords for ranking your blog content in Google, Yahoo, and Bing for free organic traffic, and also for creating profitable PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing campaigns on platforms such as Google Adwords and Bing ads.
In addition, Mr. Ling provides you with other super cool software features which I’ll be running through with you very shortly.
Who is ‘TT’ Geared Towards?
Any individual (newbie – experienced marketer) who owns a static website or a blog, and also wants to immerse them self in the world of PPC advertising, can take full advantage of Ling’s downloadable software.
However, if you’re getting started online as an affiliate and need step-by-step training + 24/7 support when it comes to blogging, the ins and outs of SEO and PPC (among other strategies), then Wealthy Affiliate is the top internet marketing community I highly recommend to you.
What ‘TT’ Features Are at Your Disposal?
From both SEO and PPC standpoints, you have a number of keyword features available for research, rankings, competition, and link finding.
#1: You can quickly discover keyword opportunities for SEO and also PPC as well.
The research function allows you to find the best quality keywords to use for your blog posts and paid campaigns, in terms of the volume of traffic, competition and SEO difficulty levels, and also average PPC costs.
#2: Perform a full health check on your blog. You’ll see where your site stands when it comes to page rank, Alexa traffic rank, page warnings, an XML sitemap, number of pages indexed, rankings in top 5 and 10, improvement.
#3: The tool monitors any technical issues that could affect your rankings in Google.
#4: See why your competitors are beating you when it comes to the number of backlinks, and learn to beat them.
Unfortunately, building backlinks are always something I’ve been very uncomfortable with, especially with Google changing it’s ranking algorithms.
A number of SEOs swear blind that quality backlinks work for top blog post rankings + more traffic and sales. But how long until Google pulls the plug on this strategy altogether and penalizes sites for “GAMING”, huh?
If you want my 2 cents worth, I recommend creating high-quality content that other bloggers want to link back to and also sharing your posts on social media. That’s the proper way to naturally build backlinks and climb your way up Google’s ranking ladder.
#5: Secretly spy on your competitors for spotting keyword opportunities to target for your paid campaigns in Google Adwords.
#6: Monitor your keyword ranking positions in Google’s search engine. This is so you know exactly whereto apply your efforts.
#7: Find link partners within your niche market, who you can build quality website backlinks with.
Again, you know where I stand on this – Provide “quality content” and folks will give you link juice. 😉
In addition to these features, you can print and save your reports on ranking positions, your competitors’ behavior and also movements in the search engines.
Unfortunately, the snapshot above was taken from the ‘TT’ website itself because could I download the free software on to my computer? Could I heck!
So I wasn’t exactly a happy bunny, to say the least.
When it comes to support, you can enter your own ideas for improvements to be made to ‘TT’ which the community of users can cast votes on, there’s the option to browse the knowledge base, and also the opportunity to fill out a contact form.
What’s The Cost of Traffic Travis?
You can start off as a free user. However, the features do have limitations, so you will need to upgrade for full access to the software.
To upgrade PRO Edition will only cost you $97 per year which also gives you the opportunity to try out Affilorama premium membership for a 30-day free trial as well.
In all honesty, I think the price of the PRO option is ridiculously cheap, considering the number of invaluable features built into Ling’s software.
It’s a much more cost-effective option, especially when you compare it to many rip-off SEO/PPC keyword tools that are out there.
PROS vs CONS of ‘TT’
PROS
- You can try for free
- The PRO option is extremely cheap
- Offers invaluable features
- Provides help & support
- The option to test-drive Affilorama for free
- Mark Ling has a good internet marketing track record
CONS
- It’s not web-based (like Jaaxy) & must be downloaded on to your computer
- The software failed to download on my computer (after multiple attempts)
- The free version offers limited functionality
- It’s advertised as free when it’s not entirely true
Final Conclusion: Is Traffic Travis Worth it?…
In my opinion, ‘TT’ provides some extremely useful features, offers a good level of support, and the software is very cost-effective, making it affordable for any static site owner, blogger or PPC marketer.
However, I was VERY disappointed because Ling’s software just would not install on my PC, no matter how many attempts I made.
In addition, because it does require a download, Google could penalize your IP address for bot-like keyword research activities. It’s happened to me in the past with other downloadable keyword tools. So it’s something I wouldn’t rule out with ‘TT’.
I also think that the backlinking features aren’t really a requirement because then your blogging efforts turn into a game of “hey, let’s play a game of tricking the search engines” LOL.
Isn’t it best just to write quality content for your audience and earn quality backlinks in a natural manner?
Yeah, you want top rankings in Google. I get it! Don’t we all?
If you want a TON of traffic – use the right keywords, churn out engaging content like a machine, and socially share your stuff. Google will reward you with rankings, targeted visitors, and product sales = affiliate commissions. KA-CHING!
Now, to some SEOs, this might seem like I’m nitpicking, but the actual keyword research tool provided by ‘TT’ under-delivers on the “metrics” side of things.
Yeah, it tells you whether the competition/SEO difficulty is bad or good to go for each keyword phrase, but there’s no metric information to support the results – How are the results determined? Why are no other numbers presented apart from traffic and costs?
My #1 recommended keyword tool provides you with all the essential metrics + metric figure info you need, plus domain name availability, AND it’s also web-based which means no risk of IP address penalization…
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Your Friend, Neil 😀
If you have any questions or feedback that you’d love to share on ‘TT’, please post your thoughts below…
Hello Neil,
Thanks for the informative review on Traffic Travis! Personally, I prefer Jaaxy Keyword and Niche Research too as well. However, I would still recommend users to use these reviews as a reference and actually try the trial version before making the final decision.
Overall, Jaaxy is my personal favorite because it has a easy to understand interface and you can access this tool as long as you have a web browser (no downloads required).
Eric
Hey, Eric!
It’s no problem, man! 😀
I don’t blame you because Jaaxy pretty much trumps most keyword tools out there. But like you say, if a tool like TT offers a test drive, it’s worth taking it for a spin, since it’s not gonna cost youy anything. Just be careful your IP address doesn’t get flagged by Google lol.
I agree, Jaaxy is the better tool for a number of awesome reasons.
Hi Neil; I have read through your post and I have identified limitations as to the way forward with Traffic Travis. While there is an advisable free trial which will guide you to buy into a cheap pro option that is loaded with invaluable features such as: help and support, would you not say, that the fact that it is not web-based, it can prove to be disastrous in the long run?
Also if there is a free version it should offer similar quality as the pro. Even for a short time? DorcasW
Hey, Dorcas!
There are some benefits of using TT, but in my experience, any keyword research tool that requires downloading on to a computer can be damaging, especially if you’re constantly doing searches.
As for the free version of TT, I do agree that they should give you at least 7 days to try out all the bells and whistles before deciding to take the plunge with Pro. It should be the same with any research tool. 🙂
I am glad I read all the way through to your conclusion. For the most part, TT sounded like it took care of most of the features I was looking for. Not sure if this is worth trusting though since you had such a hard time installing it.
I find that keyword tools are fussy and you really have to find the best one that both works and fits the way you do your research. Thanks for the review. I think I will check Jaaxy out.
You never know, you might be able to install TT on your computer without any problems. Maybe the software had something against my PC 🙁 lol.
I agree, some keyword tools can be a right pain in the ass when it comes to research and features too. But Jaaxy is the best user-friendly tool I’ve found for top rankings in the main search engines.