This is an old posting, but it raises a number of interesting issues, particularly how to keep the value of the user following their first visit.
In short, it's not how much traffic you get, it's how much you keep, that counts.
Quote:
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Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors....The key is to recognize that, while search engines might take all the value from an initial user visit, you get to keep the value from any non-search business. Thus, you must foster customer loyalty so that users go straight to your site instead of clicking through from search ads.
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http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search_engines.html