How
to Start With ZERO Visitors
and
Then Roll Out
a Traffic Campaign that Attracts 1,000s
of Qualified Buyers
I
see it time and time again: The #1 challenge
faced by brand-new Internet business owners
is a lack of traffic.
Obviously,
if your web site isn’t getting any
traffic, you’re not generating any
sales. But worse -- without traffic, you
can’t test the key components of your
sales process…
And
if you roll out a large traffic campaign
BEFORE you’ve tested your web site
to make sure it converts maximum visitors
into buyers, you risk losing sales and looking
unprofessional to potential business partners
and affiliates.
So
you’re caught in a vicious cycle --
before ramping up a big traffic campaign,
you need to test your sales process, but
without any traffic, testing is difficult,
if not impossible!
In
the following article, I’m going to
give you an eight-step action plan that
will show you...
1.
How to get CHEAP, instant traffic to your
web site -- so you can test key components
of your sales process (sales copy, order
form, navigation, and opt-in offer) BEFORE
rolling out a large-scale traffic campaign.
2.
How to ensure that every element of your
sales process is optimized to convert maximum
traffic into maximum sales.
3.
The most effective strategies for attracting
1,000s of highly qualified potential buyers
to your web site right away (cheap and FREE!).
4.
The secret to putting your entire traffic
campaign on autopilot.
So even if your web site is getting ZERO
traffic right now, you can be testing the
key elements of your sales process tomorrow
-- and as soon as two weeks from now, you
can be rolling out your traffic campaign
in full.
Sound
good? Let’s get you started off on
the right foot!
Step
One: Get the traffic
you need to test your web site -- fast!
When
I talk about testing with new Internet business
owners, I hear the same two questions all
the time:
1. How do I test my site?
2. What do I test on my site?
As you may already know, there are an infinite
number of things you can test on your web
site to increase sales. From layout to copy
to design, there are limitless combinations
of changes that may improve your visitor-to-sale
conversion rate.
But what's "enough" when you're
just starting out?
What elements should you focus on testing
before rolling out your traffic campaign?
My advice is to stick to the basics. Focus
on testing your...
• Salescopy (Especially your headline,
benefits, guarantee, and call to action.)
• Order process (Is it simple enough
for a novice web user to place an order?)
• Opt-in offer (Are you successfully
capturing visitors’ contact information?)
• Site navigation (How many clicks
does it take to buy? Ideally it should take
less than three.)
These are the four critical aspects of your
sales process that need to be tested before
you start driving traffic. Later on, once
you've generated sales and have some steady
traffic, you can move on to testing other
parts of your web site.
Of course, all this talk of testing your
new web site raises one BIG question: How
can you test without traffic? If you're
just getting started, chances are good that
your web site doesn't get much traffic yet.
The solution is simple: Buy traffic through
PPC search engines.
Pay-per-click search engines are a lot like
auctions -- they allow you to bid for top-ranking
positions under keywords of your choice.
For each visitor who searches the keyword(s)
you bid on and then clicks through to your
web site, you pay whatever you bid. Prices
typically range from five cents to a few
dollars per click-through for popular keywords.
There are a ton of PPC search engines out
there, but the two best ones to get started
with are...
1. Yahoo Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com)
2. Findwhat (www.findwhat.com)
With PPC search engines, you get cheap,
instant, qualified traffic --provided you
bid on targeted keywords. Not only that,
but bidding on traffic in the PPC search
engines can help your site get ranked in
the free search engines, too!
Here are a couple of tips to help you start
bidding for traffic without breaking the
bank:
1. In Yahoo Search Marketing, bid to appear
in the top three listings whenever possible,
since these results are also "pushed"
to appear in the search results for MSN,
Yahoo, AltaVista, InfoSpace, AlltheWeb and
NetZero --reaching 80% of Internet users!
2. Bid on targeted, descriptive keywords
-- d on’t just bid on "sock",
bid on "red wool sock". Not only
are targeted keywords and phrases usually
cheaper to bid on -- they'll also attract
more qualified potential buyers. Use a keyword
selection tool like Wordtracker (www.WordTracker.com)
to research targeted keywords that attract
maximum traffic for minimal cost-per-click!
After you’ve tested and tweaked your
web site with a limited amount of purchased
traffic, it’s time to start generating
qualified traffic for your site on a bigger
scale.
But how do you go from some traffic to a
ton of traffic?
Step
Two: Get cheap traffic
quickly with PPC advertising!
Once
you’ve tested your site with limited
PPC traffic, the fastest way to ramp up
traffic to your web site is to roll out
a PPC campaign on a bigger scale.
Obviously, you should start with Yahoo Search
Marketing and Findwhat, as mentioned above.
But here are some more PPC engines to consider
bidding with as you increase your investment:
• Kanoodle (www.kanoodle.com)
• Enhance Interactive (www.enhance.com)
• LookSmart (www.LookSmart.com)
• Espotting (for the UK & Europe)
(www.espotting.com)
This is also a great time to get started
with Google AdWords -- Google’s own
PPC contender: http://adwords.google.com.
You get instant traffic -- with no waiting!
As soon as you put the money down on your
keywords, your ad goes up and starts working
for you!
Step Three: Get FREE traffic from search
engines like Google!
Now that you’ve bid on keywords for
a strong showing in the PPC search engines,
it’s time to tackle the organic search
engines and directories!
Search engines (like Google) and directories
(like Yahoo) can still be a great source
of free traffic for your web site. The trick
is getting a competitive ranking for your
best keywords.
The first step in getting a top ranking
in the search engines is submitting or suggesting
your site to them. In other words, you have
to provide them with details about your
site!
You want to make sure that the “spiders”
-- automated programs that crawl the Web
indexing sites for the search engines --
find your site and include it in the search
results.
While the spiders DO index sites and pages
that have not been submitted, you certainly
don't want to leave this to chance. A spider
might find your web site and index it next
week... or it might be two years before
it finally happens. Take the time to submit
your site, and you can be sure that you’re
included! Once your site has been submitted,
expect it to take two to six weeks for your
listing to appear.
Every engine has a slightly different process
for site submission, and it pays to follow
their guidelines. For example, there is
a fee to list your site in the directory
at Yahoo, but Google does not charge for
their submission process. If you submit
your site exactly as they ask, you stand
a better chance of getting a good listing
on the first page of search results.
To submit or suggest your site to the major
engines, follow the simple instructions
they provide:
• For Google: www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
• For Yahoo Directory: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
• For Yahoo Search: http://submit.search.yahoo.com
• For MSN: http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
• For AOL, submit your site to the
Open Directory Project, which uses ODP data:
http://dmoz.org/add.html
And don’t bother with companies that
offer to submit your web site to the search
engines. Since each search engine uses a
different set of criteria to rank your site,
free submission services can actually end
up doing more harm than good, since they
submit the same information to all the engines.
Step
Four: Give away irresistible free
content for priceless publicity!
Believe
it or not, a really easy, frequently undervalued
strategy for getting traffic is giving away
free content to other web sites. Even just
two or three well-written articles can generate
truckloads of traffic, as long as they don't
contain a sales pitch.
You want to include rare, hard-to-get information
that will lend your articles automatic value:
the kind of information that establishes
you as an expert in your field!
Once you’ve finished, write a short
bio paragraph about you and your business
and place it at the end of your article
along with (and this is the most important
part!) a link to your site.
E-mail other web site owners in your industry
-- be sure to choose sites that receive
attention and visits from your target market
-- and invite them to use your article on
their web site or in their newsletter at
absolutely no cost.
Many site owners need fresh content, so
they'll be more than happy to post your
articles -- and it won't be long before
those articles start driving traffic back
to your web site.
Another option is to give away your articles
through free content web sites like:
• www.ezinearticles.com
• www.freesticky.com
Your articles will be made automatically
available to thousands of web site owners
seeking free, quality content -- and all
you have to do is submit your articles once!
This was the key strategy that Maria Gracia
put to work with her home organization web
site (www.GetOrganizedNow.com). She exchanged
great free articles for links on high-traffic
sites and got tons of free exposure and
traffic. Now she gets over 1 million visitors
per year and earns a 60% profit margin!
Don't underestimate the power of giving
away free content. And as your articles
gain more exposure, don't be surprised if
you're contacted by high-profile magazine
and portal sites related to your industry
looking for free articles to include on
their sites, too!
Step
Five: Get FREE "word-of-mouth"
publicity using viral marketing
Imagine
a marketing strategy so simple that you
could put it to work immediately -- without
spending a dime -- walk away from it, and
trust that it would keep working without
any extra effort from you.
That’s what viral marketing is all
about. Simply defined, viral marketing enables
you to spread your marketing message like
a virus. You encourage people to pass on
information about your web site to one another
and use that word-of-mouth publicity to
advertise your business!
Once you start the "virus," it
spreads without you lifting a finger!
Hotmail.com, the free web-based e-mail service
provider, is a classic example of viral
marketing. At the bottom of every single
Hotmail e-mail sent by Hotmail members,
there is a simple one-line message:
“Get your free, private e-mail from
MSN at http://www.hotmail.com”
How much time do you think it took Hotmail
to include that signature line as part of
their e-mail service? Not much at all --
but look at the impact that this simple
strategy had on the growth of their business.
In my personal experience, more than 35%
of e-mail users have Hotmail accounts!
You can easily duplicate this strategy by
doing something as simple as including a
"pass it on link" at the end of
a free newsletter.
Something as simple as...
"If you've enjoyed this article, please
be sure to forward it to a friend!"
By simply asking readers to take action
and forward your newsletter, you'll prompt
free "word of mouth" exposure
for your business -- without any extra cost
or hassle!
And there's no limit to how far your message
can travel!
So how do you put viral marketing to work
for you? Here are a few simple ideas:
• Give away free articles (like the
ones in Step Four!) with a “pass it
on” link.
• Give away free demos of your product.
• Offer a free trial of your service
with a “share this great resource”
button on the page.
• Hold a contest on your web site
and give participants an extra entry for
every friend they refer.
• Start an affiliate program (see
Step Seven!).
As you can see, you don't need to be the
next Hotmail to get started with viral marketing
-- by simply encouraging people to "share
this resource with friends," you can
attract some great "word-of-mouth"
traffic.
Step
Six: Get FREE links on other high-traffic
web sites!
Link
requests require minimal effort from you,
but they can absolutely explode your traffic
numbers overnight. How? If your site is
a featured link on a major site in your
industry -- one that receives a ton of attention
-- your site immediately benefits from all
the exposure their site receives!
Getting started with this strategy is simple,
but you should follow a standard process
every time you request a link. Let’s
break it down into a few easy steps:
1. Do a Google search for your standard
keywords -- the ones that people generally
use to find your site.
2. Make detailed notes about the sites that
appear regularly in the top ten listings
for your major keywords.
3. Use the Alexa Toolbar (www.alexa.com),
LinkPopularity (www.linkpopularity.com),
or Technorati (www.technorati.com) to find
out who these sites are linking to, who
is linking to them, and how much traffic
they are receiving, then look up their contact
information.
4. Make sure you know the correct URL for
the site, the URL of the sub-page on which
you want your link to appear, the name of
the site owner or webmaster, the date you
last visited their site, and a brief description
of the contents of the site.
When you’re ready to contact these
web site owners and request a link, write
a personal e-mail -- don't use form letters.
Be sure to include some positive comments
about their site, information about you
and your site (along with your URL), an
explanation of why a link to you would benefit
them, and instructions for contacting you
to get started!
You want your request to be thorough and
professional. If you can present a persuasive
argument for why the link request benefits
both of you, you stand a better chance of
forging a connection.
If you are really eager to get your link
on their site, be prepared to up the ante
by offering them a commission or a link
on your site in return. The investment could
be well worth the extra exposure your marketing
message receives.
But be stingy when other businesses request
links on your site -- just as links on others’
sites serve as a personal recommendation
of your site, links on your site are recommendations
for their businesses. Only recommend the
best!
Okay, now let's talk about the ultimate
linking strategy...
Step
Seven: Get 1,000s of web sites to
promote your business -- FREE!
Imagine
hundreds, even thousands, of web sites promoting
your product or service... and all this
great exposure doesn't cost you a DIME unless
someone refers a paying customer. You can
do this with what's called an affiliate
program.
Affiliate programs (also referred to as
"reseller" or "associate"
programs) are a great way to get other people
called "affiliates" to promote
your product or service for you. For every
paying customer your affiliates refer to
your web site, you pay them a commission.
And since you only pay when you make money
-- it's extremely low risk!
Your affiliates send visitors to your web
site using banner ads, text links, letters
of referral, and so on, while you track
these referrals using special software.
It’s an extremely powerful way to
grow your business because it automates
your traffic generation.
To get started with your own affiliate program,
you need to...
1. Set your commissions. (To keep your affiliates
motivated, you should pay them 40% to 50%
of your profits per sale.)
2. Get software to track the traffic and
sales of your affiliates so you know what
to pay them (check out Assoctrac).
3. Provide your affiliates with tools they
can use to promote your products (like e-mails,
banners, etc.).
4. Recruit your affiliates! (Look for sites
that target your market, and invite them
to become affiliates.)
Affiliate programs are an ideal way to automate
your traffic generation because other people
market your web site for you -- and you
don't lift a finger.
Your sales increase on a daily basis --
but they do all the selling for you, and
it doesn't cost you a dime until they send
you paying customers.
Now, for the final step, let's talk about
what you need to do to keep your traffic
coming back to your site again and again.
Step
Eight: Use e-mail marketing to attract
repeat visitors
Getting
lots of traffic to your site is great, but
if you aren't collecting the contact information
(i.e. names and e-mail addresses) of visitors,
you're wasting every single click!
If visitors leave your site without buying
your product, there's a good chance they
won't ever be back -- and you'll have absolutely
no way of following up with them!
Remember: It can take up to seven points
of contact to make a single sale, so you'll
want to begin collecting visitors' contact
information from day one using an opt-in
form on your home page!
Here are some ideas for e-mails you could
send in case you need an excuse to follow
up with your opt-in subscribers:
• Monthly or bi-weekly newsletters
with tons of tips and info
• Free reports on a variety of topics
that your market would appreciate
• Answers to common questions people
ask about your product
• Offers for products similar or complementary
to ones you may have already offered them
• Free product trials that give potential
customers a taste of what you have to offer
• A "downgrade" offer for
a product that is less expensive or robust
than your featured offer
Following up with the addresses you gather
is quick, easy, and simple with e-mail management
and automation software. You can create
e-mails called "autoresponders"
that potential customers receive automatically,
as soon as they opt- in on your site --
within seconds -- no matter what time of
day it is, or whether you're even at your
desk!
That’s right -- as soon as your visitors
opt in, they start hearing from you on a
regular basis without the stress of writing
a ton of e-mails to individual addresses.
This is a process you can put on autopilot
from the very beginning!
For a solid e-mail management solution with
everything you need to get your e-mail marketing
campaign started, check out Mailloop
Final
thoughts
In
this article, I've shown you how to get
past the biggest hurdle faced by new web
site owners -- finding traffic to test your
sales process and maximize your visitor-to-sale
conversion rate before launching your web
site.
I've also provided you with a 10,000-foot
overview of the steps involved in rolling
out a traffic campaign that will quickly
ramp up visitors to your new or growing
web site.
First, I recommended that you start with
a PPC campaign, because it generates instant
traffic and sales for your web site at a
low cost, provided you follow the bidding
tips I shared here.
Next, I recommended that you move on to
submitting your web site to the "organic"
search engines and directories like Google
and Yahoo, which can be a great source of
unlimited FREE traffic, provided your listing
appears on the first page of search results
for your top keywords.
From there, the three traffic strategies
you'll probably want to tackle are (1) giving
away free content to get free links (and
traffic) from other web sites that target
your market; (2) using "recommend this
to a friend" links in your newsletters
and on your web site to get free "word-of-mouth"
publicity (viral marketing); and (3) requesting
links from high-traffic web sites, so you
can piggyback their top search engine rankings!
Finally, we briefly discussed how you can
start an affiliate program to exponentially
grow your business by recruiting an army
of affiliates who will promote your business
on every corner of the Web, with absolutely
no risk to you -- because you don't pay
them a DIME unless they send you a paying
customer!
Obviously, we've covered a LOT of ground
in this article... So I think it's only
fair I point out that, before you dive into
ANY of these strategies, you'll need to
do a bit more reading and research on each
of these topics.
For example, there's NO WAY I could cover
everything you need to know about PPC campaigns
and search engine submission in this short
article given that we've spent over 70 pages
on these subjects alone in our Insider Secrets
to Marketing Your Business on the Internet
course.
And another 60 pages is devoted entirely
to "How to Start Your Own Affiliate
Program"...
Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to give
you the 10,000-foot view, so you have a
clear roadmap of exactly what you need to
do first, second, and third to test your
web site to maximize conversion rates and
then rollout an effective traffic campaign
that attracts swarms of potential buyers
-- automatically -- for years to come.
If you want to know more about any of the
topics covered here in this article, I highly
recommend that you check out our "Insider
Secrets" course at www.MarketingTips.com/tipsltr.html
And before I wrap up this article, I'd like
to make one last point...
Over the years, I've noticed a common thread
that links all of our most successful clients
who have Internet businesses that make $250,000...
$500,000... or over $1,000,000 per year:
They have all focused on doing one or two
marketing strategies really well.
So don't feel like you need to become an
expert in ALL of the strategies we've covered
here. Focus on becoming really proficient
at one or two -- because this may be all
you need to dramatically increase your traffic...
and sales!
How
to get more traffic to your website?
In
a recent survey over 91.3% of subscribers
said they wanted to know how to get MORE
traffic to their websites and their affiliate
links. They also said they wanted to know
how to get that traffic FAST *and*they didn't
want to (or couldn't) pay for it.
If
you're one of the people who wants more
traffic to your website and affiliate links,
here's the formula you've been looking for...
Four
Ways to Get Website Traffic Without
Paying
OK,
so you're starting a new online venture.
You have a website started but not much
of an advertising budget.
So how do you plan to get people to your
website without spending money?
Believe
me, I've been there. And it ain't easy!
But
rest assured, there are some great ways
to get targeted website traffic online,
without spending a dime.
Truth
be told, I relied heavily on free web marketing
strategies during my own start-up years.
And many of the strategies and resources
I used are still bringing me traffic today,
some seven years later.
So
if you're on a tight budget, take the time
to try every one of the strategies mentioned
today. You just can't beat the price...
Search
Engines
Every
month my sites receive thousands of visitors
from search engines. Most of the traffic
doesn't cost me a single penny. And you
can enjoy the same benefit if you take the
time to get it right.
Before
you submit your URL's to the top search
engines and directories on the web, you
must be sure your site is search engine
optimized..
And
contrary to popular belief, it IS possible
to get the web's best search engines to
index your site without paying. Once you've
optimized your web pages, I suggest you
submit your site at the four following places...
Submit
to Google, Open
Directory Project, MSN,Yahoo
Free URL Submission
Articles
If
you can put together a website, you can
write an article or two every month, about
your area of expertise. Yet it still surprises
me how many people don't use articles to
grow their website traffic.
All
it takes is a few hours each week or month
to write about what you know and then have
it looked over by someone with editing skills.
Then, you tack on a small footer with your
URL and fire it off to a list of ezine and
magazine editors who publish material related
to what you're marketing. That's it!
You
can also post the articles at your own site
with re-publishing permission for other
webmasters.
Anyone
who reads my stuff regularly knows how much
I like this promotion method. The fact is,
it was responsible for a large part of my
traffic early in my web marketing campaign.
So
if you're on a limited marketing budget,
you should start committing time to writing
at least one article each month.
Traffic
Networks
Traffic
networks are fairly simple to use. Some
are good, and some are lousy. Using a few
of the better networks, I've managed to
receive thousands of free website visitors.
You
can join most traffic networks for free.
You then earn traffic every time you either
visit other sites via the network, or refer
new members.
If
it sounds confusing, it really isn't. Start
networks utilize a basic viral marketing
strategy to grow your traffic. And while
it may not be the answer to all your traffic
needs, it can certainly help.
There
are a number of these systems available
online now and I've tried a few. Of the
handful I've tried, TrafficSwarm ( http://www.bizweb2000.com/swarm
) has yielded the most traffic. In fact,
it was directly responsible for $750 in
sales the first week I tied it. That's pretty
impressive.
I
believe the quality of traffic from TS is
higher than most similar networks for one
simple reason... members choose what they
want to click on, rather than forcing them
to see one specific page they may not be
interested in. That means better conversion
since you have a much more targeted visitor
when they click.
It
takes just a few seconds to sign up and
it can bring you quite a bit of decent quality
traffic. So good in fact, I now pay $30
a month for their Pro membership which comes
with more credits as well as commissions
on referrals.
Links
You've
probably read about how important it is
to have lots of links on the web pointing
to your website. Not only does it grow your
traffic, it helps your search engine ranking
as well.
There
are lots of ways to grow the number of links
into your site. Some webmasters simply search
the web and then email related sites asking
for a link swap. In my opinion that is too
time-consuming and tedious.
And
while there are lots of automated solutions
available, such as link farms and the like,
many of these are not search engine friendly.
So you have to be careful when selecting
a link strategy.
Your
link strategy has to include a way for people
to get a link from your site to theirs,
as well as create a link from their site
to your site. And if you can automate the
entire process you'll save lots of time.
With
all this in mind, I set up a link strategy
using a type of directory. My marketing
directory offers webmasters a chance to
grab a high-profile listing at no cost.
Basically,
it's my link growing strategy. And it works
quite well. It has generated hundreds of
quality links for me since I implemented
it, which would have taken me quite a bit
of time and energy. The links have brought
fresh traffic to my site as well as improved
search engine ranking. I wish I had set
it up when I was first getting started online!
Unfortunately, I did not give linking a
high enough priority back then.
So
learn from my mistake. Set up a link strategy
at your site early on in your campaign.
It will help you more than you realize as
time goes on.
About the author: Jim
Daniels
www.make-a-living-online.com - How to Make
a Living Online
Jim
Daniels is author of five Internet Marketing
books and one of the few marketing experts
that will consult with you personally. (And
he's actually affordable.)
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