Getting off first base for a newcomer

admagic · #1 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 00:29

Many times I have seen on forums the question.

I now have a website,

So please help me, now how do I get traffic?

Im getting nothing from google - I tried adwords and nobody bought

And by the way...what do you think of my website??
.................................................. .
And you look and discover that...
(a) that in as far as the site is focussed at all, the keywords are too competitive
OR
(b) They are not in demand at all
OR
(c) No thought has been given to why anyone should buy from that business against the competition (other than price)
EITHER
A big mish mash of prices and products with very little text
OR
A "brochure" website..a glorified business card.

So most criminal of all NO OFFER!! - which is what is wrong with most brochure websites
If you dont make an offer, even of a sign up, how can your site convert???

Noattention tothe real triggers in copywriting that sell

And whilst you want to help with advice, you just wouldnt begin from there!!!

.................................................. .....
The point is...these people got it back to front
If you do it right success is a process.

(a) find a crowd of people first who are buying
(b) find out what they want second
(c) Look for a market with an easy way to capture the traffic
(d) Look at competitors to ensure you have a unique offer
(e) create a website to grab the traffic
(f) find a way to capture their names
(g) learn copywriting
(h) Test everything
(i) make a relationship and sell !!

IN THAT ORDER
......................................
Dont start with the product and website

(a) First you find a hungry crowd of people passionate for something.
- So discover how to do keyword analysis, and if you have no idea...
Start with power words on freekeywords.wordtracker.com
eg HOW TO, MAKE, COMPARE, REVIEW, DISCOUNT, COURSE, etc etc...all of which show people WANT something...
then if you find HOW TO KNIT has traffic...reduce to the word knit, see what other questions are asked about knitting....gradually you will build a list of expressions for which people want something with traffic.

But pay attention to the competition ...see how many pages there are that contain the expression by googling "how to knit"...if there are more than (say) 200000-300000 look for something more targetted if this is your first busienss.....numbers of say 20000-40000 are great!! - there is more to it than that, such as page rank links and web 2 properties, but as a first stab look for the competition size.

So you want traffic that is focussed enough to not have overwhelming competition.

(b) Look for things where there are many expressions with traffic, which
combine to more than 300-400 uniques a day

Make sure they are people who buy! so check the top ranked sites on google and ppc...and affiliate products - all of those show whether people are buyres

In which they are looking for a variety of things eg golfers want clubs, balls, how to information and so on

Focus on what they want , not on what they need
Sell jaguar cars, not car insurance! - you can sell other things to a jaguar buyer. and you know they
arent worried about an extra quid on the price.

(c) Check your competition to ensure that
- either you can get easy SEO traffic
- or you can get cheap adwords traffic
- or you can get article traffic
- or you can get web2 or link traffic

ALL of these can be checked in advance

eg - if there are less than 10 advertisers on adwords, there is your traffic

AND YOU CAN TEST THE IDEA TODAY, WITH A SKELETON SITE TO TEST THE ADWORDS
TRAFFIC WILL COME!!!

Im a great believer in using skeleton sites to test an idea BEFORE you invest anything
And you can even ask the customers what they want...with an ASK campaign

or less than 20000 competing pages on google for your phrase - and the top ranked
sites have low no page rank...web2 can get you organic traffic etc.

And if one of those isnt easy, dont enter the market - or look for new expressions.
Just a single letter can make the difference.

eg Nile cruises - may be horrendous, where Nile cruise can be a great keyword!!

Identify your traffic source before you build your business

Did anyone see the post I made on the pet store???

Someone targetting "pet store" FAR too competitive, and also, it isnt a direct expression of somebody wanting something.

Rabbit hutch on the other hand, has good enough traffic but easy competition for both adwords and SEO

(d) Then you look at your competitors.
What can you add to the deal, to make your offer unique!!
FIght the fight on value, not price.
A guarantee can often do it, or an information product bonus.
Look to see if there are any PLR or public domain products.

In the caseof the hutch I suggested chucking in a book and some rabbit food..with a forced continuity ...so after the 2 months free, unless cancelled the food would keep coming.

(e) NOw you know exactly what expressions you are targetting
So you know what your pages on the site must be titled, and you know the purposeof them.

(f) Find something you can offer, information, a competition a discount to get people to sign up

(g) Learn copywriting, What is it that persuades people to buy
A headline...a promise, imaginatin ,value credibility call to actionand why now!

In the case of the hutch, I suggested using a "one timeoffer" a deal only offered once "dont close the page"..but so goodthe user would be dumb to turn it down.

(h) Split test everything . Headline price etc etc

A simple change to a headline can treble your sales
A 3* pay rise for 2 minutes work.

(i) And as your list grows, a single email to a list of 5000 can
create £1000s or more in a morning.

LISTBUILDING IS WHERE IT IS AT!!

experienced internet marketers, reckon a list is worth $2-$5 per month.. from a list of 10000 people , theres an income of $20000 per month +

So who wouldnt want to build a list!!

So just do a sum....If you can get 100 uniques a day...a compelling free offer can get 15-20 to sign up... after just 6 months you have a list of 3000-4000 you can be mailing once a week with an offer for say £30 which just 3% take up... do the sums ...thats already 2500 per week

And it is growing even if your traffic is just constant

And if you go viral, you can do it a lot quicker than that, but thats a lesson for another day.

Thing is if you dont build a list, all you have is the (say) 3-5% that buy your offer.
So in a week only 20 buy.. which because it is your first offer, may only be for £10 they dont know or trust you yet for lots of money. so all you have is £200-300 a week,

Unless you have a list your income h will not grow unless your traffic does

That is why YOU MUST build a list
Your income will grow even with constant traffic

It is FAR MORE VALUABLE than immediate sales.
Which is why I was arguing with adwords, on the merits of a quick sale, against
trying to capture a name. It is worth jeapourdising just a few sales, for the long term argument above.!

Finally always have a back end offer...
Anyone that buys offer them an immediate connected product at 10* the price
10% canbuy depending on markets
.................................................. .................

Even if you plan to go offline with your business, the steps are the same!

The hungry crowd first
What they want second
A way round the competition to reach them
A unique offer and how to present it
Then and only then a website, now you know what it must do
Copy and testing
List build relationship and sell.

Is competition bad ?

NO IT IS GREAT!!!! It means there is money to be made!!!
Just use innovative ways to go round the competition.

Most people dont get it. That Mcdonalds more than anything, wants burger king to set up next door!
to drive traffic to the pair of them

Hope this helps..