Q & A — The Final Answer to the TRAFFIC Question!
Hi. Today we're looking at that most challenging of online business tasks… getting more traffic.
Before that, I just want to point out that I've left answers to all those questions and comments I received to the last Q&A regarding ClickBank and PayPal. Scroll down until you see my comment here.
Now… traffic…
I get asked about this a lot so this is not an ACTUAL question I received, just a version of the question…
Q. I want more traffic.
Hah! That's an easy one! Why didn't you just say so?
Okay, listen, there are 3 fundamental rules to getting more traffic (and these apply to most other aspects of running an online business)…
1) Take action. Reading about traffic techniques but not applying them will get you nowhere.
2) Be persistent. Making itsy-bitsy efforts and then throwing your arms up in despair will get you nowhere either.
3) Be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that…
Let's take a closer look at each point…
1. TAKE ACTION:
Pick one or two traffic techniques that you think you can work with — and then work with them. Keep working with those techniques (and those techniques ONLY) until either (a) you've exhausted their potential (b) you've decided they don't work or (c) you're absolutely sick of them.
The point is, don't try EVERY traffic technique willy-nilly. Focus on a few and do them well. Master them. When you've found a few that work for you, keep applying them. Over and over again.
The only way to be sure a technique works, is to test it. If you're not sure WHY this is important, read this article:
http://www.bizzydays.com/reprint_rights/sales.htm
In that article I recommend DynaTracker (and still do). However, at the time it was $67 — now it's $297! If that's too much for you, shop around for a cheaper option or download a copy of AdTrackingPro with my compliments:
http://www.ebooktimes.com/dl/AdTrackingPro.zip
Here are some places where you'll find traffic techniques you can start testing now:
10 Things You Can Do TODAY to Boost Traffic to Your Website:
http://www.bizzydays.com/reprint_rights/website_traffic.htm
50 Traffic Techniques:
http://warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=141726
Good Ebook on Web 2.0 Traffic Strategies (Social Bookmarking, Blogging, RSS, etc.):
http://www.ebooktimes.com/abb
If you're not in the mood for testing new stuff from scratch, you might want to check out traffic testers. They test free and paid traffic sources to see if they're any good: http://www.ebooktimes.net/testers.htm
2. BE PERSISTENT:
This is the single MOST important key to success online. Unless you're a genius (or have a lot of money to throw at your business), then you're just going to have to build your business from the ground up like the rest of us. It takes time, it takes pure, brute stubborness — it takes persistence. A little more on that subject here:
http://www.bizzydays.com/reprint_rights/ramble.htm
3. BE PATIENT:
As you apply various traffic techniques, your flow of traffic will gradually grow. Don't expect IMMEDIATE results to everything you do. The efforts you make today — the actions you take today — result in the traffic you're getting next week, next month and next year. Dribs and drabs. Bits and pieces. Keep at it and it all adds up.
Time is important to search engines too. The longer your site is online, the more credibility it gains with regards to the search engines. Build up incoming links. Add/change content on your site (at least a little from time to time). Gradually, Google & Co get to like you a little bit more and a little bit more.
If you're not patient, then you'll probably need to spend some money to get that traffic coming in fast. You can try the PPCs like Google Adwords, MS AdCenter and Yahoo! Marketing. You can run solo ads in relevant ezines. Just be sure of one thing: if you ARE paying for traffic, be sure to TEST the results.
You can also do things like hire people on scriptlance.com or elance.com to get backlinks to your site, write and submit articles for you, optimize your page for search engines, submit your sites to directories, add your pages to social bookmarking sites and more. (Take a look at projects that are already running on these sites for these type of things to get an idea of what's available and at what cost.)
Okay, listen, we could go on and on about this all night (it's 2 a.m. here as I write), but I think you can see that there's no 'magic bullet' answer to the traffic question. There are no amazing ebooks or softwares that are going to end your traffic concerns forever.
Anyone who promises the ultimate solution is just selling hype. Look at all the poor idiots (your's truly included) who sent off checks to the scammers at morethantraffic.com in the hope of the most amazing traffic solution ever. Doh! (Hey, it's not there any more, but their sales copy was seriously compelling. Really…)
Okay, enough. It's time for me to hit my leaba. (That's Irish for bed… as if you didn't know…)
If you have any questions about this — or anything else — leave a coment using the form below. Don't forget, you can include your URL so you also get a free link back to your site!
All the best,
Michael
May 25th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Hi Michael, be patient - think that is the key
and it will flow naturally if you are building content and doing all the right things
thanks for your emails each day - I enjoy reading them
:)
May 25th, 2007 at 3:23 am
Michael, that is a wonderful entry! You hit the nail on the head - and it’s so great to hear someone be honest about getting ahead with your online business. It gets frusterating when you see all these “fast, easy, no work” approaches that do not work to get placed better on a search engine, get more traffic or get more sales on your site.
Awesome information. I will keep watching your blog for more information, and checking out the resources in this entry. I like your ‘tell it like it is’ approach.
Thanks.
May 25th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Persistence will pay off.
Having the right tools will help.
Voice Mail Power is inovative and will let you
contact 1000’s of leads or downline with just
one call.
May 25th, 2007 at 3:43 am
i so agree with ‘pick one or two traffic techniques’ … you really need to find the one that works for you and the one that you can work with … simply because we are all so different
cheers
serge
May 25th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Good Blog from the BlogMaster himself, and the key tip is to “be persistent”. It is not a bit of use running one test and giving up to try another idea, what you have to do is continue testing until you have exhausted a particular method.
Too many people give up too quickly, and others rush off in search of those elusive “greener fields”, and forget that the harder they work, the luckier they become.
May 25th, 2007 at 6:43 am
Hello
Please disregard the website as it is only a frustration actually.Because I do not even have a website or a product to promote.And the reason after a little research is what I call “oversaturation”.I have seen that the competition is huge practically no matter what area that a person new to internet marketing may choose to attempt to promote.I do not think that anyone could actually answer my question though.I don’t have a question as far as clickbank,paypal,informational products,creating websites or any like the regular question.My question is just plain and simple.How do people keep their kool about the amount of money that it requires just to have a chance to start earning any money online.I found out that ebook creator pro costs about $500.00.Websites if you actually figure out a good product or service to promote could cost as much as $300.00 per year.Adds could cost as much as $400.00 per year or more.Then you will need autoresponders etc to organize and build your potential subscriber list.So I have put my question out their on the net as far as “oversaturation”of promoting affiliate links and or products and services as way of earning money online and usually I do not even get a very good answer.They usually just simple say that I am one of those negative ones.So don’t worry if you do have a way of answering my question very intelligently because you wouldn’t be the only one.But I do want to say to you “Good Luck”.
Steve Rechel
May 25th, 2007 at 6:55 am
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your honest approach. You have given me some great tips. Now I just need to use them!
May 25th, 2007 at 7:07 am
How do I create a website?
May 25th, 2007 at 8:09 am
I like what I hear, patience is a great thing but how long does it take before results start taking effect?
May 25th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Hey Michael,
I totally agree with your 3 fundamental steps, and it’s taken me a long time to come to the same conclusion.
However I would say that number 1 is the “single MOST important key to success online”, very closely followed by 2.
I’ve been guilty of not taking action all my life about a whole variety of things. And you know what? When I did take action (almost ANY action), things got better.
I was chatting to a friend of mine a few weeks ago and he told me he was a founder member of the Warrior forum a decade ago. He’s spent 10 years reading and buying and learning, but he never took any action on what he’d acquired until 18 months ago.
More recently I spoke to a friend who’s just had a hard drive failure, and he lost (he thinks) over a thousand dollars of products that he’d purchased online. He said he wasn’t even sure exactly *what* he’d lost, but he certainly hadn’t done anything with the purchases he’d made.
This must be something we’ve all done. And there’s a psychology behind it. The act of committing to the purchase immediately makes us think we’ve actually *done something* to change our lives.
I’ve done that. Loads of times. It’s the hope that by purchasing I’m one step closer to my dream…
Now things are different though, as I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t buy anything unless it’s specifically for a project I’m working on.
And I only work on one project at a time until completion. Okay, that might not be completely true, but that’s my aspiration. And I always complete my projects to the point where they’re live and earning money.
I can make them better later.
Because that’s the other thing I’ve been guilty of - starting something, and because it’s “not quite right” or “I’m not sure what people will make of it”, I never get the dang thing out the door!
I’ve learned that lesson too. Now all I’m concerned about is getting my projects to the point of “it’s good enough”, start it earning money, and then make improvements to the product or process later, and keep on doing it (#2).
In time (#3), things get better, but only if you start taking action.
Without #1, the #2 and #3 can’t happen.
All the best,
Frank Haywood.
May 25th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Hi Michel,
Thank you for this great advise.I think patient is the key and also doing the right things.
I will keep reading your blog and checking our your suggestions!!
May 25th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Great stuff (as ever) Michael but I think you left out the value of outsourcing. By yourself you can persisently work on 1 or 2 traffic-generating techniques. If you outsource, you can be persistent with 8 or 9!
May 25th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Mike, you’re right on.
The key to traffic is to take “strategic actions” and make your actions count. Every litle bit helps to build a constant flow of traffic.
Master to best traffic generating tactics one by one.
Strategic action is the key.
T. Saunders
Ps. Your Dynamic Popup Generator is a great tool for making at least one last offer to my visitors that’s showing great results.
May 25th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Hi Mike
Just starting up another website, find your information to be stright forward and to the point.
Will do!
Thanks Alfred & Sheala
May 25th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for the article Michael. It is good to have perspective. Sometimes I can lose it when I’m sitting at the computer for days and get bombarded by all the internet marketing newsletters promoting the “next great system”. And yes Steve, I agree, there is a mentality of Go Big or Go Home out there. Some of these list masters(?) talk about spending thousands of dollars.
I’m thinking Michael has the right ( or at least sane) approach by going organic. AS for cost…why not start out with blogger ( I’ve put my blog as my link here)? It is free and you can ad adsense and affiliate promotions, and the search engines supposedly love them. Then you can move on using open source and carefully selected programs and hosting for $10/month/unlimited sites.
Michael, this is where you come in. I realized that I have just three people online who I buy software through, and you are one of them because I have learned to trust your judgment, and you are quick to admit when one is a dud. Thanks for making choosing easier.
Colin
May 25th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Michael thank you for the entry. Your Dead Right my friend, The funny thing is we all know this is the answer, but wished there was an easier simpler way!!
At the end of the day, for those who are trying to run a REAL business online, (myself included) are looking a year ahead, or more. Not what money i am going to make next week. And to reply to Steve Rechel, I feel your pain! all of us know the frustration, but IT IS A BUSINESS AND IT WILL COST YOU MONEY. At the beginning I never made it about the money, it was a passion to see if I could do it.
AND YES every man and his dog is fighting for a piece of the pie. 98% of newbies fail for one reason and one reason only….they give up.
If you’ve seen the film Shawshank Redemption, how long did it take Tim Robbins to dig his way to freedom with a tiny rock hammer? He got his freedom because he never gave up.
I will stop trying to make money from my PC when they prise this keyboard from my cold dead fingers!
Ill have my piece of the pie one day…and when that day comes, im going to grab it, re-brand it, build a squeeze page for it and sell it on for a bigger piece!!
Keep on keeping on……….x
Lee Brooker
May 27th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Great article as usual,
thanks
Nash
May 27th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Hi Michael thanks for the great advice on building traffic especially about taking action. It’s very easy to keep reading about ways to promote your website and then not doing anything. Take action!