How to Start with ZERO Visitors!
Simple Strategies for You to Implement and Get Immediate Results!
"How to Start with ZERO Visitors, Test Your Web Site to
Maximize Sales, 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
(salescopy, 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), also called AdCopy.
- 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 -- http://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 -- don'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 --
http://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.
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 -- http://www.kanoodle.com
- Enhance Interactive -- http://www.enhance.com
- LookSmart -- http://www.LookSmart.com
- Espotting (for the UK & Europe) -- http://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 great sources 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 search 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: http://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:
- http://www.ezinearticles.com
- http://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!
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 at http://www.alexa.com,
LinkPopularity at http://www.linkpopularity.com, or
Technorati at http://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 other 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 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...
- Set your commissions. (To keep your affiliates motivated,
you should pay them 40% to 50% of your profits per sale.)
- Get software to track the traffic and sales of your
affiliates so you know what to pay them -- check out:
Affiliate Marketing Tips
- Provide your affiliates with tools they can use to promote
your products (like e-mails, banners, etc.).
- 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 homepage!
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: e-Mail Management Solution
---------------
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 submit 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)
3. Request links from high-traffic web sites, so you
can piggy-back 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 roll out 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.
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!
Get this newsletter delivered directly to your desktop FREE
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And, for a limited time, everyone who takes advantage of
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we revealed IMC's *newest* Internet profit secrets,
including...
- Simple tricks for driving 1,000s of qualified buyers
to your web site!
- How to build a HUGE opt-in list -- even with NO traffic!
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To Your MLM Success Made Easy
Christiane Beaud
Link to My Blog
Learn How to Earn More Here - F R E E
===========================================
Copyright 1996-2005 by The Internet Marketing Center.
All rights reserved.
===========================================
"How to Start with ZERO Visitors, Test Your Web Site to
Maximize Sales, 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
(salescopy, 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), also called AdCopy.
- 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 -- http://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 -- don'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 --
http://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.
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 -- http://www.kanoodle.com
- Enhance Interactive -- http://www.enhance.com
- LookSmart -- http://www.LookSmart.com
- Espotting (for the UK & Europe) -- http://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 great sources 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 search 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: http://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:
- http://www.ezinearticles.com
- http://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!
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 at http://www.alexa.com,
LinkPopularity at http://www.linkpopularity.com, or
Technorati at http://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 other 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 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...
- Set your commissions. (To keep your affiliates motivated,
you should pay them 40% to 50% of your profits per sale.)
- Get software to track the traffic and sales of your
affiliates so you know what to pay them -- check out:
Affiliate Marketing Tips
- Provide your affiliates with tools they can use to promote
your products (like e-mails, banners, etc.).
- 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 homepage!
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: e-Mail Management Solution
---------------
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 submit 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)
3. Request links from high-traffic web sites, so you
can piggy-back 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 roll out 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.
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!
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To Your MLM Success Made Easy
Christiane Beaud
Link to My Blog
Learn How to Earn More Here - F R E E
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posted by Christie Beaud @ 3:47 PM
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