3 Traffic Systems, Introduction To Building Traffic Online

When you developed a thumbnail profile for your target market(s)? Picture that person sitting at home... ...relaxing in her easy chair. From here on in, whatever she does, there are only two possibilities...

 
1) She is not looking for your product.

2) She is looking for your product.

Brilliant, eh? Wait, don’t leave me... this obvious split is critical for building
traffic. Let’s assume she’s not looking for what you offer, but that she does need your
product -- that’s why you’ve included her in your thumbnail sketch in the first place!

Maybe she knows she needs it, maybe she doesn’t. That’s not important. Here’s what is important... How do you get your product in front of her eyeballs? Whether you use online or offline methods, you have to ask and answer these kinds of questions...

• Where does she work?

• What does she do for fun?

• What does she read?

• Where and how does she travel?

• From the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed, whatever she does,

what does she see and hear?

As you develop this “activity log,” you’ll learn that she reads specialized-niche
magazines in the offline world, subscribes to e-zines and visits Websites when
online. 

She travels. Certain radio and TV shows reach her. You have to find those places she visits, the journals she reads, the mailing lists to which she contributes, and then figure out how to get your message in front of her...  in an ethical manner. 

You need to discover the most cost-effective way to get your message in front of the “not-actively-looking-but-receptive” target market.

 
Now let’s assume that she is hunting for exactly what your Widg-O-Matic delivers.
When she looks, she must find you, right? Right!

This volume focuses primarily on “hunting these hunters.” After all, someone who is actively looking for something is going to buy it when she finds it... and we want it to be from you! The non-hunters, even if they could use a

Widg-O-Matic, do not yet have the motivation to look. And if motivation is low, it’s
going to take more time and money to get the sale.

After all, how many times have you seen or heard an ad for a...
... superduper “read faster in 90 days” learn-at-home course? Didn’t
you think, “Boy, that would be great if I could read and retain five times faster?” Did
you do anything about it, though?

Nope!

Today, however, you are looking for a “speed reading” course on the Web. You
enter “speed reading” into browser, and up pops that same company that wasted its
money on the radio ad.

Since you did the looking, you are obviously a motivated, targeted customer. And
“Speed-Reading Is Us, Inc.” has a much better chance to sell you!

Moral of the story? It’s much more cost-effective if you concentrate first on the
“hunters.” Make sure they find you.

Remember these two very different ways that you and your prospect will meet...

1) ...You find her.

2) ... She finds you.

Whoops! This only makes sense if you, the reader, are male. After all, if you’re a
guy reading this, doesn’t the second scenario (above) look like a much easier
“sell” to you?

If you’re a woman...

1) ...You find him.

2) ... He finds you.

From the female point of view, doesn’t # 2 look like the better process?

No matter which traffic-building technique you choose, balance the required time,
work and expense against the number and motivation of the visitors you attract.

1. Two-Way E-media
Two-way e-media (unmoderated mailing lists, newsgroups and forums) suffer from
“damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” syndrome...

• If the members are loosely regulated (ex., the biz and miscellaneous
newsgroups), anything goes. Sure you can post your message. But everyone
else can, too -- so it’s flooded. No one pays any attention!

• If the group is serious, it will have strict, self-enforced rules. Post anything
that smells commercial, and you’ll be...... flamed! It takes a long time to build up a relationship with a
group like this, to the point where you can gently pitch them. Why bother trying to
fool people, anyway?

Forget about coddling to these groups. If you have a genuine interest and want
to participate for non-commercial reasons, great! But don’t try to cultivate them
for your own business purposes.

Besides, the number of people you reach just isn’t worth the time involved. You
have to contribute regularly to have any chance of even a small response. Which
means you have to read everyone’s postings every day.

And the spam that you’ll get from all the e-mail collectors puts the final nail in the
coffin. Bottom line?... Great... if you have a natural passion and want to contribute out of sheer interest.

Bad... if you view this as a marketing tool -- unless there is an extremely good fit
between your business goals and the interests of a group.

For most businesses, it is generally not worth the effort. Some people still swear by posting to these groups. Just in case you have a special reason to believe that this could be an efficient way for you to build traffic, I have included a more detailed “how to” discussion in the glossary.

2. Classified Ad Services
Thousands of classified ad services have sprouted lately. They range from those offered by established newspapers on the Web to pure classified ads sites like...

Excite Classifieds

http://classifieds.excite.com/

And...

Yahoo! Classifieds

http://classifieds.yahoo.com/

For a comprehensive list of Classified Web sites, see...

Yahoo! Listings of Classified Sites

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Classifieds/

Like a bad infestation, “free-for-all” classified ad sites have popped-up across the

Net in big numbers. They are nothing more than a evolution of the free-for-all-links
page scam.

Basically, the service works like this... First, you sign up, and receive your own free
classified ad site. Then you allow visitors to post their ads for free. In exchange,
you get to send them your spam.

Automated services can post classified ads to thousands of such services, bringing a barrage of spam into mailboxes worldwide.

And traffic? Nope. Nary a one. The only people who visit these pages are those
posting their own messages. How interested are they in your pitch?

The moral of the story is a simple one...

Don’t bother submitting, or implementing a “free-for-all-classified” site.

For the most part, even the more reputable classified ad services are inappropriate for business purposes. Here are the problems...

 
1) They are more oriented for consumer-to-consumer “one off” sales -- useful for
buying and selling a used car, but not much use for selling software.

2) There are too many get-rich-quick schemes, which cheapen your image.

 
3) Get ready to receive a lot of spam and scam!

 
4) You’ll receive very few serious responses. I never look at these ads. Do you?

3. Sweepstakes and Promotions

 
Sweepstakes and promotions must help attain your MWR. If they don’t achieve this goal, forget about them. The two can create a lot of work for a one-shot deal. And potential legal headaches, too. Unless you can think of a strong synergy for your business, they not worth the trouble.

Think about it... If you offer to give away money, you might end up with the cash-hounds, and little
else. They are not potential customers. Total value to you? Nil.

So plan your strategy well, if you want to try this route. Know clearly “what’s in it”
for your visitor. And then execute your sweepstakes/promotion carefully.
Everything you do on the Net can make or break your reputation.

The following companies will be happy to co-promote, partner, or even build your
sweepstakes from the ground up...

Winning Ways Online Sweepstakes

http://www.onlinesweeps.com/

SweepstakesBuilder

http://www.sweepstakesbuilder.com/


Sweepstakes Online

http://www.sweepstakesonline.com/

My first sweepstakes experiment had as its prize an in-depth review and analysis of
the winning contestant’s Web site (by yours truly -- blush!).

The prize was supposed to attract the type of customer that we wanted. But in the
end, the sweepstakes contest was merely a distraction. It might have even hurt
sales.

Of course, I don’t give up easily. I decided to try the sweepstakes again. This time,
the prize offers two free years of Site Build It! -- approximately US$800 in value.

We use it as a powerful traffic-building tool for 5 Pillar Affiliates. You can’t find the
sweepstakes by linking to it from anywhere within the site -- it can only be accessed
through an affiliate’s promotion.

Try it now. Visit...

Site Build It! Sweepstakes

http://sweeps.sitesell.com/

See how this sweepstake multiplies the affiliate’s traffic? It’s fascinating to watch.
When people visit through an affiliate’s link, they send a referral e-mail to a few
friends (to enter the Sweeps), who do the same, and so on... and so on.

Guess what? Every single visitor will visit through the original affiliate’s coded
link!

The results? Much, much, better...

• No distractions from the site.
• SiteSell.com gets visitors that it would not receive otherwise.
• And since the prize is the product, those who enter are targeted potential
customers.
We receive 300-500 visitors to the Contest Page daily. And when a visitor reaches
that page, we use a “javascript pop-under” to place our www page underneath.
(Click on the link above to see this in action.) This introduces the visitor to all of our
products.

The viral “refer-a-friend” aspect, combined with the affiliates’ gain in their own visitor
rates, has converted the SBI! sweepstakes into a nice traffic-builder for us.

We have plans to add an extra twist to this -- it may even be in place by the time
your read this.


Want to see how another contest qualifies its visitors? Visit...

Lobster Direct

http://www.lobsterdirect.com/home.html

Use your free draw or sweepstakes to help attain your Backup Response.

Here’s how...

Offer a prize of significant perceived value that will both interest and qualify your
visitor. In exchange for a chance at winning the prize, your visitor must enter her
e-mail address and agree to receive your newsletter.

Your newsletter, by the way, is the same vessel in which you announce the winners
-- so your customer will actually have to read it to see if she’s won!

This gives you the opportunity to provide her with compelling content, and most
importantly, your gentle sales pitch. Best of all, she won’t opt-out, because if she
does, she’ll never know if she’s the lucky winner!


You may wish to expand the refer-a-friend viral marketing technique as we did with
the SBI! sweeps. Allow your visitor one contest entry for each friend she
recommends to your site. However, do not automatically sign up these new
referrals to your newsletter, or you’re going to be in trouble.

That’s spamming -- since they did not specifically agree to receive it. Let them
decide for themselves if they’d like to be on your mailing list!