Making sales is the end result of a well thought out and executed marketing plan. One of the main components of your plan is how you are going to drive traffic to your web site. In other words, how you are going to convince people to click by your web site. If they don’t see your site, they won’t know about the fantastic products or deals you are offering. Traffic, read potential customers, is critical to the success of your website and vital to earning income online. No prospects = no customers = no sales = no income! So let’s talk about how we can get more people to click by your web site. I like to use the analogy that when you go fishing, you have to go where the fish are biting - otherwise you are wasting your time and money. So, the big question is, “Where do you find more people to stop by your web site?
One of the first questions I would ask myself as a marketer is, “What would make people want to visit my web site?” Unique product? Irresistible price? Excellent value? Getting something free (giveaway item)? Referred by a friend? Attractive promotion? a website that is user friendly and easy to navigate around? Options to pay for your product?. The more of these you can offer the better.
But, first we have to get people to the web site.
Make your site look good.
If you are promoting other products, you have little input into how the website looks – unless you are using a transition site. There are pros and cons to doing this. Pro- you can take some features from the main site and use them on your site – with your own additions or changes. Then, your ads and promotions can be geared to getting people to visit your transition site so you have one more chance to send them a message to convince them to click on to the main site where hopefully they will buy. Con – it means one more step before a sale can be made.
Now – we still have the problem of finding people we can show an ad to. Where will you find people who are interested in what you have to offer? The biggest possible audience is the kazillions of people who are searching for your product everyday and just don’t know about you. So you need to make your web site ‘search engine friendly
Is your Web Site Search Engine Friendly?
Search engines send their ‘robots’ far afield to scour all the web sites in search of quality sites – ones that meet their expectations and their definitions of value. Once you know what these robots are seeking, you need to do your absolute best to provide it. If you want more traffic, master SEO. Search Engine Optimization is a long term strategy. What you are looking for is a good ranking with the major search engines so that when people search for a keyword or key phrase that is on your web site, the engines will show your site in the top the rather than on page 23 of clicks returned. Let’s face it, nobody ever gets as far as page 23. If your site is not ranked on the first, possibly the second page, forget it. You are dead in the water. People will choose one of the top sites because these are the top performers and so are viewed as the most likely to provide the help people are searching for.
Paid or free advertising?
Optimizing your web site is an excellent way to get free advertising. Provide the information that the search robots are looking for and they will repay you with a better ranking so people will be more likely to find your web site.
Depending on your product, you can try traffic exchanges, safe lists and FFAs but I feel these offer limited return for the time you put into them.
Pay Per Click ads on the other hand offer better returns – or they should. Careful though. You need to learn everything you can before you jump in and spend a lot of money. PPC means you pay a search engine to send people to your website who click on a key word or words and you agree to pay a certain price per click. This can range from $.01 to $5.00 or more per click. As you can see, this can get expensive very quickly so do your research and some testing. You have to monitor it constantly to make sure you are getting a return and not just losing money on advertising. Keyword research is vital so you know exactly what people are searching for and how much you are willing to pay for a visit to your website. Then, if you are getting lots of clicks but not making any sales, yo should look at why this is happening. Price too high? Perceived value lower than anticipated? Poor graphics?
Marketing via Email
It’s been around for a long time and with the ability to send HTML emails it has become even more popular. Building a good mailing list is a necessity and this can be a long process. Buying leads is one option but generally these will produce less than satisfactory returns. Similarly, you can buy a service that claims to send out 24,000,000 or more emails every day. These are cheap enough to tryand there are a number of them out there but I can tell you from personal testing that I have never received a single response from any of them. Building your own list of double opt-in prospects is a much better way to go about it. Use a professional service such as AWeber, Get Response or Constant Contact to handle your mailings. Offer a freebie, an e-book, e.g., as an enticement to sign up for a newsletter. Then send out a newsletter once or twice a week to stay in touch with your mailing list; offer deals, specials, promotions, limited time offers, etc.
Joint marketing
Whether or not you know anyone marketing a product that is complementary to your own, you may be able to find one or two people. The product may not even be complementary – as long as it is not a direct competitor. Contact them and ask if they would be interested in doing a joint or reciprocal mailing. This is an excellent way to double your mailing reach.
Going the Social Route
Social media are extremely popular these days: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Netlog, Digg are places where people gather online to exchange pictures, stories, and participate in a social experience. Think about how you could use these communities to promote your product in a non-intrusive manner. You must be willing to contribute value to the exchange. Millions of people visit one or more social sites a day. How’s that for a marketplace? The way to approach social media is to join one or two communities and see what they are all about. Who or what is popular? How can you fit in? Contribute value and people will be more likely to listen when you occasionally add a little link to your website. This is expected.
There are a number of good ways to attract people to your web site. Think about where your future customers are likely to be found. Find them and you are on your way to earning income online.
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