image of gumby struggling with traffic generation

The Traffic Dilemma

By

Rick Katz

Traffic, traffic everywhere

but not a drop to generate quality leads for your business.

Is that your dilemma? 

Are you seeing potential customers/clients everywhere, but just can’t figure out how to connect?

If so, don’t worry,  after more than two decades in the business I can tell you you’re in the same boat as the majority of Internet business  people.

The issue for the majority of folks though is more about the quality of their marketing system than the quality of the traffic.

Most people trying to make money online are just not using effective marketing systems so even if they do find a good traffic source they struggle to generate any sales from using it.

But once you have a good fully tested system and match it up with the right traffic source you can hit the jackpot.

 

There’s basically four types of traffic.

  1. Paid Ads
  2. Social Media Content Creation
  3. Organic Search
  4. Offline promotion and advertising

 

Paid Ads

There’s a lot of platforms online to buy advertising. Pretty much every major website earns the majority of their income from advertising.

The key is using advertising sources that are a fit for your particular business model. 

Testing is crucial with paid ads. It’s very easy to drain your entire ad budget and get zero in return. Your targeting has to be dialed in. Your creatives (your ad text and images) need to be tested.  Your landing pages and your entire sales funnel needs to be tested. .

If after enough testing if nothing is working, you either may be using the wrong ad platform or you still may need help with your marketing system.

Before trying any ad platform however you should learn all there is to know about it. Knowledge is power. Don’t just jump in with your ad and hope for the best. Be professional.

Your best bet with paid ads if you don’t have very much experience is to find a proven expert to either teach you or do it for you. Sure it can be costly to hire someone but the cost of learning to do it by yourself will probably be much or more.

Social Media 

Here’s how to get plenty of free traffic to your offers.

When you combine social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, etc. etc. there’s absolutely no shortage of traffic to your website.

Creating content doesn’t have to be difficult it just requires time and maybe a little creativity. 

In fact you can even get by with not very much creativity. The key is volume and consistency. You may not see much results at first but if you keep at it it will happen.

Your social media content doesn’t have to all be original. You can post generic images and videos too. The idea is just get posting and again, keeping at it.

The strategy to this is audience targeting. What are the people who you want to attract to your website interested in?

For example, let’s say your website sells nutritional supplements. Your social media posts should be health and nutrition oriented. That’s pretty obvious right? Well yeah, I told you its not difficult.

This strategy can be duplicated on multiple social media platforms. Start with one and work up to adding additional platforms or use a cross-platform posting tool like Hootsuite or SocialPilot.

GROUPS: 

Whether on Facebook or other socials creating a group around your niche and inviting friends, followers and new prospects to join is one of the best ways I’ve ever discovered for generating quality leads for your business.

 

Online Classified Ads

Sites like Craigslist, Kijiji and others can be an endless source of leads for your business. The key, as with any traffic source of course is using the right type of ads and sales funnel. With the right ad and funnel you can get highly targeted very fresh leads from these highly trafficked sites.

 

Organic Search

When people go to Google or any search engine they see two types of results. They will see paid (sponsored) ads usually at the top or side of the page and the organic results based on the keywords used in their search. For example, if you are searching for something like “How much magnesium do I need to take each day” you’ll see ads for magnesium supplements and then you’ll see the organic results like from WebMD for example and so on.

Ranking your website high in the search engine results is extremely difficult since only highly optimized websites usually get these spots. 

However, if you learn Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and/or use an SEO  tool like SEMRush or AnswerThePublic you may be able to rank high on less popular search terms. For example you may not be able to rank high for a search term like “plastic surgeon in Philadelphia’ but you might for something like “botched plastic surgeries in Philadelphia”. These are what are known as long-tailed keywords and they’re easier to rank for because the high ranking websites might not have a page or at least an optimized page based on that long tailed search term.

 

Off-line Promotion and Advertising

Most online marketers have forgotten that great results can still be obtained offline.

Offline promotion can include attending networking events, posting flyers in public places that allow them, handing out business cards and so on.

Not to mention mailing postcards and brochures, ads in newspapers and magazines.

You can even create your own networking events at a hotel or other locations that host events.

Another great offline method is buying leads. If you’re not afraid to talk on the phone this is definitely a great, proven method. It takes practice, but with practice and experience you will get good at it.

Your traffic dilemma can be easily solved if you really want it to be and are willing to put in the time and effort.