If there’s one topic that I get asked about time and time again it is traffic.
It’s subject that we dedicate a huge amount of time to it in GHG Membership.
However, it’s always worth recapping in summary so let’s take a look at some of the strategies that you can use to get more visitors to your websites.
In no particular order…
1. Pay Per Click (PPC)
A few years ago you could use Adwords (Google’s PPC service) to buy traffic at incredibly cheap rates like $0.05 per click.
People made a lot of money by running PPC campaigns and sending it directly to the sales pages of affiliate offers (such as those on Clickbank) or to CPA offers (where you get paid when a visitor that you send performs a specific action such as filling out a form or requesting a consultantion).
Alas, those days are long gone: Google is MUCH more expensive these days and is very strict about what kind of web pages you can send people to.
However, there are other non-Google options which can provide you with very cheap traffic. Infolinks.com and 7search.com are two platforms that I’ve used.
They are not perfect (what is really?) but I recommend you investigate them as cheap traffic is possible if you are willing to invest some time in tweaking your campaigns.
Facebook is another popular platform of course although I haven’t tried this myself (yet!).
2. Blog Commenting
Many people dismiss this but the truth is that blog commenting is one of the best ways to sow the seeds of future relationships with other marketers in your niche.
Plus in the short term you get a link back to your website.
These other marketers might have a virtual assistant answering emails but they ALWAYS read their blog comments so this is an excellent way to get on their radar.
I use blog comments a fair bit and then my Traffic Escalator Principle to leverage those comments into more powerful traffic strategies like interviews, guest posts and ultimately joint ventures.
3. Guest Posting
Imagine writing a 400 word article and then having it published on cnn.com or bbc.co.uk with a link back to your squeeze page or blog.
Do you think you would get traffic?
I should say so! 🙂
Of course, targeting these 2 sites is pretty difficult but there are many other high traffic sites in your niche that you can easily write guests posts for.
You can even outsource your articles if you don’t like writing.
I’ve generated an awful lot of traffic this way and I highly recommend it to you.
4. Offering Free Content
This is really a more generalised version of guest posting.
Instead of just offering articles to other marketers think about what else you can offer.
I have provided PDF resources lists, cheat sheets, videos and webinars in return for links back to my site.
This can be very powerful and if you leverage and repurpose the content you already have you can do this with virtually no effort. I’ve literally aggregated some old blogs posts or used a free gift I’d already created for a squeeze page and given this to other marketers for publication.
If you have no budget for paid advertising this is a great way to go. Especially when you start out because at that point you have less to offer in terms of doing joint ventures than more established web-business owners.
5. Forums
Instead of waiting for the traffic to come to you why not go where the traffic already is?
Forums are full of passionate people who are interested in the subject matter of your niche.
The simplest strategy is to put a link to your squeeze page or blog in your forum signature (the text that display below every post or thread you make) and get involved in the discussion adding value wherever you are!
However, many forums have promotional areas where you can offer your products (free or paid) and you might also consider advertising on the forum too (e.g., with a banner or text ad).
6. Interviews
Find experts in your niche, interview them on Skype, record the call with Pamela (PC) or Call Recorder (Mac), edit it with Audacity and publish it to your blog using the WordPress plugin audioPlayer.
In many cases the interviewee will promote the interview to their list. Also you are aligning yourself with experts which raises your status and this is a superb way of developing those golden relationship which can ultimately result in joint ventures.
7. Solo Ads
This is where you pay another market to promote your squeeze page to their list.
You can find opportunities through services like the Warrior Forum (Joint Venture section), approaching marketers directly via email or using mailing list finders such as lists.nextmark.com.
This is one of the fastest ways to build your list, especially if you are starting from zero and need an initial “kick start”!
8. Adswaps
Adswaps is a free traffic strategy and work like this: You promote my squeeze page to your list and I’ll promote your squeeze page to my list.
I don’t do this very much but many people do and it can be an excellent way of boosting your subscribers.
The only thing is that you shouldn’t get too carried away with them because if you do adswaps all the time then your subscribers will end up on multiple lists and be less attentive to your emails. So your open rates will decline and ultimately your list will just die!
9. Webinars
Putting on webinars for other marketers is an excellent way to network, gain more exposure and gain instant traffic.
On the webinar you can either:
1. Provide free training.
2. Sell one of your products (and split the profits with the other marketer).
3. Provide some free training on an affiliate product and then promote your affiliate link at the end (again split the profits with the other marketer).
10. Joint Ventures
This is a biggy!
You create a product and approach other marketers to promote it to their lists. The trick is:
1. Create a great product that people actually WANT (quite important ;-))
2. Warm up your relationship with the other marketers before you ask for the JV (e.g., using the Traffic Escalator Principle that I mentioned above).
11. 100% Commission Offers
Again you create a product but then offer affiliates 100% of the profits for them to promote.
It works REALLY well as the other marketers are extremely incentivised to promote for you and crucially you end up with buyers on your list which are so valuable as you can make your money by promoting other products to them on the “back end” of your business.
Also this is more about having affiliates than JV partners.
The difference being that JV partners have a much closer working relationship with you compared to affiliates. I’ve had affiliates send me loads of traffic and sales that I’ve never even met, emailed or spoken to!
Don’t Rely On This…
I could go on and on and there are a multitude of traffic strategies out there. But the ones above work (I’ve proven that) and they will work for you to if you’re willing to put in some time and effort.
The one thing I don’t really recommend you rely on is Google.
There are a lot of courses out there targeting newbies with headlines like “Get to Google Page 1 in 3 Days!”.
Sounds great but to be honest the Google game is getting harder and harder with every algorithm update and is increasingly competitive all the time. If you start to get Google traffic then great, just don’t RELY on it is what I’m saying.
Does this help you? Agree, disagree? Too busy watching the Olympics?! Please click LIKE if you liked (please do spread the word – I really appreciate it) and drop your comments below…. 🙂
Hi Rob
I received a sales email from a chap who recommended low cost ads on the site http://www.pof.com (plenty of fish.com)
Do you have any knowledge of that site?
It’s lesser known but has an extremely large membership.
As it’s a dating site I guess that anyone offering ebooks on relationships etc might find it a site of interest?
I think the ads can be as low as $5 a pop.
Having said all that – I have never tried the site so don’t know if it’s any good or not.
Kind regards
Kevin
Hi Kevin, Not sure about that one. I guess it’s really specific like you say but any site which has decent traffic and you can buy cheap media (i.e., banners) is worth a pop I’d say! Nothing beats testing. Cheers, Rob
Hey Rob,
Its me again. Thanks for the information. Will work on it. Where could I get more information on Adswap and how can I start with it? Please advise.
Thank you
Parish
Hi Parish, Glad it helped. If you want some free information on adswaps try the Warrior Forum. Kind regards, Rob.
Hi Rob,
Useful post. I think I have tried most of these traffic techniques, the most successful probably being the solo ads (especially for sign ups).
I have been using some other less well-known methods of late such as Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn and Twitter and these can bring in traffic too. Quite large amounts if done efficiently!
I think the Google game as you say is getting very hard now, the only chance you have is very small niches with low competition keywords to start – and then hope that someone hasnt gobbled up all the domains!
And yes, I was just watching the olympics!
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Brilliant points there thanks for sharing. I have been seeing people get some great results with Pinterest too but great to get you experience as well.
Cheers, Rob.
Useful post Rob I have tried a few of these but not all of them, I think I will try the forums as you suggest in addition to the solo ads I am already doing. Good luck at your beach volley ball tomorrow although I guess you will be waching the contestants more than the game, lucky sod. Cheers, Mike.
Good stuff Mike. And no comment on the volleyball comment of course. 🙂 Cheers, Rob.
Hi Rob
Any updated info on how your customers are doing with the 5 week course you published a while back?
Also any idea on when it’s likely to become available again to new clients?
Thanks
Kevin
Oh and I meant to say – great tip about the free utility “LastPass” – I am finding it incredibly useful.
Thanks
Kevin
Hi Kevin, Yes we have some great results on the course – people have started building their lists and making their first sales too. No plans to reopen it at this stage I’m afraid but I’ll send out an email if that changes. Thanks for letting me know the tips on the blog were useful 🙂 Kind regards, Rob
Hi Rob
Thanks again. All good revision!
Peter
Cheers Peter – glad you found it useful 🙂 Rob
Hi Rob,
Useful post indeed. in my opinion I think the key to internet traffic is to to remember that its not a race. Whilst there are really good free methods I think PPC will continue to be king a for a while longer yet. But I am aware about the complexity & cost but then again I do this as a day job for clients so I won’t say negative things about PPC 😉 Free methods work also but take longer and I personally don’t think facebook is good for traffic. Stick with ad swaps, nich guest posting. They work. Don’t forget about file sharing places too e.g docstoc etc
Lo
Hi Lo, Great summary there – thank you for sharing your thoughts! Kind regards, Rob
Hi Rob (again)
As you mentioned ad swaps i thought i should mentionm safe-swaps. There seems to be a buzz about this service! But i also i agree that one should over use such a service.
I really like your email lst suggestion of nextmark. It seems a cool way to build a targeted list.
I found something that might benefit your readers too (manta.com) i believe this free and there is an upgrade but essentially it offers a service by where you can get leads whether it be business or consumers right of the bat! enjoy 🙂
regards,
Lo
“As you mentioned ad swaps i thought i should mentionm safe-swaps. There seems to be a buzz about this service! But i also i agree that one should over use such a service. ”
sorry but i mean one SHOULD NOT over use such a service (im typing whilst watch the olympic waterpolo 🙂 )
Thought so Lo! Totally agree 🙂 Cheers, Rob
Got to agree with Lo.
I must be one of the last people on Earth who doesnt have a Facebook page for any of my sites – probably missing out but its just another thing to keep updating!
No doubt I will get on board some day…..
Hi John, I don’t really use Facebook much either right now. Definitely something to fix going forward. Great to see you here on the blog again 🙂 Rob
Personally I run ppc ads on POF. Usually get the UK traffic pretty cheap, and just send it to a cpa network targeted to dating offers.
Ez money.
Thanks for the info Rob. I’ve found some recent success with guest posts and interviews. It’s a learning process.
You’re welcome Steve – glad this helped!
how does the 100% commission model work for refunds? I assume you have to delay paying out commission until the refund date has passed?
Hi Lewis,
If a customer requests a refund then you (as the product creator) can go into the affiliate network (e.g., JVZoo or W+), look up their transaction and click the refund button. The money paid to the affiliate will then transfer back to the customer.
Cheers, Rob.