How many visitors does your website attract on an average day?
Would it surprise you to know that the most personal web sites average less than 2 visitors a day? Business sites often do only marginally better.
Last week I discussed how important it is to build your web site based on a strong foundation of content. I wanted to introduce content first because nobody will hang around long enough to consider buying from you without content . A good site, one that sells, might be as much as 90% content and 10% sales related material. If you missed last week's tip it's available here:
Let The Content Do The Selling
http://www.smithfam.com/news/oct99a.html
Targeting is an all important ingredient. Your content can be developed as a extension of your passion. If you are a sky diver, you might want to share your knowledge with other sky divers. As you learn, you share. Your niche should be important enough personally that it would be worth learning in and of itself, even without making any money. In fact, if the actions required to develop your content isn't satisfying enough to you, it most likely won't be for many others either.
So if you have a dynamite website, but no visitors and no products, let's explore where we might go from here. For instance, if you are a skydiver you might want to sell parachutes, and you could offer a money back guarantee on it. Chances are slim that anyone will return a parachute for a refund.
When they built Los Vagas in the desert, they had to have a plan in place about how to attract visitors. We, too, want to plan on how to attract customers as part of the plan - from the beginning, if possible.
I realize that I am talking about a lot of work, but it's not really. Absolutely every human being has a special talent or ability. Discovering that talent and building on it is true "Right Livelihood." If you are doing what you love, creating content will be educational and fun. The Internet makes it more possible to explore our passion while earning our living.
Corporations can afford more content development, but us "little people" can afford more time for research, so we can create more compelling content.
Recently, I read a story about a small village in Africa where the people sell drums, spears, and other handicrafts which probably seem ordinary to them. What is ordinary to some may be more rare and exotic to others. Clay pots may be common in an area where clay is plentiful, but a location where clay is scarce will usually support higher prices for clay pots.
ATTRACTING VISITORS
Internet marketing is a numbers game. You can only attract a few visitors a day to a single page, even with great content. You can attract more with a well thought out advertising campaign.
The secret of a good campaign is to earn more than you spend on advertising. I know that sounds basic, and it is simple enough to do the math. One dollar in advertising should equals X number of dollars in sales or in profits. Yet, untargeted advertising probably won't earn you anything.
Learn more about writing killer ads from Gary White, the founder of the Cookie Cutter Marketing system. He has written an excellent 2 part article explaining how to write ads that sell.
How To Build An Ad Incubator
http://www.smithfam.com/news/aug99e.html
http://www.smithfam.com/news/aug99f.html
The lowest cost method to build web site traffic is through the search engines. It's a long, drawn-out process. I follow a simple two step approach. Consider reverse engineering. Start out with the result you want, then create the means to get there.
BUILD YOUR OWN FREE TRAFFIC FUNNEL.
Start out by writing every word or phrase you can think of even remotely related to the niche you want to target. The more specific you can be, the higher listings you will get.
I use a great keyword generator tool to generate words that actually appear in searches related to other words or phrases. Make a list of words and phrases.
Start out wide, and gradually narrow your focus. Eventually you will build a series of pages exploiting that targeted content.
Keyword Research Tool
http://jimtools.com/keywords/
FOCUS YOUR CONTENT
Combine your keywords and phrases into titles, headlines and descriptions. Create separate pages directly related to every word or phrase you discovered. It's not too difficult to average one new content filled page per day. I usually create several pages a week, with each one linking to all the other main pages, all of which link to the products you want to sell.
Start by surfing, using the words and phrases you find most compelling. Visit some of the top ten sites in several search engines to evaluate the content. Continue your research until you have developed better content.
I have found that the process of targeting content actually helps choose the products to sell. You might be surprised how easy it is to develop sales content for products you use and love. In fact, you can still find products you can sell on the Internet before anyone else.
This process takes time, but remember, your niche must be interesting to you. So as you learn, you teach. Mark Victor Hanson calls this process "Faking it till you're makin' it".
Don't get the wrong idea. Don't pretend to be an expert, especially when you're not. No matter how much you know, there are always going to be people who know more, or less, than you do. Try to attract people who know less than you, and learn from folks who know more than you.
The purpose of this method it to attract the widest number of visitors with the most specific information. Build your own personal web following by giving specific information rather than general information.
Most web masters design their home page like a table of contents, then filtering visitors down to more specific pages. You want to do the opposite. You actually want to create a large number of content-rich pages that attract your visitors toward your other pages, and finally to your order page.
Remember, people want the information first. They will be more willing to purchase after they are educated.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
This week's feature article by Michael Campbell will explain in more detail a process you can follow to generate more free traffic, starting by getting rid of everything on your home page.
Best Wishes
Bob
Click Here to Email Bob Smith
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