Ask just about any person trying to make money online if they have enough traffic, and you can bet the answer will be “no.”
Even the people who’re pulling down the huge traffic numbers want more traffic.
Wanting more traffic is a no brainer!
After all, more traffic equals…
- More customers.
- Greater authority and trust.
- A bigger list.
- More sales.
- More cash.
- More invitations to Joint Ventures.
So how do you become the person who has lots of traffic? The person building their list and making sales every day?
There are a number of factors that will help you go from not having those things to having them. I write about the how-to-do-that here on my blog.
But today I want to focus on an overlooked aspect of succeeding online.
That aspect is …
Avoiding profit-crushing mistakes.
Happily, it’s easy to do!
Let’s look together at three profit-crushing traffic mistakes to avoid.
QUESTION: Are you making these deadly traffic and marketing mistakes too? (I was)
Mistake 1: Cherry-Picking Traffic Methods
You probably know more than you think about getting traffic.
Even if you are not currently getting enough now, you have taken the courses, read the articles and understand the concept.
But here’s the problem … MOST people will rule out a traffic source based on what they read (or hear) and not based on their own experience.
Have you heard about a traffic source and had one of these thoughts?
- It’s too expensive.
- It will not work for me.
- This is only for experienced, professional marketers.
- I don’t have a big budget so this is not for me.
- It won’t work in my niche.
- I don’t have a list so this will not work for me.
- This is too time-consuming for me.
- There is too much to learn to make this work for me.
If you have had one of these thoughts you are not alone. I’ve had them too! We all have.
They are simply limiting beliefs that hold us all back.
That is until we learn the truth. Because the truth always sets you free.
In my experience, the truth is this …
Almost all progress in business, and life is made little by little.
While you occasionally hear about the wunderkind who goes from $0 to $100,000 or more (it does sometimes happen) that is by far the exception.
For most of us, progress comes in small steps. Trial and error. Having some success and building on it.
Here’s the bottom line.
If you’re completely skipping a traffic method because you KNOW that it won’t work, then that’s one thing.
For example, trying to generate traffic from some decade-old, untargeted source like a “start page” exchange or a safelist has been proven many times to be a complete waste of time.
There is no need for you to learn by painful experience that these methods don’t work.
What I’m talking about is different. I’m talking about ignoring proven traffic methods that are sure to bring targeted traffic to your site.
For example:
- You don’t build a list or publish a blog because you don’t really feel like developing and committing to a publishing schedule. Or you are not a “writer”.
- You don’t want to get joint venture partners or affiliates because you’re happier working alone.
- You thumb your nose at social media, even though your target market is there and you know in your heart that Facebook does work for reaching new audiences.
So what if there is a traffic method that you don’t really feel like doing?
Simple solution? Hire someone to do it for you.
“I don’t have the money for that” you may say.
Who says it costs money?
There are plenty of college interns out there who need to do work to get a good grade.
There are also people who will drive traffic in exchange for part of the profit.
And even if it did cost some money, think of what you would have by hiring a pro to set up your campaign the right way so you could run it as long as you wanted!
The bottom line is this – don’t skip over a promising traffic method just because you don’t have the time, or desire, to do it yourself.
Mistake 2: Not Being Consistent
Here is a personal note based on 15 years of experience. If I had a dollar for every time a person told me they stopped doing something that worked, I would have a lot of dollars.
Here are some from the archives of my conversations.
- I ran a solo ad and got 400 visitors but never ran another.
- I was making $4500 a month doing pay per click but stopped.
- I have a list of 15,000 but they are not buying so list building is not working for me.
Please understand that I am not casting stones here. If I had a dollar for every time I did something that worked and then got distracted by a shiny object, I would have a lot of dollars!
Here is the core of this particular mistake.
When it comes to driving traffic …
People mistakenly believe the traffic will continue coming if they stop doing what they did to get the traffic to come in the first place.
It’s true – many people think that if they stop working on their marketing, that somehow the traffic will just keep coming in on its own.
Of course, it doesn’t work that way.
- Content swaps lose effectiveness as the content drops off the blogger’s front page.
- Affiliates start to lose interest and go seek out other opportunities.
- Facebook fans and blog readers drift away when they realize there hasn’t been any new content in a while.
- The competitors in the search engines knock your pages out of the top spots.
- And of course, paid ads don’t bring in any visitors once you stop the campaigns.
For example, you may do one or more of the following every day:
Recruit new affiliates or joint venture partners.
You might make it a goal to find five new partners before the week is out.
Send an email to marketing partners.
At a minimum, you can send them new tools to help their promotions, such as new ads, blog posts, and graphics. If you really want to get them hopping, then send out an announcement about an upcoming affiliate contest.
Better yet, teach them how to win affiliate contests!
Post something on your blog, on someone else’s blog, or on social media.
Aim for something that will engage readers and start up a discussion.
Create a viral video.
This could be something funny, super-useful or even controversial. Then post it on social media and see if you get any traction.
Send an email to your list.
Make it a point to do this regularly, as the only way to build a good relationship with them is by sending your list engaging content on at least a weekly basis.
Start up a Facebook ad campaign.
Just be sure to use the ad platform’s power tool to get your ad in front of as targeted an audience as possible.
And so on.
In short:
Small steps on a consistent basis lead to big results over time.
And now the third mistake…
Mistake 3: Skipping the Tracking and Testing
Many people waste a lot of time and money chasing after advertising strategies that simply don’t work for them.
- Maybe they’re using ineffective ads or calls to action.
- Maybe their lead pages are weak.
- Maybe they’re even posting ads in places where they’re getting very little action.
But yet, they keep trying the same method.
Why on earth would someone keep throwing money and time at advertising that doesn’t work?
Simple: Because these people have no idea their advertising doesn’t work.
And you know what? Unless you are tracking and testing your ad campaigns, you too might be wasting a lot of money and time running lousy ads.
So what you need to do is start keeping careful track of what works and what doesn’t.
You’ll need a tool to track and statistically test your ads and campaigns.
You can find plenty of tools around, such as Google Analytics, or the open-source alternative at Piwik.org.
Some of the tools you already use may have built in tracking.
One good example is your email service provider, as many of the big providers can track open and click-through rates.
Another example is your page builder. Some page builders, like Landing Page Monkey, (I use this one) have analytics and split testing built in.
One advantage of using SAAS companies (Software As A Service) like LeadPages (I use this one too) is that they offer built-in tracking and split testing.
Once you decide what you’re going to test, then be sure to test just one element of your ad campaign at a time.
That way, you can be confident that any change in the conversion rate is due to that one element, rather than something else.
For example, if you’re testing the best time of the day to send emails – 9:00 am or 9:00 pm — then you need to randomly split your list into two groups and send out the exact same email to both groups.
If everything else about the emails is exactly the same, then you’ll know that any difference in conversion rate is due to the time it was sent out.
NOTE: The exception to this is when you have something that is not working at all. In those cases, it’s time for an entirely new approach, not an incremental change. More on this in another article.
Conclusion
These three mistakes seem pretty simple, and yet they really are profit-crushing if you make them.
I know this from experience.
So be sure to test everything, diversify your traffic methods, and take consistent steps every day to build your traffic.
Of course, the question is, what SHOULD you be doing to build traffic?
And another one: what is the best way to bring in targeted traffic?
The answers to these questions can make or break your business, which is why you’ll want to get your answers from the best source around: Click here for my top resource.
Driving traffic is not luck or reserved only for the super-rich and well connected. Traffic is like bread … when you need it you simply buy it. And you do that with time or money or both.
You really can drive traffic! Avoiding these profit-crushing mistakes will not only help you drive more traffic but also help you sell more and keep more of that money in your pocket.
And those are beautiful things indeed!
