Gut Check Time

Wow, I couldn’t believe it. I was just on a webinar where someone was trying to teach different ways to get more traffic to a website. The information he provided was good. It can be helpful if used consistently. That’s not the part I couldn’t believe. What I couldn’t believe was the negativity of the people at the webinar.

They were complaining about everything you can think of. They were complaining they weren’t making any money, they were complaining that they’ve been working their ‘business’ for a few weeks and they aren’t rich yet.

Let’s set the record straight right now… you will not get rich overnight online. I’m sorry to disillusion you (and if I’m totally honest with you I’d have to admit that I fell for it all too.. in the beginning).

Does that mean that the programs you see are all scams? Not hardly. It just means that the people selling the programs are good advertisers. People think that the internet is filled with scams, but if you stop to think about it you’ll realize that there are scams online and off.

It’s my experience that most of the programs online will actually deliver, if you stick with them. They just don’t always live up to the overly hyped sales pitch.

Think of it like this: the last time you watched t.v. did you see some commercials for cars? Yes? Did those ads tell you that their cars will need a lot of expensive repairs or that they will most likely need to be recalled because of some defect? Of course not.

They portray beautiful people having a great time. That’s what advertising is all about. It’s not a lie, it’s just only highlighting the good stuff. We are all smart enough to be able to sift through the hype and find the real truth. Do that online too and you’ll save yourself not only a lot of money but a lot of aggravation too.

So, here is what you need to know to succeed online:

1. Do you want to start a business or do you want to have a winning lottery ticket? If it’s the former you will be willing to invest the time it will take to learn the skills and then implement those skills.

If it’s the latter you’re better off going down to your local gas station and buying a lottery ticket.

2. Do you understand that building a business will take time? It’s a process. Even the programs that advertise you can make money in 48 hours (they aren’t lying, I did it but not the first time I tried) don’t tell you that first you need to learn the skills. Once you do, you can make money in short order, but you can’t skip the ‘learning’ stage.

3. Do you ‘learn’ first and ‘do’ second? Few newbies online do. Most of us are waiting for the ‘quick score’ and rush out to do this, that or the other thing expecting to make a killing. I did it too. But the internet isn’t Vegas. Don’t treat your online business like you’re playing craps. If you learn the skills there is no gamble involved. You will make money, period.

So, time for the gut check. If you really want to build a business you must be willing to learn the skills, test and tweak. Keep a steady approach to your business and you can become incredibly wealthy (and much more quickly than if you were trying to do the same thing offline) but you’re not going to be rich in 48 hours and if you really think about it… you know that’s the truth.

What is your number 1 job as an online business owner?  Getting traffic. And not just any traffic either, highly targeted highly qualified traffic, right  to your website. This traffic (or lack thereof) will make or break your online business.

Traffic may well be one of the most confusing things to the new internet marketer. I mean, who can keep track of all the jargon: PPC, SEO, article marketing, e zines, etc?  I can help you out with that.  I’ll give you a brief overview of what the terms mean so you can decide which form of advertising makes the most sense for you.

TRAFFIC, THE BEST WAY…

1. Article marketing. You can submit an article for free to top article directories like EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com.  As long as you follow their terms of service, your article will be published. When it is, anyone who reads your article can click on the link in the resource box and be taken to your website.

Since this method is free and effective, it’s great if you’re just starting out. It allows people to view you as an expert (don’t get too caught up on the expert title, as long as you know more than the people reading your article you’re an expert to them).

2. Pay Per Click (PPC). If you’ve ever done a search on Google or any other search engine, you’ll notice some ads across the top, bottom and side of the page. These ads were placed by people just like you who are trying to get more traffic. When someone clicks on the ad the person who placed the ad will be charged.

Now, here is where it can get tricky, the amount the advertiser is charged can vary depending on many variables such as the quality of the ad (which Google determines) and how competitive the keyword for that ad is. The point is that this is advanced marketing and I recommend anyone just starting out to stay clear.

With PPC there are whole courses devoted to using the method so unless you have a lot of time and a lot of money there are better places for you to get traffic, especially when you’re just starting out.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is when you use keywords on your website or blog to let the search engines know what your site is about. There are some simple ways you can use this technique to help your site rank higher. It can get complicated but you don’t need to go too in depth to benefit from SEO.

If you have a blog, you can use a plug-in to help optimize your site for the search engines.

4. And last, but not least, Ezine advertising. This method has been around forever, but it seems to fly mostly under the radar. I don’t know why but I do know that that’s actually a good thing for me, and you and anyone who does use it.

All you have to do to use this method is to find ezines that cater to people in your niche and place an ad. You can place solo ads where they will be sent out all alone, top sponsor ads, middle sponsor ads, bottom sponsor ads as well as classifieds (not to be confused with free classifieds, which don’t really work).

If you don’t know what an ezine is, it’s just an online newsletter that is sent to the inbox of anyone who has subscribed. The publisher will send out useful information to the people on the list and include ads too, hopefully your ad will be one of them.

Some of these ezines have up to a million subscribers so that’s a lot of people seeing your ad. You know that they are targeted because the ezine only caters to people in a certain niche.  So if you have an offer for a fitness product you will find ezines that are focused only on fitness… highly targeted traffic!

All forms of traffic have their pros and cons. PPC is expensive and there is a steep learning curve but if you do it right it can be very fast.

Article marketing is free and effective but it takes many articles in circulation to get the results you really want and need so it’s time consuming.

SEO can work great with a few simple techniques but you do need a website first and it can only do so much.

Ezine advertising is now my new favorite. It isn’t free, but it is cheap, and it provides the speedy results of PPC without the steep learning curve. I think it’s a perfect mix of the speed of PPC with the targeted, inexpensive aspects of article marketing.