A Traffic Trap To Avoid At All Cost
Is there anything in your online business you hate doing?
I was talking with a coaching client and I told him how I use to hate writing articles even though I know that it brings in quality traffic and can bring in traffic for years even after the article is written, plus it cost nothing but time (making it ideal for beginners).
This is why I hated writing articles, I was always told that you have to write lots of articles to get decent traffic to your site and to me that equals a huge time commitement with little noticable results.
In fact when I could convince myself that I need to write some articles, I would spend like 15 to 30 minutes writing a single article and after a few articles I would give up.
Can you blame me?
So I decided that the only way I was going to write articles again is if I can write them quickly and be able to get a decent amount of traffic to my site from each article – I’m working on that.
I like traffic methods that don’t take too much time, basically anything that can return results for very little effort. It’s not that I’m lazy…
Here’s a common problem I want you to watch out for
You see most people get stuck spending most of there time working on getting traffic to their site.
They say…
If I just had more traffic I would start selling more…
To make a long story short
They believe not having enough time to spend on getting traffic is what’s holding them back from succeeding online – don’t fall for that crap!
I did at first and it stopped me from getting real results!
The truth is many people spend too much time on getting traffic!
This is what happens…
The visitor comes to your site and isn’t interested due to a poor offer/conversion rate or worse doesn’t know what to do – tell them what to do!
Lately, I’ve been working on effectively funneling my traffic so that every visitor to my site has a higher chance of becoming a customer of mine as long as I offer something they need of higher value than the actual price.
The result is I don’t have to work nearly as hard to get the same or better results, from spending the same amount of time or less on getting traffic to my sites, now I have more time to focus on more important things!
So to put it simply what I told my coaching client is first set up a decent funnel system, here’s how you can start… ask yourself:
What is my most desired action of my web site visitor?
For instance I want them to join my email list and get to know me, learn how to make more money online by consuming the information and products I recommend and as a result improve their online income, then tell me the great results they’re getting!
After you have planned out and implemented what you want your visitors to do first, then you can start driving traffic to your site
Next you want to make sure you still having time to spend on increasing the results of your traffic funnel and providing value to your current and potential customers.
Lesson learned: using effective time management and focusing on all important aspects of your online business at ‘the right time’ can grow your pockets fatter with less headache!
thanks for reading!
Jeff Bode
Hey J Bode
This sounds cool, I think I need to start working on funneling my traffic, so that I can get more customers into my business.
I guess I probably spend too much time and effort worrying about getting enough traffic.
That was really helpful!
You the man
Hi Jeff,
This is next on my list to master…thanks for the tips!
best
vic
You’re right, Jeff! People are taught that traffic to their website is VITAL (and it is), but they aren’t always told how to bring TARGETED traffic to their site (I hate using the term “driving” traffic. People aren’t cattle or sheep, although some marketers would have you believe they are – or at least ACT like them).
Putting together an effective funnel helps you to weed out people who aren’t likely to be interested, so that the only people who DO reach your website have been prepared for what they find there.
And then there’s the matter of your website itself. It should have only ONE clear call to action. By understanding the actual “conversion” process, you’re able to gently lead your site’s visitors to each specific action you want them to take (to subscribe, buy, join, etc).
I prefer to use the “thank you page” of my funnels to provide my subscribers with even MORE value in the form of free information or software – to reinforce the idea that they made a good choice by subscribing. Very rarely do I send them directly to a sales page unless there’s a free offer waiting there for them.
It’s very much like the traditional courtship between a man and a woman. Marriage isn’t usually proposed on the first or second “date” – in fact it may not even be brought up at all, until both parties have had a chance to really get to know each other, and a certain level of mutual trust has been established.
Most affiliate marketers do have a funnel in place, but they usually make the mistake of “going for the kill” right out of the gate – before they’ve really had a chance to develop that “personal” relationship with their new subscribers, inspiring trust. Most affiliate sales pages are much too cluttered with information and diversions – they have more of a tendency to scare off people who aren’t really prepared to see them than to generate sales. (Of course there ARE exceptions from time to time.)
If I may indulge in a “shameless plug” – We’d love to talk with YOU about YOUR online or offline business on Google Me Talk Radio</a) at 8PM ET every Wed-Thurs-Fri. The number to call in LIVE is (347) 838-9023. We look forward to talking with YOU!
Thanks for the great info, Jeff – keep it coming!
"Digital" Don
Yea I agree people spend to much time on certain things and then they when they don’t achieve what they want they get down on themselves and that is not good.
They need to concentrate on what they do know and learn more as they go.
Thank you Scott Crawley
Skype scwealth
Hi Jeff!! Great tip on spending more time funneling the traffic that does get to your site, rather than spending all your time on getting the traffic. Thank You!!
Hey guys awesome response!
I’m glad you’re taking action on this!
@Bill and Victoria – it’s great to see that your want to take action on this, let me know your results
@”Digital” Don – hey thanks for adding a quality comment and giving us more insight
@Scott yes Scott a great way to learn is to actually go out and do it without letting one thing consume all your time
@Brenda thanks for the comment… start working on your funnel!
Hey everyone keep the comments coming!
I want at least 5 more, before I make another post
You could tell me one thing you plan to do to funnel your website visitors
Hello J
Agree full-heartily with your theme and appreciate your story.
However It took me a while to get oriented because the title aimed me in the wrong direction. I kept waiting to hear something about traffic so when I figured that wasn’t coming I had to start over.
thanks
wes
Mate… that hit a nerve. The amount of times I’ve written a blog post or an article and not given it the ‘Begin with the end in mind’ principle. If I wrote the content with a view to it helping conversions, preselling the squeeze page maybe and everything tying together in a nice overall package.
If I had I’d not only be quicker, I’d see better results. Thanks for highlighting this Jeff – I think the key is to whack a post-it note on the monitor and make sure that this becomes a habbit I do on auto-pilot.
Good post – thanks again.
Hi Jeff,
Good post, good info. As both a new blogger and Online Marketer I am always on the lookout for sound tips and I have definitely found some here. I will be a regular reader here.
Hey Jeff,
Great blog post, you do always hear about getting traffic to you site but if you have nothing worth seeing it’s not worth getting it.
I like the “tell them what to do!” bit best I think.
Cheers,
James
Hi Jeff,
Good advice, still doing the article writing as well but as you say it is frustrating and takes a lot of time.
Regards,
Francois
Hey guys thanks for the comments, I’m glad I got the point across!
I’m sure that if you use this approach you will see better results – always think about the process you visitor takes and make sure you work to strengthen every link (step) in the process
More comments are always appreciated!
Jeff Bode
Your article writing course is super. Should help to begin the funnel process. Your idea for getting clicks from Stumble Upon may be a little risky as the EzineArticles Terms of Service state the following:
# You agree to not purchase or utilize PPC (PayPerClick), PPV (PayPerView) traffic, safelists, or traffic exchanges to artificially inflate your EzineArticles traffic stats. Doing so may result in your account being terminated.
Is this really a problem with Stumble Upon?
Hey Tim thanks… I’m glad you enjoyed the article course
I would only use the paid traffic method for one of your articles – the one that seems to be the most popular and have a high click through rate to your site.
You do have to be careful that you don’t send too much traffic at one time.
Remember there are tons of different places you can submit your articles, don’t limit it to just Ezine articles
“In fact when I could convince myself that I need to write some articles, I would spend like 15 to 30 minutes writing a single article and after a few articles I would give up.”
I know this is only one small point of your article, but it was big to me. I just spent five days trying to write my first article before giving up. lol, needless to say, I just purchased your article writing video. I hope it works.
Hey Jeff, Happy New Year!
I have your article marketing video course. Great stuff man! Do you have it in PDF text? I would like to make myself a hard copy, for reference.
Hey Randy thanks! there is a PDF version available on the download page
Jeff, It sure is good to put yourself into the shoes/mind of your visitors and think about what they want and how you can deliver that when they come visiting.
Many people are looking for answers and the challenge is often to work out what problems are driving them to search for those answers. When you identify those problems, your more than half way there. Michael