Unlimited Traffic …
Beyond Google and Gimmicks
Dear Business Builder,
Welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches. I’m really happy you’ve decided to join me again today.
Last week, I revealed a really “big” secret about how to get tons of traffic to your website. And no, it’s not some newfangled do-this-then-do-that, step-by-step system. It doesn’t involve social media sites and befriending thousands of people. And it’s not Google Pay-Per-Click or Search Engine Optimization.
The funny thing is … I never realized how big a secret it really was until recently. To me, it was just business as usual.
So, what the heck is the secret you say? What? You didn’t read last week’s issue!?
Okay then, I won’t beat around the bush …
The easiest way to get tons of traffic to your website is to (drum roll please) … PAY FOR IT!
And how exactly do you do that? Well, that’s what we’re going to explore today.
The Wacky World of Web Media
It amazes me how many online marketers completely ignore this opportunity. Web media seems to be the ugly stepsister of the web marketing world … definitely the marketing sloppy-second to Search Engine Optimization and paid search … and certainly not as flashy and Hollywood as Social Marketing.
Yet, unlike paid search, web media affords an opportunity to reach a nearly endless amount of prospects … at a cost that can be completely controlled … with results that can be measured without question.
So why is it that more online marketers don’t add it to their marketing mix?
Perhaps they lack knowledge … are afraid it won’t work for them or think it’s too expensive … or maybe because no “superstar web marketing guru” is talking or writing about it (keeping this one their inside secret) … well, let’s rectify that, shall we?
Web media is too expensive and won’t work for me …
If you ask me, this is a huge fallacy … pure rumors spread by people that have never given media a fair shot or have never taken the time to figure out how to make it work for them.
But not all web media is created equal. As a responsible web marketer, you can’t listen to what they say. You have to find out for yourself! And this means testing.
As a smart direct response marketer, you need to allocate time and money to testing not only ad copy, ad layout, offers and prices – you also have to traffic drivers. Consider the media placement for your prospect list … it’s your traffic driver. The thing that get’s people to your website. And any list can work at the right price; it’s simply a numbers game.
If your list brings in enough prospects that convert and generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the media placement — you win. If not, you lose and go back to the drawing board. It’s as simple as that.
Defining Web Media
To start, we’ll break web media down into two categories.
The first category is the more passive of the two … in that these ad types require the prospect to come to a website to be seen.
This category consists of:
Banner Ads
I’m sure everyone knows what a banner ad looks like. They are all over the web and come in many shapes and sizes. Banners ads are sold by the impression on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis, so the larger quantity of impressions you buy, the more potential prospects will see your ad. Banners tend to have a lower CPM in comparison to most other web media.
The key with banner ads is to create ad copy that is compelling enough to get the prospect to click away from the site they’re visiting to check out what they know to be advertising.
The beauty of banner ads is that you can reach tons of potential prospects across all categories on the web. Banners can be a challenge, but if you can make them work for your offers, you’ll have an endless supply of opportunity.
Sponsored Headlines
Sponsored headlines are one of my favorite ad positions and can work very well for a product that is topical or newsy … such as ones in the financial or health markets. Sponsored headlines typically appear on more news-oriented sites and simply mimic a headline that might appear on a website for a news story. Often, they are relegated to a section of a website that is classified as advertising, special offers or sponsored offers.
The power of a sponsored headline is that it is static for a specified period of time so is not shown on an impression basis … this means they can get huge amounts of viewership depending on site traffic. And because sponsored headlines look like news headlines, they are often mistaken for website editorial so have much higher click through rates than banners.
Sponsored headlines are typically sold on a flat rate basis based on how long they run – such as per week or per month. But note: some sites may actually classify their headline ads as a text ad.
Text Ads
Text ads tend to be the smallest ad size on a site and the cheapest. They are often relegated to the bottom of a page like a classified ad. They tend to have the look and feel of a Google pay-per-click ad and can usually be found in groups. As the name implies, they consist of all text. Some text ads will also allow a small image to be displayed next to the text.
Text ads are typically the least expensive web media available. They are sold on an impression (CPM) and a flat rate basis. They are most often static – which means they have the potential to get very high viewership.
I will stress that text ads can be a mixed bag as far as performance. The benefit is they tend to look like editorial, and, because they are inexpensive, it may take far less to make them break even. Again remember, it’s all a numbers game.
The next category tends to be more active in that they are pushed out to the prospect.
This category consists of:
Newsletter Sponsorships
Newsletter sponsorships or newsletter ads are found in a publisher’s e-newsletter or e-zine. The e-newsletters are sent to the website’s opt-in subscribers by e-mail. The ads appear within the actual newsletter issue. Ads can take the shape of a banner ad or a text ad, depending on the newsletter.
Newsletter ads are often limited to one ad sponsor per issue. So there is far less competition for attention in an e-newsletter. Plus, with only one ad sponsor per issue, you get a measure of implied endorsement from a company that your prospect may already trust or even be doing business with.
Open rates tend to be higher for e-newsletters than for other types of paid e-mail. But the downside is you are in competition with the e-newsletter editorial, so it’s important to have interesting and compelling copy to entice the reader to click away from the newsletter.
Newsletter ads run the gamut in pricing from extremely cheap to extremely expensive and are typically sold on a CPM (cost per thousand) or flat rate basis.
Newsletter advertisers can expect to have the majority of their ad responses within about 48 hours of the newsletters delivery. But, e-newsletters tend to hang around in prospects inboxes, and I’ve seen orders from newsletter sponsorship ads as much as 3 months later.
E-Mail Marketing
There are two different types of e-mail lists – response and compiled.
Response e-mail lists tend to be the most expensive of all the categories we’ve covered today and the most effective. They are also one of my favorites and the closest to direct mail.
Response e-mail lists are made up of customers or opt-in subscribers that have all responded to a specific offer. They have either purchased a product, opted-in to receive an e-newsletter or to receive special information from one particular business.
Response e-mail lists are sent from the list owner to the prospect on behalf of the advertiser, so they are immediately recognizable as being from a company the prospect is familiar with. This makes these prospects warm to your offers.
Compiled e-mail lists can be dirt cheap (but not always) in comparison to response lists. They are made up of broad categories of people across specific demographic or psychographic categories. Since prospects often don’t know how they ended up on a specific compiled list, e-mails can easily be mistaken for SPAM. This makes these prospects very cold.
Low cost and mass quantity are the key to making compiled lists work in your favor. I shy away from them and I suggest that you do, too. Compiled lists are often made up of sweepstakes or survey responders … people looking for something truly free.
E-mail lists are typically purchased on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis.
One key to making e-mail marketing work for you is getting prospects to open your message. Subject lines are an extremely important factor in e-mail marketing and should not be an afterthought in creative development.
One huge benefit of e-mail marketing is that it’s virtually instantaneous – you will start seeing response immediately, and the majority of orders will come in within the first 24-48 hours. Also, like newsletter sponsorships, e-mails tend to hang around in your prospects inbox for some time, and I’ve seen responses continue to trickle in months later.
Hope that helped and stay tuned …
Next week, we’ll dive in a little deeper and take a look at my five-step criteria for selecting just where to buy web media.
I love to hear from you, so post your comments and questions to the blog, and I’ll try to address them in an upcoming issue.
Until next week,
Julie McManus
Editor, In the ‘Net Trenches
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
And Web Media Goddess
P.S. Are you in the ‘net trenches? Do you need help? Send me an e-mail to AskJulie@MakepeaceTotalPackage.com and I just might answer your question in an upcoming issue.
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11 Comments »
Join the Discussion!
Let us know what you think. Or ask us anything. Or offer your own sage advice.
The only rule: RESPECT THIS HOUSE! Postings that contain abusive language and/or personal attacks will be cheerfully VAPORIZED. One cross word and – POOF! – your well-thought-out post will be gone in a puff of smoke.
– Clayton
Comment by David — May 2, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
Hi Julie - great article!
Given the tough territory in Adwords, buying traffic with the big ad networks has been a hot topic in Internet Marketing lately. A couple "make money peddlers" have jumped on this and came out with outrageous courses - one is a $25,000 training program. Another will only sell his course to people who "qualify." If you buy another course from him at $850.00, you’re qualified.
If your company came out with a reasonably priced product, thousands would come up from the hip with their credit cards – quick enough to terrorize Billy The Kid. I’m not kidding - this is in demand information. Just look at all the hassles with SEO and Adwords.
Hope you’re not mad at me for instigating Clayton’s post about Vegas cocktail waitresses.
David
Las Vegas, NV
Comment by Sam — May 3, 2008 @ 12:13 am
Julie - Great information – really looking forward to the next post.
David while I agree that the prices are higher then other products I wouldn’t go as far as to call them outrageous. It’s a question of how much time and money they spent perfecting their technique.
At this point there really are no big "secrets" – one of the reasons people might consider buying such packages is (for a lack of better wording) – they want proof that it will work. Most might already know most of the these secrets they just want further validation that they’re right. I guess in some sense they want to know they’re not making mistakes.
So the question is how much are you willing to spend to avoid – 50 60 or 80% of the usual mistakes VS starting from the ground up.
Everything I’ve learned in my field – a lot of it is from trial and error, making mistakes and then learning from it.
So if people want to bypass parts of this learning process and have the cash to pay that amount then so be it.
I feel like I’ve gone off on a tangent. lol.
Comment by Carolyn Permentier — May 3, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Hi Julie,
Aahh, yes, the age-old saga of how
to market the best, the cheapest and
the most effective.
Thanks for your posts on this extremely
vital topic!
Carolyn
http://blog.kickasscopywriter.com
Comment by David — May 3, 2008 @ 10:45 pm
Sam - You make some good points. Sure, you can find reasons to justify the price. Someone may find a product to be of value and another may see a con job. I’m of the latter group in most instances, but I need to emphasize a distinction between 2 types of businesses selling products.
Compare Clayton’s Co - it’s products and sales messages with the Internet Marketing community. The quality, price points and method of sale are entirely different with straight to the point outstanding value. The "general" mindset and sales techniques in IM are all about hammering your credit card until nothing is left - and many times for redundant or useless crap that has been re-spun and repackaged.
Has anyone noticed the latest trends that came out of recent guru courses and seminars? How can you get $2000 for information in a $50 ebook? Easy - and many have jumped on the bandwagon as it looks like the next big thing since OTOs …
1st the big launch - a couple weeks of email bonding - free reports - videos - getting people to comment on the blog. (After JV partners get it started with bogus posts)When the hype starts to peak, the scarcity warnings start and the takeaway is used.
Always - only a limited number can be sold and here comes the pre-notification list - followed by: "This will sell out in hours - and is going out to all the JV partner lists." Perceived value has been dressed up by turning the content into videos, audios, and a couple coaching calls - and the sales letter breaks the BS meter.
There is a $2000 course right now with all the above. A major component for their "traffic secrets" is using site placement or targeting on Google’s Content Network - along with other "secret adwords" techniques. So, I commented on the blog and asked a couple questions. I mentioned that I knew of the best software used for site targeting and had a $47 ebook that covers it from A to Z. Then I asked if the course was for someone who already knew this stuff? My post was never published. Obviously, they don’t want anyone to know about a $47 ebook. And I’ll bet that at least half of the blog comments were from shills pumping up the launch.
I’ve bought some products that were worth it but this is only one example of the deceptive BS and con jobs that go on - by well known marketers. Evidently, there is a huge market for gullible sitting ducks.
Comment by Gab Goldenberg — May 4, 2008 @ 11:14 pm
Julie, while I have to give you and the rest of the Total Package team huge kudos for teaching me a bundle about direct response writing, I think you do your readers a disservice by dismissing SEO and PPC. Those are also (especially PPC) direct response mediums, as you know. More importantly, as you highlight with opt-in subscribers, these prospects are ‘warmer’ because you have their permission to market to them - you’re showing them something they’re after, based on their keywords.
Besides that, I find it a shame that The Total Package blog leaves such great opportunities to pull in search engine traffic on the table. You guys have an excellent site here (click my name and you’ll see me testifying to that effect on a post in my blog) and it’s just a crying shame that more people aren’t sent here by the search engines.
Is there a reason you guys don’t do SEO for the blog?
Comment by Julie McManus — May 5, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Please don’t misunderstand, I do not (repeat do not) dismiss SEO or PPC as viable tactics in the online direct response marketing arsenal… in fact I think they are an absolutely vital component. Any successful marketer will take a very well-rounded approach to driving website traffic including PPC, SEO and paid media as well as offline tactics plus a heaping helping of ongoing house file marketing efforts. Consider it like a well diversified investment portfolio.
But I do think that many web marketing gurus take an all or nothing approach when it comes to their teaching… and of all the tactics, the one you hear about least is paid media. Yet the ops are abundant. And of all the tactics that happens to be my expertise and where I’ve had the most success. Yet each individual tactic has their own nuances and challenges. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket… always be testing.
Best,
Julie McManus
Comment by Jerry Watson — May 5, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
Hi,
I’m not questioning the knowledge base here but I would like to humbly add a little from my own experience (indirectly, I guess. It was actually my wife) as a former internet business owner. PPC and the other internet marketing tactics have, no doubt, evolved over the last couple of years but I think it is important that no matter what internet marketing tactics one employs, it is critical for that business owner or manager to literally camp on the marketing statistics and monitor them continuously. We didn’t and the ol’ "give me your credit card and we’ll take care of the rest" routine very nearly buried us in debt that took years and a lot of hard work to erase. So, my two cents to prospective internet business owners and marketers? Either be prepared to stay on top of the marketing tactics you have chosen to employ minute by minute or make sure you have incredibly deep pockets backing up your efforts. The internet marketing world puts brick and mortar marketing basics in the shade when it comes to confusion, scheming, devious pandering, and racketeering. I can’t help but wonder when the government (or governments) will step in and try to iron out the wrinkles in the relatively unregulated internet marketing mess. Never thought I’d hear myself say that. I’m the last one in the world that wants the government involved in anything. They consistently do more harm than good in every area they touch, it seems like sometimes.
Comment by Phil Spinelli — May 6, 2008 @ 9:32 am
No matter how you choose to advertise, "know your numbers".
Do you know what a customer is worth, cost of a sale, life time value, etc. ?
If you know your numbers, paid advertising will offer the most stable form of advertising, as long as you have tracking in place.
Search engine traffic is good too, but it’s not evergreen, it can and does change. Look at all the search engines we’ve been through, even ppc rules change too. Right now Google is king, but that could change in a year or two.
thanks
Comment by David — May 8, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
Julie - indeed the IM gurus take an all or nothing approach. They find a niche and position themselves as the expert … while recognizing the marketing tactics of just capturing one niche. Objectivity goes out the window as it’s always "my way beats everything else" and here’s (BS) my latest secret discovery for sale.
I’m anxiously waiting for more on paid media. And if you know of a good course for sale, please advise.
David
Comment by Barry from http://www.increaseweb-sitetraffic.com — May 12, 2008 @ 12:12 am
So many people have been scammed buying traffic. Obviously people want a quick fix and it looks attractive. There are still other easy ways to get traffic without buying it. It may take a bit of your time - but the traffic will be relevant. The last thing you want is traffic that is not interested in your product. This will just waste your bandwidth. It is the old business principle of targeting your customers - the ones that are ready to buy - not the ones that are not interested.
Comment by Rosalin golden — July 14, 2008 @ 5:35 am
Great information i do 100% agree with what you said about Web Media.
Rosalin Golden
list building and network marketing expert
Multiple six figure earner
http://www.4enhancementonline.info/homebasedbusiness/index.html