After over 1,000 hours of painstaking research, buying highly recommended products, and attending endless webinars, I finally figured out what was going on.
Through trial and error, combined with all the brain power I could muster, I have learned only TWO things. (Apart from the technical stuff every internet marketer needs to know, of course.) Just two. Pretty sad, really. Are here:
(1) “Free” traffic is nonsense
There is no such thing. Well, not in the short term, anyway. Free traffic is based on SEO (making sure your website is optimized for search engines, your keywords are chosen carefully, you have lots of authorized backlinks, your posts are relevant, etc. It’s a bit like trying to feel your way in the dark. You MAY find your way out. Or you may not. And in any case, it’s not going to happen quickly. Or without a lot of effort on your part. Which, by definition, doesn’t make it “free.” The Almighty G may or may not smile down on you. And make you climb the search engine rankings. Long story short, even if you do everything exactly by the rules, you may never appear on the first page of Google. And that, My friends, it is the cold, hard truth.
Here is a selection of emails I received this morning:
Do you need FREE traffic that converts?
MasterClass: 10 Steps to Total Mastery
$10,000 in your first month!
It’s all just marketing bullshit. Trust me on this, and save your money. No software will give you free traffic that converts. It will not happen. There are no 10 steps to total market dominance. And you won’t make $10k in your first month. If you’re really tempted to spend money on these cynical bloodsuckers, then be my guest. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Aside from putting the building blocks in place (landing pages, something substantial to offer visitors like a snippet of their email addresses, something nice to offer for sale, an autoresponder, etc.), EVERYTHING else it depends on getting good traffic to your page. Without traffic, you have absolutely nothing.
And betting the house on “free” traffic will make you go around the bend. It will not happen. Not in his near to medium future anyway.
So if it’s all about traffic, how do you get it?
(2) Do you want traffic? Pay for it!
Sorry guys, but this is the harsh reality. She wakes up and smells the money. If you want traffic (and you DO…) then you will have to pay for it. You wouldn’t dream of starting a physical business without capital, would you? Of course not. What makes an Internet business different? Therefore, you are not paying rent or investing in plant and machinery. Or salaries. But surely you better start paying for traffic, or you will almost certainly fail.
This is the reason why 97% of all Internet businesses fail. Yes, only a measly 3% end up making any money. And the fairy tales of overnight Internet millionaires are just lies. Pure shit. None of them were successful in free traffic (alone). Sure, over time, your SEO (backlinks, long-tail keywords, etc.) eventually started to pay off. But by the time the free traffic started rolling in, they were already rich.
Do you have time to wait?
If you want traffic tomorrow, you can have it. Just pay for it. If you pay, they will come. It’s that easy. If you are a freelance media person, or still working your day job, and if time is not an issue, then go for free traffic. But be prepared to wait. And quite possibly, to failure.
For example, I am an enthusiastic aircraft designer/builder/flyer. So about five years ago I started a website just to document my hobby. Initially, I did the necessary SEO stuff and then I gave it up. In fact, I once left the site for over a year. Recently though, I’ve been spending a lot more time there, and I’ve noticed that simply due to the passage of time, this site is attracting around 100 visitors a day. Time tends to do this. So if you can afford to wait five years, go for it. But if you want traffic tomorrow, you’ll have to pay for it.
And how much will this traffic cost you? Well, put it this way. If you were starting a brick and mortar business, you would have saved maybe six months of rent, wages, etc., at least. And plenty of cash for store fixtures, equipment, etc. Let’s say you estimate that the business is going to cost (all up) $1500/month. In fact, this figure is extremely low. But let’s say you’ve saved $10k to get your business off the ground and keep it afloat for 6 months.
If you take your $10k and spend $1500/month on traffic, you will be a rich man at the end of 6 months. Why? Because if you have a decent product to sell (either your own or as an affiliate), your $1500/month will buy you at least 1500 TARGET visitors (i.e. already interested in your product) per month. Experience teaches us that about 50% of your visitors will sign up to receive your gift. And if only 10% of them buy your product (that’s 150 sales at $35), you’ll earn over $5k per month and add 750 new users to your list. Heck, if only 5% of already interested visitors buy your $35 product, you’ll earn $2,600. Working on the 10% conversion figure, if you reinvest the profits, the following month you can buy $5k + $1,500 in traffic, giving you almost seven thousand targeted visitors, another 3,500 new subscribers, and 700 sales ($24,500).
That’s what 3% do.
This is not marketing bullshit. This is the reality. If you want to make money online, you HAVE to spend money to do it. There is no other way.
So the next time you see an email like “Free traffic for your road to riches.” Delete the damn thing. Get rid of him as soon as you can. Don’t get caught. Save your money and put it towards buying traffic.
OK, I’ve said my part.
I am not a rich man by any means. But I’m not stupid. I can know a scam when I see one.
I hope you found this useful
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