How To Get Traffic From Forums Without Writing A Single Post
Online forums can be a good source for traffic. Now, I’m not suggesting that you spam forums, i.e. posting promotional messages.
I’m talking about contributing informative and helpful content in forums. And in your posts, you can include a link to your website in your signature.
Occasionally, you can link to a post on your blog that’s relevant to the discussion.
But here’s the problem with using forums to generate traffic… you have to keep posting to get traffic.
Any post you make or any thread you start will eventually be relegated to the second page and beyond to make way for new threads and posts. And once your posts get relegated, it won’t be seen by the majority of the forum visitors.
So, it’s not a really effective traffic strategy in the long term. Well, here’s one strategy to help you get traffic from forums without writing a single post.
It’s a really simple strategy that has worked offline for decades.
Organize a contest.
Contests are a proven publicity strategy to generate buzz for your business and products.
So, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to organize a contest on forums:
1. Search for forums that share your target market. For instance, if you’re in the dog market, just type “dog+forum” in Google and you should be able to find a few forums for dog owners.
2. Tell the forum owners that you’re willing to sponsor a contest on their forum. You will offer your products and services as prizes. The goal of the contest is to encourage participation in their forum. So, the person who makes the highest number of posts within a specified time (e.g. a month) will be the winner.
3. The forum owners will then post a sticky thread on their forum to announce the contest and the first post on that sticky thread should contain a link to your site. And the sticky thread will stay up on the first page of the forum for the entire duration of the contest.
So, when visitors arrive at the forum, they will instantly see the sticky thread about the contest. And when they read about the contest, they will see your website’s link.
And that’s how you generate traffic from forums without writing a single post.
Simple enough, right? Now, take action!
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A Simple Copywriting Strategy To Boost Your Sales
If you sell a general product to a general market, here’s a simple yet powerful copywriting strategy that will increase your sales.
Let’s say you wrote an ebook that teaches job hunters how to get a job in 30 days. And you wrote a sales letter with the headline:
“How To Get A Job In 30 Days Or Less.”
Now, you may be able to generate some sales with that letter. But here’s a strategy that will boost your sales. It’s so simple that it’s surprising how many experienced marketers overlook it.
It’s called market segmentation.
You see, just because your ebook is a general product that appeals to a general market, doesn’t mean that your sales letter has to be general as well.
When it comes to communicating your sales message, a customized message will always outperform a general one.
And that’s where market segmentation comes in.
Instead of writing a general sales letter that targets everyone, write multiple letters that target multiple market segments while selling the same product.
How To Segment Your Market
One easy way to segment your market is to study your keywords. If you’re advertising on Google AdWords, look at the keywords being used by your market.
Going back to the job hunting ebook example, some of the keywords that job hunters use could be:
- Sales job
- Secretarial job
- Engineering job
That’s three market segments right there.
Now, you can customize your sales letter for each market segment. So, your new headlines will be:
“How To Get A Sales Job In 30 Days Or Less.”
“How To Get A Secretarial Job In 30 Days Or Less.”
“How To Get An Engineering Job In 30 Days Or Less.”
So, when job hunters use the keywords “sales job” on Google and arrive on your sales letter with the headline, “How To Get A Sales Job In 30 Days Or Less,” they will definitely be more interested in reading the entire sales letter and eventually be more inclined to buy your ebook.
Do you see the simplicity of the strategy?
All you have to do is write a general sales letter. And then, use it as template to customize your sales message for various market segments.
And don’t worry, it only takes 5 seconds to customize each sales letter. Just use the “Find And Replace” function in your web design software and you can create a customized sales letter for several market segments easily and quickly.
With a sales letter customized for a specific market segment, your sales will increase. I guarantee it.
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An Easy Strategy To Boost Your Viral Report’s Distribution By 400%
One of the most effective ways to generate free traffic is to distribute free viral reports. If you’re new to this strategy, here’s how it works:
Step One: You write a report in Microsoft Word. The report can be anywhere from 3 to 70 pages and will contain links to your website.
Step Two: You convert it into a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat software. A PDF file is a universal file that can be opened by PCs as well as Macs.
Step Three: You give it away to your website visitors and newsletter subscribers.
If your readers find the information valuable, they will pass it to their friends and colleagues. Then, their friends and colleagues will pass it to their own circle of friends and colleagues.
In short, your report becomes “viral.” In time, your report may be read by thousands of people and effectively driving free traffic to your site.
Now, what if you want to increase the distribution of your viral report? What would be a simple way to do that?
Well, here’s a simple strategy that could boost your report’s distribution by at least 400%:
I call it the Gang Up Strategy.
Here’s how it works:
Step One: Approach four experts in your market to contribute content to your report.
The key for this strategy to work is that each expert must have their own mailing list that is similar in size to yours. So, if you have 1000 subscribers, look for experts that have a mailing list with around 1000 subscribers.
You can try approaching experts with bigger mailing list but they may feel that it’s unfair to them. There’s no harm in trying, of course. Just don’t be disappointed if they decline your invitation.
Step Two: Compile the content and create the PDF report.
Once you have all the content from the four experts and yourself, compile them and create your viral report. You can host the report on your site or let each expert host it on theirs.
Step Three: Each expert gives the report away to their subscribers.
Once the report is ready for download, each expert will send an email to their respective list to announce the report. I suggest that you write the announcement email to save the experts’ time.
If each expert has an average of 1000 subscribers, your report will be read by an estimated 5000 people. That’s 400% more than having your report distributed to just your own list of 1000 subscribers.
This strategy works because everyone wins.
You and the four experts will gain more exposure from the wider distribution of the report. And your subscribers will get valuable content from five different experts instead of just one.
Easy enough, right? So, take action now!
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Two Proven Strategies To Overcome Rising Pay-Per-Click Advertising Costs
As more and more people start online businesses, your pay-per-click advertising (PPC ad) costs will increase. It’s inevitable as new internet entrepreneurs start pouring money into Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing.
And the increase in PPC ad costs will definitely affect your bottomline. For instance, if you’re currently paying 20 cents a click and getting a 1% conversion rate for a $50 ebook, you’re making a profit of $30 for every sale.
Now, what happens if the cost per click is driven up to 50 cents?
With a 1% conversion rate, you’re just breaking even on your $50 ebook.
And what happens if the cost per click goes up to $1?
Now, you’re losing $50 for every sale!
So, how do you overcome this inevitable challenge?
Well, here are two proven strategies to overcome rising PPC ad costs:
1. Extend your customer lifetime value
Customer lifetime value (CLV) refers to the total amount of profits you’ll generate from your customer’s expenditure on your products and services in her lifetime. Using the earlier example, if you’re making a profit of $30 from a $50 ebook, your CLV is $30.
So, to overcome rising PPC ad costs, you’ll have to extend your CLV. In other words, you’ll need to generate repeat business by selling additional products and services to your customers.
Here are two ways to extend your CLV:
Tactic #1: Create and sell high ticket information products.
I highly recommend that you create a $97 to $497 information product and promote it via email to your customer list. The fastest way to create a high ticket information product is to conduct a live or teleseminar and record it on video or audio. And when you charge a fee for the seminar, you’re actually getting paid to create your product.
Tactic #2: Sell services.
For example, if you’re selling an ebook on job hunting, you should also sell resume writing or interview coaching services. You don’t necessarily have to be the service provider. You can always set up a joint venture with a service professional and collect a commission for every sale you generate.
2. Share advertising costs with complementary businesses
This is an old strategy used by franchises like McDonald’s. You see, every McDonald’s franchisee has to contribute to an advertising fund. A portion of their sales is automatically deducted for advertising expenses.
The reason is because each franchisee by itself wouldn’t be able to afford to produce television and print advertisements and buy airtime on national television or ad space in national newspapers.
But when they combine their financial resources together, they can afford to create a multi-million dollar advertising campaign. In other words, their leveraging on each other’s resources.
Now, here’s how you can adapt this strategy for your own business:
1. Find and approach one to three complementary businesses to share PPC ad costs.
2. Create a landing page that will promote your business as well as your joint venture partners’ businesses. If the landing page collects visitors’ contact information, each partner has access to the information. The landing page will have to be hosted on a neutral domain to be fair to all parties.
3. Set up PPC ads to send traffic to this landing page. One of the partners will have to be appointed to set up and manage the ad campaign. And that partner should be compensated for her effort. Alternately, you and your partners can outsource the task to a virtual assistant or a professional search marketing firm.
So, with these two strategies, the rising PPC ad costs will not be much of a problem for your business.
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Why Thinking Big Is Critical To Your Success
Warning! I’m about to make a statement that will probably offend you or contradicts everything you learned about internet businesses.
Most internet entrepreneurs are small thinkers.
Just visit a few internet business-related forums and you’ll notice that most entrepreneurs are satisfied with a financial goal of $50,000 to $100,000 a year.
Or check out the numerous products sold to internet entrepreneurs. Most of them appeal to people who want a 6-figure income.
Now to most people, maybe even you, that may seem like a lot of money.
But here’s the problem…
It’s very difficult to build a long-term sustainable business in any competitive market when you set your financial goals so low.
In other words, it’s hard to remain competitive by staying small. A business must continue to grow to remain competitive.
So when you say you’re happy with $50,000 to $100,000 a year, you’re putting an artificial ceiling to your business and this will impede your growth.
Here are two reasons why staying small makes no business sense:
1. Inflation
Most entrepreneurs ignore the fact that they are part of a macroeconomic environment. The cost of goods and services increases annually. The increase in expenses (e.g. advertising, freelancers’ fees, employee salaries, rent, etc) affects your business.
Depending on where you live, the inflation rate could be 3% to over 10%. So, if your income stays at $100,000 per annum, you’re losing money every year to inflation.
$100,000 today may be worth only $80,000 in 10 years time!
2. Competition
Nowadays, internet businesses are so cheap and easy to start that every Tom, Dick and Harry are getting into the act. So, whatever profitable niche you’re in right now will become highly crowded and competitive.
You’ll face more difficulty in getting high rankings in search engines, keeping pay-per-click ad costs low and recruiting affiliates to promote your products. You’ll also have to compete for star employees and freelancers.
Time To Adjust Your Mindset
Now that you know staying small doesn’t make any business sense, what can you do about it?
Well, the first thing you’ve got to do is to change your mindset. From now on, you’ve got to think big.
You must set at least 7-figure goals. You must think international and not just local or national. You must develop and implement big ideas.
And here are four reasons why thinking big will pay off for you:
1. You already have all the resources required to build a million dollar business.
The amount of time and money required to build a 6-figure business is exactly the same as a 7-figure business.
For example, Michael Dell started his computer business which is now worth billions of dollars for only $1000. And Michael, just like you, has only 24 hours a day.
So, if you have $1000 and 24 hours a day just like Michael Dell, why not build a multi-million dollar business?
2. It’s more profitable.
Whether your income goal is $100,000 or $1 million a year, the odds are really against you in achieving them. You may only hit 50% of your target.
Here’s how thinking big helps…
If you achieve 50% of a $100,000 a year goal, it’s $50,000. But if you achieve only 10% of a $1 million a year goal, it’s $100,000.
Therefore, even if you only achieve 10% of your big goal, it’s better than 50% of your small goal. Thinking big is simply more profitable.
3. It’s easier to secure capital.
Your business may need capital injection in the future to stay afloat or to grow. Guess what? It’s easier to secure a $1 million investment than a $10,000 bank loan.
I know it sounds completely counterintuitive but it’s true. Investors are attracted to big ideas and businesses that can grow big very quickly. A 6-figure business just doesn’t appeal to them.
4. It’s easier to attract star employees.
Star employees, like investors, are attracted to big ideas. That’s why companies like Google and Facebook attract highly talented and experienced professionals.
A business that wants to stay small doesn’t appeal to them. Stars want challenges. They want a career, not a job. They want growth, not stagnation.
So, if you want to build a long-term sustainable business, start thinking big and stop thinking small. And you’ll see the impact it has on your business once you change your mindset.
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How To Choose The Right Internet Business For Maximum Profits
If you’re starting an internet business, what would your first step be?
Almost every single internet business course or ebook I have read says that the first step in starting an internet business is to choose a market.
I totally disagree.
Choosing a market is actually the first step in marketing your products. But it is NOT the first step in starting an internet business.
Let’s use the Olympics as an analogy. If you want to win an Olympic gold medal, what would be the very first step you’ll take?
Find the best coach? Eat the right food? Study your competition?
No. The very first step to winning a gold medal is to choose the right sport.
That’s right. You need to choose the sport where you have the best chance of winning the gold.
You don’t choose a sport just because it’s popular or lucrative. You choose it because you believe you can win it.
So when you choose a market as your first step in starting a business, you’re putting the cart before the horse.
That’s one of the reasons why so many people still struggle to build a profitable business after spending thousands of dollars on various internet business products.
They have completely missed a critical step.
So, before you even choose a market, you should first choose the internet business that’s perfect for you.
The Internet Business Opportunity Dilemma
And that brings us to another dilemma. Are you overwhelmed by the sheer number of internet business opportunities out there?
Adsense publishing, Adsense arbitrage, affiliate marketing, eBay, ebooks, membership sites, blogs, authority sites, community sites… and the list goes on.
And the problem is further compounded by contradicting advice given by various internet business experts.
One expert would say Adsense publishing is the perfect business because you don’t have to worry about conversion or customer support.
Another expert would swear by affiliate marketing as you can earn high commissions.
And yet another expert would declare membership sites as the perfect business since you can earn recurring income.
Are you confused yet?
Well, here’s the secret…
There is no such thing as a perfect business. However, there is a business that’s perfect for YOU.
Just like software is perfect for Bill Gates and retailing is perfect for Sam Walton, there is an internet business that’s just right for you.
And the right business will generate maximum profits for you while the wrong business will just frustrate the heck out of you.
So, let’s talk about the types of internet businesses that you can start.
Although there seems to be an infinite number of internet business opportunities, there are really only four internet businesses that are affordable and easy to start for most people:
- Online publishing: You generate revenue from Adsense, banner ads, classified ads, affiliate programs and sponsorships.
- Education/Information products: You sell ebooks, teleseminars, home study courses, newsletters and membership sites.
- Online retailing or auction business: You sell hard goods from your own online store and/or at eBay.
- Professional services: You provide consulting, writing, designing or administrative services to businesses.
So, how do you determine which is the right business for you?
A Simple Exercise To Help You Choose The Right Business
To choose the right business, you need to know what your strengths are because they are the key to building a successful business.
Each of the aforementioned internet businesses requires specialized skills and expertise. So, you have to select the business that plays to your strengths.
You shouldn’t choose a business just because it’s sexy and lucrative. You want to choose a business where you can be the best in the market.
Let’s go back to the Olympics analogy. Most people will agree that tennis is sexier and more lucrative than badminton.
However, if you’re an excellent badminton player and just a mediocre tennis player, it’s obvious that badminton is your best path to an Olympic gold.
So, choose an internet business based on your strengths.
Sadly, most people have difficulty in determining and communicating their strengths. I know this for a fact because I used to write resumes for job seekers. And most job seekers find it difficult to sell themselves in their resume or in job interviews.
So, here is a simple exercise to help you discover your strengths.
- List all of your biggest achievements. It can be personal or professional.
- List all of your skills. What can you do better than most people?
- List all of your expertise or knowledge. What do you know about more than most people?
- List every single person you know. E.g. family members, friends, colleagues and business associates. Your contacts are considered one of your strengths because you will need them for strategic partnerships and joint ventures. For instance, your contacts may be able to help you develop a superior product or gain access to a lucrative market. So, don’t underestimate your rolodex.
Once you have made a list of those items, discuss it with a friend who can be brutally honest with you.
Brainstorm together on the type of business where you can provide the highest amount of value. The more value you can provide, the more money you’ll make.
From there, you should be able to find the perfect business for yourself. And once you’ve found it, you’ve taken your first step in building a successful and profitable internet business.
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