Either if you have an online business or you want to sell your products online, what’s the #1 problem that keeps you awake at night?
Traffic!
“How can I get more people visiting my website?”
“Why it’s so difficult to make my content popular?”
In this article I’ll explain you why traffic should be the last one of your problems.
But first, let me tell you a story about my first experience with online traffic.
My first approach to online traffic
Years ago I created a website where I could publish funny infographics I used to draw, mainly regarding social media. If a visitor liked one of my infographics, there was the chance to buy, have it print and shipped.
Plus on the sidebar, there was a box to subscribe to the newsletter.
My most successful one was about requesting an “I don’t like button” on Facebook.
At the time Facebook had just a like button under each post, no reaction button like now.
After I published this infographic, I promoted it by sending the link to all the most prominent social media experts.
As a result, 3 of them, significant personalities in the industry shared it on their social profiles. Long story short, around 15.000 people visited the infographic in 2 days.
The visitors were enthusiastic. I had dozens of comments, shares on social media and lot of referral and organic traffic.
Concerning sales and subscriptions, here are my results: 3 subscriptions and 0 sales.
What did I do wrong?
The most common mistake with traffic
The main error was to promote my website before my funnel was ready to host viewers.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of “funnel”, it’s the guided journey that encourages a visitor to become either a subscriber or a customer.
Each time you exchange your email address for content, or you buy something online, that’s because the funnel convinced you to take that action.
Even before thinking about traffic, you need to have a clear target that you want to achieve through your content.
Do you want to grow your email list? Do you want to sell a product? Do you want to establish your brand?
Traffic is the simplest thing to get, cause you can get it from traffic markets. Just think about Facebook!
However, before you spend a single cent on traffic, you need to be sure that you get something in exchange for your money.
Many people struggle with this topic because they don’t know what’s the best target for their business. That mainly depends on their niche.
For example, I’m a marketing consultant. My primary goal is establishing myself as an expert and acquire coaching clients.
Everything you find on my website is designed to get in contact with people who want to start an online business, or they’re working on their business but they’re not getting results.
There are many other goals you can reach with your content. It’s crucial to find yours long before you request traffic.
If you’re looking for subscribers, I have a present for you. I’ve arranged a pdf with what to do to get subscribers on a landing page and how to get subscribers on a blog.
You can download the pdf below.
[/thrive_2step]How to define your goal
But what if you’re not sure about which is the best target for your niche?
If you ask any famous entrepreneur on what’s the most important thing they’ve done to grow their business, they will all give you the same answer: ask for help from a mentor.
I completely agree with it, and I’d wish I’ve known that when I started.
We assume we can take care of everything and study what we don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, learning new skills is a great thing. However, you need some guidance from a person who’ve already “walked the walk” and knows which pitfalls you should avoid. Not to mention that your growth would be faster and your motivation would stay high.
I know it’s not for free, but if you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to learn that what you spend in learning isn’t wasted money, but an investment for your business sake.
In the meanwhile, I suggest you become a funnel student. Find other companies or online experts in your same niche and study what they’re already doing. Rule of thumbs, if they’re taking specific choices is because they already tested them.
Start from Facebook. Follow their pages, and you’ll see that magically your wall will fill with their ads. Look at them critically and take notes of what you like and what not. I have a specific folder on Dropbox with screenshots from facebook ads I liked, valuable landing pages, email funnels and so on…
Hope this helped to drag down the myth of traffic whatsoever, and pushed you to focus on more important and fundamental things.
As usual, ask any question you want in the comments or write your opinion on this matter!
See you.
